To Get Into The Frame…You Gotta Get A Horse
South African supporters in Dubai, March 2014.
Were You There?
Agony & Ecstacy. That’s horses in a nutshell.
As owners at the track, as punters with the Tote or Bookie, as buyers at the sales.
For us buyers finally that day is dawning again.
What’s it like? Who else has looked? What will it go for? When shall I jump in with my bid?
When you buy, you buy the wait. The hope, and anticipation.
Then finally, reality!
We just can’t help ourselves. Every year there’s something new, visions of Dubai and beyond.
Money? Who cares.
The 2014 National Sale has it all.
Big sires, proven mares.
New blood, final farewells to the old guard.
More than five hundred chances to show that you have what it takes.
So enjoy the ride this April.
And don’t forget to tick the box. After all, there will be winners!
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2014 NATIONAL YEARLING SALE PREVIEW
SCORE CARD: 277 colts, 250 fillies, 59 sires, 51 vendors, 23 full & half siblings to Gr1 winners, 18 offspring on Gr1 winning dams
THE RELATIVE SUCCESS of sire and broodmare sire combo’s in stakes winning horses tends to receive great attention worldwide.
Often the sequence is extended by using the sires of the pair, or even further back! Just what the relevance of this is isn’t easy to understand – perhaps it makes the number of occurrences larger and thus ‘statistically more reliable’. Let’s not dwell on this.
In every horse’s career there are a limited number of stakes races to compete in, certainly in South Africa. Many are restricted by sex, many are handicaps and conditions races where the playing field is anything but level. To gauge the significance of stakes wins needs a lot more than bare averages. This is not the place to do that. Instead, let’s accept some numbers from the wide world out there. On average, not more than 70% of foals make it to the races, less than 50% of foals wins a race. Some 3% of foals become stakes winners, which for top stallions will be higher, between 6% and 10%. Graded or even Grade One winners? The numbers are very, very small – even for the best stallions. Internationally, a lifetime average of one per crop would be astonishing! In South Africa the leading sires of Gr1 winners, Jet Master and Western Winter, have between one and two, on average.
Let’s assume for a moment that all this is relevant. It becomes interesting then to evaluate the catalogued progeny of sires, and see how they have done with the broodmare sires in terms of winning. In most cases the numbers are small – too small to attach real significance to it. But let’s highlight some, anyway. The larger the number of foals, the better the information – relatively speaking, of course.
Ahead of the pack are KAHAL and NORTHERN GUEST, no doubt combining often because of opportunity, as both were Summerhill stallions. From 63 runners came 48 winners and 5 SW’s, including Gr1 Champion filly Bold Ellinore (incidentally, represented with a Trippi filly, lot 194). The combination has six on the sale. A full sister (#23) to Gr2 winner Eastern Greeting (MR 104) and Gr2/3 placed Kalaam (MR 102), from 2 runners. The yearling is her dam’s 4th foal – all are Kahal fillies. There’s a half-brother (#120) to five winners including SW Alejate – the first Kahal for the dam. Lot 236 is a 3-part brother to Gr1 Spiced Gold, lot 344 a colt out of a half-sister to Promisefrommyheart, Covenant and Secret Heart. Lot 412 a full brother to Gr2/3 winner The Mouseketeer, lot 486 a full sister to a 3-time winner (and also half-sister to 2 stakes winners). Lots to like here.
SILVANO and AL MUFTI have combined in 30 runners to date, of which 20 won and 3 are stakes winners. Those three SW’s include Kings Gambit and Bold Silvano! The combination has seven on offer. The full sister to the dam of Kings Gambit has a colt (#220), making him full brother in blood to the Derby winner. There’s a half-brother (#409) to Gr1 winner Yorker, with the remainder #61, #125, #271, #339, #484.
Number-wise very small, but still unbeaten is the combo of SILVANO with JET MASTER: 2 runners, both stakes winners – including Gr1 placed Gr2 winner Silvano’s Jet. The latter has a full sister (#77). The only other bred on the cross is a filly (#305).
Another duo worth mentioning are CAPTAIN AL and BADGER LAND, with 18 runners, 15 winners, and 4 SW’s including champion filly Captain’s Lover. Just one on offer bred this way, a full sister (#523) to SW Princess Alberta (and half-sister to Gr2 Badger’s Cove).
To round off, TRIPPI with NATIONAL ASSEMBLY – smallish but promising, with 7 runners, 5 winners, 2 SW’s (the fillies Franny and Agra). On offer is a half-brother (#475) to Gr2 Fair Brutus.
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TAKE A GUESS HOW MANY yearlings have a dam, second dam and third dam who are all Gr1 winners?
We found just one, a WILGERBOSDRIFT-bred filly (#396). She’s the first foal of her dam Laverna, Champion 2yo. Second dam Enchantress, Champion Sprinter. And third dam Enchanting, the Gr1 winning dam also of Champion 2yo, 3yo and 4yo Harry’s Charm and grandam of Champion National Currency.
Cynics will no doubt say avoid that one – the sequence has to end some time, and four in row is unheard of! Oh really? One female line springs readily to mind, the one of Jallad. His dam Petrava a 4-time Gr1 winner, the next two dams both winners of the Railway Stakes in New Zealand. Jallad’s half-sister Hoeberg made it four in a row with her three Gr1 wins. Old-timers among us may be able to find more.
