THOROUGHBRED BREEDING : ACCIDENTS HAPPEN

Foveros
(Photo : SportHorse-Data)

“A good pedigree belongs to a good horse.”
Terrance Millard

Mick Goss
Summerhill Stud CEOAs South African breeders contemplate life without Jet Master, inevitably our thoughts turn to alternatives, and because Jet Master was more mongrel than blood, we ask ourselves what constitutes a good pedigree. I asked the many-times champion trainer, Terrance Millard that question while he was inspecting yearlings for the TBA some fifteen years ago, and his answer was short (and to the point), “I’ve been in this game more than fifty years, and I’ve come to the conclusion that a good pedigree belongs to a good horse”.

Humbug attends arguments about horse breeding the way an egret dwells on a tick-blown ox. Another great South African stallion of more than two decades ago, Foveros, unfashionably bred and stained yellow by the summer sun, rampaged as a racehorse through the Cape Town season like a wounded buffalo through the reeds. As always, you go home and pour over his pedigree. You go back six generations, and you look through 126 ancestors. No neon lights flash, there is no grand clue. That’s alright. Racing would be as interesting as quantum physics if it were burdened with mathematical certainty. You’re happy to conclude that Foveros, like Jet Master, had something greater than blood and conformation. They had the great tick of the heart. In sport that’s enough: rare talents are rarely fathomable.

Nonsense, says the breeding purist, who bails you up at the races the next week. It is the usual confrontation. The theorist is vaguely hysterical. You are vaguely surly and pretend you need to go to the tote. The interrogation begins. “Didn’t you see all that Hyperion in the pedigree? Three doses of it. Three! And Hyperion’s close relative All Moonshine, is in there too”. I recall the fact to him that I’ve bred many horses with that many doses of Hyperion’s family, with less than inspiring outcomes. You ask yourself why these buffs can’t tell you these things in advance, before Foveros and Jet Master became famous. We could’ve cleaned up at long odds. Truth is, they can’t, and it’s all rather tiresome. I’m sure that when Pat Devine picked Jet Master as a foal at the old Natal Mare and Weanling Sale, she hadn’t bothered to check the co-efficiency of the colt’s inbreeding.

We don’t assail our clients with dosage or linebreeding theories here at Summerhill, but we breed and raise top-class winners by the hundreds. Over at Highlands, when Graham Beck presided over the champion stallions, National Assembly, Jallad and Badger Land, all at one time, they didn’t discuss their success in terms of the “international outcross” their pedigrees represented. Both farms have owned the national breeders’ title many times.

We are, therefore, in favour of anyone who can offer serious thoughts about breeding without the humbug. Someone who knows about the caprices of nature as well as the laws of Mendel, someone who knows that nothing can make a fool of you more comprehensively than a thoroughbred. Which is why I’ve always been greatly taken (and impressed) by the simple logic of Thoroughbred Breeding: Notes and Comments. Its author, Sir Mordaunt Milner, cuts through humbug like a flail mulcher.

Milner failed at Leeds University because he went to the races instead of to lectures. He then immigrated to South Africa where he was a stipendiary steward, a novelist, a breeder of classic winners, and sales-topping yearlings. The back dust-jacket of the book catches Milner’s breezy fatalism. It shows him bridling his riding hack. The caption says “This filly was bought as a yearling in a season before her full brother won the New Zealand Derby - what good luck! She never won a race: she never had a foal, what bad luck! That’s racing”. Do not be misled. The book is a considerable piece of scholarship. It brings a fresh mind and a deft pen to all the usual things: nicks and crosses, prepotency, dosages, how to select a mare and how to find the right mate for her. It is never boring, never superficial. But you always have the feeling that here was a man who had read all the books and knew all the theory, but who had also stood in a paddock, looked at a sad little foal who was all wrong, and said to himself there is a time when all this theory is “bunk”.

