KZN BREEDERS AWARDS : THE "BIG ONE" COMES HOME

KZN BREEDERS AWARDS 2010

There is something to be said for recognition by your neighbours. Jan Smuts, one of South Africa’s most famous sons, was loved by some, despised by many. Yet, in the world at large, he was revered as one of the planet’s great statesmen.

Closer to home, in the racing world, our most successful jockey ever, Michael Roberts, spent a lifetime trying to establish the faith of the locals, and had to earn himself a British Jockey’s title before he had the respect of his countrymen.

That’s just the way it all works : hero abroad, villain at home. So while our six South African Breeders’ titles sit high in the echelons of national achievement, we’ve never been short on reverence for local endeavour.

Friday night was the occasion of the KwaZulu Natal Breeders Awards. For the record, Summerhill (and our partners) scooped nine categories in a year in which we led all breeders on the continent by more than R10million in earnings. We mention the latter in the context in which it seems this was a “whitewash”. It wasn’t. There were many commendable achievements among our colleagues, not the least of which were three daughters of Kahal, all Group One winners. The list follows at the end, but before that, a few notes :

Salutation’s award was a fitting tribute to an old friend, Robert Sangster, the man from whom we acquired two Summerhill legends, Northern Guest and Home Guard. Salutation’s sire was appropriately named Requiem, whose acquisition coincided with Robert’s passing. We looked upon it as his “Last Post”, but as Salutation is Requiem’s only major race winner, it was almost Summerhill’s final note as well. She hails from one of our oldest families, that of Final Wonder and her classic winning son, Last Watch, and was bred with our English friends, Mike and Marty Meredith of Hong Kong Jockey Club fame.

Pierre Jourdan was Horse of the Year. For a horse who reignited the spirit of our sport, it was a richly deserved honour. Somehow, an honour that had eluded the likes of Nhlavini, Angus and Rebel King in recent years. The trophy, generously donated by another legend, the late Chris Smith, is one of the finest in the game. It will enjoy a place worthy of its status in the new Al Maktoum School of Excellence.

Broodmare of the Year, Garden Verse is another of those whimsical stories that engage the minds of racing people. Sold for a mere R50,000 as a yearling, it didn’t matter that she came from the family of Robert Sangster’s Champion Turncoat, or that she was a daughter of the “Emperor”, Foveros and a sister to Wild Cocktail. The fact is, she dropped a hip in her early training, and was pretty much “dumped” on us by her owner at her original purchase price as an offset for unpaid debt.

In what might be termed “poetic justice” or more appropriately “lyrical” justice, today Garden Verse belongs to the even more august family of Victory Moon, Kelly, etc, and is the dam of no less than four major race performers, including Spring Garden and this season’s Dubai Carnival victor ludorum, Imbongi. Here, we remember a varsity mate, Barry Clements, who acquired his interest simultaneously with the dam of another national champion, Icy Air. It’s what the blue collars call “arsy”.

Then finally, a word about Way West. Remarkably, for a stallion of his breeding and performance, he’s never been quite the flavour of the month. He was good enough to be contemplating a stud career at one of the world’s great nurseries, Arrowfield, when our old pal John Messara seduced us into a helicopter ride up the Sydney Coast and into the Hunter Valley to see him. We paid the penalty, but only on condition that Messara retained an interest. He did. And on Friday night, when our team fetched the Stallion Prospect silver, some of that faith was repaid. Now our colleagues need to have faith.

THE HONOURS ROLL
2010

Award	Horse	Breeder
Outstanding 2 Year Old	CHOCOLICIOUS	Backworth Stud
Outstanding Sprinter Female	NOBLE HEIR	Connington Stud
Outstanding Sprinter Male	THUNDER KEY	C Baitz
Outstanding Middle Distance Female	SPICED GOLD	Greenhill Farm
Outstanding Middle Distance Male	ORBISON	Scott Bros
Outstanding Stayer Female	SALUTATION	Summerhill Stud
Outstanding Stayer Male	WINNING LEAP	Summerhill Stud
Outstanding 3 Year Old Filly	SPICED GOLD	Greenhill Farm
Outstanding 3 Year Old Colt	PIERRE JOURDAN	Summerhill Stud
Outstanding Older Female	NOBLE HEIR	Connington Stud
Outstanding Older Male	MAGICAL	RJ & Mrs Clarkin
Individual Achievement	HEAR THE DRUMS	Summerhill Stud
International Achievement	GYPSEY’S WARNING	Rathmor Stud
Broodmare Of The Year	GARDEN VERSE	Summerhill Stud
Stallion Prospect	WAY WEST	Summerhill Stud
Stallion Of The Year	KAHAL	Summerhill Stud
Leading Breeders	SUMMERHILL STUD	n/a
Breeding Achievement	CONNINGTON STUD	n/a
Horse Of The Year	PIERRE JOURDAN	Summerhill Stud

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

OLE GUNNAR

Solskjaer
(Photo : Summerhill Stud)

GIGGS STEPS UP FOR SOLSKJAER

The arrival of a new stallion on a stud farm always stirs the emotions. A good bull is half the herd, and a bad bull is the whole herd, so your destiny can be made (or broken,) by the outcomes.

This country, for some inexplicable reason had neglected the blood of the most influential “world” stallion of all time. Danehill remains the only sire in history to have garnered Championships in both hemispheres, and he was “made” for South Africa.