Opposite the cynics are the optimists, who look at two Gr1 parents in a row and say the sequence has to start somewhere. OK, so let’s see.
Australasian Oaks winner Miss Clipper is dam of multiple Champion Ruby Clipper, in turn dam of a Gr1 colt, Seventh Rock. The latter has a half-sister (#20) by top US-sire Medaglia d’Oro. Can she be the third one?
There are some great variations on the theme, though. Gr1 winning blue hen Soho Secret has a Gr1 placed stakes winning daughter, Secret Pact, dam in turn of Champion Promisefrommyheart. The latter is dam of Master Of My Fate, a probable Gr1 candidate later this season, and of a yearling colt (#524) by Captain Al. Might as well mention that the yearling’s stakes winning half-sister Justthewayyouare also has a yearling (#371) by Captain Al.
Now if only the SA Oaks would have consistently been Gr1 (and not Gr2), there might have been a few more rarities.
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HERE’S THE THING. Antonius Pius loves foreign pedigrees.
From his first crop Gr2 My Sanctuary (Pulpit mare), Gr3 Antonius du Bois (Theatrical mare), Gr3 placed Ace Antonius (Dynaformer mare). From his second crop (current 2yo’s) the unbeaten stakes winner Arria (Pursuit of Love mare, half-sister to dam of Antonius Pius!).
Of his five catalogued yearlings four fit the bill. The filly (#142) out of Arch-mare Winning Archer is half-sister to 3 winners, including stakes placed Arrow Heart. The latter is by Albert Hall, whose dam is close kin to the dam of Dynaformer, who sired a stakes winning half-brother to Winning Archer. Another half-brother, G1 placed G3 winner Gastronomical, is by Sunshine Forever, a full brother in blood to the dam of Albert Hall. Then add Gastronomical’s full sister, dam of G2 winner Black Astor (by Black Minnaloushe). Now remember Ace Antonius (above), whose dam is by Dynaformer. All rather roundabout, but perhaps significant.
Next a filly (# 218), second foal of her once raced dam who is by Orientate (son of Mt Livermore). The grandam is Champion Harry’s Charm, who was exported to the US.
Then Unbridled’s Song mare Kalinga, dam of 2 winners (from 2 runners), with a half-sister to those (#375). Finally the colt (#395) out of Lear Fan mare Lavender Lake. The youngster is a full brother to 3-time winner Lavender Landscape.
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HELD IN THE HIGHEST REGARD are broodmares who produce more than one outstanding foal.
Those that produce several Gr1 winners are known as “blue hens”. Such mares could later become a Reine de Course (Queen of the Turf), a direct ancestor of several generations of major producers. Often, having one or more of such mares can keep the commercial breeder in the headlines for generations!
Here are a few (there will be others), with several generations of great offspring in the catalogue.
Soho Secret, voted Champion Broodmare, her son London News an early international campaigner in the modern era. Most attention seems likely to fall on the Captain Al colt out of Champion Promisefrommyheart (#542). He’s half-brother to Master Of My Fate and Justthewayyouare. There are others! (#29, #220, #344, #369, #371, #402, #406, #411, #451).
Party Time won the Paddock Stakes, Fillies Guineas and Majorca Stakes. This year’s flag bearer? Possibly the Western Winter colt (#296) out of Zim Champion filly First Arrival. He’s half-brother to Champion Sprinter Let’s Rock ‘n Roll and Fillies Guineas winner In The Fast Lane. There are others! (#8, #103, #173, #273, #355, #413, #415, #508)
Lily, through daughters Miss Lily and Run For Lily. There’s an Ideal World colt (#7) out of Gr1 placed Gr2 winning mare Rememberance. And more! (#50, #122, #237, #274, #407, #509).
London Wall, voted Champion Broodmare, and dam of Champion Horse Chestnut. The latter is by Fort Wood, who has a great record with the family, although opportunity may have helped there. Eyes will on the colt (#68) by Fort Wood stallion Dynasty out of Fillies Guineas winner Sport’s Chestnut. Or maybe on the colt (#461) by freshman Noordhoek Flyer out of SA Oaks winner Monyela. Of course there are more! (#5, #42, #224, #329, #447, #464, #481).
Leucothea, mostly though daughter Let Kiss, but also Ladies Game (grandam of Jay Peg). An interesting one is the colt (#18) out of Royal Palm (half-sister to Champion 2yo Kochka). The youngster is by Jay Peg, which makes him inbred to Leucothea through boom lines of sire and dam. Then the Dynasty half brother (#346) to Whiteline Fever – from Daytona, the stud which ‘made’ the family. Or the Silvano half-sister (#504) to Dancininthedesert, out of multiple SW Pay The Piper. Also check out the other three! (#382, #459, #496)
E-family, of Argentine origin, locally made famous through sisters Empress Club, Ecurie and Epoque. Now with a promising son at stud, freshman sire Elusive Fort, who gets an additional mention for siring a half-sister to sprint sensation Via Africa (#198). Cape Fillies Guineas winner Emerald Beauty has a Right Approach colt (#279), full brother to two colts who were both Gr2 placed. All of the dams, bar one, have names beginning with ‘E’, so they are neatly grouped together in the catalogue. (#277, #283, #284, #293).
As the older brigade fades (as it has to, eventually – nature has its ways), some younger ones appear.
