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

Every 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.

Read more about Horse Racing in South Africa…

Emperors Palace
Summer Ready To Run Sale

22 FEBRUARY 2012 AT SUMMERHILL STUD.

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

Read more about the Emperors Palace Summer Ready To Run Sale and enlarge the photo of Ice Axe…

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

Read more about Thoroughbred Racehorse Breeding in KwaZulu Natal and South Africa…

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 :

www.summerhill.co.za

Read more about the world’s most visited Thoroughbred Breeding websites…

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.

Read more about Admire Main, Deep Impact and Sunday Silence and enlarge the photo of World Ace winning the Kisaragi Sho…

JAMES E “TED” BASSETT III
Distinguished Citizen Award
Patriot Awards

SERVICE ABOVE SELF AND THE UNBREAKABLE
WILL TO NEVER EVER GIVE UP.

Read more and watch the video tribute to Keeneland’s Ted Bassett…

“The African Horse Sickness embargo
lifts next month…”

Andrew Harrison - There were many in horse racing who lamented the imposition of an export ban on our best horses travelling abroad last year - an outbreak of African Horse Sickness (AHS) in the AHS control area of the Western Cape activating an instant 12-month embargo on international equine exports.

It was a blow for those fortunate few to be involved in horses deemed good enough to succeed on the international stage as they contemplated the potential loss of millions of dollars in earnings and the fame that goes with these things.

As South Africans, too, the opportunity to swell our collective pride when one of ours excels on the international stage was undone by the bite of a miggie.

There were others, however, and I bet a large majority of racing fans, who took solace in that at least for a year our best horses stayed at home.

A throwback to the years before it became popular or even essential for our top performers to be sent abroad to test their mettle affording the nearly-good-enoughs an opportunity to land the plum prizes on offer at home.

This latest ban “made” the Cape Sizzling Summer Season.

Without it, Igugu would never have lined up for last week’s J&B Met and become the first horse since the mighty Politician three decades ago to land back-to-back Julys and Mets.

Attempts by Hong Kong-based owner of The Apache, Winston Chow, were twice thwarted by AHS bans. On each occasion Chow was rewarded as The Apache was turned out of quarantine to thrill racegoers with important Grade 1 victories.

These are just two of a host of potential travellers that stayed home to the delight of their supporters.

No doubt there would have been discussions around the careers of the likes of Gimmethegreenlight, Jackson, Variety Club, Silver Flyer, Princess Victoria and a few others but the export ban will no doubt have been high on the agenda. The embargo lifts next month which may herald a mass exodus but it did at least afford us an all too brief opportunity of watching some tremendous racing on home turf.

Read more about the impact of African Horse Sickness on South African Horseracing…

Emperors Palace
Summer Ready To Run Sale
Summerhill Stud, 22 February 2012

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

Read more about the Emperors Palace Summer Ready To Run Sale
and enlarge the photo of Stronghold…

WAY WEST (AUS)
Danehill (USA) - Prospect Fever (USA)

THAT’S HOW THE WEST WAS WON.

Enquiries :
Linda Norval 27 (0) 33 263 1081
or email linda@summerhill.co.za
www.summerhill.co.za

Read more and enlarge the photo of Way West…

TRIPPI (USA)
End Sweep (USA) - Jealous Appeal (USA)

Trippi, who finished 23rd on the General Sires List in the USA last year having finished 20th the year before, has made a big impact during his short stay in South Africa to date, although this was not unexpected.

On J&B Met day his first South African runner, the Justin Snaith-trained Agra, who had won on debut, became his first stakes winner in South Africa when easily winning the Listed Summer Juvenile Stakes and maintaining her unbeaten record, while at the Cape Premier Yearling Sale, Trippi finished third on aggregate behind Jet Master and Captain Al and second on average behind Jet Master at R566,667 per yearling of the 21 sold.

Charles Faull of Form Bloodstock recommended the son of End Sweep to Drakenstein Stud’s Gaynor Rupert on his racing record (he won a Grade 1 and two Grade 2s over 1400m at Belmont) and his pedigree, while his progeny had made a good start, he was throwing nice looking foals and, not least, on his “beauty”.

Rupert and her stud manager Ross Fuller went to see Trippi in the USA and were equally impressed.

The decision to purchase him in 2008 paid almost immediate dividends as Trippi was Florida’s leading sire by the end of the season, a title he would have won every year since had he still been standing there, and the following year he had a Royal Ascot winner in Jealous Again, who won the Grade 2 Queen Mary Stakes over 1000m.

To date Trippi has bred 33 American Stakes horses, including a champion, three Graded stakes winners, track record holders and a Breeders Cup place getter.

