THEY DON'T HAVE TO HAVE FANCY PARENTS...

EMPERORS PALACE READY TO RUN SALE
7 NOVEMBER 2010 

When it comes to tales, the Ready To Run is a whopper. Of triumph over adversity, of “plebs” over patricians, of David against Goliath. It is racing in its democratic perfection, best illustrated in the outcomes of this month’s Joburg Spring Stakes. The Colts’ version was won in imperious style by a R60,000 buy, the Fillies’ by a million Rand diva by the world’s best stallion. Pierre Jourdan was the hero of last year’s “Cup”, Igugu the favourite for this year’s.

But Pierre Jourdan isn’t that big, his parents aren’t that famous, and he didn’t cost that much as a youngster. Yet he’s by some distance his father’s most talented son. Like any number of Ready To Run stars, he comes from a “less fashionable” background, in the same way as Imbongi, Hear The Drums, Phunyuka, Winning Leap, Dynamite Mike, Catmandu, Thandolwami, and Fanyana. The best racehorses their fathers ever produced. They just happened to have the best upbringing of a racehorse known to man.

Reality is, there’s a horse for everyone in the Ready To Run, especially if you’re willing to back your own judgement.

RECENT SUMMERHILL READY TO RUN GRADUATES
BY COST AND EARNINGS

GRADUATE	PRICE (ZAR)	EARNINGS (ZAR)
IMBONGI **	140,000	8,841,375
PIERRE JOURDAN	60,000	3,299,435
DESERT LINKS **	110,000	2,376,611
BIANCONI **	87,000	1,899,315
HEAR THE DRUMS	40,000	1,866,063
ICY AIR	60,000	1,264,905
AMPHITHEATRE	30,000	1,203,826
CATMANDU	60,000	1,026,100
DISAPPEAR	160,000	970,530
FORK LIGHTENING	75,000	965,962
SMANGALISO	100,000	947,950
PHUNYUKA	90,000	917,650
OUTCOME	150,000	738,670
FANYANA	95,000	717,495
BRIGADIER PARKER	47,000	682,790
BHEKINKOSI	65,000	680,075
MAJESTIC SUN	70,000	631,476
DYNAMITE MIKE	50,000	629,750
ALEJATE	80,000	613,625
PARIS TO PEKING	145,000	580,057
UMNGAZI	180,000	502,680
MANNEQUIN	80,000	455,150

** Includes Earnings Abroad

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

YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE A MILLIONAIRE

Click above to watch Ready To Run Graduate, Hear The Drums
(Image : Wally Strydom/Summerhill Stud - Footage : Tellytrack)

EMPERORS PALACE READY TO RUN SALE
7 NOVEMBER 2010 

Karel Miedema www.sportingpost.co.zaMuch has been made of the role of pedigree in the production of great horses over the years.

While there’s no denying the value of parentage and its contribution to the fashioning of the breed, the glorious thing about racing is that some horses have been known to defy logic.

Great racehorses and great stallions like Foveros and Jet Master, who were both of relatively plebeian beginnings, are stark examples of the importance of physique and athleticism, in enabling one horse to run faster than another, whatever their beginnings. In the human realm, Usain Bolt is another good example.

There is no history of a runner in his genetic background, yet here he is, the freak of all freaks, doing what no man has ever done before him.

The Emperors Palace Ready To Run Sale is probably the best reminder of why we all like racing. Its record of producing top athletes is, pound-for-pound, unrivalled in this country, yet you wouldn’t necessarily have anticipated this through a simple glance at the catalogue. If ever testimony was needed that you don’t have to have a flashy father to be a great racehorse, the Ready To Run provides it. If ever you wanted evidence of a defiance of probability, the Ready To Run is it.

Graduates of the sale regularly mock those who put their faith in six generation pedigree charts. They confound vets in matters of engineering, and the judgement of horsemen who rely on the aesthetics of balance and style and presence.

