THE WORM IS TURNING

“We have to believe they will find solutions,
and the smart people have already
anticipated the turnaround.”

Mick Goss
Summerhill Stud CEOEvery generation likes to claim it’s known the best of times and the worst of times. Those that grew up in the shadow of two world wars and the greatest depression in recorded history, will rightfully lay claim to that title in the 20^th century. Certainly, they’re entitled as far as the worst of times is concerned, yet there are strong parallels in what the present generation have had to endure, in particular the sufferings of the last decade in the Middle East, and the present Great Recession.

But if you’re sitting in little old Mooi River, your instincts may be different. Life, and especially in what we do, gets you up in the mornings with a spring in your step. We live in one of the world’s most beautiful places, we work among some of its nicest and most talented people, and we do so with the greatest creature the good Lord ever created.

Besides, there are undoubtedly signs that things are on the move again in the thoroughbred economy, not only locally, but in the racing jurisdictions of the world as well. The British, American and French sales bounced back significantly in the fall of 2011, while Australia has been coming back for two years now, and the Cape Premier Yearling Sale posted an average beyond R400,000, despite the liability of an extra 60 entries. America created nearly a quarter of a million extra jobs during the last quarter, and South Africa did even better relatively, with 180,000. The Rand is firming, and the big companies of the world are thriving, in contrast with the performances of many of their governments.

While it obviously doesn’t apply to every sector, and it is not quite as apparent in the small business sector yet, many multi-nationals are posting record profits, despite their governments, and it seems that that might be a hallmark of the immediate future. Naysayers keep pointing to the bubble in China which they’re sure is on the brink of bursting, and a Europe that is incapable of helping itself. The reality is the Chinese cannot afford for their bubble to burst, and Europe cannot afford a failed Greece. We have to believe they will find solutions, and the smart people have already anticipated the turnaround.

Of more relevance on the home front, the grapevine is delivering encouraging news on the performance of our racing operators. While you can’t put your hand on your heart that all of these things are 100% accurate, the trend is uplifting and the sources are generally reliable. Gold Circle looks to have posted a profit of R10 million in the first five months of operation (before the windfall of the J&B Met), and while it seems the Cape-based arm of their business continues to struggle in the delivery of positives, on the 1^st February, it entered a brave new world.

There are too many smart, enterprising people involved in Cape racing these days for it not to succeed, and with the right strategies and a fresh team to guide them, it’s in everybody’s vital interests that they should succeed, which they will. No doubt, they are relieved to be masters of their own destinies now, and we’ve faith in those whose hands will steer the ship.

While information on the performance of public companies is as difficult to access as it is to prize the fruit from an oyster, word is that the international operations of Phumelela have more than recovered the ground they lost when the British decided, after we’d shown them the way, that they were going to disseminate their own racing images. The rumour mill says Phumelela has already exceeded R100 million in its international turnovers, and has well surpassed what they were turning when they held the monopoly on the British rights. This is a tribute to the enterprise of that division, and you’d expect that if in their local operations, Gold Circle is performing as it is said to be, Phumelela must be doing much the same. Both must be accumulating healthy reserves of cash and that’s got to be the best news since baked bread.

All this bodes well for the future of the industry, and especially in promising some relief on the prize money front. If Gold Circle, now limited to its local operations only, is able to maintain its present path, owners of horses (and those associated with them) under their jurisdiction can look forward to a bonanza in the next year to 18 months.

WEEK IN, WEEK OUT, SAME OLD STORY

Ice Axe, now 6 for Charles Laird
(Photo : Gold Circle)

Emperors Palace
Summer Ready To Run Sale

The Ready To Run delivers, let’s face it.
Seven winners including a Gr1 last week.
A bunch more this week.

