Champion middle distance galloper and Summerhill stallion Await The Dawn sired around 100 foals in his less than two years in the picturesque paddocks of South Africa’s champion breeders before succumbing to a heart attack in October 2014.
Await The Dawn (Giant’s Causeway – Valentine Band)
The news of his first winner at Kenilworth on Tuesday would thus have been received with a mix of joy and sadness by Mick Goss and his team after Joey Ramsden’s Morning Catch skated clear to win like something half decent on his 1200m debut.
One of only a handful of his sire’s first crop to see the track so far, the handsome 2yo gelding fobbed off inexperience and some decent opposition for victory in the hands of Donovan Dillon.
He was bred by Vanashree and Anant Singh, who race him in partnership with Stefanie Grenfell and Mayfair Speculators.
While his progeny headed the Freshman Sires’ averages at our National Yearling Sale, Morning Catch looks to have been a shrewd buy when signed for at R200 000 by Heywood Bloodstock on the 2016 Emperors Palace Select Yearling Sale. He is a third foal of the one-time winning Jet Master mare, Catch The Wind.
His sire, a son of Giant’s Causeway is one of the best bred stallions to have set foot in KZN and the beautiful bay out of a Dixieland Band/Shirley Heights mare boasted a terrific race record too.
Await The Dawn campaigned in the UK, Ireland, USA and Dubai, registering six wins over 1400-2400m and achieved an impressive Timeform Rating of 126, earning more than R6-million.
Thought by Mike de Kock in 2013 to be his ‘World Cup horse’, Await The Dawn was injured and retired that year and took up duties at Summerhill.
He was the first stallion that previously disadvantaged members of Summerhill Stud’s staff had participated meaningfully in the acquisition of, retaining part ownership. His other shareholders included the Scribante family’s Piemonte Stud.