In recent times, horses like Imbongi (Russian Revival), Pierre Jourdan (Parade Leader), Winning Leap (Labeeb), Dynamite Mike (Fard), Hear The Drums (Gold Press), Catmandu (Makaaram), Phunyuka (Slew The Red) and Fanyana (Alami), all of them either classic winners, champions or millionaires, have emerged from this sale to scale the heights in their respective divisions. Their modest returns in the sales ring point to the fact that they were unfashionably bred, or that they may have suffered from some fault in God’s engineering, yet their records are in bold Black type.

The Ready To Run is also racing at its democratic best. Last November, a one time electrician took on an Arabian Sheikh for the top lot at R2.1million. It was every bit as dramatic as “the rumble in the jungle”, Ali vs Frasier, or the epic bout between Verus and Priscus at the opening of the Flavian amphitheatre. In the end, Andre Macdonald gave best to Sheikh Mohammed, but he was right back on the board when the presently unbeaten Igugu entered the ring. R1million later, Macdonald walked away with the spoils, a filly by the present champion sire of Europe, Galileo, who on present form, looks like she may have been something of a bargain.

Yes, there is something gladiatorial about a horse sales ring, where auctions are an adversarial form of shopping, and this is none more so than at the Ready To Run. No doubt, Sunday, 7th November will be the scene of some more fireworks.

Dates to remember :

Saturday 6 November 2010 - Raceday
Emperors Palace Ready To Run Cup

Sunday 7 November 2010 - Auction Sale
Emperors Palace Ready To Run Sale

For more information please visit :

www.tba.co.za
and
www.summerhill.co.za

MILLIONAIRES OR THERE ABOUTS

Pierre Jourdan
(Photo : JC Photographics / Summerhill Stud) 

“WHEN OUR BRAND GOES ON,
THE CLASS IS INSIDE”

Continuing the extracts from the Summerhill Sires Brochure for 2010/2011. Are you on the mailing list? If not then please let us have your details and we’ll gladly ensure you get a personal copy when it’s published on the 1st August.

“This is some sales ring. As the colt leaves, there is no murmur from the buyers in the black-backed chairs of  the pavilion. They are a congregation of sorts. They merely turn the catalogue page as more conventional worshippers turn the pages of hymnals. A quarter of a million for a youngster is nothing special here. Rich men seek the Holy Grail, rather than mere racehorses.

Summerhill is different though, because Summerhill has made it that way. We’ve always said, there’s a horse for everyone here. You might not take on the Harry Oppenheimers of the world in the boardroom,  but at the races you can. On the turf, as well as under it, all men are said to be equal. And while you might be justified in believing that buying from the Champions could be costly, racing abounds with its own fairytales.

Every graduate of the Summerhill paddocks is an individual creation. Shoppers at our “A” Block sales yard are looking to be reassured. They want a nice horse, but an inherently precious one, a piece of art. All our horses start out this way, and all of them are brought up this way. Truth is though, we are not the masters of God’s engineering, nor are we purveyors of fashion.

The result is the peculiar democracy of the South African turf that enables every one of Amphitheatre, Icy Air, Dynamite Mike, Hear the Drums, Catmandu, Salutation, Winning Leap and Pierre Jourdan, all of them millionaires, to be bought for R60,000 or less. Imbongi suffered the indignity of never raising a bid, yet this year he was anointed Victor Ludorum at Dubai’s Racing Festival. Taxi drivers and muck-shovellers could’ve invested in the lot.

These horses remind us why we like racing. They are defiant in the face of improbability. They triumph despite their “wheels” or their lack of illustrious parentage. They can be splendidly unscientific, often doing what they shouldn’t be able to do. In the age of computers, satellites and DNA, the racehorse is proof that two and two doesn’t always make four.

At least that’s the case when you’re dealing with Summerhill. You know when our brand goes on, the class is inside. That every youngster emerging from our paddocks, has been given the identical chance, that he’s a handmade product of the best upbringing of a horse known to man.

