THE ROAD TO THE BLUE RIBAND

Watch Ruler Of The World winning the Chester Vase
(Image : The Times - Footage : Almaged KSA)

“Have you ever been to Chester?”

Mick Goss Summerhill CEOThe racecourse is one of those follies that sprang from England’s most creative period, shaped from the bowl of an ancient Roman harbour with an intimacy from its one mile round course that is matched only by the Champs de Mars in Port Louis. And as only the British would, on race days the contestants march ceremoniously through the heart of the city to what the early Britons christened the “Roodeye”. My grandfather always said: “If you’ve never raced at Chester, you’ve never raced at all,” and that’s probably true of what all English fans would say. At this time of the year, Chester holds two of England’s time-honoured Derby trials, the Chester Vase and the Dee Stakes, the former arguably the more successful in the deliverance of Derby aces, though South Africans will remember that it was his victory in the Dee Stakes that secured former Champion sire, Royal Prerogative’s passage to Cape Town.

Among the Vase’s celebrities of the modern era are Henbit, who went on to a six length end-to-end triumph in the “big one”, and Shergar, the Aga Khan’s ill-fated champion who remains to this day Epsom’s favourite son. In 1989, Old Vic waltzed off with the Vase, and followed up with stunning victories in the French and Irish equivalents. Summerhill has its own recent connection with the event in the race’s imperious winner of its 103^rd renewal, Golden Sword, who subsequently chased the world champion Sea The Stars to just over two lengths in the Investec version of the Derby.

While he’s not quite what his name suggests yet, Ruler Of The World was this week’s hero of the Vase. It is so, that he has taken longer than his illustrious half-brother, Duke Of Marmalade, to create an impact on the track, but on this occasion he looked as if he was ready to make up for lost time, with a power-packed display. Remember, the race is staged within the narrow circumference of an old sailing boat harbour, so the straight is less than 300m, which meant our hero had to conserve his jet fuel ‘til they’d straightened. In a matter of strides he hit top gear, and drew clear for an emphatic fourth win for Aidan O’Brien’s Ballydoyle yard in the past six years. In the saddle, Ryan Moore mentioned he was still a bit green, but once he got a hold of the horse, he lengthened really well. Part-owner, Paul Smith, added: “Aidan thinks quite a lot of him. He’s been working well at home, but we thought he might still be a little babyish. I think with the tight-turning track and the crowd, it was a good choice, and it paid dividends.”

This colt, who hails from the illustrious family of A.P. Indy, Lemon Drop Kid and Al Mufti, is now two for two, and who knows, his name may yet prove prophetic.

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EMPERORS PALACE NATIONAL YEARLING SALE
27 - 29 April 2012

Visit the Summerhill team at the National Sales;
Block A, TBA Sales Complex, Gosforth Park.

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

2012 NATIONAL YEARLING SALES SPOTLIGHT

Duke Of Marmalade (USA)
(Photo : Racing NSW)

Emperors Palace National Yearling Sale
TBA Sales Complex, Germiston, South Africa
27 - 29 April 2012

Market-watchers in the racing world would’ve noticed that the session-topper on the first day of Australia’s most prestigious yearling sale in Sydney, was an Encosta De Lago daughter of the highly performed Absolut Glam, at Au$910,000 (in the region of R7,5 million.) It’s been a habit of Summerhill’s in the past six or seven years, to include in our draft the progeny of some of the world’s top stallions, and of course these graduates have included Horse of the Year Igugu (by Galileo), and her conqueror in the R2million Emperors Palace Ready To Run Cup, Hollywoodboulevard (by Street Cry). This year’s consignment is no different, punctuated by three stand-outs, one of whom is especially topical today for the fact not only that he’s a colt by Galileo’s outstanding son, Teofilo, but because he’s from a close relative to Absolut Glam, dam of the session-topper.

Teofilo was an unbeaten Champion European Juvenile whose victory over Holy Roman Emperor counts as one of history’s epic duels in England’s juvenile jewel, the Dewhurst Stakes (Gr.1). Teofilo’s first crop successes include his own Dewhurst hero, Parish Hall, propelling him to the top of the freshman sires class’ in Europe last year, an achievement which prompted the Darley advert that he’s already outstripped his illustrious sire, Galileo, in his first year. Teofilo’s haul included a healthy four Stakes winners, among 22 individual winners overall.

Then there’s a daughter from the first Southern Hemisphere-bred crop of the world champion racehorse, Duke Of Marmalade. The “Duke” wasn’t just a champion though, he was bred to be one, a son of the only stallion in history to win sires’ championships in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, Danehill, from the female line of the Emperor of American stallions, A.P. Indy, and our own champion stallion, Al Mufti. But this filly has got more than just a quality sire in her top line; she’s a granddaughter of a famous Melbourne Cup (Gr.1) winner in Jezabeel. She won’t be short of admirers, because she’s a good sort into the bargain. That’s a good reason for any self-respecting South African trainer to have a crack at this one. According to the latest Coolmore propaganda, not all the leading trainers have his first 2 year olds in their yards but most of them do :

Leading trainers in Britain in 2011 :

Trainer	Earnings (£)
Richard Hannon (x4) *	3,485,327
Aidan O’Brien *	2,894,457
Sir Henry Cecil *	2,730,438
John Gosden (x3) *	2,442,259
Mahmood Al Zarooni	1,829,899
Richard Fahey *	1,516,925
Sir Michael Stoute *	1,501,267
Mark Johnston	1,365,628
Kevin Ryan *	1,198,285
William Haggas (x3) *	1,167,428
Mick Channon (x3) *	1,037,688

* denotes “Dukes” in the yard.