Enchanting, Gr1 winning dam of Champion Harry’s Charm and Champion Enchantress. A chain of three Gr1 winners, ending with Champion Laverna, leads to a Tiger Ridge filly (#396), first foal of her dam. There are three more! (#218, #470, #477)
Irish-bred Royal Academy mare Mystic Spring, dam of Champion 3yo Rabiya. She still has some way to go in terms of Gr1 winners, but the start has been great. The Jay Peg half-brother to Champion 2yo All Is Secret makes an early appearance at the sale (#36). Pride of place may go to the Dynasty filly (#468) out of Mystic Spring herself. Her Jet Master 3yo Touch The Sky won the Oaks Trial earlier this month – just to ram the message home. A family to keep tabs on, so check the rest! (#72, #432). What about 264? Too distant?
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VARDON GRIP.
Not the snappiest intro you’ve ever read, but it’s pretty hard to come by an original VAR slogan these days!
The Vardon Grip is a golfing term for a grip style named for Harry Vardon, an early 20th century champion golfer.
And #440 is named Severino, after the Spanish golf legend. Severino, golf, Var, got it?
Severino – full brother to Champion Val De Ra (404)
Trying to quantify this family is like trying to smell the colour purple. All of the yearling’s dam Minelli’s five foals to race are winners, the best being Val de Ra, Tevez and Mitra. The latter is a stakes winner of five races, Gr1 placed Tevez is a Gr2 winner, and Val De Ra has 3 Gr1 wins and an Equus Champion Sprinter Award. After a lengthy stint at stud abroad, Val de Ra is due back in South Africa soon with an Oasis Dream filly at foot and a Frankel foal in utero.
Dissect the damline if you like. Fourth dam Chrysanthemum is by German sire Lombard. This female line is famous in South Africa for Arabian Lass & relatives – see more under Drakenstein’s Trippi filly (#473).
Remarkably the third dam of Lombard and the fourth dam of Chrysanthemum is the same mare, giving close inbreeding along the bottom lines of sire and dam. Their common ancestor is Hyperion-mare Tropical Sun, third dam also of champion Vaguely Noble.
Like Val de Ra’s future Frankel foal, Chrysanthemum was imported in utero. She never raced, but when mated to Divine King she got Hachiman, one of the fastest horses ever to race in Zimbabwe, champion at 2 and 3. Hachiman later went to stud in Kenya. His full sister Northern Cross never won a race, but made her name through black-type earning Lupin, whose son Diplomat is Gr1 placed stakes winner. Lupin also is the dam of Minelli, who won four races, and could well be worth her weight in gold in paddock value.
Now there’s Severino (#440), full brother to Val de Ra. So loosen up, get a grip, and start practicing your swing. To hole this one may take some doing.
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CASES OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY are not uncommon.
When the produce of a stud enter a trainer’s stable, it is quite simple to accidently switch nametags. Fortunately the Jockey Club have a series of controls, which appear to be virtually failsafe. Hardly ever does a horse that is not a horse see the racetrack undetected. Nevertheless, racing literature is full of mischievous misrepresentations.
The most famous is perhaps the affair concerning Running Rein, a disguised 4yo who won the Epsom Derby, only to be disqualified thanks to the efforts of Lord George Bentinck. Bentinck had been largely instrumental in the cleaning up of English racing in the mid-1800’s. Curiously in the context of our current subject Jungle Class, who won her first race disguised as the British import Miss Lobkowiez, a precedent exists. In 1838 a horse called Louthenbourg won the Goodwood Stakes. Lord Bentinck, who owned the runner-up, objected to Louthenbourg on the grounds that his breeding was misrepresented. The matter was referred to the Jockey Club, where members were asked to decide on a question of racing law: “Mr Theobald’s horse Louthenbourg having won the Goodwood Stakes this year, and the pedigree under which that horse started in 1837 having been ascertained to be a false pedigree by an investigation which has taken place since the race in 1838, is Louthenbourg thereby disqualified and the second horse St Luke entitled to the stake?” It was agreed that those members of the Jockey Club who had no interest in the race (Bentinck was a member) should consider this point. Of the 13 members 8 voted that Louthenbourg should not be disqualified.
Miss Lobkowiez, or rather Jungle Class, was not so fortunate. After she had won, as a 2yo, in 3yo maiden company by a good four lengths, she had her winning stake taken away from her at a subsequent inquiry. She started at 12/10, and all bets were settled as if she had won. Her disqualification somehow infuriated the bookmaking fraternity to such an extent that they refused to bet on her when Jungle Class reappeared 3 weeks later in a Juvenile maiden race. Jungle Class, unaware of the controversy, skated in by 12 lengths – not surprisingly given that she had already beaten older horses.
Jungle Class was bred by Scott Bros. She is yet another topclass performer in the 1983 crop of champion sire Jungle Cove (Bush Telegraph and Divine Forest the other two) and the second foal of her dam Classic Art, who failed to make the frame in 2 starts as a juvenile. A full sister to Jungle Class was sold at the 1986 National Sales for a bargain R16k – buyer J H Ward will be eternally grateful for the mix up in identity, since it is unlikely that Classy Play would have gone for that price had not Miss Lobkowiez taken on her own-sister’s identity.
