Bezrin
One of South Africa’s most dynamically exciting and best value stallions, Bezrin, has arrived to rock the cradle of South African breeding excellence. The Western Cape horseracing and breeding fraternity recently bid a warm welcome to one of the last sons of Danzig to stand in Africa. Bezrin will stand at Spencer Cook’s farm, The Rock, in Paarl.
The Listed Stakes winning Group placed Bezrin is the real deal in any language. And he now gets the chance of a lifetime to build on his burgeoning career as the best value stallion at stud in South Africa.
Quality
He was a lightly raced high quality racehorse and has a top international pedigree. As one of the last sons of Danzig to stand in Africa, and now a proven sire who has produced superior runners each year, the uncertainty has been eliminated – but the value remains. He consistently upgrades his mares with a very high percentage and finished last season as the leading sire in KZN on AEPR. His progeny, which include the likes of 2010/11 Eastern Cape Horse Of The Year and Champion Older Horse, Celtic Fire, Champion Stayer and former Champion Juvenile, Thunderflash; brilliant seven-time winning sprint demon, Tetelestai; the five-time winning All Ablaze as well as a host of other top performers. He also provided six KwaZulu-Natal Breeders with their top earners of the year.
A glance at his race record shows that six of his nine starts were at Europe’s top race-track, Longchamp. These were all in Group and Listed Stakes races, with his worst performance a fifth place when baulked for a run and finishing only 1.5 lengths behind the winner. His only other unplaced run was his first start when racing green and blinkered for the only time of his career and in which he ran on from last. It is also important to note the high quality of the opposition he met, and beat, which puts the real merit of his performances into true perspective.
Leading SA breeder Craig Ramsay bought him out of training between European seasons and is on record as saying that his biggest regret, in hindsight, was not having raced the Danzig powerhouse in South Africa, before sending him to stud.
The Rock
One man who is extremely excited and upbeat about Bezrin’s move to the Western Cape is Spencer Cook, who is one of South Africa’s most experienced and proven Stud Managers. Spencer recently opened the doors of his own operation, appropriately called ‘The Rock’ in the magnificent surrounds of Paarl.
“I am absolutely thrilled and delighted to welcome this exciting stallion to my farm. He is a beautiful specimen and his track record speaks for itself. The Rock is conveniently situated and he will fill a gap by providing the Cape breeders with a genuinely good racehorse and a top international pedigree at a truly affordable service fee. It is an honour and a privilege that he will be standing amongst the best stallions in South Africa and let’s face it, he has proven his worth by providing value through consistently achieving profits for his supporters. My door is open for business and I would like to invite owners of mares and breeders to contact me and to take advantage of negotiating a special deal,” said Cook.
Spencer may be contacted via mobile on 082 465 0852 or email on [email protected]
Family values
Craig Ramsay is the man behind Bezrin’s original acquisition and his move to New Zealand was a tremendous loss to South African horseracing. An astute horseman and businessman, he and his wife Tammy ran the Golden Acres Stud in the KZN Midlands for many years. They prided themselves on running a hands-on family business that was mindful of their client’s expectations in terms of service and return on investment. Craig is a man with a proud record of service to our industry, having done duty as a board member of Gold Circle, a member of the TBA Council, Chairman of the KZN Breeders Association and having also served on the board of the then Jockey Club of South Africa, amongst other institutions.
The Ramsays are resident in Cambridge in New Zealand these days. The town is famous for the three R’s – racing, rowing and rugby. Craig has maintained his connection to the horse, albeit on an employed basis. He is looking forward to taking delivery of his four stallions for the breeding season next week and will be managing them on a farm that he sourced for their owner. The establishment is a convenient 2.5km from Cambridge and the plan is to run it as a stallion station with walk-ins and with the odd mare staying over.
As a vastly experienced breeder and businessman, he acknowledges that this may change, however, and explains that there is already talk of ‘a few’ mares being bought, and ‘some’ sales prep for Karaka next year! While this is going on, Craig has also established a relationship with a breeder in Turkey and will be exporting the first stallion which he has sold, within the next few weeks.
He is also in the process of finalising a deal for a Lotto / retail shop in the main street of Cambridge, which, he says with a smile, will provide his wife,Tammy, with a job. Their children Alexis , who is 17 and studying towards a Veterinary Nursing qualification, and Wesley, who is 14, and at school, have settled in well to their new way of life.
Craig said that he had many friends in South Africa and kept close contact with our horseracing, which he believed still produced some of the best performers in the world . He added that he was looking forward to Bezrin making an impact in the Western Cape and said that delivering true value-for-money and producing outstanding racetrack performers, ultimately remained prudent yardsticks by which stallions could be measured.
So why look further than Bezrin?
