WAY WEST earned his tag on his big day in one of Australia’s premier “Stallion-makers”, the Blue Diamond Prelude.
In Record Time.
Saturday his daughter, WAYWEST GODDESS did the same to the best of Gauteng’s juveniles in the Ruffian Stakes (Listed).
By four and a quarter.
Just a case of history repeating itself.
DEMOLITION.
PHUNYUKA (Slew The Red x Catch Me by Argosy)
5 Year Old Bay Gelding
Owner : Wally Brits
Trainer : Roy Magner
Jockey : Guillermo Figueroa
Breeder : Summerhill Stud
Win Time : 71.08
Career Record : 6 Wins, 12 Places, 25 Starts
Carrer Earnings : R849,755
Phunyuka is a graduate from the Summerhill draft of the Emperors Palace Ready To Run Sale.
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A couple of years ago, two of the world’s best known horse auction houses teamed up in a cross shareholding arrangement in their respective businesses. Tattersalls in England was founded as long ago as 1766 by Richard Tattersall, who staked his claim to a prime piece of real estate in the heart of what was to become racing’s headquarters, in Newmarket, England, which had been proclaimed thus by Charles II, ruling monarch of the time.
The Inglis family were Scots migrants to Australia in as 1867, and they too, staked their claim to what has become one of that country’s landmark horse auction sites, based at the Australian version of Newmarket, on the doorstep of Royal Randwick racecourse in Sydney.
The contrast in the racing economies of England and Australia right now is as stark as the contrasting styles of the auctioneers of these two grand institutions, and last week in Melbourne we were treated to a display of some of the finest bantering in the world. You’d be tempted to suggest that it was the auctioneers that lifted the sale some 35% beyond last year, but we’d need to remember that these self-same men were on the podium at the 2009 version as well, so you’d have to give credit for the years result to an already bubbling Australian economy.
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The 33rd, 34th, 35th and 36th beneficiaries of our international scholarship programme; Elliot Bhengu, Sizwe Ndlela, Thabani (Eric) Nzimande and Prince Mdunjane departed our shores last month for Genesis Green Stud in Newmarket, UK, and Becky Thomas’ Lackland Farm in Florida, USA, respectively.
We received the following email this morning from Eric and Prince, our men in the States…
Hi Linda, how are you guys back there and we hope you all doing well back home. We starting to settle in here and enjoying our working because Becky she is a nice lady and she is trying her best to teach us everything and we goner try our best to take everything that she teach us and goner bring it back home and let other guys know how they do things around here at the State. Please greet everyone at the morning meeting and tell them that we miss each every one of you. Thanks again for giving us this great chance to learn things here in USA. Keep well and keep shining and keep that Summerhill Flag high.
From you lovely guys in America (Eric and Prince)
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Readers of these columns must be tiring of our lament on the tardy response of South Africans to the influence of the only stallion in history to achieve Champion Sire status in both hemispheres. While breeders of the generation spanning the latter four decades of the twentieth century, will always point to Northern Dancer as the king of all stallions, given the substantially greater competition internationally and the fact that he did it in all spheres, on all surfaces and over all distances, it’s an arguable proposition that his grandson, Danehill, was at least Northern Dancer’s match, if not his superior.
Yes, the percentages don’t quite stack up the way Northern Dancer’s did, but then he had the benefit of much smaller crops, and a far greater concentration of the best broodmares as a result. The fact is though, Northern Dancer’s influence in the southern hemisphere was always quite limited, though that might also have been attributable to the lesser quality stock which represented his male line in these realms.
Whatever, Summerhill has championed the Danehill cause for some years now, and we’re proud hosts to no fewer than three highly performed sons, Way West, Solskjaer and Stronghold.
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Just a week ago, the Summerhill team was rocked by the successes of Fisani and Pierre Jourdan respectively in the Gauteng Fillies and Colts Guineas, though it was not for a lack of faith in the horses themselves, but because you can never count on these things in real life.
The Breeder’s log though, tells us we must be doing something right, a statement endorsed empathically by Imbongi’s gutsy success in the R2 million Zabeel Mile (Gr.2) at Dubai’s Meydan racecourse on Friday evening. In the race (which included several internationally performed Group One winners), our man had to endure a severe bump at a critical stage in the straight, before gathering himself again and thrusting for the line in the typical pose we’d become accustomed to from the dual Guineas winner here in South Africa.
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WAYWEST GODDESS (Way West x Gallic Goddess by Gallic League)
2 Year Old Bay Filly
Owners : Claude Comaroff and Corryvrecken Racing CC (Nom: Mrs E Joell)
Trainer : Louis Goosen
Jockey : Deon Sampson
Breeder : Hallmark Thoroughbreds
Win Time : 57.06
Career Record : 1 Win, 0 Places, 2 Starts
SMANJEMANJE (Kahal x In Style by Model Man)
3 Year Old Bay Colt
Owners : George Barker, Kevin Backos, Nadine Backos
Trainer : Tyrone Zackey
Jockey : S’Manga Khumalo
Breeder : Summerhill Stud
Win Time : 94.30
Career Record : 3 Wins, 6 Places, 13 Starts
Ready To Run graduates HEAR THE DRUMS, PIERRE JOURDAN and FISANI
are confirmation AGAIN.