And here we are, almost three decades later. Jungle Class proved herself a topclass performer, as Gr1 placed Gr2 winner. She’s now direct ancestor of Gr1 Roxanne, Gr2 Polar Moon, Gr2 Lion In Winter. Her ‘cheap’ sister Classy Play became dam of evergreen Gr2 winner Black Skimmer, and is third dam of 2014 Cape Derby winner Legislate.
The family is represented with a full sister (#216) to Legislate from Cheveley Stud. That farm also has the first foal of Classy Play’s stakes placed granddaughter Cashmere ‘n Caviar (#208).
Klawervlei has a Visionaire colt (#79), the first foal of Roxanne’s stakes winning daughter Sting Operation. Also a first foal is the Western Winter colt (#200) from Rosedene. His dam is a half sister to Gr1 Roxanne, who is by Western Winter.
And finally for the family, Summerhill’s Brave Tin Soldier colt (#24) is out of a half sister to Lion In Winter.
Now all you need to do is check their chips, to make sure they are who they are.
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JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE
to get back into the water . . . . along comes Jaws! Acronym for Just As Well, the first-season sire-son of AP Indy. He’s three times G1 runner-up in US & Canada, all on turf from a mile to 2400m. Just what the doctor ordered for the South African classic races, which require just that kind of stamina aptitude in the richest Gr1 races. He has a 118 Timeform rating.
JUST AS WELL wasn’t fluke, either. He’s half-brother to the filly Rainbow View, who won at the highest level in UK and USA, rated 120. Their G1 winning dam, a daughter of Nureyev, is half-sister to E Dubai (by Mr P.) who sired a G1 Breeder’s Cup Sprint winner. Their stakes winning dam is full sister to the stakes winning dam of G1 Breeder’s Cup Classic winner Raven’s Pass, sire of Gr-winners in UK in his first crop.
Jaws has just a handful of yearlings here, four of them colts out of imported mares from Gr1 families. One of those, whose dam is a half sister to Kabool from the potent family of Fort Wood, kicks off the sale as Llot One. That’s a good number in anyone’s language.
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THE TIME HAS COME, THE WALRUS SAID, to talk of Spectrum mares.
The Gr1 winning sire of Gr1 winners in UK (and sire of sires) has to regain some of that credibility in South Africa, where he went to stud in 2006. Slowly his locally bred daughters are beginning to get progeny on the board.
SPECTRUM is a broodmare sire of Gr1 winners internationally.
In Europe Dutch Art (2x Gr1, TFR 126, successful sire), Moonlight Cloud (6x Gr1, TFR 126). In the USA Winchester (4x G1, TFR 121). In Australasia Sangster (3x Gr1,TFR 119) , Ethiopia (TFR 121), Cedarberg (TFR 122). Such ratings would put them all at the top of the tree with us, no doubt.
In South Africa, unraced Irish mare Tachina is the dam of Gr1 performer Tellina (by Silvano), while English bred mare Subyan Dreams got multiple Gr1 placed filly Felix The Cat (by Black Minnaloushe). Felix the Cat has a half-sister (#85) by Western Winter, while Black Minnaloushe is the sire of a filly (#233), first foal of a half-sister to Champion filly Consensual. Both are consigned by Varsfontein.
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SOME MATCHES ARE MADE IN HEAVEN, others by Tesio.
The story begins at the Natal Mare sale, 1998. Lot 60, Stormsvlei, in foal to Damascus Gate. The scribbled catalogue notes read “deep, lacks quarters”, but Zandvliet’s Dan de Wet snapped up her up anyway, for twenty grand.
Back in the Cape, Dan sent her to Western Winter and Freedom Land, after which she missed a repeat to Damascus Gate. With computers making inroads into mating decisions, a match to Jet Master reportedly made Dan’s Tesio pedigree program do ‘a double somersault’. It was the stallion’s first season and the fee was a low R12.000. Stormsvlei duly produced the colt that would put her name in lights, Pocket Power. After he’d been born, Dan repeated the mating, but with apparently not enough to show from his Natal mare sale purchase he put her on the Cape mare sale. Dr Kitching was the buyer, securing the then fifteen year old Stormsvlei for R12k. She was in foal with River Jetez! Dan made his money, though, as Pocket Power was an imposing yearling and topped the Cape sale of his year at R190k.
Stormsvlei found her ideal match in Jet Master, and the track exploits of her two progeny by the Champion Sire earned her dual Champion Broodmare titles. The early part of her stud career had been weird, with two colts born in mid February (6-time winner No Option, and Last Option, whose name seems to explain…).
Pocket Power was gelded, but Stormsvlei’s legacy continues through her daughters, two of which are featured here. Unraced Stormz Emprez has her first foal, a colt by Jay Peg, in training with Gavin van Zyl. At the time of writing the 2yo had placed from only 2 starts. Hemel ‘n Aarde offer a full brother (#82). Maximum Break, her 4-time winning 1999 produce by Western Winter, comes with a Silvano filly (#430) from St Helier Stud. It’s a sire x broodmare sire cross also found in Cape Derby 3rd M’lords Throat.
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ROMANCING THE STONE.
Naming thoroughbreds can be an art for some, and just plain sailing for others.
