Varsfontein Stud’s exciting young sire Gimmethegreenlight became the second of the first crop sires off the mark on Sunday, when his son Skip The Red showed an impressive turn of foot to win a maiden juvenile plate over 1000m at Greyville.
Alec Forbes steers Skip The Red to a good first win
Bred by Nadeson Park, Skip The Red ran on powerfully in the closing stages to register a neck victory at just the second time of asking.
Out of the Badger’s Drift mare Peonie Paradise, Skip The Red was a R200 000 buy from last year’s National Yearling Sale.
His sire Gimmethegreenlight was a top class racehorse, who was as brilliant as he was precocious. Gimmethegreenlight reeled off four wins on the bounce as a juvenile, with his winning streak including the Listed Betting World Somerset 1200m, where he beat dual Horse Of The Year Variety Club into third.
Gimmethegreenlight
Gimmethegreenlight, a little unlucky when narrowly beaten in both the G1 Premier’s Champion Stakes and G1 Golden Horseshoe at two, trained on well to become the first 3yo in 40 years to win the prestigious G1 L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate –a race also won by seven time champion sire Jet Master.
Among his beaten rivals in the Queen’s Plate was the mighty Variety Club, who not only won the LQP the very next year but who went on to become the first international raider to win Hong Kong’s G1 Champions Mile.
Following his Queen’s Plate win, Gimmethegreenlight demonstrated his versatility in finishing third to Horse Of The Year Igugu in the 2012 G1 J&B Met.
A really handsome horse himself, Gimmethegreenlight retired to Varsfontein having won or placed in 12 of his 13 outings, and earned over R1.6 million in prize money.
One of more than 150 stakes winners for perennial leading sire More Than Ready (whose offspring include Australian sire sensation Sebring), Gimmethegreenlight is a half brother to G1 Coolmore Classic winner Ofcourseican.
His dam, Yes She Can Cancan, is a daughter of G1 Golden Slipper winner Canny Lad –also broodmare sire of triple Australian champion sire Redoute’s Choice.
Gimmethegreenlight has 8 lots on offer at this month’s Val De Vie Yearling Sale.
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