Fastest horse in Africa retires to Summerhill

DUAL Grade 1 winning sprinter Cataloochee has been retired from racing and will join the stallion ranks at Summerhill Stud where he will stand for a fee of R15,000.

Trained by Geoff Woodruff for Mr and Mrs Robert Muir, Cataloochee enjoyed his finest moments as a three-year-old when victorious in two Grade 1 sprints. He beat Nhlavini in the Computaform Sprint at Turffontein and then defeated a star-studded field in the Golden Horse Sprint at Scottsville.

Sidelined with knee chips after the Golden Horse Sprint, Cataloochee only returned to the track in May this year to finish a creditable fifth to National Colour in defense of his Computaform Sprint crown.

However, a strained tendon has finally put paid his career and his owners have decided to call it a day. He retires to stud a five-time winer, all in stakes company, from 1000 to 1200m and he placed twice from only eight starts.

Cataloochee is the first sprinting son of leading sire Al Mufti to retire to the breeding shed. Out of Grade 1-placed  Lexington Love, a speedy daughter of Old Testament, he hails from the same family which produced the Kosters’ successful sire, Welsh Harmony. Considering that Al Mufti has already has a promising stallion son in Captain Al, the speedy Cataloochee should prove a popular and welcome addition to the KZN stallion ranks.