When a New Zealand bred filly by Rubiton out of Gr1 winning mare Miss Clipper had to be named, the easy way out was Ruby Clipper. She ended up as a real gem when exported to South Africa, voted Champion 2yo and Champion Older Sprinter, trained by Gary Alexander. After her racing career she found her way to Australia, where her second foal, a colt by shuttle stallion Rock Of Gibraltar, was bought by Charles Laird for a million dollars. Named Seventh Rock, he won the Gold Medallion at 2, went to stud, and has his first crop of 2yo’s racing this year.
In June 2012 Ruby Clipper, following a chequered stud career, shipped to South Africa again. This time in foal, to (Darley America) stallion Medaglia d’Oro, who had shuttled to Australia. Medaglia d’Oro, runner-up in the Dubai World Cup, is best known as sire of champion filly Rachel Alexandra, US Horse of the Year in 2009. The outcome of the mating is a filly (#20) – rubies and gold, star of my moonlight…
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SEEN ANY GOOD NAMES lately?
Naming horses creatively is an art. If you’ve seen some good ones, share them with us on the Sporting Post Facebook page.
This should be good fun!
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BEFORE THE DISCOVERY of Australia, South Africa shopped in New Zealand.
David Payne was the trend-setter, spending on behalf of Laurie Jaffee and Farell Ratner – to mention two successful owners. The purchases included many fillies, which why a host of solid lines can still be found in South Africa.
The temptation is to gush about their achievements, but we stick with one, Pompeii Court mare Happy Heiress. She started her ball rolling as a Gr2 sprinter (and runner up in the Cape Flying Ch’ship). Her daughters took it from there. Stakes winning Happy Land (Badger Land) got SA Oaks winner Happy Spirit (by Silvano). Unraced Happy Ever After (National Assembly) got Gr1 Allan Robertson winner Happy Valentine (by Silvano) as well as this month’s Gr3 Senor Santa winner Happy Forever (by Var). Our catalogue shows another daughter, Gr1 placed Gr3 winner Happy Harriet as dam and grandam of two yearling colts. Harriet has five winners to date, all by Western Winter, and comes with lot 336, an Indigo Magic (like Western Winter a son of Gone West). Harriet’s 3-time winning daughter Gaily Goes West (#315) has a Horse Chestnut.
For the record, a year-younger half-sister to Happy Heiress named Zephyr Magic contributed well to our racing, too. She’s dam of Gr1 placed stakes winners Neo Star and Dahlia’s Legacy.
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GOOD THINGS COME to those who wait.
He had his detractors, but last year’s J&B Met winner Martial Eagle must have laughed all the way to the feeding trough (and back) to see his 2013 rival Hill Fifty Four deliver a galloping master class in the 2014 renewal of the Cape flagship race. Too old, my ass!
Wilgerbosdrift repeats the winning formula, and presents a full brother to Martial Eagle (#38). This is a rich and rewarding family, whose thick seams of graded stakes winners have been mined for several generations and have fanned out into a diverse and interesting group of current race winners. The family links to Divine Jet, Carolina Cherry (dam of 2013 Equus Champion 3yo filly Cherry On The Top), Classic Flag, Redcarpet Style and Divine Jury – amongst others. The youngster’s sire Silvano has stats that do the talking for him. Particularly when the record proves that a sound, competitive 8yo can still kick Gr1 butt. Best to stake a claim early, but if you get caught in the rush, there are a few other distant family members available (#105, #308).
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THE ACCIDENTAL SILVANO.
A mare, destined for Victory Moon, ended up being covered by Silvano instead. Oops!
After the dust had settled and breeder Lyth Orford had re-worked the pedigree, she declared “If it’s a colt, it may work.” It was and it did. Pretty well as it happens, with Heavy Metal taking the silverware in the President’s Champion Challenge and the Vodacom July in quick succession. Horses will make fools of men! And he’s now gone abroad to seek his fortune, so all’s well that ends well. Percussion hails from a family tracing back to 1999 Champion Broodmare, Star Drums (dam of Drum Star and Planetary Music). Daughter Tight Drums was a 5 time winner and a gallant second to Fov’s Dancer in the Allan Robertson. She produced Skin Tight (who made recent headlines via her daughter For The Lads, in Sean Tarry’s Golden Slipper). Since the catalogue went to print, Percussion’s 2010 Global One colt has posted a win, giving her a full house of 5 winners from 5 runners.
Here Bosworth Farm offers a half-brother to the ‘accidental’ 2013 Vodacom Durban July star, this time by Jay Peg (#506). Catalogue analysts must take care to distinguish between the other Heavy Metal featured on the catalogue (#10, #448 and #449) as that is a different family altogether which traces back to Young Polly and features stars such as Young Rake, Rock Opera, Master Plan and Along Came Polly. You don’t accidentally want to end up with the wrong horse. Mind you, it seemed to work out OK last time!
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AS SIRE-SONS OF NUREYEV GO,
Zilzal (meaning earthquake in Arabic) is not the most familiar name.
Trained by Michael Stoute, Zilzal’s racing career spanned just 5 months and six races. Sold for $750.000 as a yearling, he probably is the best miler sired by Nureyev. Champion 3yo, champion miler in England, and rated Horse of the Year at 137 by Timeform. Zilzal lost just once, when starting at even money for the Breeder’s Cup Mile (the shortest priced favourite in the history of the race), beaten two lengths after missing the break in a very fast run race.