A few hours after Agra had won at Kenilworth on Saturday, Trippi’s four-year-old son Soaring Stocks collected US$90,000 for his connections when winning the Sunshine Millions Sprint Stakes over 1200m on dirt at Gulfstream Park in the USA.

Agra looks a splitting image of her father, so it would appear Trippi stamps his foals.

Justin Snaith said he would rest Agra now and would not be taking her to Durban for the Champions Season.

Trippi received an outstanding book of 120 mares last year and this season Ross Fuller will drop him down to 100 mares although his fee of R30,000 nomination fee plus R70,000 for live foal might rise.

Trippi’s stallion companion at Drakenstein Stud is the legendary Horse Chestnut. 

Horse Chestnut, regarded by many as the greatest racehorse South Africa has ever produced, received poor support during his spell in the USA and had dropped down to half a handful of mares by the time he was brought back home.

He had gained a reputation for being infertile, but Fuller revealed that this was a false impression created by a condition he has which does not manifest if he is kept busy.

Horse Chestnut, who is an absolute gentleman in terms of temperament, was kept busy last season with over 100 mares. Another reason he didn’t get good mares in the USA is that his only start there yielded a Grade 3 win and he was probably viewed as only a Grade 3 winner, but in South Africa his famous eight length J&B Met win and his facile wins on the road to Triple Crown glory still live strong in the memory.

Even without the support he deserved, Horse Chestnut sired 141 individual winners in the USA at a rate of 61% winners to runners, while he sired 28 stakes horses and 13% stakes horses to runners.

Read more about Trippi and Horse Chestnut and watch the race video of Agra winning the Summer Juvenile Stakes…

Your thoughts on the …

We’ve had any number of mails from every conceivable quarter of the world after Igugu’s big win in the J&B Met Saturday. One of our regular correspondents from America, ‘Green Beret’ is an avid Dubai-watcher, and he knows the form there as well as anyone we know. These are his thoughts (what are yours?).

Mick’s reply to Green Beret :

Green Beret’s reply :

Read more about Mike de Kock, Igugu and the Dubai World Cup…

EMPERORS PALACE
SUMMER READY TO RUN SALE
Wednesday 22 February 2012

Those with memories tell you, IGUGU’s J&B Met was up there with the best of all time, to the degree that it overshadowed all other performances. Back home though, we were quietly celebrating the Ready To Run, not only because ‘The Queen’ was a graduate, but for six other reasons besides.

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

Read more about the Emperors Palace Summer Ready To Run Sale…

LAMMTARRA (USA)
Nijinsky (CAN) - Snow Bride (USA)

As I drove up the High Street in Newmarket the week before Christmas past, I tried to imagine how it might have looked early in 1904. It was difficult given the tarred road, beautiful Christmas lights and decorated storefronts - Marks & Spencer, Sainsburys, and French Connection filled with eager shoppers. Yet it was to 1904 that my mind returned, for that was when Signorina was booked to be covered by the Champion Isinglass. For a decade, the Oaks runner-up had failed to produce a foal and her owner, the Italian trainer Ginistrelli, followed on foot as she was led down the High Street for her planned assignation with Isinglass. On the way Chaleureux, a lowly stallion that was being used as a teaser, passed the aging mare. The two called to one another and refused to move apart and so, on a whim, Ginistrelli allowed his mare her ‘love match’. The result was the filly Signorinetta who in 1908 won the Epsom Derby and two days later the Oaks, a feat not accomplished since.

Myth or legend, it is one of the stories that Newmarket holds and was worthy of consideration. Of course, for one who loves the Thoroughbred, to be in the same country as Frankel, let alone to drive past the yard where he is stabled and trained, was very special. That an entire town can be dedicated to the horses that have for centuries made it their home, is quite remarkable. Bridleways crisscross the suburban roads allowing every animal to reach the gallops safely and the public happily accept that it should be so, as it always has.

Of course, one does not turn down a visit to Dalham Hall Stud. Even though a number of the stallions were on stud duty in Australia and South America, there was the chance to see the mighty Dubawi. A son of Dubai Millenium out of the Deploy mare Zomaradah, he has risen to star status. He won 5 of 8 starts and is a compact bull of a horse. Dubawi is all power and he knows it. His son Poet’s Voice, out of Bright Tiara (Chief’s Crown) was victorious in the 2011 G1 QEII Stakes and is a taller, more elegant horse than his sire. He is bay without white markings and has a beautiful head. He had let down very well and has a good book of mares waiting for his attention once the season begins. Both horses live in roomy stalls in the stallion block that overlooks the graveyard where the memorial to the great Dubai Millennium dwarfs all those around it. It takes one into the past - Singspiel, Machiavellian, Reference Point, Great Nephew…

Then, a woolly, muddy liver chestnut danced toward his stall and the world stopped turning.

