It was a truly Super Saturday at Turffontein on Classic Day for Varsfontein Stud’s More Than Ready horse, Gimmethegreenlight.
His progeny, Lady Of Steel, Got The Greenlight and Green Haze won the Gr3 Racing. It’s A Rush Acacia Handicap, Gr1 SA Classic and Listed Drum Star Handicap respectively, while his offspring, Got The Greenlight, Green Laser and Youcanthurrylove, finished 1-2-3 in the R1 5million SA Classic, to complete a classic clean-sweep for Gimmethegreenlight.
Gimmethegreenlight (More Than Ready – Yes She Can Cancan)
Sarah Whitelaw writes that while both Lady Of Steel and Green Haze are out of daughters of Western Winter (also broodmare sire of the Gimmethegreenlight sired Zimbabwe champion, Simona, and the sire’s KZN Guineas Trial winner, Stream Ahead), champion Got The Greenlight was produced by a daughter of Commands.
The latter was a son of Danehill, whose daughters have produced five Gr1 winners by Gimmethegreenlight’s own sire, More Than Ready. Danehill’s sons Dansili, Flying Spur, and Catbird are broodmare sires of the More Than Ready sired Gr1 winners, Uni, Sebring and Entisaar respectively, while Danehill is the sire of the granddam of More Than Ready’s outstanding daughter, More Joyous.
In siring the first three past the post in a G1 feature, Gimmethegreenlight joins an impressive list of stallions to have achieved this rare and memorable feat.
South Africa’s champion sire, Silvano, accomplished this, when his sons Power King, Punta Arenas and Tellina ran 1-2-3 in the 2015 Gr1 Vodacom Durban July .
Power King wins 2015 July in a Silvano 1-2-3 (Pic – Gold Circle)
Asbestos II went close to achieving a similar feat, with his sons Cropper, Carron Oil and Amphibole running 1-3-4 in the 1942 SA Derby. Internationally, a number of the world’s top stallions have sired the first three past the post in Gr1 races, with the sire son combination of Sadler’s Wells and Galileo proving particularly prolific in such achievements.
Sadler’s Wells’ sons, High Chaparral, Sholokhov, Ballingarry and subsequent Cape sire, Nysaean, finished 1-2-3-4 in the 2002 Gr1 Irish Derby, and Sadler’s Wells pulled off the same feat when his sons, Brian Boru, Powerscourt, Illustrator and The Great Gatsby finishing 1-2-3-4 in the 2002 Gr1 Racing Post Trophy. Sadler’s Wells fillies also filled the first three positions in the 2002 Gr1 Irish 1000 Guineas to confirm his status as one of the most dominant stallions in history.
Remarkably, Sadler’s Wells’ legendary son, Galileo, has even outperformed his sire’s feats, with Galileo having sired the first three home in no fewer than eight Gr1 races thus far!
Galileo
Galileo has been responsible for the first three in all of the 2019 Gr1 Irish Champion Stakes, 2006 Gr1 St Leger, 2014 Irish Derby, 2015 Moyglare Stud Stakes, 2016 1000 Guineas, 2016 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, 2017 Prince Of Wales’s Stakes, and 2019 Irish Derby.
Another sire son combination to achieve similar success were Sunday Silence and his son, Deep Impact, (with Sunday Silence a son of Halo, the grandsire of the aforementioned More Than Ready).
Deep Impact’s latest Gr1 trifecta came when his sons, Makahiki, Satono Diamond and Dee Majesty filled the first three positions in the 2016 Tokyo Yushun (Japan Derby). Danehill Dancer sired the first three home in the 2009 Gr1 Phoenix Stakes (Alfred Nobel, Air Chief Marshall and Walk On Bye), while the mighty Zabeel was responsible for the first three home in the 1999 Gr1 Caulfield Cup.
South Africa’s Leading Sire of 2015-2016, Gimmethegreenlight’s Super Saturday resulted in his progeny banking R1 579 000 on the day and has further established him among the elite of the current South African stallion band.
To date, the Gr1 L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate winner is the sire of 23 stakes winners, and nearly black type horses in total, and, given his ongoing support, this total looks sure to climb considerably over coming seasons.
Gimmethegreenlight, whose dam was sired by Golden Slipper winner, Canny Lad, (also broodmare sire of top Australian sires Redoute’s Choice and I Am Invincible), has sired stakes winners out of mares by 15 different stallions, with Western Winter, Captain Al, Jet Master, Parade Leader and Fort Wood all broodmare sire of at least two stakes winners by Gimmethegreenlight.
His sire, More Than Ready, whose promising two-year-old daughter, Vernazza, ran second in Saturday’s Gr1 Sistema Stakes at Ellerslie, continues to excel as a sire of stakes winners, sire of sires, and broodmare sire.
The evergreen son of Southern Halo came up with his 200th individual stakes winner when his son, Sacred Empire, captured Perak’s Listed Coronation Cup back in November last year and More Than Ready’s tally of stakes winners currently stands at 202.
Sebring – another smart son of More Than Ready
His list of sire sons include Sebring, Gimmethegreenlight, Perfectly Ready, Pluck, Custom For Carlos, and Daredevil, with the latter , now based in Turkey, the sire of Saturday’s Gr3 Honeybee Stakes winner, Shedaresthedevil. More Than Ready is also the sire of Better Than Ready – the second Leading First Crop Sire in Australia for 2018-2019.
More Than Ready, whose progeny include five individual Breeders’ Cup winners, also made his mark at last year’s Breeders’ Cup meeting, where his daughter, Uni, captured the Gr1 TVG Breeders’ Cup Mile, and More Than Ready’s daughters, Miss Always Ready and Funfair, produced Gr1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf hero, Structor (Palace Malice) and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint victor, Four Wheel Drive (American Pharoah).