1st ICE AXE, now 6 for Charles Laird
1st SPEED DIAL, dazzling debut for Gary Alexander
1st ALQAFFAY, sparkling first timer for Mike de Kock
2nd ISIPHO, closing quick for Mark Dixon
2nd EXTRA ZERO, Three Troikas Stakes (Gr3) for Sean Tarry
3rd SUMMER STRIKE, smart debut for Bertie van der Merwe

22 FEBRUARY 2012 AT SUMMERHILL STUD.

Enquiries :
Tarryn Liebenberg 27 (0) 83 787 1982
or email tarryn@summerhill.co.za
www.summerhill.co.za

THE "IN" SCENE

Thoroughbred Farming in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands
(Image : Summerhill Stud)

KWAZULU-NATAL MIDLANDS
SOUTH AFRICA

It wasn’t that long ago that our district was the “in” place among investors in stud properties. Graham Beck, Cyril Hurwitz, John Ellis, Brian Jenks, Ronnie Rosen, Peter Moss, Bobby Jameson, Peter Koster, Guy Landon, Roy Meaker, Hilton Hall, Henry Khan, Ghait Schumacher, the Pappas family, they all threw in their dosh with the established entrepreneurs, the Scott Bros and George Rowles, in the plains between Mooi River and Fort Nottingham. The Oppenheimers and Gary Player were a hair’s breadth away from joining the rush for local farms, too.

While they were not in the same league in terms of resources, the young Goss brothers Pat and Mick, had just kicked off their endeavours at Summerhill, and their All-Black neighbour, Alan Sutherland and his Miss South Africa wife, Vera, secured the farm next door. It was a vibrant time in the Midlands, as it emerged from a thirty year slumber in horse breeding terms. There was a golden era in the 40s, 50s and 60s, when great farms like Hartford, the Labistours of Dagbreek, Joyce Tatham’s Springfield, and Harry Barnett’s Springvale took out half a dozen Durban Julys in a ten year stretch between 1946 and 1954, and threatened the supremacy of the all-conquering Birch Bros for the Breeder’s Championship.

Along with this investment, came a period of overwhelming prosperity in the horses emerging from these valleys. Success bred success, and the arrival of the stallion greats Northern Guest and Foveros, and right behind them Secret Prospector and Rakeen, witnessed the national sires’ log hosting four Nottingham Road, KwaZulu Natal-based horses in the top five for the first time ever. Then there were those like the Maktoum family of Dubai, who, whilst not landowners, established the most profitable horse division they’d ever owned at Summerhill, through the support of local breeders. The KZN Breeders Premium scheme, the only one of its species to survive in this county, was an obvious drawcard, though it wasn’t without howls of protest from other regions about its existence, and what it was doing in concentrating the resources of the country in one area. In a manner of speaking, KwaZulu Natal was exploding in the growth of its stud farms, though it’s fair to say, that while they were long on capital, we were relatively short on skills. That’s always the case when new businesses suddenly proliferate. The old centres of excellence, the Karoo and the Eastern Cape, whose economies were largely based on sheep farming, were suddenly battling, and were a shadow of their former selves, the product no doubt of the decline in demand for wool.

By contrast, the traditional bastion of breeding, the Western Cape, was farmed by old families with what the old people used to call old money, though the latter was in relatively short supply. While the dough was in KZN, the strength of the Cape lay in its traditions of horsemanship and the intimacy of its farmers with their land. This was Natal’s moment, when the advantages of a spectacular environment and a quartet of the best stallions on the continent converged, yet somehow we let it slip, by underpromoting the virtues of their land, their climate and by then, their horsemen, and crucially, their Breeders Premium scheme.

The pendulum swung west again, and an unprecedented scramble for Cape properties manifested itself among the wealthiest families in the land. Mary Slack, diamond and gold heiress; the greatest industrialists of our time, the Ruperts; Andreas Jacobs, heir to a family fortune in the coffee business; Sabine Plattner, whose husband Hasso had founded one of the giant IT companies of the world; Shirley Pfeiffer, whose cash cow was Rainbow Chickens; the Rattrays of Mala Mala fame; Markus Jooste, Bernard Kantor and Chris van Niekerk, furniture king, banker and builders merchant respectively; one of Africa’s greatest coal miners, Graham Beck, Tony Taberer, tobacconist extraordinaire; senior counsellor Altus Joubert, and a raft of others including Gold Circle chair, Ken Truter, all joined the rush for the rediscovered El Dorado, and once again established the Western Cape as the principal “provider”.

