Trainer Profile: Piet Steyn

As the 2024 calendar was thrown into the bin, and a fresh new one for 2025 was hung on the wall, it marked the 44th year that Piet Steyn had held his trainer’s licence. If ever there was a fitting expression of someone standing the test of time in this rollercoaster sport, he is exhibit A.

Steyn is still to be found most days at his Milnerton stables, where he oversees a string of 16 horses. Or so I thought. “Actually, today another four horses have arrived, three of them babies, so I’m now up to 20,” he said while we caught up on the season.

It’s been a productive 2024/25 for Steyn, who took put his licence in 1981 after completing his “stable articles” with the late Peter Kannemeyer. In fact, as we turned that new calendar over to February, he was sitting with 10 wins for the season at a rate of nearly 14 percent. 

That figure, halfway through the campaign, puts him in a strong position to have his best season for a number of years. His last five seasons have seen him saddle five, 10, 12, six and 11 wins, respectively, back to pre-Covid.

For someone who has been there, seen that and got a collection of T-shirts, things are again looking up for Steyn, who was often seen in the winners box with quality horses like Queen’s Elect, Jungle Warrior, Justerini and Double Vodka, while he also produced Gitano to finish second in the Hollywoodbets Durban July. Those names won’t be lost on those who enjoy a tipple or two!

It’s true that Steyn experienced hardships and setbacks along the way, but the man is a born horseman and fighter and on World Sports Betting Cape Town Met day he saddled Meu Capitano to one of the shocks of the afternoon, when jockey Gavin Lerena brought the outside up the straight with a sustained run to collar the hot favourite Snow Pilot.

Meu Capitano was sent off at 14-1, but the win didn’t surprise Steyn who has a high regard for the four-year-old. I was trying him over 1400m for the first time but had no doubts he would get the trip. “I think punters tend to follow the ‘bigger’ yards, and let Meu Capitano loose at those odds. He’s now a five-time winner and I have no doubt he’s got more in the tank. While it’s always great having a winner on WSB CPT Met day, he’s by no means my first on that particular big day!”

Steyn has allways flown the flag for the so-called smaller stable, but he’s produced some stars over the years. Katak was one of those, becoming only the third horse to win the Winter Series, in 2000, after Pocket Power had become the first. 

Katak was unbeaten in five local starts before owner Marsh Shirtliff sent him off to Singapore. There he won three more times, but Steyn is adamant that had he not had his injury and misfortune along the way he would have won multiple group ones.

After Katak came Gem King, also in Shirtliff’s silks. He won two legs of the Winter Series, beating the likes of Future Prince and Winchester Mansion in the process. The seventh win of Gem King’s career came over 1200m at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth in January when he was sent off at 100-1 on his return from suspensory ligament damage.

With Steyn enjoying a successful season, it could be said that this is a whole new chapter in his four-decade-plus career as a trainer. Eight different horses – half of his stable when we started the conversation – have found the winner’s box, with the three year-old Garrix winning twice and possibly destined for bigger things. 

Steyn feels that the turnaround by Cape Racing has also breathed new life into the sport in the region. “Without the backing of Greg Bortz and Hollywoodbets, then racing down here could well have gone under. We all know that’s no exaggeration. There are more owners coming into the sport because they are able to get a return on what they are spending with higher stakes. There is a real belief that racing is in a healthy state and that’s good for everyone.”

Racing’s turnaround has also ensured that there is space for the “smaller stables”. Steyn doesn’t mind that tag. He’s lived with that perception for years and it doesn’t faze him. “I’ve got some nice quality in the yard and while I had problems with stock, things are turning again. I’m not scared of what other trainers have got.”

Ever the competitor and complete horseman, Steyn has no need to take a backseat to anyone. Which is why the 2024/25 season is shaping up to be his best in recent years and beginning to draw comparisons with the halcyon days.

Piet Steyn’s 2024/25 winners (8)

Bluff On Bluff (x2), Garrix (x2), Gem King, Hope Chest, Love Story, Meu Capitano, Miss Marguerite, Prince Of Tibet