Here are a few of his smartest observations:

• “When a mare is offered for sale one frequently reads the following sort of comment beneath the displayed pedigree: ‘The next dam is So and So, a daughter of Thingamabob tracing to Paraffin’. This means the mare will have the famous mare Paraffin (1870) in the eighth or ninth generation and the influence will be as remote as an ancestor who came over on the Mayflower to his or her descendant in the Senate or in the Bowery… This sort of announcement is as meaningless as putting the family number after the name of a horse. It is… a lot of bull.”
• “At a poultry show, a young fancier asked what was the difference between inbreeding and line-breeding. An older one answered: ‘Well son, it’s this way. If you keep on breeding with your own birds and you are successful, you speak of line-breeding. But, if your results are bad, you can blame it on inbreeding’.”
• “The commercial breeder has to breed a yearling that can walk well enough to satisfy the buyers; whether it can gallop as well is then the buyer’s problem”.
• “If you’re going back seven generations to support a theory, you might as well go back eight”.
• “There is no relationship between size and ability on the racecourse, but one thing is sure: there is a definite correlation between size and price at the yearling sales”.
• “How many mares do you need to start a stud and how do you choose them? Only one, provided you pick the right one. Both the Childwick Bury and the Aga Khan’s stud would still have been known world-wide if the only mares they had started with had been Absurdity and Mumtaz Mahal”.

As you can see, Milner was a pragmatist, but he pulled up well short of saying that breeding is all luck. His theme is that by sifting the evidence intelligently you can improve your luck. The words of the great American breeder, John Gaines, (whose farm Gainesway, the Beck family owns today) often seemed close to the Milner approach. Gaines once said “It’s really the game of percentages, a game of getting many little things working for you. Every little plus gives you a higher probability than someone else has”. You’ve heard that many times at Summerhill.

The passage I like best in the book belongs not to Milner, but to Phil Bull, founder of Timeform, whose wisdom was also contained in our previous piece entitled ‘From Pauper to Princess’. It goes like this: “Anyone who thinks he can breed a champion by sitting down with a split-pedigree book to find an ideal mating based on inbreeding or crosses of this or that, just isn’t in touch with reality. Every “great” horse is (by definition) a rarity whose superior genetic make-up is the result of a statistically improbable accident. You may hope for and solicit such accidents, nothing more.”

Which brings me back to Foveros. I may have that quotation printed on a card. Next time the breeding theorist hectors me about Foveros and Hyperion, I can simply hand the card to him. On reflection, that won’t work. He is sure to say that Phil Bull is notorious for his lack of knowledge about Hyperion in the fourth generation.

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STATE OF THE NATION - NATIONAL BREEDERS LOG

 

Summerhill Jockeys helmet
(Photo : Gareth du Plessis) 

“It’s a long, long way to Tipperary”

So the saying goes, but we’d rather be where we are on the National Breeders log than anywhere else right now. They’ll also tell you that “all good things come to an end”, but for us it’s a case of “how we wish they’d never end”. Truth is, the breeding game in this country has never been more competitive, and that’s some statement given the fact that only six farms have ever subscribed their names on the Championship roll in all of recorded history. Only yesterday, the arrival of Syd Birch, a third generation member of the fabled Birch Brothers visited Summerhill to have his mare served, just how pale our six consecutive championships are by comparison with the 60-odd the Birch’s hinged together in the early parts of the last century. No breeding entity anywhere in the world has so completely dominated the affairs of a nation to the degree of the Birch Brothers, and while the level of competition was different in those days, it’s nonetheless one helluva story.

It’s a compliment to the ecumenical nature of our sport that while the competition is tough, we remain the firmest of friends, strange for any business but with a ring of truth in this country. As an illustration of just how competitive it is, an analysis of ‘who’s who” makes interesting reading. A new frontrunner comes in the shape of an old name in game, Klawervlei Stud, which whilst slightly differently spelt, nevertheless harks back to the grandfather of the present incumbent John Koster, who has joined forces with, among others, the biggest owner of racehorses this country’s ever known. Markus Jooste is the founder and CEO of what is now known as the Steinhoff group, the world’s largest “uncle in the furniture business” and as Markus has so often reminded us, he’s got a “heat-seeker right up our asses”.

