The first 3yo filly to win the Sun Met in over a century, Drakenstein star Oh Susanna looks set to follow in the golden hoofprints of another fairer sex product of Australia in the champion Igugu, when the lights are dimmed in advance of the SA Horse Of The Year trophy presentation at the Equus Awards at Emperors Palace on 14 August.
A high-class daughter of Galileo, Igugu was crowned SA Horse Of The Year in 2010/11.
She was acquired by multiple SA Champion breeders Summerhill Stud as a weanling in Australia and reoffered at the 2009 Ready To Run Sale in Gauteng, where Andre MacDonald went to a million rand to buy her.
Igugu
Igugu won the Gauteng SA Triple Tiara for Mike de Kock before going on to win the 2011 Vodacom Durban July. She won in the silks of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa al Maktoum who bought a fifty percent share earlier in the season and raced her in partnership with Andre and Joyce MacDonald.
All the Equus winners – 2001 to 2017
Fast forward seven seasons of South African-bred male domination of the Horse Of The Year trophy that saw Var superstar Variety Club win it twice, whereafter Snaith Dynasty sons Legislate and Futura were followed by a double by Greys Inn champion Legal Eagle, and it is time for the mantle to transfer to new blood – it surely looks done and dusted for the magnificent Drakenstein-bred Street Cry filly?
Oh Susanna is out of the USA six-time winner Sharp Susan (Touch Gold), who was purchased for A$1 million in foal to Street Cry in 2012.
The only treble Gr1 winner last term – she won all of the Paddock Stakes, Sun Met and the Woolavington 2000 – Oh Susanna takes on her accomplished, albeit unlucky stablemate Snowdance in the Champion 3yo Filly category and could also win the Champion Middle Distance section, where her male counterparts each won a single Gr1.
The Equus Awards voting panel, who have assured us that their decisions are based on graded races, and in particular Gr1 races, is comprised of Matthew Lips, Robert Garner, Roger Smith, David Thiselton and Larry Wainstein as non-voting chairperson.
They met at Greyville on Super Saturday evening, after a day where the likes of the 2yo’s Soqrat and Return Flight, and rejuvenated stayer It’s My Turn, look to have secured their titles.
The latter is the only other nominee in his longhaul division with Gr1 SA Derby winner Hero’s Honour. The SA Derby – the only distance Gr1 in a country with seemingly little appetite in that domain – is restricted to 3yo’s and given It’s My Turn’s late season hat-trick flourish, it is difficult seeing the panel deviate from their Gold Cup benchmark of recent years.
Hero’s Honour wins the SA Derby
The Champion 3yo Colt category is a tightly contested one, judging by the eight nominees published.
SA Triple Crown bridesmaid Surcharge won the Gr3 Tony Ruffel Stakes and beat subsequent Gr1 Vodacom Durban July winner Do It Again to win the Gr1 Daily News. Do It Again also won the Gr2 Daisy Guineas. Gr1 Investec Cape Derby winner Eyes Wide Open also won the Gr2 Peninsula Handicap in open company. Interestingly, Undercover Agent was the only 3yo to beat older horses in a Gr1 at weight-for-age when he won the Gold Challenge. He ran second in the Gr1 Champions Cup on Saturday, beating Eyes Wide Open.
The Champion Sprinter category could also give the panel a headache.
Computaform Sprint winner Attenborough – has a shout
Will Pays won the Gr1 Mercury Sprint on Saturday, beating the Gr1 Computaform Sprint winner Attenborough. Will Pays could hold the edge as he also won the Gr3 Spring Spree Stakes and the Gr2 Hawaii Stakes
In the racing human categories, Lyle Hewitson (with both the champion apprentice and jockey title), trainer Justin Snaith and owner Drakenstein Stud inscribe their own names on the silverware and are not subject to the panel’s foibles with the stats on the board.
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