After that, we’re in the lap of the gods. It does seem though, looking at the Leader Board, that in the eyes of the gods, some men are more equal than others.”

SOUTH AFRICAN BREEDERS CHAMPIONSHIP

#	Breeder	Stakes (ZAR)
1	Summerhill Stud	18,290,962
2	Ascot Stud	6,324,400
3	Lammerskraal Stud	6,190,425
4	Normandy Stud	5,994,150
5	Highlands	5,926,499
6	Klawervlei Stud	5,894,875
7	Wilgerbosdrift	5,890,200
8	Scott Bros	5,414,937
9	D Cohen & Sons	5,324,412
10	Maine Chance	5,174,462

Sporting Post as at 11 July 2010

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

THE R60K CLUB

Pierre Jourdan - SA Classic (Gr1)
(Photo : JC Photographics / Summerhill Stud)

GO TO WWW.SUMMERHILL.CO.ZA AND CLICK ON SALES

Much has been made of the almost R3million harvest the owners of Pierre Jourdan are sitting on after only seven starts, and the fact he cost just R60,000 at the 2008 Emperors Palace Ready To Run Sale. Yet in the space of just one week, we’ve been reminded by their victories, of several other stars who graduated from these paddocks for even less money at the Ready To Run. 

At R42,000, Hear The Drums’ R1,8million haul, tells us there’s still gold in these seams, while Jay Peg’s vanquisher, Dynamite Mike, in the KZN Guineas two seasons back, made a mockery of his R45,000 knockdown.

Some you win, some you lose, and that was apparent from Gary Alexander’s remarks from the winner’s podium after the R2million SA Classic (Gr1) on Saturday. He reminded us of the value of athleticism in a racehorse, and that Pierre Jourdan’s sixty grand price tag was not an exception. Pierre Jourdan lines up next for the SASCOC Triple Crown, and those with memories will recall how close a previous 60K gamble came to winning a Triple Tiara. That year, Gary Alexander’s Icy Air was second in the Gauteng Fillies Guineas, and took out the SA Fillies Classic and then the SA Oaks. She followed up in the Woolavington and the Natal Oaks, on her way to a narrow loss in the J&B Met. Of course, she also nabbed two national titles for her exertions.

In case you’re wondering if there are any more of these pearls on the farm, go to www.summerhill.co.za and click on SALES.

NO FIREWORKS; BUT A GOOD SHOW NONETHELESS

Pansula
(Photo : Gold Circle)

SIX WINNERS IN A BANNER WEEK

After the big bangs of the last fortnight, two Guineas winners, Imbongi’s big showing in Dubai, Smanjemanje’s Egoli Mile, Vangelis’ Fairview Mile and Hear The Drums making it 31 wins to date, you might be forgiven for calling the events of this past week somewhat of a damp squib.

However, six winners is a banner week for anyone, headed by R600 000 Emerald Cup (Gr.2) ace, Phunyuka’s big job in the mid-week feature at the Vaal. He’s probably the best example of how different racing surfaces affect the performances of different horses, and for him, his “meat” is the sand, while it’s poison to others. His performance confirms Phunyuka as one of the finest sand runners in the country. All of Phunyuka, Dynamite Mike, Mholi, Pansula, Uyagiya and Mystic contributed to what is the best lead Summerhill has ever had in the Breeders Championship, where the log looks like this :

SOUTH AFRICAN BREEDERS LOG

STUD	EARNINGS (ZAR)	AEPR (ZAR)
Summerhill Stud	11,888,187	50,374
Normandy Stud	4,434,500	69,289
Lammerskraal Stud	3,929,700	46,232
Maine Chance	3,885,325	35,321
Highlands	3,677,962	30,907
D Cohen & Sons	3,575,812	29,552
Wilgerbosdrift	3,531,050	42,543
Klawervlei Stud	3,196,125	22,994
The Alchemy	3,116,825	42,696
Gary Player Stud	3,001,650	24,013

 Courtesy of Sporting Post as at 15 March 2010

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