Lammtarra.

By Nijinsky (Northern Dancer), out of Snow Bride (Blushing Groom), Lammtarra won his only outing as a two-year-old in 1994. His trainer Alex Scott was certain of classic success but then in a cruel twist of fate, an employee with a grievance shot and killed Scott. The colt was transferred to Godolphin, to Saeed Bin Suroor. Under Walter Swinburn, Lammtarra won The Derby in a time only bettered in 2010 by Workforce. Then under Frankie Detorri he took the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe before being retired to stud unbeaten in four starts. His pedigree was impeccable - by a Derby winner out of an Oaks winner - and his record faultless. Yet at stud he was a failure. He covered one season at Dalham Hall before being sold to Japan for $30,000,000. Eventually, in 2006, Sheikh Mohammed bought him back and he returned to Dalham Hall to live out his days in retirement.

Do yourself a favour and watch his Derby win above courtesy of YouTube and you will see why it was he more than any other that made my heart soar. It was an old, sprightly gentleman who danced and squealed as his groom led him in who made me smile. It was a Champion now past his prime that made me wonder what if? Why not? And ask the question what might have been…

Read more and watch the race video of Lammtarra winning the 1995 Epsom Derby…

TEALION
“First Stronghold Runner and Winner”

TEALION
Stronghold (GB) - Elation (SAF) by Badger Land (USA)
2 Year Old Chestnut Colt

Owner : Mr MC Wright
Trainer : Hekkie Strydom
Jockey : Stallone Naidoo
Breeder : Summerhill Stud
Win Time : 58.04
Career Record : 1 Win, 1 Place, 2 Starts

TEALION is a graduate from the Summerhill draft of the 2011 Emperors Palace Ready To Run Sale.

A JAMMIN JOZI JANUARY MAIDEN JUVENILE PLATE
Fairview, Turf, 1000m
27 January 2012

For more information please visit :
www.summerhill.co.za

Read more and watch the race video of Tealion winning his maiden…

NHLAVINI (SAF)
(National Emblem (SAF) - Valley Mist (SAF)

The frenetics surrounding the Cape Premier Yearling Sale and the J&B Met, and the speed at which the social goings-on were taking place, made us oblivious to the fact that the World Economic Forum was in full swing in Davos. Sadly, and significantly for us, we even missed the death in relative infancy, of our ageless champion, Nhlavini. If you’re chalking up the great names of those that grew up here, he’d be up there with the best : we speak of St Pauls, Mowgli, Sentinel, Magic Mirror, Panjandrum, Dancing Duel, Imperial Despatch, Spook and Diesel, Pick Six, Igugu, Pierre Jourdan, Rebel King and Imbongi.

For that matter, the Markus and Ingrid Jooste’s colour bearer would’ve ranked with best anywhere. Apart from Pocket Power, he must be the only horse to have lined up six times for an Equus Award, where he walked away with the championship on three occasions as the nation’s leading sprinter, the last time at eight years of age. The Brits will tell you that the Zulus are feared for their exploits in battle, and Nhlavini (Zulu for “playboy”), would stand right alongside the warrior kings, Shaka and Cetewayo, as a racehorse.

A championship class campaigner by any standards, he got more than he would’ve anywhere else in the hands of Charles Sydney Laird. We use his name to emphasise his ancestory, as a clue to the expertise that made Nhlavini what he was. There was a sentimental attachment to the progeny of National Emblem in general in the Laird family, but nowhere was it stronger than it was with Nhlavini. Religiously, at the end of his winter campaigns in KwaZulu Natal, his trainer sent him home to his birthplace, where he occupied the sacred paddock which in the 60s, housed the multiple champion sire, Masham, in the shadow of the great eucalypts of Hartford House.

Rested, the brave soldier always returned to the fray, always faithful, always true. This was especially so in his latter years, when it seemed his heart was willing but his limbs could take no more. His master was always masterful, and it was a measure of his great respect for the great horse that in his latter years, there were only two races on the official calendar. The Diadem Stakes and the Cape Flying Championship, at six, seven and eight. His three consecutive Diadems and two Flying Championships (some still say three) tell us the respect was mutual. His harvest was three million and more.

His father’s tally at Summerhill alone included some fifteen Stakes winners, among a litany of Black type scorers, the best of them (Nhlavini, Rebel King, Carnadore, all champions, Decorated Hero, Princely Heir and Lotti), trained by Charles Laird, while top-liners, Fez (Gr1), Royal Emblem (Gr1) and Thekkady, were also inmates of our paddocks carrying the National Emblem hip- sticker on their backsides.

Further Information :
Linda Norval 27 (0) 33 263 1081
or email linda@summerhill.co.za
www.summerhill.co.za

Read more about Nhlavini…