Former champion sire, Jet Master, winner of the Queen’s Plate in 1999 and 2000, looks set to make his influence felt at the 2020 Gr1 L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate this Saturday.
Jet Master (Rakeen – Jet Lightning)
Sarah Whitelaw writes that his Gr3 Prix du Cap winning daughter, Halfway To Heaven, South Africa’s Broodmare Of The Year last season, is represented in Saturday’s showpiece by her multiple Gr1 winning sons, Hawwaam (Silvano) and Rainbow Bridge (Ideal World), while fellow LQP runner, and recent Gr2 World Sports Betting Green Point Stakes winner, Vardy (Var) is out of Jet Master’s daughter, Cupid.
The latter is a full-sister to Jet Master’s multiple G1 winning daughter, Ebony Flyer, who ran third to Mother Russia in the 2011 Queen’s Plate.
A former South African Horse Of The Year, and one of the best stallions ever bred in South Africa, Jet Master could also make his presence felt in the Gr1 Cartier Paddock Stakes on the same day, with Jet Master responsible for Paddock Stakes hopefuls, Silvano’s Pride (Silvano) and Platinum Class (Silvano).
Master Of My Fate’s son, Twist Of Fate (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
Jet Master’s high-class son, Master Of My Fate, is responsible for a Queen’s Plate entrant, Twist Of Fate, and Paddock Stakes runner, Driving Miss Daisy.
The Jet Master/Silvano cross has already resulted in seven stakes winners, headed by the Gr1 winners, Hawwaam, Silvano’s Pride and Kilindini.
Interestingly, however, in contrast to Jet Master, Silvano is yet to sire a Queen’s Plate winner, although that could well change this weekend.
Jet Master, broodmare sire of Saturday’s Gr3 London News Stakes winner Jet Start, is no stranger to enjoying success in both the Queen’s Plate and Paddock Stakes, with his son, Pocket Power, having won the LQP four times (from 2006-2010), and his daughter, Thunder Dance, landing the Gr1 Paddock Stakes – arguably South Africa’s premier race for fillies and mares – back in 2012.
Jet Start wins the Gr3 London News Stakes (Pic – JC Photos)
The charismatic champion went close to enjoying notable success as a broodmare sire on Queen’s Plate day last year, with his maternal granddaughter, Lady In Black, finishing runner up in the Paddock Stakes, and maternal grandson, Rainbow Bridge, taking third in the Queen’s Plate.
South Africa’s Leading Broodmare Sire, by stakes, last season, Jet Master is once again clear on that list for 2019-2020, with his daughters having already been responsible for six black type winners this season, and their progeny have already earned in excess of R8 200 000.
The champion was a top class stallion, who was champion sire seven times in South Africa and also topped the Leading Sires of 2YO’s list. In total, Jet Master left behind 75 stakes winners and 22 individual Gr1 winners, and his progeny banked over R28 000 000 in earnings.
His black type winners were headed by six Equus Champions, including triple Horse Of The Year, Pocket Power, and he also enjoyed international success as a sire, thanks to the likes of River Jetez (Gr2 Balanchine Stakes) and J J The Jet Plane (Gr1 Hong Kong Sprint, Al Quoz Sprint –twice).
In terms of statistics, Jet Master’s 75 stakes winners represent 11% of his runners overall and he is also making his presence felt as a sire of sires.
Pomodoro wins the 2012 Durban July
His July winning son, Pomodoro, was South Africa’s Leading First Crop Sire of 2017-2018, while Master Of My Fate has already been responsible for high-class runners Twist Of Fate and Driving Miss Daisy in his first two crops.
Another son, Skitt Skizzle, has had limited opportunities but has left six winners (from just 11 runners thus far) including Listed Secretariat Stakes winner, Cordillera, and yet another son, the deceased Royal Air Force, is the sire of recent Gr3 World Sports Betting Cape Summer Stayers Handicap winner, Dharma – the latter having also captured last season’s Gr3 Winter Derby.
The champion has exerted a particularly strong hold on the Met, with his offspring landing the feature consecutively from 2007 to 2011 and his grandson, Rainbow Bridge, winning last year.
Jet Master, also broodmare sire of the first two home in the recent Gr1 Cape Guineas in the form of Kilindini and Viva Rio (Oratorio), is, however, not the only Queen’s Plate winner to enjoy success at stud this century.
The More Than Ready sired, Gimmethegreenlight, victorious in the 2012 LQP, made an immediate impression with the success of his first runners, ensuring he topped South Africa’s First Crop Sires list in 2015-2016.
The Gimmethegreenlight team after the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate win.
He has since gone on to prove himself a consistently successful stallion, with Gimmethegreenlight’s near 50 black type horses headed by Gr1 winners, Surcharge, Gunner and Equus Champion, Got The Greenlight. Gimmethegreenlight has enjoyed success when mated to daughters of Jet Master, with that cross producing the graded stakes winners, Green Plains and La Bella Mia. Given his sustained success, and access to high-class mares, Gimmethegreenlight looks set to go from strength to strength as a stallion.
Ill-fated champion Mother Russia left behind just a single foal, but that foal was Equus Champion, and dual Gr1 HSH Princess Charlene Empress Club Stakes winner, Nother Russia (Tiger Ridge). One can but hope Nother Russia goes on to enjoy success at stud.
