Duncan McKenzie is based in the Eastern Cape and has recently teamed up with the Hollywood Syndicate.
The affable PE trainer has a fascinating history in the sport. Duncan was born in Johannesburg on 5 May 1959. Interestingly, while most people are introduced to racing by their father or grandfather, Duncan’s biggest influence came via his dam line. “My dad came from Rhodesia and was involved in owning a couple of horses, but it’s more my mom’s side of the family that are the horsey people.” His mother was a Rugg and had 7 brothers who were all jockeys. “We were a big racing family.
You can trace us all the way back to 1934 when my uncle Albert (Allie) Rugg won the July Handicap at the age of 14 on a horse for Mr Jackie Angles called Sun Tor.
Duncan grew up in the South of Johannesburg and went to school at Forest High. “I had a friend called Greg Klerck, whose father Bill Klerck was the course manager at Turffontein along with Mr Sharp. Because Greg lived at the racecourse, we always used to go to the racecourse and after school, we’d spend our afternoons playing around Turffontein.”
We look forward to working with the stable and it will be great to have horses back in the province, running in the Hollywood Syndicate silks.
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