Spies’ legacy is on the rise

Danie Toerien

Saturday is the start of the new racing season in South Africa and for trainer Corne Spies, it is also the start of a special new chapter in his career.

His son, Xander, has officially become a trainer and has joined forces with his father, becoming the third generation of trainers from the Spies empire.

Talking to Corne, it is obvious he could not be more proud.

“I took out my licence in the year that I turned 30 and Xander is turning 30 this year,” said Corne.

“Time flies, and the young generation must fly the flag and carry on. The younger generation also has the responsibility of drawing in the younger owners.

“The timing for the new partnership was not just a matter of chance. It was planned to coincide with the first day of the new season. Hopefully we can get off with a bang. At least we have a few with a chance.”

Added Xander: “We worked it out this way. We made sure everything was done and dusted beforehand and timeously. New season, new partnership.”

According to Xander, he has been assistant to his dad since 2020, “but I have been a stable employee from the age of 16. That’s 2013,” he said.

“I obviously also thought about going into training on my own, but then you end up going into competition with your own family, and I don’t like that idea at all. It will always be much better to pool resources, contacts and the knowledge we have built up.

“I prefer being in partnership with my dad rather than competing with him.”

Corne also has a daughter, Carmen, who lives in Cape Town and “draws pictures” for a living. A successful animator who works for an international company, Corne jokes that “she’s probably the only one with brains in the family”.

While the Spies siblings, like most, are very divergent, Corne adds that they always keep this in mind when looking for horses, as siblings do tend to have unique personalities and interests.

“In the racing industry we also see elements of this. People want to buy horses at the sales because it might be a brother of a good horse. But the fact is, if I my brother is a brain surgeon, will you allow me to also operate on you?” he quipped.

“There are no set rules with siblings.”

And while talking about buying horses, Xander explained their mindset in noting the upcoming August sales.

“We go through the catalogue, but our methodology revolves around going to look at every horse and scoring them according to their build, look, etc.

“Breeding is not everything. Sometimes a horse looks great in the catalogue, but it’s not very good looking standing in front of you. And vice versa. We do take the breeding into account, but we take a holistic approach.

“Most of our best runners have come using this system or methodology in choosing horses.”

The Spies yard is currently home to 43 horses, while “there might be a couple leaving us due to retirement or going off to breed,” said Xander, “but the August sales are upon us and we hope to get a few there. Our maximum capacity is 50 so we could find ourselves filled to the brim.”

Said Corne: “Considering where our yard is at the moment, we believe it is a great time for this new start.

“We have concentrated heavily on the quality of horses we have bought in recent years. We haven’t bought that many, but what we have is of high quality. We have bought some promising young ones and we are hoping they will continue to progress well. The ones already in action seem to have good futures. So, I think the trajectory of our yard is good and we could show good growth and good results.”

Having a superstar in the yard helps, and a horse like Hazy Dazy has also contributed to keeping the Spies yard in the limelight.

“You need the good horses. If they are in your stable then the spotlight is on you. In the past, we had some being exported and retired, and when the spotlight horses walk out of your stable, their spotlight follows them and you stay behind in the dark,” said Corne.

“It’s like a conveyor belt. You have to add in at the back to get best out at the front.

“We have had a very good season, so we hope owners will continue supporting us so we can end with a strong string of two-year-olds.”

With seven Grade 1 wins to his name, Corne is optimistic this number will be increasing sooner rather than later.

“Let’s hope we can rattle off another seven this season,” joked Corne. Asked if he is not perhaps being a bit greedy, he replied: “I didn’t say 14.”

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Xander Spies is also a lawyer.

He graduated in 2019, did his articles at a law firm in Randburg for two years and then practised for about two years.

Xander stepped out of working full time at a law firm about two-and-a-half years ago to focus on training.

He says his “love for admin work” contributed to his decision to focus on training, although he does consult for private clients. He advises in his private capacity, when possible, especially regarding contractual law.

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According to Xander, team Spies moved from the Vaal to Randjesfontein at the beginning of the decade, and with father and son living in Centurion and Pretoria East respectively, it does make life much easier for them.

“It (training at Randjesfontein) has its pros and cons. When it comes to keeping clients happy, it’s easier to have clients coming to look at their horses at Randjes, because most live in the cities. Also, when you want to sell a horse, it’s much easier for people to do the viewing at Randjes.

“The Vaal does have a much more relaxed atmosphere, also for the horses,” added Xander.

While neither father nor son have any stand-out hobbies, Xander does say reading is one of his other passions.

“We are more providers of hobbies than hobbyists,” said Corne.

They are also not people of superstition, although Corne does sometimes wonder about the green silks: “When my father (Tobie) took out his silks in 1979, he chose green colours. The woman working at the jockey club at the time, a Mrs Wessels, said he shouldn’t take the green, because it’s bad luck. I can’t help but wonder if we would have won many more races had our silks been blue or red.”

While the third-generation Spies trainer takes to the track on Saturday, the one question that had to be asked was if there is a fourth generation in the wings.

“Not that I know of,” joked Xander, while his father was quick to add: “Hy sal moet opskud.”