THE VALUE OF RELATIONSHIPS

A little Goss Family history…
(Summerhill Stud Archives)

“BMT”

Mick Goss
Summerhill Stud CEOYou’ve heard this before, no doubt, but there was no inheritance involved in the development of Summerhill. The farm and its now-famous boutique hotel and restaurant, Hartford House, were built on the blood, sweat and sacrifices of a gifted team, as good as you’ll find anywhere in the world. What we did inherit though, was an appreciation of the value of relationships, the thread of which you’ll find running through the history of the Goss family, from the time of the original founder, Michael, who was part of a contingent of Irish settlers under Captain Butler in 1820. My grandfather, Pat, started a trading enterprise in Pondoland in 1916, and his bankers were Standard Bank. He was the first man in those parts to convert from an ox-drawn wagon to a truck with a combustion engine, and he filled it up at his own bowser with fuel supplied by the Atlantic Fuel & Firing Company (which exists today, after seven name changes, as Engen).

When he planted his maize and sorghum, he used the products made by what is modernly known as Kynoch, and his books were audited by a small firm in Port Shepstone, the closest place where such a service could be found. He bought his first tractor in Kokstad from the Chapman family of East Griqualand Tractors in the 1920s, and he founded his racehorse breeding enterprise at The Springs on the New Almalfi Flats in the shadow of the Great Depression. He was quite a boy, old Pat, and it wasn’t long before he had his July winner, the diminutive St Pauls, in 1946.

These commercial relationships survived and thrived in my father Bryan’s era, and we’re proud to tell you that today, our bankers remain Standard, we continue to buy our fuel from Engen and our tractors from the Chapmans, and some of the family work is still undertaken in Port Shepstone.

Following St Pauls’ “July”, the celebrations were held at the very smart Kew Hotel on Durban’s Berea, where the manager was a spritely young lady, June Maguire. Her daughter Robin and her husband Robert Muir have had horses at Summerhill since the early 80s, initially in partnership with another erstwhile veteran of the farm, Lou Bernstein (remember his July winner, Chimboraa in 1968)?. The very first racehorse they bred here was Hot Guard, Champion Two-Year-Old of South Africa; the Muirs must have thought this game was easy, and for them it probably has been, with the likes of Champions Cataloochee, Argonaut and Candidato Roy, and Summerhill resident sire and Derby hero, Ravishing.

Many things have been said and written about the Rupert family, and the one thing that is common to everyone who has ever had a word to say about them, is how much they value relationships. Johann and I played cricket together at university, though the family’s inspiration in the breeding business came through his wife Gaynor. Whilst today they own the spectacular Drakenstein Stud in Franschoek, they’ve been with us since the gates opened at Summerhill, and they’re still here. A veteran trio at Summerhill includes my brother Pat and his two fellow founders of what was originally Rand Consolidated Investments, G.T. Fererria and Laurie Dipenaar, part of the Summerhill show since the early 80s (the latter two later established with the Ruperts, the conglomerate now called First Rand, which gave birth to Rand Merchant Bank, First National Bank, Momentum Life and Discovery). The 80s also sparked Rodney Thorpe and Roger Zeeman, owners of the champions Imperial Despatch, Harry’s Charm and Amphitheatre, and one-time investors in Igugu and the highly talented Lady Broadhurst. They’ve had a “charmed” life.

In my days as a practising attorney, I was bowled over to find the advocate I’d briefed in a case involving a horse called Marathon Gold, was able to recite the horse’s pedigree inside-out as I entered his chambers (remember, this was long before Google and the internet). That man became a highly respected judge of the Supreme Court, Alan Magid. Together with another stalwart of the farm, former Jockey Club Chairman and Imbongi and Fisani’s owner, Ronnie Napier, they serve as governors of our School Of Management Excellence.

2012 marks our twenty-first year of involvement with the ruling family of Dubai, the Maktoums, owners of Kahal and Muhtafal. Their mark has been left on the Thoroughbred the world over, as the biggest owners and breeders of all time, while at the other end of the “royalty” spectrum, we have His Majesty, King Letsie III of Lesotho, not only an ardent racing fan, but a great friend of the farm.