Zilzal began his stud career in Kentucky early 4, standing at a fee of $60k (in 1990). The results were generally disappointing, both in the USA and UK, where he later went. He was retired in 2005.
Zilzal’s influence in South Africa has been most interesting. His US-bred daughter Zealous Zilla produced Champions Cup winner and Daily News runner-up James Jaguar. The mare has a half-brother to James (#151) by Lateral, whose first crop are 2yo’s this season.
Zilzal’s son Among Men won the Gr1 Sussex Stakes as a 4yo, earning a 124 Timeform rating. His stud career in South Africa was short – he died after two seasons. He produced a single Gr1 winner, the filly Count The Money – and she was half-sister to Gr1 Buy And Sell and SA Oaks winner Bledloe’s Island, giving credit to their dam Trade Enquiry. That said, Among Men is the sire of the mare Western Smoke, who produced Champion 2yo Link Man from a mating to Toreador, a sire she visited exclusively for her entire career. Her yearling filly (#137) is a full sister to the champion 2yo.
Keeping the best for last, Zilzal is also the sire of French stakes placed mare Loma Preata, the dam of Var. Now we’re talking!
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HONEY BADGER.
Graham Beck’s favourite stallion Badger Land made it to Champion sire twice, in 2001 and 2004.
He’s proving to be a broodmare sire of note as well. His daughters have two stallions at stud, Rebel King (National Emblem) and Russian Sage (Jallad), and produced a string of Gr1 winners which include Viva Maria (Jet Master), On Her Toes (Western Winter), Happy Landing (Al Mufti), Jeppe’s Reef (Jallad), and the half-sisters Captain’s Lover (Captain Al) and Ebony Flyer (Jet Master). A glance at the sires of Badger Land’s fabulous grandkids show an abundance of sprint/miler speed. So let’s see what’s on offer, and what fits that bill.
Ebony Flyer and Captain’s Lover have a half-brother (#92) by Western Winter, the latter also the sire of a half-brother (#183) to Viva Maria.
Gr2 winner Badger’s Cove (Joshua Dancer) and his SW half-sister Princess Alberta (Captain Al) have a sibling sister (#523) by Captain Al, consigned by Varsfontein. From the same farm comes a Judpot half-brother (#199) to Gr3 winner True Master (Jet Master).
Five-time winning Badger Land mare Elation has 6 winners from as many runners, by a variety of sires. Her yearling filly (#275) is by Mogok. And Gr3 placed mare Wealth comes with a full brother (#135) to a multiple winner by Silvano.
Anecdotally, Badger’s Gr1 granddaughter On Her Toes is represented with her first foal, a Captain Al colt (#490). And even more anecdotally, Gr1 winner Ivory Trail, by Badger Land’s sire son Badger’s Drift, has a half-brother (#348) by Western Winter, while a daughter of Badger’s Drift (out of a Western Winter mare) can be had through a filly (#33) by Fort Wood.
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HARDLY A YEAR GOES BY without a major runner bred and raised at Varsfontein Stud in the Cape.
A lot of the success can be laid at the door of imported mares from high class families. Amazingly, many of the mare’s descendants – all high class – find their way abroad again. One such mare is Irish-bred Alexandra Bi, who won a few races in Italy. She was imported in foal to Soviet Star, resulting in SA Derby runner-up Pavlovich. Next came a filly, Alexandra Rose, by resident sire Caesour. Winner of the Golden Slipper, and placed in Fillies Guineas and Majorca Stakes, she found her way to Australia. Last year her second foal, a filly by Hussonet, was bought by Form Bloodstock and no doubt will find her way to South Africa.
Another of Alexandra Bi’s daughters, Alexandra Palace, made it to Dubai this year. She won her first start there and ended up with a 108 rating.
The next generation, with Alexandra Bi as grandam, is headed by 2yo Gr1 winner and Gr1 runner-up Forest Indigo, a son of Judpot. The latter shows up here as sire of a filly (#160) out of a full sister to Alexandra Rose (by Caesour, making for a 3×3 Nureyev cross). The beat goes on.
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UNDER THE RADAR.
With all the excitement surrounding the South African team at Meydan, the performance of a lesser known Irish trained filly went almost unnoticed. That was Pearl of Africa, a daughter of Sportsworld mare Kournikova. A Listed winner in Ireland last November, Pearl Of Africa made just two starts in Dubai, third both times in Gr2 races, the Balanchine and Cape Verdi stakes. She is by Danehill Dancer stallion Jeremy, and has a 105 rating.
Kournikova won the Gr1 Triple Tiara 1600, and was multiple Gr1 and Gr2 placed in South Africa, before being exported. All of Kournikova’s four Irish-bred foals to race are winners, including the Pearl and another Listed one in Germany (rated 101).
The family is represented through her Gr3 winning half-sister Princess Faberge, whose daughter Royal Aspen (by Fort Wood) has a Windrush colt (#16).
Another achievement to go unnoticed (and also not in your catalogue because of the timing) is that of Jet Master’s son Lizarre. He was voted Champion Older Horse in Singapore, racing for Pat Shaw. His South African record shows a third behind Irish Flame and Bold Silvano in the Daily News. Lizarre has a half-sister (#398) by Captain Al, offered by Klipdrif Stud. Lizarre’s dam is a full sister to Gr1 winning 2yo Talahatchie, and they have a half-sister (#252) by Trippi, also in the Klipdrif consignment.