If there was a glimmer of hope for KwaZulu Natal, a thread by which it could be saved from a retreat to the forgotten land, it lay in the perseverance and the guts of those who had nowhere to go, and the rise to the mountaintop of Summerhill. The history of breeding in South Africa, is unique, in that it has been dominated by just a few farms over the centuries. In its infancy (and we speak of the early 1900s as opposed to the hitherto relatively small industry of prior centuries,) the champion producers were principally the Randlords, the fabously wealthy monopolists of the diamond and gold businesses. Sir Abe Bailey, Sir Alfred Beit, Cecil John Rhodes, Henry Nourse and the ex Governor of Griqualand West, Sir Richard Southey, all had their businesses (and hence most of their residences) in Johannesburg, while their diamond interests were in Kimberley. The Karoo was perfectly placed, bang in the middle and it made sense to visit their Karoo farms en route between the two. As the biggest breeder in the world at the time, Nourse was the undisputed “King Henry” of his era, and his throne was usurped after his death by the rise of the Birch Bros of Doordrecht (Eastern Cape) whose famous conglomerate counted several farms belonging to three brothers.

The official records date only as far as the early 1900s, but it’s a remarkable fact that since then, only a handful of farms (or family entities, such as the Birches and Kosters were), have aspired to the most tightly held premiership in the world. Highlands Farms, the Koster Bros, Maine Chance Farms and the Cohen’s Odessa were the main protagonists and challengers to the Birch supremacy, and each of them held the crown at one point or another. We know of course, that the Ellises of Hartford (now part of Summerhill) were their most ardent pursuers for two decades, but with fewer than 30 mares at any one stage, it was a pastime in vain.

They didn’t let up though, in KwaZulu Natal, and in 2005, Summerhill became the first farm this side of the Drakensberg, to inscribe its name in the history books. By the closure of the curtains on the 2011 season, they’d strung together a record for the most recent 50 years, of seven consecutive titles. That, and a tenacious reminder from several other farms in the area, told the world, they were still in business, and that we were here to stay. At last, the cock is crowing again across these verdant plains, and there are signs that Rip Van Winkle is coming back to life.

The boys at Backworth have one of the most beautiful properties in the province; Englishman Mike Smith has revived Aldora, one-time banker to the bankers, Koos de Klerk became our biggest landowner in a very short while, and Moneyweb’s Alec Hogg (founder of SA’s first tipping guide, Racing Digest) has become the celebrated neighbour at Summerhill.

He’s not alone in abutting with the champion breeders, though; on the ridge, they call Beverley Hills (more appropriately “heavily bills”!) is the man the country’s pinning its mining hopes on these days, Bernard Swanepoel and his lovely lady, Tracey, also looking down upon Summerhill.

And “looking up” from their fine spreads in the Mooi River valley, are ex Capetonians William and Claire Meyer (who’ve obviously woken up to the fact that there is life on this side of the Drakensberg) and “Group One” French breeders, Xavier and Natalie Bozo, who in celebrating landmark birthdays last week, are the best proof that it’s never too late to put down new roots. If you’ve any doubts about the sincerity of their intents, take a drive past, and check the activity.

www.summerhill.co.za

NUMBER ONE AGAIN, AND A NEW WORLD RECORD

www.summerhill.co.za

Most stud men will tell you they’re exhausted at the end of the breeding season. When we set out on our present endeavours more than three decades ago, the racing, breeding and sales seasons were beautifully synchronised, so that you could take all of them in without missing a beat. These days, sales intrude on the breeding season, racing proceeds willy-nilly and the foals are allowed to land whenever their mothers choose, as long as they’re not bred before the 1^st September. An operation of Summerhill’s proportions can scarcely afford a missed boat, so we have to be neatly compartmentalized. While one division is foaling, another is sales prepping, another is covering, and another is making, breaking and educating. The marketing team markets, the admin gang administers and the sales division sells, and while the toll is heavy, the outcomes make it worthwhile.