Highlands Farm Stud is the famous property of the late and much-lamented Graham Beck, Africa’s biggest coal-miner, while Maine Chance farm belongs to the German family Jacobs, renowned for their association with the Jacobs coffee empire and Toblerone chocolate. The biggest diamond and gold miners of their era, the Oppenheimers are double-fisted with the legendary Mauritzfontein Stud and through daughter, Mary Slack, with the enterprising Wilgersbosdrift up the Cape West Coast.

Another formidable challenger is the Lammerskraal Stud of the game reserve king, Mala Mala’s Mike Rattray, who has at his disposal this year one of the strongest sophomore hands they’ve known. While big Port Elizabeth landowners, the Parker family own Ascot Stud, joint winners last season of the breeding achievement award.

If you’re looking for a common factor, you’ll find it in enormous reserves of relatively untapped wealth, and the capacity to mobilize whatever resources it takes to acquire the best in genetics. In many respects, herein lies one of the keys to South Africa’s emergence as a producer of world-class thoroughbreds. We’ve always had the environment, and we’ve always possessed the skills of husbandry, but what has really changed our breeding landscape dramatically, has been the importation of a gene pool vastly superior to anything this country’s ever known. There will of course be those who might question this statement, given the history stretching back to the 50’s of the likes of Drum Beat, Highveldt, Abadan II and Fairthorn, all commanding Timeform ratings of 120 and above, but it’s the sheer numbers of performers at this level that’s made the difference.

It’s also fair to say that the compilers of the world’s most famous rating publication, Timeform were more liberal in the points they awarded to racehorses in those days, which is to say that modernly you really have to earn your stripes. At Summerhill we pretty much benchmarked our stallions on a Timeform rating of 120 plus, as this games about running, and the best way to get there is to use proper runners.

One emerging stud which is still too young to make the top ten, but which is our tip for the next “emerging giant”, is the Rupert family’s Drakenstein Stud, surely the most beautiful property in thoroughbred breeding anywhere in the world. For many years, the Oppenheimers and the Ruperts vied for the title of South Africa’s wealthiest family, one the bastion of Afrikaanerdom, the other the old money of England, and it’s just conceivable that the financial rivalry could witness a second coming on the racecourses of South Africa.

That’s not to say that Summerhill is about to capitulate its spot at the top of the nation’s breeding affairs. While there is an inevitability to the end of every reign, there’s wind in these sails yet, and we still find it in ourselves to leap out of bed before the cock crows every morning in our attempts to keep our pals at bay. By contrast with our colleagues, resources at Summerhill have always been a rather scarce commodity, so we’ve had to rely on whatever other skills and instincts we’ve had at our disposal to give ourselves the edge. As we said yesterday, the wisdom of the experienced and the energy of our youth is behind the splendid storm, and we’ve still got a few shots to fire.

TOP 10 SOUTH AFRICAN BREEDERS
26 November - 28 November 2010

Position	Stud	Earnings (ZAR)
1	SUMMERHILL STUD	4,620,900
2	KLAWERVLEI STUD	2,663,640
3	D COHEN & SONS	2,150,981
4	HIGHLANDS	2,073,835
5	GRAYSTONE STUD	1,754,175
6	LAMMERSKRAAL STUD	1,692,980
7	GARY PLAYER STUD	1,523,043
8	VARSFONTEIN STUD	1,489,970
9	MAINE CHANCE	1,473,330
10	MAURITZFONTEIN STUD	1,384,690

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HARK BACK A LEGEND

Mowgli
(Photo : Summerhill Stud Archives) 

“Tribute to Uncle Harry Freeguard -
A Racing Man”

Mike Moon
The TimesMy uncle Harry was keen on the horses. Indeed, few days went by in more than 60 years when he didn’t scan the newspaper for the racing fields and make a shrewd assessment of the runners’ chances.

He wasn’t a big gambler in terms of money wagered; he just loved the animals, the pedigrees and the form puzzle - and couldn’t resist a flutter on it all.

Even if I hadn’t seen him in months, often the first thing he’d start talking about would be racing.

He’d worked for bookmakers yonks ago and had seen interesting things. But what set him apart from the more “colourful” characters from those good old bad old days was his unshakeable honesty and steadfast principle.