One guy who’s come from nowhere as a former running mate in the lunchtimes at Greyville racecourse, to commanding a Summerhill menagerie, is former Racing Association chair, Bruce Gardner, co-breeder of multiple “champ” Nhlavini, as well as Classic heroine, Mystery Guest, and dual Merchants hero, Arabian Mist. His predecessor at the “RA”, Barry Walters, has just completed his third decade with us, and includes among his memories the Bloodline Million (Gr1) victor, Last Watch, one of our earliest Classic winners.

Sport is a great forger of relationships and among our pals from the playing fields while there was still wind in our lungs, were Barry Clements, Alan Sutherland (rugby) Peter Fenix, Anton and Mike Proctor (cricket), Seymour Harley, Rob Pickering and Mike Benson (polo). Some of these fellows have excelled as much in the breeding of spectacular racehorses as they did in their international and provincial sporting careers, driven no doubt, by the competitive instincts that made them famous in the first place.

If you follow racing in Dubai, Germany, France, the UK, the States, South America, South Africa and sometimes even in Scandinavia, you’ll have come across the name of one of the world’s silent (but most ardent) investors. Our good friend, Rupert Plersch, has known Group race success in almost all these places, and concentrates most of his “fire power” at Summerhill.

There are many more of course, some bigger, some smaller, some long-standing, some more recent, among them real characters and intrepid players. You have to be all these things to be in the game, and then you have to have the “BMT”, that thing that steers us through thick and thin, the good times and the tough.

There are little breeders, one or two mare types who’ve bred millionaires, like Emperor Napoleon and Bold Ellinore, Paris Perfect, and Hear The Drums, others bigger and illustrious who’ve been associated with Ebony Flyer, Ipi Tombi and their ilk. But their stories are not going to be swamped by the length of this article. The holidays are a good time to reveal them and their secrets to you, so that’s what we’ll do.

www.summerhill.co.za

POCKET POWER GUNNING FOR GROUP 1 WORLD RECORD

Pocket Power
(Image : Gold Circle / Summerhill Stud)

“PP” PICKS PRESTIGE PRIZE
FOR WORLD PERFORMANCE

The most stately event on the South African racing calendar is also the oldest. Saturday’s renewal for the 150^th time of the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate, the “mile” weight-for-age championship of the African continent, is staged at Kenilworth in Cape Town. The legend Pocket Power lines up in an attempt at a fifth consecutive victory. With earnings already well in excess of R10million, the son of Jet Master now only has records to break in a lifetime stashed with achievement. Victory here will make him a joint world record holder, the only other horse in history to have achieved a similar feat at Group 1 level in the same race being the American weight-carrying champion of the 1950’s, Kelso. The difference is that Pocket Power will have done it consecutively, whereas Kelso established his record over a six year span.

Famed for their association with the international prestige brands Cartier, Mont Blanc, Dunhill, Rothmans etc, the Rupert family’s embrace of the Queen’s Plate as a sponsorship project is a fitting extension to their involvement in one of the country’s most prestigious wineries and what is arguably the most breathtaking stud farm in the world, Drakenstein, home to the fabled Horse Chestnut and the very successful American “transplant”, Trippi.

The Rupert’s association with the Goss family goes back to university days at Stellenbosch, and they have been customers and friends of Summerhill virtually since the gates opened. Mick and Cheryl Goss will be winging their way for Cape Town on Friday to the stately Fleur du Cap, the Rupert guesthouse in Somerset West. Who knows, they might witness new history, though that would not be the plan of the connections of Ebony Flyer, the sensational three old filly in the Team Valor stable. Another Summerhill client, Barry Irwin, heads up Team Valor International, and with a handy pull at the weights, they will be doing everything they can to lower Pocket Power’s colours. Nobody wants to see a champion thwarted in his quest for a world record, but in the end, that’s what racing’s about : competition. And in the case of the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate, at the very highest level.

