Laurence Wernars’ Streak of Success:
From Humble Beginnings to the Winners’ Circle
Laurence Wernars has a success story that mirrors the rise of many great business leaders. From a modest, middle-class background, he built his clothing empire from the ground up through hard work and determination.
Above: Laurence likes to have his horses close. (JC Photos)
As a racehorse owner, his success on South African tracks has grown almost in parallel with his achievements in the business world. He is respected and revered not only for his prowess in the retail sector, but for having kept his feet firmly on the ground. He is as unassuming and approachable today as he was when he started his career as a fabric salesman in 1984.
Laurence had aspirations for a university education, but financial constraints made enrolment impossible. When he was in Standard 6, his late father lost the family’s tomato farm in the old Northern Transvaal region of Duiwelskloof (Modjadjiskloof), because it was impossible to compete with bigger, neighbouring farms. After matric, Laurence completed his military training and, in 1983, joined Scotford Mills as a sales representative. After a few years he moved on to the former market leader, SA Clothing.
Laurence told: “This company was owned by Martin Sternberg (incidentally a prominent racing man at the time) and Abe Dubin. I was earning a 7.5% commission and one day they called me in and said, “Your commission is more than the salaries paid to our directors!” I said, “Well, yes, but I don’t have an annual profit share of the company!”
Having dealt closely with the major clothing retailers, including Edgars and the old Sales House, Laurence decided to take a chance by venturing out on his own. He founded ‘Beaver Canoe’, selling men’s clothing, with the Canadian Maple Leaf as its logo. He had to rely on a bank overdraft of R10,000 to start on a wing and a prayer, but the business boomed. “I bought and sold Beaver Canoe for a tidy profit and at age 36 I was on my way with enough money to take life easy.”
With his keen eye for business, Laurence quickly realised that early retirement wasn’t in his cards. He was determined to build something substantial, and set out on a new path with renewed purpose. He founded Studio 88, retailers of branded leisure, lifestyle sporting apparel, followed by a series of successful spin-offs, including Skipper Bar, Side Step, John Craig, and several Adidas stores. As the new millennium unfolded, the business expanded rapidly, growing into a nationwide presence with 960 stores. In 2022, Laurence and his partners, RMB Ventures, sold a 70% stake to the listed Mr Price Group, marking the culmination of his entrepreneurial journey.
Reflecting on his success, he offered this advice to start-up entrepreneurs: “Follow your dreams. If you believe you can make it, and tell yourself that you will do so, you will make the right decisions that will take you to your goals.”
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The horse racing bug had bitten early. As a youngster, Laurence was regularly given a spare R10 by his father and another R10 from his late brother to place their bets on race days. He invariably turned that into R180 or R200 on a day, good pocket money at the time, and became a shrewd punter.
Laurence married then veteran racehorse owner Joe van Streepen’s daughter, Tessa, in 1987, and had an opportunity to manage some of his father-in-law’s racing and breeding stock as a part-time interest. Van Streepen owned many winners over many years. At the time his best was the grey filly To The Brim, who finished second in the Listed White Horse Invitation Stakes.
In 1994, Van Streepen offered Laurence a 50% share of a young, home-bred colt called Hard Ball, who was to be his first racehorse. He was by Noble Ambition out of Milkshake, by Rainbow Dream, who’d won a single race for Van Streepen in 1990 and was retired to stud. “We sent Hard Ball to trainer Cliffie Otto, who soon reported that he liked what he’d seen from the colt in work. Cliffie lined him up to win first time out, and told us to have a bet.”
Back in the day, Otto was renowned for landing betting coups. He had a rule, and Laurence explained: “Cliffie told us, ‘you back a horse only once. You have a full go, and that’s it. After that, you leave it to earn stakes.’ I was on a business trip when Hard Ball made his debut at the Vaal in September 1994, but I had a big bet on him to win, as big as I could go. I was having breakfast at Trump Towers in New York when the race was run, but I managed to listen to it on my phone. Cliffie had booked the seasoned ‘money jock’, Paul Whitmore, for the ride and Hard Ball’s odds shortened into 13-10. He won well and I was ecstatic, so far away!”
Hard Ball won three of his first four starts and Laurence joked, “I backed him every time, against Cliffie’s original advice. Show me the punter who listens to advice, anyway!”
Above: Laurence Wernars (right) with Johan Janse van Vuuren and Gavin Lerena (JC Photos)
Over the next several years, Laurence had a handful of decent runners that won races, here and there. But horses, breeding and racing became more important as a sport and a hobby when he joined forces with Johan Janse van Vuuren in 2012. “Johan had cut his teeth under top trainer Geoff Woodruff and I believed he was the right young trainer to partner with. I made the right decision. Johan has delivered top results for us and I’ve learnt a lot from him about racing, form and pedigrees.”