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LOVE IS ALL YOU NEED.
When passions run high, it’s not always smooth sailing.
A R260k buy at the 2011 National Sale, Summerhill’s charge Love Struck was knocked down to the enigmatic Alesh Naidoo. From there he joined the Paul Lafferty yard. Or did he? With so many ups and down and care-taker trainers, it was all it bit hard to follow. Having shown himself a decent juvenile with a creditable 3rd in the Gr1 Premier’s Champion Stakes, Love Struck kicked off his 3yo career in Durban. Collecting a quick double and some black type in the Guineas Trial, he packed his bags for Cape Town, and dossed down at Shane Humby’s yard for a bit. Capetonians are known for their hospitality, and Love Struck must have found things to his liking as he duly made off with Politician Stakes on Queens’ Plate day
Next it was off to Egoli and a stint with Joey Soma. Despite stamina doubts from both Anton Marcus and trainer Laff, Naidoo stuck to his guns and the wandering winner took the honours in the Gr1 SA Classic. Which just goes to show that all you need is love.
Love Struck’s dam Particular Passion is a 5-time winner and half-sister to Gr1 placed Thandolwami. In addition to Love Struck, her 2009 filly Fakazi (by Albarahin) is a listed winner. Contrary to what her name might suggest, Particular Passion has not discriminated and accommodatingly produced winners from five different sires. Summerhill offers a half brother (#499) to Love Struck from Visionaire’s first South African crop. A grandson of Gone West, Visionaire has rock solid credentials. A G1 winner himself, his US-conceived debut crop last year produced a Listed winning 2yo and a Listed runner-up. Appropriately, Love Struck’s little brother is named Revelation.
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CLOSE INBREEDING ISN’T MUCH practiced with thoroughbreds.
This unlike the world of racing pigeons, where father/daughter and son/mother combinations are anything but unusual. Pigeon fanciers maintain that such inbreeding is a necessity to create outstanding stars. Since close inbreeding in racehorses is so rare, it is a wonder that such horses feature in major pedigrees at all. It is interesting to note that in bottom female lines of good stallions worldwide a close-up ancestor can be inbred to a mare, Medaglia d’Oro’s grandam Dubbed In a case in point.
Interestingly, South African breeders appears to be less worried these days about the perceived negative effect of close inbreeding, and are giving it a go. Klawervlei did it with a host of imported mares, some of whose yearlings were on show earlier this year. Inbreeding to the family of Lassie Dear featured prominently, and will no doubt be continued given strong representation of that family in South Africa, notably through Al Mufti and AP Indy.
Drakenstein Stud bred the filly Arria, an unbeaten stakes winning juvenile in 2014. She’s by Antonius Pius out of a full sister to the dam of that stallion – it doesn’t get much closer than that.
Now Klipdrif consigns a Judpot colt (#10), whose Gr1 placed (at 2) dam Rock Concert is a full sister to Champion 2yo filly Rock Opera, and also to SA Nursery winner Hit Song, all sired by Lecture and bred at Ascot Stud. Precocity aplenty. The dam of the trio is Drummer Girl, by Al Mufti out of a mare by Mullineaux. The latter is a full brother to Al Mufti’s sire Roberto, the pair 2×2 in Drummer Girl. Enter Judpot, whose sire AP Indy is out of half sister to Al Mufti, extending the duplications in a different direction, doubling Lassie Dear and more to the point her sire Buckpasser. The latter features in Al Mufti’s very best progeny, and he is Lecture, he is in Exceed And Excel – the sire of Rock Concert’s English Gr2 winning son Heavy Metal. And he’s in Judpot’s sire AP Indy. We wait with bated breath.
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INDIAN SUMMER.
He should have gone, but couldn’t go. Then he went anyway. Now he’ll be back. It’s a long story.
It begins at the 2009 National 2yo Sale. Gavin van Zyl buys a black colt by Mogok for Hong Kong owner Winston Chow. If he’s any good he’ll go to race in Hong Kong, the owner’s ultimate destination. The colt turns out to be good, bloody good – winning the Dingaans early at 3, which earns him a 107 merit rating. Good enough to travel east, certainly. The Apache goes into quarantine – and then the door slams shut in his face following an outbreak of horse sickness.
One man’s sorrow is another man’s luck. Back with Gavin van Zyl, and not having seen a racecourse for six months, The Apache has one prep run, then is back with a bang in June. He wins the Gr1 Daily News 2000 by a nose from Run For It, follows up with a good fourth in the July, before scoring in the Gr1 Champions Cup later that month. His South African racing career ends six months later, with a sixth place in the Met, beaten less than 2 lengths behind Igugu. Normal exports are still not possible, but at least there’s now a crack in the door – to travel via Mauritius with the team of Mike de Kock, destination Dubai, after Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al Maktoum has become a 50% part-owner. A journey from hell, but it’s the only way to get out.
The Apache impedes Real Solution in the Gr1Arlington Million and loses on on objection
The Apache emerges as good as ever a year later at Meydan, winning the Gr1 Al Rashidiya, followed by two good Gr1 seconds to Sajjhaa, in the Jebel Hatta and Dubai Duty Free. Four months later he races in the UK, fourth in a Gr2 at York. Three weeks after that he’s in the USA for the Gr1 Arlington Million. The Apache wins by a head, but is demoted to second for causing interference after apparently shying away from a large tv screen short of the finish. An unlucky loser, many said.
