Yogas Govender with stable star, Martial Eagle (photo: hamishNIVENPhotography)
Yogas Govender, who headed up the Plattner Racing outfit for the last five and a half years, recently announced that he is spreading his wings and going out on his own. The Sporting Post caught up with him to talk about his career, his time with Plattner Racing and his plans for the future.
The quiet 41 year old from Chatsworth is neatly dressed, unfailingly polite and always greets you with a warm handshake and a shy smile. He is almost universally well-liked and was probably summed up best on the podium of the 2013 J&B Met when Stan Elley called him “one of the nicest people in racing.”
Yogas’s father used to play the horses and the young boy developed a passion for racing very early on. He recorded the big races of his childhood on video tape and watched them until they wore out. He was an avid fan of Bush Telegraph and was working behind the bar at Greyville when Royal Chalice won the July.
He tried office work for a while, but the racing bug would not let go. In 2001 he talked his way into a stable employee job with Glen Kotzen (by offering to work for free!) and spent four years absorbing everything he could. He then spent six months in the USA with Michael Dickinson (the man who saddled the 1983 Cheltenham Gold Cup ‘Famous Five’ and developed the Tapeta racing surface) and on his return to South Africa in 2006, became the assistant to Brett Crawford at Plattner Racing.
The big job
When Brett left to go out on his own, Yogas was handed the reins. He says, “Going from the assistant to full time was a lot of pressure, but I think I handled the challenge quite well.” Although it was initially on an interim basis, he started as he meant to go on. His first meeting as a fully-fledged trainer was 19 September 2009 and his first winner arrived four days later when Viking Lizzy broke his maiden by 4 lengths at a mid-week meeting at Durbanville. Shortly after, Danish Silver landed the Michaelmas Handicap at Greyville on 9 October 2009 and Yogas had his first feature race winner. “Fortunately the yard was doing well and Mrs Plattner kept me on,” he smiles. He was officially appointed to the big job in February 2010.
It’s the results that count
It is no secret that being a private trainer is a stressful job. “As head trainer you have to have success. You have that pressure, but it’s in line with anything where you are answerable. In any business, it’s all dependent on your ability to deliver.”
Yogas prefers to train his horses than talk up his exploits, but has always prided himself on his strike rate. “Michael Dickinson taught me that anyone can train a racehorse, but it’s consistency that makes a trainer. If you look at my stats in the first 10 months, I had a 50% winning place rate percentage. I reached 100 winners in 20 months. That’s good for a young trainer.” Particularly when the bulk of your stock are homebreds.
Without the advantage of being able to buy top bloodlines, Yogas has had to work things slightly differently. His horses start racing later than most, but they also race longer than most. “You have to be realistic in this game, you can’t be running in big races just for the sake of running. That’s not what we do. We try to place our horses in the best company give them the best chance of earning. Look at Posh Josh, Maliyake, Martial Eagle, Cavalli, etc. Danish Silver won a conditions race at 8 – we only retired him because of his age. Our horses stay sound and they keep earning. The philosophy works for us.”
Vindication
In an industry so intensely focussed on the bottom lines of earnings and strike rates, competition comes as second nature and Yogas admits, “We’d been placed at Group level and our win and place percentages were always good, but at the end of the day, it’s the Group 1’s that keep you awake at night. Until you’ve had one you constantly ask yourself, ‘Am I doing it right?’ ”
He got his answer in January 2013 when the long-shot 7yo Martial Eagle with the rookie jockey won the J&B Met. It’s a story that will be retold for years to come. It came about almost by chance, as Dennis Drier’s charge had merely stopped at the Rondeberg facility en route to being retired. However, with the restorative properties of the West Coast and the care that was lavished on him, the old soldier seemed to find a new lease on life and on Drier’s recommendation to ‘try him in the wet, he might like it’, Yogas decided to give him a chance. Two runs over 1200m proved unsuccessful, so Yogas took the blinkers off, fitted a tongue tie and tried him over 1400m. He won. At his next start, he flew home by 6.5 lengths. By now quite intrigued, Yogas selected the Jet Master Stakes as his pointer. Martial Eagle was just touched off, so they aimed for the 1600m Queen’s Plate. He justified their faith and ran a cracker, finishing just over 2 lengths off Variety Club. Despite never being tried beyond 1600m, they took the bold move and supplemented him for the Met. “It was the best R18k I’ve ever spent!” Yogas grins. “It’s such a privilege and an honour to win a race like this. For me personally it was such a confidence booster to know that despite it only being my 3rd season as a trainer, I do have the ability to take a horse to the top.”