Laurence owned a number of top-level runners between 2012 and 2020, including Divine Odyssey, Doosra, Second Base, Irish Pride and the superb New Predator. Then there was Mighty High, who beat Celtic Sea in the 2018 Grade 1 Allan Robertson Championship.
Above: Laurence, Justin Vermaak and Johan Janse van Vuuren at sales grounds. (Candiese Lenferna)
At this juncture, Laurence asked up-and-coming bloodstock expert Justin Vermaak to streamline his racing and breeding activities and said: “Justin changed the game for me. He took my racing operation to a new level.” Their association yielded Grade 1 success with the stalwart Puerto Manzano, a ‘cheapie’ Justin had come across in Argentina, in 2019. He’s won 11 races to date, including the 2022 Grade 1 Summer Cup.
“We started buying better horses for better value. At one stage there was a perception that only runners bred from Fort Wood or Jet Master mares would give an owner a chance at the big time, but we started looking at yearlings out of well-performed mares from other sires. Importantly, we also started buying good fillies in training when and where we could find them. One such filly was the sprinter True To Life (Duke Of Marmalade), who went to stud after finishing second in the Grade 1 SA Fillies Sprint. She has already produced two colts by Vercingetorix and we have high expectations.”
Laurence’s broodmares are kept at Maine Chance, Narrow Creek, Winterbach Stud, Syrilla and Millstream Farm. Last season his mare Explosive Kiss (by Captain Al) produced Grade 1 Gold Medallion winner, Proceed, and more recently Alinga (by Rock Of Gibraltar) produced Grade 1 WSB Cape Fillies Guineas winner Fatal Flaw (New Predator). Laurence also bred (and owns) Gimmefabulous (Gimmethegreenlight – Being Fabulous), and Salenio Peninsula (Vercingetorix -Negroamara), first and second respectively in the Grade 3 Mother Russia Stakes at Turffontein last Saturday.
Across the board, Laurence and his partners have 120 horses in training and 50 broodmares spread across various farms. He holds several existing stallion shares, and is going to buy into Point Lonsdale (by Australia), who will stand at Maine Chance.
Laurence said: “I love to share my passion by racing in partnership with others who are passionate about the game, including Harry Willson, Mukund Gudjadur, Rikesh Sewgoolam and a few other partners. I’ve also given shares to some close friends, just because I want them to experience the joy that I experience so often. I live in Johannesburg and I support 4Racing because I enjoy being close to my racers. I can see them in the flesh.”
He said about the future of racing in South Africa: “There are positive things happening, as we’ve seen. I am not going to elaborate, we’ll keep that for another time, but I will say again that it is my wish to see a unified South African industry. I believe that there is strength in unity.”
On the topic of attracting new money and fresh talent to the sport, Laurence remarked: “There’s plenty of money circulating, but it’s concentrated at the top of the pyramid. The younger generation—the ones we hope to bring into the fold—are often economically disadvantaged. They simply don’t have the means to participate. Those who do have it, tend to prioritise partying above all else. They enjoy coming to the races, but more for the glitz and glamour than the sport itself.
“The only way we’ll generate interest and investment from the influential black market is if we can get more young black role models into horseracing, for example businessman Patrice Motsepe or soccer star Siphiwe Thsabalala. But they look at the game differently than we do. There is work to do to get them involved.”
Despite his high profile, Laurence enjoys interacting with the regular on-course punters. “People come to me at the track to ask me about my horses. Some of them have a last R100 to place a bet and I help where I can, because I want them to win. But I don’t always get it right. Last Saturday we fancied Chasing Happiness to win the Pinnacle Sprint and we put the money down, but Barbaresco surprised us over a distance well short of his best, and he was drawn on the wrong side of the track. It happens!”
Laurence recalled a day he met a Hong Kong Jockey Club executive in the betting queue at a race meeting at Randwick Racecourse in Sydney. This individual was placing a bet every few minutes on races around the world. He was running around like a busy little ant. “I asked him why he was so active and placing so many bets and he replied, ‘I am a humble addict. I just love this game.’ Those words stuck with. I’d like to borrow the expression to describe myself. I am a humble addict. I am fascinated by racing, it consumes me.”
Laurence’s son, Jarryd, and daughters Teneille and Montana have also learnt to enjoy the sport of racing – Jarryd more so than the girls. They, Laurence joked, “are still in the party stage of racing”. But they’ll all be getting more involved over time, because their dad’s blood is in their veins.
“I want to leave a fund for them to continue my racing interests one day. Racing has taught me that passion fuels perseverance, and perseverance opens doors to possibilities we might never have imagined. It’s all about having fun, and I sure am!”