This could be one for the ages.

L’ORMARINS QUEEN’S PLATE (Grade 1)
Kenilworth, Turf, 1600m
8 January 2011

FINAL FIELD

#	Horse	Kg	MR	Dr	Jockey	Trainer
1	POCKET POWER	60.0	117	2	B Fayd’Herbe	Mike Bass
2	PAST MASTER	60.0	114	6	G Schlechter	Darryl Hodgson
3	TROPICAL EMPIRE (AUS)	60.0	114	15	G Hatt	Duncan Howells
4	TALES OF BRAVERY	60.0	111	9	M Byleveld	Vaughan Marshall
5	BLUE TIGER	60.0	109	14	A Domeyer	Mike Bass
6	CAPTAIN’S SECRET	60.0	107	8	R Fourie	Mike Bass
7	CASEY COOL	60.0	107	3	F Anthony	Darryl Hodgson
8	CELTIC FIRE	60.0	107	7	K Teetan	Yvette Bremner
9	FABIANI	60.0	105	5	R Danielson	Glen Kotzen
10	RUSHING WIND	60.0	104	12	K Neisius	Mike Bass
11	TIME AND LOVE	60.0	104	4	M Odendaal	SJ van Rensburg
12	SUPER STORM	60.0	99	10	P Strydom	Mike Bass
13	AMERICAN MAN (AUS)	60.0	91	11	S Veale	Mitchell Wiese
14	MOTHER RUSSIA	57.5	111	1	A Marcus	Mike de Kock
15	EBONY FLYER	52.5	97	13	F Coetzee	Justin Snaith

FROM MODEST BEGINNINGS TO HUMBLE SALUTATIONS

“The Gosses and horses go back well into our Irish ancestry…”
(Photo : Summerhill Stud)

THE ORIGINS OF SUMMERHILL STUD

On a daily basis we’re receiving now, enquiries from around the world, prompted no doubt by the stream of pamphlets, brochures etc which fill your mailboxes with stallion propaganda at this time of year, as to when the Summerhill brochure will soon be on the street.

It seems it has become coffee table material and archive stuff for many, but as always, it will be out at the beginning of August, and those attending our Stallion Day will be the first recipients.

We will be teasing you however, with the occasional inserts, the first of which is a piece by the “boss” on the origins of the stud.

“When I think back on my upbringing, there are two features that stand out. One had to do with values. Ours was on old settler family which had survived the rigours of the remotest place in South Africa, through hard work, hand-me-downs and a sense of adventure. The story books tell you, growing up is fun. Ours was.

The other was horses. The Gosses and horses go back well into our Irish ancestry, and my grandfather founded his stud in the shadow of the Great Depression. There was no inheritance at Summerhill though. Just old relationships, and the disease that afflicts us all in the horse game.

As for myself, I always knew that one day I’d own a broodmare, though how, on the meagre stipend of a junior partner in a law firm, I didn’t know. Everything I owned was on hire purchase, including my wife and kids. I’ve always had a Land Rover though, and in the context of this story, in 1977 it was a clapped out old 3 series van, dating to the 50’s.

In the car park, after Bold Tropic’s S.A. Guineas, I heard of the sale of a tough old mare whose career I’d followed as a racehorse. Saturday mornings for me were sacrosanct. They were my “farming” days, and on this particular one, I set out in my favourite old khaki shorts, veldskoens and the “Landie”, for the home of the agent, a fine specimen of a man by name Tony Furness.

Clad only in a towel and addressing me from the sanctuary of his apartment balcony, Mr Furness opened the negotiations for Cosy Rosy. I stood in the street below. We quickly established my willingness to buy, so we were only haggling about price. He insisted she was worth R10,000, and I was only offering five, though how I was going to settle even that modest sum, I wasn’t sure. I suggested we spin for it, a proposal with the potential to double my liability if it went against me.

For once, fortune smiled on the “farmer”, and after leaving behind five post-dated cheques, courtesy of my brother’s generosity, I drove away in the old banger, the proud owner of Cosy Rosy. And so the stud that would one day house horses for Arab potentates and English, Australian, Japanese and American millionaires, was born.

