Whether it is the stars aligning, a confluence of genetic characteristics, or a combination thereof, sometimes certain bloodlines just seem to click.
Smanga Khumalo drives Green Sapphire to victory in the HKJC World Pool Gr2 Tibouchina Stakes (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
Take for instance last weekend’s stakes winning duo Green Sapphire and Malmesbury Missile. Both sired by champion sire Gimmethegreenlight, these Drakenstein-breds share more than one common ancestor on the female side of their pedigrees.
Already a winner of the Gr3 Umzimkhulu Stakes, homebred Green Sapphire overcame a rough trip to claim the HKJC World Pool Gr2 Tibouchina Stakes.
She is out of Trippi’s daughter Sapphire Gem, while her grandam is the Gr1 winner Sparkling Gem, who in turn is out of Crystal Chalice, a daughter of Royal Chalice.
The latter failed to win, managing just a couple of places at three and four, but in Sparkling Gem, she bred a proper horse.
Malmesbury Missile (Richard Fourie) made up many lengths from near last to win the Hollywoodbets Sharks Listed Gatecrasher Stakes (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
A stakes winner at two, this daughter of Joshua Dancer became a classic winner when she claimed the Gr1 Cape Fillies Guineas at the expense of champion Mother Russia and like her granddaughter, also won the Gr2 Tibouchina Stakes when it was run at Clairwood.
Excellence in a pedigree may skip a generation and, whereas Sparkling Gem has yet to emulate herself as a broodmare, her one-time winning daughter Sapphire Gem is proving to be a jewel for Drakenstein, as Green Sapphire is her third stakes winner.
By Trippi, who is becoming increasingly conspicuous as a broodmare sire, Sapphire Gem has also produced Gr2 Concorde Cup winner King Of Gems to ill-fated Kingsbarns, a Gr1 winning son of Galileo who died at the age of eight, leaving just three small crops. Sapphire Gem’s liaison with Futura yielded the fine staying filly Pink Tourmaline, a winner of both the Gr2 Track And Ball Oaks and Listed Ardmore Jamaica Handicap.
Green Sapphire’s third dam Crystal Chalice is out of the grand import Flying Snowdrop – seen here led in by Graham and Rhona Beck after the 1984 Stuttafords Gr1 Cape Fillies Guineas (Pic – Supplied)
Green Sapphire’s third dam Crystal Chalice is out of the grand import Flying Snowdrop, whose seven wins in the famous Beck silks included the Stuttafords Gr1 Fillies Guineas.
By the way, this female line has done well in South Africa, for it is also that of the multiple Graded stakes winner Asiye Phambile, who was recently pipped on the post in the Gr1 SA Fillies Sprint.
She traces to Flying Snowdrop’s stakes winning Danzig half-sister Magic Gleam, a leading three-year-old filly in England in 1989 and dam of imported Flying Magic, who in turn bred Listed Breeders Guineas victress Cast A Spell, the dam of Asiye Phambile.
Malmesbury Missile, named in honour of famed Springbok rugby player Pieter-Steph du Toit, made an emphatic statement when he turned on the afterburners in the straight from near last to register a sparkling victory in the Hollywoodbets Sharks Listed Gatecrasher Stakes.
He is the 20th individual stakes winner of the season bred at Drakenstein, and it would come as no surprise to see him in the line-up for the Gr1 Premiers Champion Stakes on Hollywoodbets Durban July day.
Let’s look at his female line. He is out of Gabor, the country’s Champion Juvenile filly of 2019, who earned Gr1 honours when she justified favouritism in the Thekwini Stakes.
The link! 1988 Rothmans July winner Royal Chalic (Pic – Supplied)
This is where it starts to get interesting, for like Green Sapphire’s half-brother King Of Gems, she is by Kingsbarns and is out of Trippi’s stakes-placed daughter Se Agabor, whilst the next dam, Roxy Cafe, is by, yes, you guessed it, Royal Chalice.
Horse of the Year and Champion of his generation as a three-year-old with victories in the Gr1 SA Guineas, Schweppes Challenge and Rothmans July Handicap, he proved to be by far the best stallion son of champion Royal Prerogative and counts Gr1 winner Morisco and the SA Oaks winning sisters Royal Prophecy and Noble Destiny amongst his stakes winners.
He also tasted success as a broodmare sire, his daughters producing notables such as Durban July winner Hunting Tower as well as the Gr1 scorers Gypsy’s Warning (out of an own sister to Royal Prophecy and Noble Fortune), Master Plan, abovementioned Sparkling Gem and Roxanne (a half-sister to Se Agabor).
He also appears in the female lines of black type winners Queen Forever (also by Gimmethegreenlight) and top Gqeberha galloper and Durban July entry My Best Shot.
Whether one regards it as logical, a huge stroke of luck, or a work of genius, the matings which produced Green Sapphire and Malmesbury Missile have paid off handsomely for Drakenstein.