The old “let-up” in January, when stud men and women traditionally took their annual vacations, is a thing of the past. Yes, people do go on holiday, but the next man slips seamlessly into the absentee’s spot. The visitors still visit, the customers still demand, and the sales still proliferate. We’re scarcely out of Cape Town, and we have another Ready To Run upon us. Others leave within a day of that sale for the Australian sales, while still others prepare for the National Sales. Yet another team are weaning, and as soon as the next Ready To Run sale is over (Wednesday 22^nd February at the farm), the next draft for November will be making their way to the Up The Creek barn for their first acquaintance with the inside of a stable since their earliest days.

Meanwhile, the marketing span has a long and relentless schedule, and given print deadlines, it’s planning months in advance. Not only for sales, but for Stallion days, Ready To Runs, the July and the Met, the Summer Cup and the classic season, and let’s not forget the Emperors Palace Ready To Run Cup. In between, some are trying to squeeze the time to keep our readers amused, digging up angles to give you a story, or bringing you the latest from the international world of racing.

And then there’s the reward. It’s a well-advertised fact that the Summerhill website is the most visited in thoroughbred breeding, and that our traffic regularly accounts for more than ten times our regular pursuers. Last month was a new record, and a new world mark at the same time. We take none of this for granted: indeed, we are awed by our status, and yet it’s a compliment to the power of the internet that this farm, 10 kilometres outside the dustiest little village in KwaZulu Natal, at the southernmost tip of what the civilized people to the north and west of us call the darkest continent, should be the centre of such curiosity. Our ranking in South Africa now counts in the hundreds, literally, and we’re comfortably inside the magical 150,000 mark internationally. It takes a bit of doing, and it takes a bit of a webmaster.

These are the world’s most visited thoroughbred breeding websites (in order) according to the Alexa ratings :

1. Summerhill Stud
2. Coolmore
3. Darley
4. Lane’s End
5. Three Chimneys
6. Arrowfield

www.summerhill.co.za

DEEP IMPACT SERVES NOTICE

World Ace (JPN) - The Kisaragi Sho (G3)
(Photo : Japan Racing Association)

THE KISARAGI SHO (Group 3)
Kyoto, Turf, 1800m
5 February 2012

The naming of racehorses is quite an involved process, because no two horses in the same country, are allowed the same name. It’s further complicated by the fact that the names of previous greats are reserved in perpetuity (including the greats from abroad), so that no horse can aspire to being a “Sea Cottage” again, for example.

It’s an arguable proposition that the most appropriately named horse in the world right now is Deep Impact, multiple Horse Of The Year in Japan, and now looking the likely stallion successor to his own great sire, Sunday Silence. There are parallels in what Deep Impact is doing in emulating his father in the European version of Galileo and Sadler’s Wells, yet it was a brave man who bet on either of Sadler’s Wells or Sunday Silence having anything remotely resembling themselves in any one of their sire sons.

Galileo has already surpassed the achievements at the same stage of Sadler’s Wells (and let’s not forget, Sadler’s Wells won a record 14 premierships in Europe), and while Deep Impact has a long furrow to plough yet before we can call him the “second coming”, he couldn’t have gotten off to a better start. The Champion Sire of Juveniles with his first crop in his native Japan, and threatening his barnmate King Kamehameha, with usurping his mantle at the head of their stallion log as his sophomores turn three, Deep Impact served notice again this weekend that his first runners were no fluke.

At Kyoto on Sunday, the first of the three-year-old classic trials, the Kisaragi Sho (G3) was a warning not only to his colleagues in Japan, but to the world at large, that Deep Impact has arrived, and he is here to stay. The race was “trifected” by his three sons, World Ace, Historical and Veiled Impact, the first two bred by Katsumi Yoshida’s Northern Farm, and the third by Teruya Yoshida’s Shadai Farm. In the case of the winner, World Ace, his victory by 2,5 lengths was a compliment to his breeding. He’s out of a mare called “Mandela”, and he ran like he knew it.

The other Group race on the card was another endorsement of Sunday Silence. First and third past the post were both grandsons, and reminded us again how lucky we are in our international friends. The best son of Sunday Silence of his generation in Japan, Admire Main is here courtesy of the Yoshida family.