When the chance came to acquire a totem son of the “masterpiece,” we grabbed it with our old mate, Dr. Barry Clements. Named for the best footballer at Manchester United at a time when his owners had a controlling interest in the club, Solskjaer, the horse, was obviously telling his trainer something. And when he delivered Group race glory on just his third lifetime start, the best trainer in Europe proclaimed him an “amazing horse,” whom he rated a “superstar”.

No-one at Summerhill, was surprised then, when Solskjaer produced South Africa’s top priced yearling filly at his debut National Sale, and Monday he delivered again (bred by a past member of the Summerhill staff, Lorraine de Klerk and husband Koos). Giggs stood up at the Vaal, and said “I’m ready to be counted,” becoming her father’s first winner.

IMBONGI : THE REVIVAL

Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum
(Summerhill Sires Brochure 2008/2009)

Those that know him, will have recognised that at the end of last season, IMBONGI was just not himself. With two Guineas under his belt, and then two successive defeats by Horse of the Year, POCKET POWER, his last run in the Champion’s Cup lacked his usual lustre, yet if you were present at the ringside during the preliminaries you would have seen one “dog-tired” horse.

Last evening, before an international audience of television viewers, we saw a rejuvenated, bigger and more mature IMBONGI, taking on an international field at a distance short of his best.

Drawn on the rank outside of a quality field, his pilot Kevin Shea had no choice but to drop him out, in his attempt to spare a horse who hadn’t run since the end of last season.

An electrifying stretch run, unleashed with barely 300 metres to go, and unaided by a single crack of the whip until well inside the last furlong, brought him to within a nose of multiple Graded Stakes winner, HATTA FORT, who paraded as the odds-on favourite in Godolphin’s fabled blue silks.

The portents are good, and IMBONGI’s new owner, Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum, will have been thrilled with his new charge’s bold showing. Just as thrilled though, were the old firm of Mike de Kock, Ronnie Napier, Owen Leibbrandt, Michael Fleischer and Barry Clements, who landed one of history’s great bargains, when they bought into him one misty Saturday morning on the Summerhill gallops.

Goes to show, you must always turn up in life – you’ll never know the rainbow’s end otherwise.

Part 3. The Vodacom Durban July : Africa's Greatest Sporting Event

Welcome to our Ranch
(Nicholas Goss)

Back at the Summerhill ranch, there is feverish activity. Hartford House is filling to the brim with a collection of people from all over the world, some deeply passionate about horses, others carrying a nagging curiosity that goes back to some connectivity in their early childhoods. Either way, all of them are whipped up in the atmosphere of Saturday’s race, and by raceday, Hartford will be filled with people from around the world.

South Africa’s newest “big buyer”, Dr Jim Hay and his entourage fly in on Friday, Peter Yip, famed for his connection with the Hong Kong Breeders Club gets here Saturday morning, Barry Clements and his wife Liz arrive from Perth on Thursday, and Rupert Plersch is on his way from Germany. His Majesty King Letsie III of Lesotho arrives on Friday mid-morning when he’ll be inspecting his horses on the farm, and the afternoon sees the arrival of Kevin and Heather Arnold, internationally famed for their excellent wines at Waterford Wine Estate.

The Irish are nothing if they’re not great “marketers” and at the command of the likes of her great pal, Coolmore’s John Magnier and the “Margaret Thatcher” of Irish breeding, Eimear Mulhern (yes, daughter of the late Charlie Haughey, ex Prime Minister of Ireland,) we have Ireland’s most recognized industry representative, Elaine Lawler, also arriving Saturday.

Now this girl’s not just Irish racing’s ambassador, but she’s also famous for another feature. And she’s not called “Legs” for nothing!

That’s not the lot though. We also have the Chairman of the Western Australian Breeders, John Andrew and CEO Veronica Jackson-Smith; the Chairman of the Singapore Turf Club Mr. Tan Guong Ching; the Chairman and Committee of the Korean Turf Authority and a Japanese TV crew delegated to film the Stallion Day as part of the promotion of November’s Asian Racing Conference, the biggest of its kind in the world.

STEINHOFF DAY : The Ready to Run Throws up Another Pearler

Watchers of Sunday’s Steinhoff Family Fun Day were treated to some rivetingly competitive racing. By definition, competitive means close, so anything that deviates from that approaches the exceptional. The Steinhoff fifth race witnessed exactly that, an exception, as Ready to Run graduate TAP TAP, bred here in partnership with Australian-based Dr Barry Clements, and American-based Robert Lynch, cruised home for Alec Laird and Johnny Geroudis, under a hands-and-heels ride for a remarkable fourth victory at the meeting for Greig Blank. What is it that Greig has touched suddenly, that’s turned him into a regular television feature in recent months? In business he’s always been known to possess the “Midas touch”, but with this and the explosive Pointing North, he’s come seriously well in the racing game.

As impressive as TAP TAP was, there’s nothing quite as exciting as a new and very serious juvenile prospect, and appropriately as it was Steinhoff day, it was Charles Laird and Markus Jooste that lifted the lid off HURRICANE FORCE.

This fellow took on an extremely competitive Two Year Old field on his racing debut, including, in the same combination, Australian-bred daughter of the new sire sensation, EXCEED AND EXCEL, herself a very fluent winner of her debut effort.

Slowly away on a lightening fast track, HURRICANE FORCE was last in the early stages, so it took the cool judgment of a class act like Anton Marcus to steer him home by an increasing 2 ½ lengths, with no sign of the stick.

Charles Laird is excited about this one, more so than usual, and that’s some kind of compliment to a horse that stands out in a star-studded firmament of 2008 juveniles.

He goes next to the Golden Medallion (Group One).