I loved listening to his racing yarns. A favourite of mine concerned rent money going on the great Mowgli in the 1950’s, in a race in which the horse took a tumble, and a letter being written to a bemused landlord explaining how “sad to relate, our funds fell with Mowgli at the Greyville crossing”.

With him on one side of my parentage, and generations of Moon racing madness on the other, I couldn’t escape the geegee malady.

In 1965, I attended my first Durban July - under-aged at 11. My father pulled strings to get me onto the racecourse, on condition I was strictly supervised. Uncle Harry got the job.

In the big race, Harry backed Fair Mountain; I had R1 on King Willow.

He positioned us at the winning post and I saw nothing of the race beyond the thronging adults - bar the final split-second, when two horses flashed past in the lead : King Willow and Fair Mountain.

My childish gloating at my horse’s victory must have been irritating, but uncle indulged me with typical good humour.

Harry lived beside Scottsville racecourse in Pietermaritzburg, though latterly didn’t attend meetings - so annoyed was he at the downgrading of the ordinary punter’s experience.

I promised him that one day I’d bring a horse down from Joburg to race at Scottsville and we’d have a day out together - just like old times.

I never kept that promise. Uncle Harry Freeguard died peacefully at home this week at 85.

Two weeks earlier saw the death of Graham Beck, a very different sort of man to my uncle - but also the same in a way.

A super-rich coal magnate who later got into winemaking, Beck’s true love was racing.

He famously said that standing in a winner’s circle felt “better than sex”.

Beck spent millions on the game, owning many top horses and stud farms in South Africa and the United States. Tributes have been heaped upon him for his generous contribution.

The billionaire and my uncle, a modest man of modest means; both felt the egalitarian tug of the thoroughbred horse at full gallop.

In racing parlance, they were coupled on the tote.

PS. Racing fans of the 1950’s will recall the legendary Mowgli, voted in 2000 amongst the last century’s top 5 racehorses. He was bred and raised right here at Hartford, which forms part of the greater Summerhill Estate.

Extract from The Times

"LEGEND". NO OTHER WAY OF DESCRIBING GRAHAM BECK

Mick and Cheryl Goss with Graham Beck and Laurie Jaffee in Dubai
(Photo : Summerhill Archives)

GRAHAM BECK
1929 - 2010

Mick Goss
Summerhill StudThe word “legend” is a much abused word in racing, or anywhere else for that matter. But in Graham Beck, here was the real life embodiment of the coinage.

What else can one say about a man whose passing has made all of the national news headlines, that hasn’t already been said. Descriptions that race to mind are “bigger than life”; overt generosity; an infectious, guttural sense of humour; a streetwiseness of uncanny proportions, and an enormous capacity for making others feel warm, wanted and, critically, worthy.

South African racing in general and the Jewry of Johannesburg in particular were once blessed with the “Three Musketeers”, Graham Beck, Cyril Hurwitz and Laurie Jaffee, now all passed on, and presumably, in the Elysian Fields. We say “presumably”, because they could at times be wickedly naughty, all three of them, and we’re not quite sure what the test is for entry to this apparent paradise. What we do know though, is that whatever the verdict on the first to go, (Cyril), it would’ve been the same for the other two, so the one assurance we do have is that they’re now together, and they’re probably looking down on us wondering whether we’ll see their like again. For my money, that’s c’est non possible. And you’d have to ask yourself, whether the makers of J&B have a factory big enough up there.

How do we place this man into perspective? In racing terms, he was a colossus, one of the greatest and most benevolent owners the game has ever known. Three things stand out for me in particular, not that they were necessarily, by any stretch, momentous in his life. The first involved the purchase of my first filly off the track from Graham, in a private transaction in his office. Given his stature and my own relative insignificance at 27, he couldn’t have been more accommodating, in what could’ve been frighteningly intimidating.

The second involved his purchase of Gainesway Farm. I happened to be representing the TBA on a trip to Kentucky, when I attended the Breeders Cup meeting. Just the day before, I made the acquaintance of a fellow solicitor, a Mr. Bishop who was counsel to one of the two greatest stallion stations in the world, Claiborne Farm; the grapevine, he said, was that a South African had purchased Gainesway, the other of the two great stallion stations. This was astounding news given that it was 1989, and that no South African had ever made such a splash in the bloodstock world.