Other trainers in Britain :

Trainer
Marco Botti (x3) *	David Elsworth *
Brian Meehan (x2) *	John Quinn *
Kevin Prendergast (x2) *	Michael Bell *
David Wachman (x2) *	David Simcock *
Tommy Stack (x2) *	Elie Lellouche *
Paul Cole (x2) *	Freddie Head *
Dermot Weld *	John Hills *
Sir Mark Prescott *	Jean Beguigne *
David Lanigan *	Alan Jarvis *
Peter Schiergen *

* denotes “Dukes” in the yard.

To top it all, the leading first season sire in Australia right now (and the numero uno by winners on the general Juvenile Sires’ log) is the South American champion Husson, who has already chalked up nine individual winners including a Stakes winner. Like most of our colleagues, we didn’t know much about Husson when we agreed to consign his good looking athletic son, but we took him on trust, because we know the guy who bred him, and besides being a looker, he is a brother to Ill Saggiatore, last year’s KZN Derby (Gr.2) ace.

So besides the usual quality offering from the champions, there’s a touch of class in the exotics on display. Our horses leave the farm this Saturday for their date with destiny. We’ve got a busy old week ahead though, with visits from Dennis Drier, Tony Rivalland, Charles Laird and Mary Liley, and the daily spontaneous bypassers whose curiosity is prickled either by the mystique of the game in general, or out of a specific interest in finding the next champion off the farm.

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

A NEW APPROACH

New Approach (Galileo)
(Photo : Darley)

“First two-year-old race in Europe”

With the first two-year-old race in Europe taking place on Sunday, bookmakers Stan James have updated the odds on their market for the leading first season sire. Darley’s New Approach (Galileo), whose Jim Bolger-trained son, Dawn Approach, could get him off to a flyer in the Tally-Ho Stud-sponsored maiden, is the favourite at 11/8, with Sakhee’s Secret (Sakhee) at 4/1, and Raven’s Pass (Elusive Quality) and Duke Of Marmalade (Danehill) both on 9/2. Newsells Park Stud’s Mount Nelson (Rock Of Gibraltar) is 12/1, while Tamayuz (Nayef) is 14/1.

Joseph Burke of Stan James, explained his company’s pricing, saying, “Numerically, Duke Of Marmalade is the best represented first season stallion for 2012, with 126 to run for him, but as New Approach was a far superior two-year-old, we would expect him to set the pace. Furthermore the median for the New Approach yearlings was phenomenal, hence we conclude that New Approach is a worthy favourite at this stage.”

“Sakhee’s Secret has 93 to run for him. Whilst he was a top sprinter, it does not necessarily follow that his stock will be precocious, however they have been well distributed amongst competent trainers, so we expect him to have a good year. Of course, as a racehorse, he finished in front of the first two in last year’s competition, Dutch Art and Red Clubs when winning his July Cup, so his chances of success are obvious.”

“Raven’s Pass is an interesting prospect and similar in many ways to New Approach in that he was a top two- year-old and three-year-old and reports of his stock have been encouraging, plus they sold well.”

“Duke Of Marmalade comes from a fantastic stallion producing family and is without doubt the best bred of those with first crop runners in 2012. He has such a vast number of representatives to run for him that he already has a head start; if just 25% of his crop won for him, that would be enough to take this title most years.”

“I have left out Henrythenavigator (Kingmambo), as despite the fact that Aidan O’Brien has six or seven of them, overall I don’t think he will have enough representatives on the ground in the United Kingdom and Ireland to make an impact in terms of numbers.”

“We have done our job, so now its a matter of sitting back and seeing if money talks for one particular stallion prior to the first two-year-old race of the season.”

Extract from European Bloodstock News

MUCH MORE FAMILY

Hannah Goss aboard Graffiti
(Photo : Cheryl Goss)

“SPEAKING OF TALENT…”

Those who’ve followed these columns over the years, will remember the statement that, unlike most commercial pursuits which tend to be shorter in term when it comes to turning things over, breeding of racehorses is much more of a generational thing. This means that family-building is a prime ingredient in the production of good horses, and it’s no different in the human sphere. Sunday, at the Three Springs showground’s at Treverton College, the Goss’ granddaughter, Hannah, made her show jumping debut aboard her spritely Appaloosa pony, Graffiti. What a day, with five clear rounds, two of which were in the competition stages, including a jump-off against six other competitors. In her first-ever contest against a field of riders ranging between 13 and 20 years, little Hannah (just turned 9) concluded her last round in clear fashion again, to take the third place rosette, beaten only by the clock.

There must be an adventurous spirit tucked away in the family somewhere, as she and Graffiti went into those jumps with a confidence and a verve unusual in a debutant, particularly one of such tender years.

Speaking of young talent, Summerhill’s latest foray into the Magic Millions weanling sales at the Gold Coast was especially enlightening, because it featured the first progeny of some of the world’s best racehorses of recent generations. These included the English Derby and Champion Stakes hero, New Approach; unbeaten two year old Teofilo; Horse of the Year, Duke Of Marmalade; English Derby and Eclipse winner Authorized; Champion three year old and Champion Miler, Henrythenavigator etc. We’ve managed to get our hands on three of them, though for a band of this ilk, ideally you’d have liked one of each. Make a date for next years Emperors Palace National Yearling Sale, and get your hands on one.

Here they are: 

Please click the thumbnails above to enlarge…

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