The Emperors Palace Ready To Run remains, pound for pound,
the best sale of racehorses in the World.
We still have twenty where they came from.
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| # | Margin | Gate | Horse | Kg | OR | Jockey | Trainer |
| 1 | 0.00 | 10 | IMBONGI (SAF) | 58.0 | 115 | C Soumillon | Mike de Kock |
| 2 | 0.25 | 8 | KALAHARI GOLD (IRE) | 57.0 | 107 | T O’Shea | Doug Watson |
| 3 | 0.5 | 9 | SUMMIT SURGE (IRE) | 58.0 | 112 | K Fallon | Luca Cumani |
| 4 | 0.5 | 12 | PURPLE SAGE (IRE) | 58.0 | 102 | T Durcan | Fawzi Nass |
| 5 | 0.75 | 6 | HUNTING TOWER (SAF) | 57.0 | 108 | K Shea | Mike de Kock |
| 6 | 0.75 | 3 | DUNELIGHT (IRE) | 57.0 | 109 | R Moore | Clive Cox |
| 7 | 0.75 | 4 | SNAAFY (USA) | 57.0 | 119 | R Hills | Musabah Al Muhairi |
| 8 | Hd | 7 | YASOODD (GB) | 57.0 | 101 | W Buick | Dhruba Selvaratnam |
| 9 | 1.5 | 5 | OCEAN’S MINSTREL (GB) | 57.0 | 100 | A Munro | John Ryan |
| 10 | 2.0 | 2 | ECHOES ROCK (GER) | 57.0 | 105 | P Dobbs | Doug Watson |
| 11 | 3.25 | 11 | WITHOUT A PRAYER (IRE) | 57.0 | 110 | J Crowley | Ralph Beckett |
| 12 | 28 | 1 | RIO DE LA PLATA (USA) | 57.0 | 113 | L Dettori | Saeed bin Suroor |
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The highlight of tonight’s final Meydan race meeting before the Dubai World Cup on 27 March 2010 is undoubtedly the $250,000 Zabeel Mile on turf.
South African trainer Mike de Kock is aiming for a hattrick in the Group 2 contest, having taken victory with Kapil in 2007 and Archipenko in 2009, and tonight spearheads the South African challenge with the Warrior, Imbongi, and Hunting Tower.
Ed Marnane reports from Dubai that the Summerhill-bred Imbongi, sporting the silks of Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum is to be piloted by Christophe Soumillon who will be seeking compensation for a narrow defeat to Bankable in the Al Fahidi Fort over the same course and distance last month.
For more than a decade now, diners at Hartford House’s legendary restaurant, where celebrity chef, Jackie Cameron, “wows” them with the best beef fillet on the planet, have proclaimed the virtues of our Angus beef.
But besides “Woolies”, who’s fussy customers only buy Angus, South Africa seems to have overlooked one of the world’s best kept secrets, in much the same way as we bypassed the “Danehill” phenomenon in the stallion business.
Fast forward nine hours to Melbourne, Australia, where Channel Nine was banging on this morning about their “big” discovery, almost as though they’ve struck oil. Angus beef has been proclaimed the best by a country mile, and there’s hardly a food outlet not offering it on their speciality menus.
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The first three past the post in November’s R1,5 MILLION EMPERORS PALACE READY TO RUN CUP, were back in action Sunday. At the time, we dubbed the “Cup” the Three Year Old contest of the season.
If you were at Turffontein this weekend, you’d have recognised their names again.
FISANI led a South African victory over Australia in the Fillies’ Guineas, and in the second test, PIERRE JOURDAN and HAVASHA headed a memorable Summerhill exacta over the self-same Aussies in the Colts’ edition.
So Bafana Bafana, take heart. If you have the pedigree and the upbringing, remember, anything is possible.
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Racing Express has honoured Pierre Jourdan with the distinction of “Star Of The Month” for February 2010 following his victories in the Tony Ruffel Stakes (Grade 3) and the Gauteng Guineas (Grade 2). In the process Pierre Jourdan took his career earnings to over the R1,6 million mark, from just six starts, for owners Emilio Baisero and Gary Alexander.
Gary Alexander had said last week prior to the Gauteng Guineas : “We’ll know what we’ve got after this race.” That, in spite of the fact that his stable star, Pierre Jourdan, had won four of his five races, including two feature races, and only been pipped in the other after a layoff.
By Saturday night Gary Alexander was ecstatic! “I always knew he is a nice horse, but I didn’t think he was this good!” He added that Pierre Jourdan had surprised them all when winning the Tony Ruffel Stakes in his second run after a layoff earlier in February.
For some years now, the Gary Alexander yard have fed off the fruits of the Ready To Run sale, deservedly fielding money earners in every one of the Emperors Palace Cup’s first three renewals. This year, they visited the mountaintop with R60 000 buy, Pierre Jourdan, now the winner of five of his first six and more than R1,6 million.
One of the calls I was compelled to make (even at 3:15 am Asiatic time) was to the Alexanders, all of whom were quick to point out they hadn’t only won the Gauteng Guineas with Pierre Jourdan, but they’d also trained the dams respectively of the runner-up, Havasha, and the Gauteng Fillies Guineas heroine, Fisani.
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