The following day, Graham asked me to join him at his table at the Breeders Cup itself, there beside us was the founder, John Gaines himself, as cultured and intelligent a man as I’ve had the pleasure to know in racing. In that instant, Graham Beck had acquired the gigantic likes of Lyphard, Blushing Groom, Riverman, Vaguely Noble, Irish River etc, some of the noblest names of all thoroughbred breeding, and South Africa had “arrived”.

Henceforth, and for some time, Graham Beck would be Kentucky’s most favoured dinner guest, and his legacy at Gainesway today is one of the most beautiful farms on the planet. As a farmer myself, I should use this moment to applaud his stewardship of the land. That is his, and his lovely lady, Rhona’s signature, wherever they have invested.

The third instant reflected his own international standing in the thoroughbred world. I was in Dubai for the inaugural World Cup, and I received a distressed message from Graham’s office in Johannesburg, enquiring whether I could intervene in getting his private aircraft which was already in flight into Dubai. His sin was that he was Jewish himself, and that his aircraft had been to Israel on its journey to Dubai. Given the difficulties Israel and its Middle Eastern neighbours have experienced over the decades, aircraft emanating from there were not always welcome.

There was no one bigger in the thoroughbred world at that time than Sheikh Mohammed, and there was no-one more capable of influencing events in the Middle East than him. Within an hour, the big plane was not only welcome, but Sheikh Mohammed attended personally at the airport to fetch Graham.

In every material respect, Graham Beck was an enormous man, big in personality, big in generosity, massive in his contributions to our game, and in the lives he touched. At Summerhill, his Highlands Farm was our biggest competitor, and no-one competed “better” than he did.

Rest in peace, old pal. Your life has been hectic, and you deserve it.

OF WAR ARTIST, REBEL KING AND UNCLE TOMMY

Rebel King
(Photo : Kerry Jack)

LIVING IN CLOVER

Those that watched Thursday evening’s big sprint in Dubai, will have noticed that Rupert Plersch’s War Artist came home smoking. This is not only great news for a long-time client of Summerhill, but it also franks the talents of a graduate of our paddocks. Rebel King was born into an “impossible” era of great sprinters in South Africa. As a son of National Emblem, he already had great shoes to fill from a Summerhill perspective, as he was the successor in the same yard (champion trainer Charles Laird’s) as the great Nhlavini, the only horse in history to line-up six consecutive years as an Equus Awards finalist.

As if that wasn’t enough, Rebel King also happened to arrive on the sprinting scene at a time when National Colour was blazing her trail, and the emergence of the spectacular Mythical Flight was taking shape. As if repelling these two horses was not already enough of a challenge, he came to the Natal Mercury Sprint (Gr.1) two seasons ago for yet another encounter with the odds-on Mythical Flight, at level weights over Clairwoods’ 1200m track.

At last, he came to conquer the horse that had beaten him in the Computaform Sprint (Gr.1) in Johannesburg, and having just got the job done, and with victory looking like it was in the bag, War Artist flashed up to beat him by a neck.

Of course, we know that War Artist has gone on to Group race glory in Europe during the past season, as well as running a narrow third in the Prix de ‘l Abbaye (Gr.1) Longchamp’s showcase for the best sprinters in Europe. Again, at Dubai’s Meydan Thursday evening, War Artist showed his mettle by lowering the colours of a strong field of sprinters, reminding us of his battles with Rebel King.

Very recently, our Bloodstock Manager, Kerry Jack, visited Rebel King at his new stallion home at the prestigious Klawervlei Stud (translated, literally, “clover vlei”). There’s hope in the Klawervlei quarter that he will be the successor to his own illustrious father, National Emblem.

Patronised by the owners of more than a hundred broodmares in his first season at stud, he’s an obvious hit, and a tribute to the horses graduating from our paddocks. His half-brother, Uncle Tommy, was 2009’s highest priced yearling at all sales in South Africa last year at R2,5 million, knocked down to the bid of Mike Bass acting on behalf of the doyen, Graham Beck.