“It came at the right stage of my career,” says Yogas. “Anyone can train a maiden horse, but to have finally got a Gr1 taught me to believe in myself and gave me the confidence that I can step it up and have what it takes to win group 1s.” He leaves Plattner Racing at the end of February and is taking that confidence to strike out on his own.
Leaving on a high
“In life, all things have to come to an end and the time was right to make the move. Mrs Plattner has given me a great start in my career and for that I will always be grateful, but I’ve got a young family and it’s one of those things that if I don’t do it now, I’ll never do it. My current contract finishes on the 28th of February and after a lot of consideration I decided that renewing it was not in my best interest. It was an entirely amicable, mutual decision. I’ve been there 5 years, 5 months now and I feel I made the best of it in terms of gaining experience and getting my name out there. I’ve always had a competitive strike rate and my fair share of winners. I’ve had a total of 316 winners to date, which puts me on just over 11%. I was targeting 50 winners this season and I’m leaving on 25, so we were right on track. The time was right to take that next step.”
Wonderful support (Photo: Liesl King)
“You know, it’s these things in life that really humble you. I didn’t really go out and tell people, I just resigned, but the support has been amazing. So many people have rung and given me support and encouragement. People like Anton Marcus, Joey Ramsden, Eric Sands, Andrew Fortune – I’m really humbled. Aldo gave me a bit of a send off last Saturday after his win in the 9th – he was quite emotional. It made me feel good to have had a little impact on his career,” he says modestly. “I don’t know what the future holds, this is a tough industry and a tough game, but it’s things like that that help you to strive and achieve.”
“Saturday, 21 February was my last day’s racing. We had 3 runners at Kenilworth for one winner and two places, so I’m leaving with a bit of confidence. It’s a bit like being a football manager and like any job with that kind of pressure you want to leave when your confidence is high, so hopefully I can take this and all the support and use it to build a success. At the same time, I’d like to wish Mrs Platter and Plattner Racing everything of the best. You can’t forget the opportunity that was given. I don’t know what Mrs Plattner’s plans are and I stand to be corrected, but I think she’s got plans in motion.”
New beginnings
“I finish off on the 28th, we’re going to tie up a few loose ends and then I’m going to take a holiday with my family – we’ve never had a holiday together. When we get back, we’re going to pack up and basically we’re going to head back to Durban and I’m going to try my luck at training under my own name. It’s going to be tough, I don’t expect it to be easy, but I’ve got a fantastic support base in my wife and family up in Durban and I’m looking forward to the challenge!”
“By the middle of April I want to be back into it, even if it’s only going to sales and so on. I’ve already had great support from Gold Circle, but obviously I can’t expect anything straightaway. It’s coming up for Champions Season and boxes have already been allocated, so I need to wait for my turn. Maybe I can get a few boxes on the side just to get started and then hopefully get something in Summerveld, but I know it’s a process and I’m prepared to take it step by step.”
Unique partnership
Aldo Domeyer is the young jockey who has shared much of the journey with him and pivotally was in the saddle for Martial Eagle’s Met victory. Aldo joined the team towards the end of 2009. “Of course, back then my dad and Bernard were there, so I didn’t always get the opportunities I wanted, but Yogas and I have always done well together and I’m glad that I was able to ride for him from the start. I was really lucky to have a winner on his last day training in Cape Town. I managed to win the last and I was fighting back the tears, I was quite emotional. I guess it’s only when things change that you realise what people mean to you. As a man and as a trainer, I’ve never known anyone so loyal, and not only to me. For the Met, he had opportunities to take me off Martial Eagle, there were plenty of jocks waiting to take over, but he kept me on. My career really turned since then. It’s strange – the opportunities have just come so much easier. He set it all up for me. Hopefully one cay I can pay it back to him.”
“We’ve always had a very good relationship and we trust each other, which is really unique. Not a lot of trainers and jockeys have that. We’re more friends than trainer and jockey. When he made the decision, he was keen to know what I thought of the prospect of him going out on his own and I think he’ll do well. He’ll be able to train without restrictions or limitations and he’ll be in charge and not have anyone to answer to. It will not be easy for him to set up straightaway, but I’m pretty sure it won’t take him that long. He’s well established now and he knows how to train a horse. It would be awesome to ride a winner for him again. I think this is just the start of his career, really.”
Popular character
Yogas has always been one of my racetrack favourites. In a pressurised industry which is often fraught with emotion, win, lose, or draw, he would always greet you with a smile and be more interested in asking how things were going with you than talking about himself. When I say that I’m going to miss him terribly, he is characteristically upbeat. “Don’t you worry, we’ll be seeing each other soon. You can come interview me when I win the July!”
I tell him he’s got himself a deal.
