Scottsville’s biggest day of the year has dawned slightly cloudy but with the going good and the country’s best sprinters in action we are all looking forward to a big one.
And one set of silks to follow could be the ‘Springbok’ Jooste flag.
The Encosta de Lago colt Delago Deluxe started the extraordinary Ingrid and Markus Jooste sprint to glory when he won the then Gr1 Golden Horse Casino Sprint in 2012.
Trainer Charles Laird trained the winners three years on the trot for South Africa’s champion owners – winning it again in 2013 with Contador and in 2014 with Normanz.
Dennis Drier trained the 2015 Gr1 Tsogo Sun Sprint winner for the Joostes when current Klawervlei stallion Captain Of All was an impressive victor.
Captain Of All – 2015 winner
He is thus the second stallion to follow in the Jooste years from this race with Newhaven Park in Australia recently announcing that Delago Deluxe will stand for an unchanged fee of A$11,000 in 2016.
A dual Gr I winning son of champion sire Encosta de Lago, Delago Deluxe has been a runaway success at this year’s yearling sales, achieving remarkable returns on service fee.
“Newhaven Park believe that maintaining the same covering fee will allow those breeders who have supported Delago Deluxe in his first three seasons at stud to continue to support him”, said John Kelly.
“He will have a book that is restricted to 140 mares simply because we believe it gives everyone a good opportunity to get their mare in foal and to sell the resulting progeny. In that way we are probably a little different to some of the other farms,” Kelly added. Delago Deluxe has had 12 yearlings sell so far this year for upwards of A$100,000 and six of those have sold for upwards of A$200,000 with two yearlings fetching A$250,000 at the Magic Millions yearling sale
Delago Deluxe
At the 2016 Magic Millions Yearling Sale, Delago Deluxe had 10 yearlings average $169,000 and was second to only I Am Invincible in terms of the most profitable sires. He returned over 15 times his 2013 fee of $11,000.
He was the leading first season sire by average at Inglis Classic where nine yearlings averaged A$60,000 and finished the season with a flourish when his lone entry at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, a colt from Aemilee, sold for A$240,000.
Across all sales this year, Delago Deluxe has had 33 yearlings average A$93,455. His stock have been bought by the best judges in the business and will enter the stables of leading trainers such as Gai Waterhouse, David Hayes and Tom Dabernig, Tony McEvoy, Peter and Paul Snowden and Chris Waller.
“We’ve had positive feedback from the breakers and he was the Champion 2YO Colt in South Africa so there is every reason to be optimistic he will make an impression as did Encosta de Lago’s former brilliant son Northern Meteor, who was the Champion First Season Sire in 2013.”
Delago Deluxe has good follow through numbers for his second and third crops, so if these rising two year-olds come out running, broodmare owners that have supported Delago Deluxe will be holding all the aces.
“The success of any young sire is achieved through the support of broodmare owners and we are mindful of rewarding those breeders,” concluded Kelly.
