THE CROWNING MOMENT

Igugu - Triple Tiara Queen
(Photo : JC Photos / Summerhill Stud)

A Royal Wedding, a Triple Tiara Queen
and the King of Investors

Mick Goss
Summerhill CEOWhat a weekend! A Royal Wedding, a Triple Tiara queen, and for me, a once-off attendance at the court of the King of Investors.

Before I eulogise Igugu’s historic success in becoming South Africa’s very first winner of a Triple Tiara, let me attempt an explanation of Warren Buffett’s remarkable A.G.M. Close your eyes and think of Summerhill Stallion Day, of the order of 20 nations in attendance, movies, entertainment, hotels at capacity. Then multiply the attendees by 40, and you get a tiny inkling of the man’s drawing power. I’ve never seen, or heard, anything like it. If you want to know the “ins and outs”, visit Alec Hogg’s commentary on Moneyweb.co.za and you’ll get his podcast first hand; that’ll explain why so many make the pilgrimage.

Dealing with the affairs of Berkshire Hathaway before a Triple Tiara heroine is sacrilegious I know, but there are two reasons. One, it’s easy to forget everything else when you’ve witnessed such a demolition job - and two, Igugu’s so good, it was almost an anticlimax. We don’t really know what she’s beating at the moment, but we know what she’s beaten in the past. And that tells us she has to be one of the all-time best fillies we’ve seen. No, I haven’t forgotten Ipi Tombi (in fact, I’ll be visiting her at 11:30am tomorrow with the message that her reincarnation is at last complete). But for now, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed can rest in the knowledge that his “treasure” (that’s what Igugu means) is without price. My conversation with Dubai on Saturday evening tells me they know that, especially as she’s a daughter of the best stallion in the world. Andre Macdonald, the former electrician-turned-partner of the ruler of a country would kill if we omitted his name here.

Mike de Kock had two winners on the Champion’s Day card, both from Summerhill and both from the most prolific sale of Black type horses, pound-for-pound, in the country (The Emperors Palace Ready To Run Sale). The other was the erstwhile Guineas heroine, Fisani, co-owned with Ronnie and Bev Napier, who captured our second consecutive Gerald Rosenberg Stakes in the style of a professional. She just seems to get better, and it  may be the genius has one more string to his Vodacom Durban July bow. As promised, our blog master has laid on the full retinue of videos for you. Tell me Fisani’s destruction of Group One winner Alderry, doesn’t constitute a July entry?

Talking of kings, Prince William may just have to delay his ascent to the throne for a while. England looks to have another alternative in Juddmonte’s Frankel (like Igugu, further confirmation of sire Galileo’s peerlessness), who butchered the best of England in their version of the Two Thousand Guineas. There’ve been doubts about his staying power, but even an intrepid investor like Buffett wouldn’t bet against him making a procession of the Investec Derby, come the first Saturday in June.

I’ve penned this note from what the Americans call the “Horse Capital of the World”. Didn’t know they knew there was a “rest of the world”, though the news of Osama bin Laden’s death late Sunday night suggests they were at least aware there was life somewhere beyond Kentucky!

Great to be here, and tomorrow we’ll bring news of interviews with some of the Kentucky Derby’s chief protagonists, and a chat with Barry Irwin.