Meet Bakkies (Lot 78), a colt from Summerhill Stud entered for the Emperors Palace CTS Select Yearling Sale this Friday, 15 April, and one who sure won’t have rivals messing with him on a race track!
Bakkies never took any nonsense
Named after the Rugby Springbok ‘Bakkies’ Botha, this youngster is a half-brother to Rabada by Await The Dawn, the well-performed racehorse and briefly turned stallion by Giant’s Causeway who died in a freak accident while covering a mare in October 2014.
At the time, stallion master Greg Muir commented: “You spend your life looking for a horse like Await The Dawn, who pulverised top-class opposition with uncommon ease.
“He was booked to capacity on the strength of both his own great appeal and a fantastic first crop of foals. He was as fertile a horse as I worked with, and I guess his unusually large heart was a contributing factor to a stellar career. There’s no replacing an Await The Dawn, but at least we’ll have some terrific foals to remember him by.”
Lot 78 – Bakkies
Summerhill’s Tarryn Liebenberg, in charge of the former Champion Breeders’ draft at the Sale, commented: “Await The Dawn sired his first crop and just 20 others before he died so his foals are rare, they will be collector’s pieces. He stamped them well, they are scopy, athletic horses with a European look.
“We’ve stuck with the sporting theme with this offspring of Jordie, following Rabada. Bakkies is probably the pick of our seven Await The Dawn lots at CTS Select.”
Also in the Summerhill consignment are a filly and a colt by dual European Gr 1 winner Linngari, who stood in Brazil and France before joining the Summerhill stallion band courtesy of owner Rupert Plersch.
“Linngari has done well at stud so far,” said Liebenberg. “He gets winners in France almost every week. His first South African sired crop will go on sale next year. The pair we have at CTS Select was sired north of the line and the mares were imported. The colt (Lot 11) is very nice, takes after his sire while the filly (Lot 104), takes more after her dam.