A nice image this, some would say, but the point of it all, is that it’s proof if ever it was needed, that in our sport, anything is possible. To many in racing, Summerhill now resembles a totem of money and prestige. The reality is different. There is no farm known to us which is home to more than 500 staff and their families every night. No farm runs four educational facilities, four football teams, four choirs and a world class dance troupe. Our dividends are not measured in money. We see them in the growth of our people.

There are those that will tell you that some guys win races, but often they  seem to be throwing a dice and praying a lot. They will tell you that Summerhill on the other hand, seems to be working on some guaranteed quota. To those who are generous, thank you. Those given to envy, should remember that we came to the game with nothing but dreams.

Everything that’s come our way has been achieved through sacrifice, the force of our work and a gift for breeding horses that run. And the fact that our people chose to write their own history.

There was no running start here. Just a clapped out Land Rover, some tired khakis and old Cosy Rosy”.

SHADES OF THE FIFTIES : MORE LEGENDS

St Pauls - 1946 Durban July Winner
(Photo : Summerhill Stud Archives) 

“TICKETS TO IMMORTALITY”

Speaking of my upbringing, it was a time long before the advent of TAB and Tellytrack, when every self-respecting country village still staged a race meeting of some stature, under Jockey Club rules.

In fact, when a village was first settled, as a priority the farmers chose for themselves the best piece of “dirt” they could lay their hands on, and made sure they were accompanied by a willing publican who set up the local watering hole. Only then did they turn their minds to the lesser things, like schools, clinics, roads and sanitised water.

On race days, Father Eric, local, Catholic and inevitably Irish, would bless the course in his brown habit, and then exchange his attire for something more appropriate in his role as the Gold Ring “bookie” or turf accountant, as he preferred to style himself. A bet with Father Eric had its benefits, but it also had its downside. He held the monopoly on all bets, which meant he, and he alone, called the odds, but what you lost on the swings, you made up on the roundabouts. Father Eric never knew the meaning of betting tax. Highlight of our local meeting was the Lusikisiki Club Handicap, and visitors to Hartford House will know this grand event for its fine trophy, a rose bowl which stands proudly at the entrance to South Africa’s Number One restaurant of 2009.

Goss family heroes of the Club Handicap included Dan and Giant, third and fourth in the Durban July and the Cape Metropolitan respectively. On that same track, did my grandfather’s ticket to immortality, do his final work on his way to July glory. Diminutive St Paul’s last gallop was inspirational enough to prompt the booking of the Kew Hotel on Durban’s Berea for the victory celebrations, four months before the July was ever run!

The rest, as they say, is history, but it’s worth a mention that this faith, this inspired belief in his horse, is the foundation of the “disease” that drives this farm today. Much like the odds when we started at Summerhill, St Pauls opened at 60/1, but he finished at 10/1. A significant plunge by an adoring public, that left him one of the most popular winners in history.

THERE’S A HORSE FOR EVERYONE IN THE READY TO RUN

Hannah Goss at the Summerhill Gallops
(Photo : Jean Stanley)

2009 EMPERORS PALACE READY TO RUN SALE

The tradition of horses in the Goss family goes back to before Ireland’s Battle of the Boyne, when the Gosses fought alongside the Maguires. But their history with thoroughbreds is a more recent one, starting in the early 1930’s with Pat Goss Snr’s obsession with racehorses. The ‘disease’ has recently reached the 5^th generation in the form of Hannah Goss, one of Fridays’ guests of honour at the Emperors Palace Ready To Run Gallops.

Hannah never missed a beat, ‘clocking’ every gallop; she tells us she’s willing to share her personal fancies with anyone who might be interested. You’d need to let us know though, because they’re not up for public consumption!

P.S. Hannah says that, with up to six cheques for qualifying buyers, she could even be a player, come Sunday 8^th November. 

 

EMPERORS PALACE READY TO RUN SALE
8 NOVEMBER 2009

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