Life Member – Peter van Schoor
The Racehorse Owners Association was thrilled to catch up with Peter van Schoor, the owner and breeder of SABRE STRIKE, winner of the first leg of the TAB Highveld 3-Year-Old Winter Series, the Secretariat Stakes (L) on 12 May 2024.
Peter was born in Standerton, Mpumalanga, and moved to Alberton in 1966 where he currently resides. Growing up, Peter’s father would ask him to pick a straight-line place accumulator in the newspaper every Saturday and this is how Peter’s love for racing started.
Peter started his racehorse ownership journey by racing in partnerships with a few horses in 1998. He started with SUGAR MAGNOLIA (DOLPOUR (IRE) x BOLD WEST (SAF)) and another filly named FASHION EDITION (RAMBO DANCER (CAN) x SHOPPING AROUND (SAF)), whom he then sent off to Klarwervlei Stud after her racing career and has mainly raced her offspring. These included FANZENE, a filly out of NATIONAL EMBLEM, JOAN RANGER, a HORSE CHESTNUT filly, and MISS ELEGANCE who is a filly out of MASTER OF MY FATE and has now taken over stud duties from her dam. He has also bred horses who seem to have promising careers ahead of them, SABRE STRIKE being the most recent, and CAPTAIN OF STEALTH and KAILENE who have had a few wins and places in their careers. Peter has also raced/owned KAILANI, dam of the 2024 Highveld Awards Champion Middle Distance horse, ROYAL VICTORY. Peter’s favorite racing memories include wining the Gr2 Camellia Stakes for two consecutive years (2016 and 2017) with JOAN RANGER and winning the Gr3 Magnolia Handicap with FANZENE in 2013, at 100/1 after only deciding months prior to run her in this race. Penny Kimberly trained Peter’s horses from 1998-2011, Luchelle Kruger then trained his horses from 2011-2013, and he has also had short stints with Wendy Whitehead and Geoff Woodruff. Lucky Houdalakis currently conditions Peter’s horses.
Peter is an entrepreneur and started Full Spectrum Mobility in 1991 which he still runs to date, the company manufactures prefabricated buildings. Peter married his wife Heletje in 1981 and they have two children, a daughter named Yolande and a son named Peter. The entire family loves racing and breeding and they all make a trip to Klarwervlei Stud every year when the foals are born. Outside of work, racing and breeding, Peter loves spending time on his game farm in Thambazimbi and always keeps busy by creating different things out of steel or wood, on his home built CNC machine. He is also an avid rugby and cricket fan, supporting the Springboks and Proteas.
Peter has always felt that it is important to be part of the ROA, he appreciates the support relating to matters as an owner. He enjoys the friendly and efficient service from the ROA staff and expressed how the added bonuses have come in handy.
We thank Peter for his support over 25 years and wish him all the best in his racing and breeding endeavors.
