SA BREEDERS' CHAMPIONSHIP : AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

Summerhill Sires Film 2012 / 2013
(An iKind Media Production)

“THE FUTURE’S SO BRIGHT”
By Anne Wilson
Thoroughbred Daily News, 6 August 2012

It’s been hailed as one of the toughest contests in racing and breeding, the South African Breeders’ Championship, and 2011 was no exception. In the end, it was the KwaZulu-Natal-based Summerhill Stud who took their eighth consecutive breeders championship with R13,317,507 over the Cape giants Klawervlei and Highlands, who weighed in with R11,973,461 and R10,765,354, respectively.

During the last few months of the season, it was a battle royal, with the lead changing hands between Summerhill and Klawervlei several times, before it was sealed for Summerhill with a runner-up in the G1 Vodacom Durban July. The 2011/2012 season was another vintage one for the stud, thanks to the efforts and earnings of its various runners.

Heading the quartet of highest earners for the season was the recently exported filly and 2011 South African Horse of the Year, Igugu (Aus) (Galileo) with R1,612,500 thanks to her multiple Group 1 wins including the G1 J&B Met; in second was Smanjemanje (SAF) (Kahal), with R1,182 500 from efforts including wins in the G2 Victory Moon Stkes and the G3 London News Stakes as well as a nose second in Africa’s greatest race, the Vodacom Durban July. Last but certainly not least, is Pierre Jourdan (SAF) (Parade Leader), with R536,250 courtesy of an impressive victory in the G2 Charity Mile.

Summerhill also quietly claimed another breeding achievement this season, that of the Champion Broodmare Sires title. Won for the tenth year by their most celebrated former resident, Northern Guest, who beat the modern day record of nine, set by American champion sire Mr. Prospector.

It’s not only on the racing scene that Summerhill has shone, however, as its website and blog is ranked one of the most visited in the world. If you look at the Alexa rankings for the month of July, Summerhill sits on 120,228 internationally, as opposed to 1,152,092 for Coolmore, 2,152,731 for Darley and 2,905,346 for Lane’s End. Compare this to its previous March high of 139,943, and it shows that Summerhill has jumped a remarkable 19,715 positions in four months. They’re also knocking on the door of a top 500 position in the South African rankings.

Summerhill is fortunate to have some of the brightest and best talent in the film industry onboard their marketing team, and this is reflected in its now famous annual Summerhill Sires DVD. Heralded as one of the best in the industry, it has even been featured on the Australian racing channel Sky TV, and has received praise from people around the world.

One thing is certain, no matter what the future brings, Summerhill will continue to be at the forefront of innovation and enterprise on the local and international breeding and racing scene.

Extract from Thoroughbred Daily News

MAIN AIM TO STAND STUD IN SOUTH AFRICA

Main Aim with Ryan Moore aboard
(Photo : The Guardian)

MAIN AIM (GB)
Oasis Dream (GB) - Orford Ness (GB)

Dual Group 3 winner Main Aim (GB) has finished quarantine in South Africa in preparation for beginning his stallion career at Highlands Farm this year.

The Juddmonte homebred won his first two starts at three and graduated from handicap company to become a leading sprinter-miler.

At four he won the John of Gaunt Stakes and split Fleeting Spirit and J J The Jet Plane when second in the July Cup, and in the following season he landed his second John of Gaunt and finished placed in the Duke of York Stakes, Celebration Mile and Challenge Stakes.

Main Aim is out of the Group 3-winning Selkirk mare Orford Ness, making him a half-brother to stakes-winners Home Affairs and Weightless. He is the second son of Oasis Dream to stand in South Africa, after Italian Group 1 scorer Querari, who covers at Maine Chance Farm.

Highlands Farm manager Mike Sharkey said: “I was looking for a classy sprinter-miler and Main Aim fitted the bill. The fact he is by Oasis Dream is a huge plus and we are looking forward to standing him. He has just left quarantine in Johannesburg and he should be with us by the end of the month.”

A fee for Main Aim, who will stand at Highlands alongside Antonius Pius, Great Britain and Windrush, will be announced at a later date.

Extract from Racing Post

THE GREATEST GIFT IN CREATION

Click above to watch an insert on the 2011 Investec Stallion Day and the
official opening of the Al Maktoum School of Management Excellence
(A Jimmy Lithgow Production)

AL MAKTOUM
SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT EXCELLENCE

The world is a very competitive place; it’s never been more so.
Education is the key to the world.
There is only one School of Management Excellence
in the Southern Hemisphere, and it has the best teachers in the world. 

AND THE BEST PEOPLE KNOW IT.

Drakenstein, Highlands, Klawervlei, Maine Chance, Mike de Kock, Summerhill and Wilgerbosdrift.

JOIN THE CLUB : YOUR STAFF DESERVE IT

Heather Morkel +27 (0) 33 263 1081
or email heather@summerhill.co.za
www.summerhill.co.za

HISTORY IN THE MAKING : SOME WEEKEND

Our first students.
(Photo : Leigh Willson)

AL MAKTOUM SCHOOL
OF MANAGEMENT EXCELLENCE

The first students to attend our new Al Maktoum School of Management Excellence arrived on Saturday. One of the school’s founding governors, Judge Alan Magid, was here to celebrate his wife, Brenda’s birthday and Saturday marked the anniversary of the passing of Erica Bennett Goss, an inspiration and a major contributor to the establishment of the school. We’ve said all along that the first intake would be limited to six students, but we had seven outstanding applicants successfully negotiating their admission interview. They represent the cream of South Africa’s racehorse nurseries, Drakenstein Stud, Highlands Farm Stud, Maine Chance Farm, Summerhill and Mike de Kock through Stef du Preez’s spelling and pre-training yard.

There was no time wasted, as lessons started yesterday morning for Mziwethemba (Dassie) Stuurman, Marius Losch, Frederick Makerman, Mesuli Mthembu, Thabani Nzimande, Delani Mtshali and Richard Hlongwane, who were spoiled on Saturday evening, with an induction dinner attended by close to fifty people, and laid on by Hartford House. While the meals won’t always be of this calibre, certainly the teaching will, and it’s now up to these fellows, who are attending the only school of its kind in the world, to turn out the managers their interviews suggested they could be.

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

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