The intention was to next have a tilt at the $600k Topkapi Trophy in Istanbul, but in accordance with Turkish Government Regulations, the Turkish Jockey Club may not allow into their country any racehorse that had been vaccinated for African Horse Sickness (AHS), at any time prior to its intended entry. How misunderstood this AHS remains to be!
The Apache didn’t race in Dubai again this year. Rumour has it that he’ll return home to stand as a stallion.
Another year, another story. The Apache’s half brother Red Apache (by Miesque’s Approval) will be in the ring as lot 169 on Sunday. When autumn comes, everything turns to red!
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SOMETIMES IT MAKES YOU WONDER how it all works. Whether there is some devious plan to show how utterly useless mankind is when it comes to competing with nature. Take broodmares and the efforts to produce the best offspring from them. Here’s a sample.
March 1987. Equine flu ravished the racing program in the Cape and it’s the first meeting in 3 months, at Milnerton. Juveniles make their debuts. The Millard stable puts the lights out on an Argentine newcomer, Walnut, who starts at 7/10 with Coetzee in the saddle. But the 1000m race is won impressively by the stable companion, Royal Chalice, who jumps at odds of 14/1, beating Simonside by two lengths. It was the first time Royal Chalice had seen the grass. Walnut didn’t win until he was a 4yo and ended his days with Stanley Greeff in PE!
The Royal Chalice story starts in 1986, when consigned by the Birch Brothers at the National Sale. “Too small” pronounce the judges, but Millard isn’t fooled and gets the Plum Bold colt for R50k, at a sale where the best go for 200k and more. Twelve wins and a Horse of the Year title later, Royal Chalice makes it to stud.
Enter a breeder, who has imported a once-raced maiden from the USA. She’s a half sister by Belmont Stakes winner Caveat (not a sire of note) to a couple of Listed winners in the US, their dam a non-winner. Breeding with her? Good luck!
Royal Chalice gets to work, and the mare produces full sisters Royal Prophecy and Noble Destiny, who both win the SA Oaks of their year. Another full sister is a once-raced maiden. All three go to stud. Who would you rather breed with?
The maiden full sister was named Gypsy Queen. She’d been bought by Pat Shaw as a yearling for a hefty 140k at the Natal sale, following the success of her first Oaks winning full sister, Royal Prophecy. Five years later Anton Procter bought her at the Natal mare sale for 50k (in foal to Among Men), and another two years on the dispersal of Procter’s studfarm saw her change hands again, for 55k, in foal to Wolfhound. That mating produced Gr2 winner Surabi for the new owners of Gypsy Queen, the McHardy’s of Rathmor Stud. The next foal they got from the mare was Mogok-filly Gypsy’s Warning, bought by Duncan Howells at Nationals for R170k, not more than half of the fillies average at that sale. Never mind. A Gr1 win and place at 2 got her the attention of Barry Irwin. Bought privately for Team Valor, she transferred to the Ormond Ferraris yard, annexing the Gr1 SA Fillies Classic before export to the USA. After nearly a year of onerous export protocols, Gypsy’s Warning won a G3, placed in the G1 Beverly D and Yellow Ribbon, then crowned her career with a win in the G1 Matriarch Stakes. Gypsy’s Warning was sold as a broodmare prospect at Keeneland in November 2011 for a million dollars.
So there we are. The McHardy’s now throw their hat in the ring with Gypsy’s Warning’s half brother (#333) by Kahal. The dam’s full sister Noble Destiny is represented by a Dynasty colt (#482) from Wilgerbosdrift. And then there’s a maiden half sister to Noble Destiny and Gypsy Queen with a Trippi colt (#27) from Drakenstein.
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WOULD YOU RATHER
have one ticket in one lottery, or one ticket good for 78 lotteries?
The thing is, with specific one-race incentives you not only have to pick a good horse, you also have to pick the horse that’s better than anyone else’s pick at that sale! With BSA’ R7.5 million incentive for 78 different races your one ticket goes much, much further – even if you don’t have the best, you can still score big. There are 2yo races and 3yo races, even races restricted to sex. So be smart: do the homework for Nationals, and make sure you tick the box.
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ONE WHITE FOOT, BUY HIM.
Two white feet, try him.
Three white feet, look well about him.
Four white feet, go without him.
This old saying is probably based on the belief that white hooves are weaker than dark. The old-wife-tale may have come true at the 2011 Cape Premier sale, where a colt with four white socks and a blaze simply failed to find a buyer. This even though the pre-sale inspectors had noted him as one of the best conformed on the sale. One trainer took a chance post sale, for a partnership of owners. They fell out and the horse moved to another trainer. Then the partnership wanted to dissolve. A single owner was found to buy out the partners – and got his reward. The flashy horse was Contador, who went on to win seven races including the Gr1 Golden Horse Sprint. Perhaps the saying should have been reversed: One white foot, keep him not a day, Two white feet, send him far away, Three white feet, sell him to a friend, Four white feet, keep him to the end.
Contador’s half sister (#294) by Silvano may turn heads for different reasons. Apart from Contador, she has a Gr1 placed half sister, while her dam (by Fort Wood) is out of a full sister to Champion Roland’s Song.
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