TAKE-OFF FOR TRIPPI

Click above to watch Agra winning the Summer Juvenile Stakes (L)…
(Image : Gold Circle - Footage : UpInClass)

TRIPPI (USA)
End Sweep (USA) - Jealous Appeal (USA)

David Thiselton
Gold CircleTrippi, who finished 23rd on the General Sires List in the USA last year having finished 20th the year before, has made a big impact during his short stay in South Africa to date, although this was not unexpected.

On J&B Met day his first South African runner, the Justin Snaith-trained Agra, who had won on debut, became his first stakes winner in South Africa when easily winning the Listed Summer Juvenile Stakes and maintaining her unbeaten record, while at the Cape Premier Yearling Sale, Trippi finished third on aggregate behind Jet Master and Captain Al and second on average behind Jet Master at R566,667 per yearling of the 21 sold.

Charles Faull of Form Bloodstock recommended the son of End Sweep to Drakenstein Stud’s Gaynor Rupert on his racing record (he won a Grade 1 and two Grade 2s over 1400m at Belmont) and his pedigree, while his progeny had made a good start, he was throwing nice looking foals and, not least, on his “beauty”.

Rupert and her stud manager Ross Fuller went to see Trippi in the USA and were equally impressed.

The decision to purchase him in 2008 paid almost immediate dividends as Trippi was Florida’s leading sire by the end of the season, a title he would have won every year since had he still been standing there, and the following year he had a Royal Ascot winner in Jealous Again, who won the Grade 2 Queen Mary Stakes over 1000m.

To date Trippi has bred 33 American Stakes horses, including a champion, three Graded stakes winners, track record holders and a Breeders Cup place getter.

A few hours after Agra had won at Kenilworth on Saturday, Trippi’s four-year-old son Soaring Stocks collected US$90,000 for his connections when winning the Sunshine Millions Sprint Stakes over 1200m on dirt at Gulfstream Park in the USA.

Agra looks a splitting image of her father, so it would appear Trippi stamps his foals.

Justin Snaith said he would rest Agra now and would not be taking her to Durban for the Champions Season.

Trippi received an outstanding book of 120 mares last year and this season Ross Fuller will drop him down to 100 mares although his fee of R30,000 nomination fee plus R70,000 for live foal might rise.

Trippi’s stallion companion at Drakenstein Stud is the legendary Horse Chestnut. 

Horse Chestnut, regarded by many as the greatest racehorse South Africa has ever produced, received poor support during his spell in the USA and had dropped down to half a handful of mares by the time he was brought back home.

He had gained a reputation for being infertile, but Fuller revealed that this was a false impression created by a condition he has which does not manifest if he is kept busy.

Horse Chestnut, who is an absolute gentleman in terms of temperament, was kept busy last season with over 100 mares. Another reason he didn’t get good mares in the USA is that his only start there yielded a Grade 3 win and he was probably viewed as only a Grade 3 winner, but in South Africa his famous eight length J&B Met win and his facile wins on the road to Triple Crown glory still live strong in the memory.

Even without the support he deserved, Horse Chestnut sired 141 individual winners in the USA at a rate of 61% winners to runners, while he sired 28 stakes horses and 13% stakes horses to runners.

Extract from www.goldcircle.co.za

Royal Ascot history for TIGER RIDGE and TRIPPI

Royal Ascot
(Photos : Getty/AP Photo/F1)

“RED LETTER DAY FOR SOUTH AFRICAN STALLIONS
AT THE WORLD’S BIGGEST MEETING”

The purchase for stud duty in South Africa of A.P. Indy’s Storm Cat half brother, TIGER RIDGE, and Florida’s number one stallion, TRIPPI, both set new records in terms of the cost of sire-power for this country. Many a pundit was left gob-smacked at the outlay, but the protagonists behind their acquisition were of the faith that if we want this country to go to the next level as a nursery for world class horses, we have to do what it takes.

It’s times like the ones we live in though, that make us question our judgement, that tell us to reinvest our beliefs, Doubt becomes the refuge of the pessimist. Yet it’s times like this that can set us apart, and determine our futures.

Mary Slack and Gaynor Rupert, the principals behind these horses, could hardly have chosen a better place to vindicate their views than the number one race meeting in the world. Royal Ascot is not only populated by the people that matter in racing, but the message goes out to tens of millions on television. On the opening day, TIGER RIDGE displayed his wares with the impressive victory of his American-trained son STRIKE THE TIGER, in the Windsor Castle Stakes (L).

Yesterday, TRIPPI’s daughter, JEALOUS AGAIN, demolished a field of England’s best two-year-olds in the Queen Mary Stakes (Gr2), providing her adventurous American trainer, Wesley Ward, with his second Royal Ascot winner from three starters. No doubt the enterprise of this man will ensure this is by no means the last sortie among US trainers to this great showpiece.

Talking of enterprise, our top hats off to Wilgerbosdrift Stud (TIGER RIDGE) and Drakenstein Stud (TRIPPI). The entire team at Summerhill is here, saluting.