CAPE ROYAL JAW-DROPPING ON DEBUT

Click above to watch Cape Royal winning on debut…
(Image : JC Photos - Footage : Tellytrack)

CAPE ROYAL (SAF)
2011 Summerhill Ready To Run Graduate

Dean Kannemeyer Racing’s tremendous Easter Monday was highlighted by a jaw-dropping win by debutante Cape Royal (SAF) (Royal Academy (USA) - Dubai’s Fairy (GB)).

Cape Royal gave the stable its second juvenile winner of the current season and stamped himself as one of the most exciting prospects in South African racing.

The Summerhill sales topper, when making R1.5 million at the 2011 Emperors Palace Ready To Run Sale, Cape Royal was all the rage for Monday’s race, a maiden juvenile plate over 1000 metres.

Sent off at the prohibitive odds of 9-10, the magnificent looking bay simply trotted up to give top jockey, Karl Neisius his 3,000^th win. Neisius has enjoyed a long and successful partnership with Dean, and the pair have enjoyed many high-profile triumphs together (most memorably with Dynasty) and it was extremely fitting that Neisius reached this landmark when riding a Kannemeyer horse.

Dean has also enjoyed a lot of success with Cape Royal’s sire, the late Royal Academy. Dean saddled the stallion’s sons, Eyeofthetiger and Express Way, to win the G1 Vodacom Durban July and Cape Guineas respectively.

Cape Royal has the pedigree to match his imposing physique. His dam, Dubai’s Fairy, is a daughter of leading British sire, Medicean, sire of recent Dubai World Cup runner up, Capponi. Dubai’s Fairy is also a half-sister to UK G2 winner Just James, and is from a strong international family.

Congratulations go out to winning owner, Lady Christine Laidlaw, who owns this exciting juvenile. Cape Royal should give her plenty of thrills and much excitement if his debut is anything to go by!

Extract from Dean Kannemeyer Racing

HOT CROSS BUNS MAIDEN JUVENILE PLATE
Kenilworth, Turf, 1000m
9 April 2012

FINAL RESULT

#	LBH	Horse	Kg	MR	Dr	Jockey	Trainer
1	0.00	CAPE ROYAL	58.0	0	11	K Neisius	Dean Kannmeyer
2	6.25	NOVEMBER RAIN	58.0	0	1	B Fayd’Herbe	Justin Snaith
3	7.25	LION’S ROAR	58.0	0	7	F Coetzee	Justin Snaith
4	8.00	WILMINGTON	58.0	0	4	R Fourie	Justin Snaith
5	10.25	OCEANS EDGE	58.0	0	3	G Wright	Justin Snaith
6	10.75	ZE KAISER	58.0	0	10	A Domeyer	Mike Bass
7	12.75	TIGER’S CHARM	58.0	0	9	F Anthony	Piet Steyn
8	13.25	SUIT OF LIGHTS	58.0	0	2	G van Niekerk	Mike Bass
9	14.50	WATERWAYS	58.0	0	6	C Du Plooy	Gary Collins
10	17.00	DISTINCTLY DRY	58.0	0	8	D Ashby	Glen Puller
11	17.50	TO BE HAPPY	58.0	0	5	A Nienaber	SHane Humby
		Late Scratching
12	0.00	GOOI MIELIES	58.0	0	11	* J Smitsdorff (4.0)	Carl J Burger

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

BANKING ON DUTCH ART

Dutch Art
(Photo : Cheveley Park Stud)

“His runners are making a meal of things…”

Investors in renaissance art are aware of the fortunes some have made in their pursuits of the works of the Dutch masters, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Van Gogh, Caspar Netscher and Floris van Dijck. Their works are priceless, and we know of at least one friend who made a personal fortune through her inheritance of Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers”, so much so that in her lifetime at least, there was no longer a need to get up with the sparrows in the morning to attend a day job like the rest of us.

No doubt, the connections of the most precocious English two-year-old of the 2006 season, were hopeful that this miracle might be repeated for them when they named him Dutch Art, whose appeal to Blanford Bloodstock’s Tom Goff was such that he put his hands on him for 16,000 guineas at the Doncaster Yearling sale. The son of Medicean was a very smart juvenile, and included among his victories the stallion-making Middle Park Stakes (Gr1), contested since 1866 at October’s Champion Stakes meeting at Newmarket. As a three-year-old, he claimed the Greenham Stakes (Gr3) on his way to a third in the English Guineas, and looked like the real deal.

Retired with a Timeform rating of 124 to Cheveley Park Stud, home of his own sire, Medicean, Dutch Art has his first runners at the races this year, and to say that he is making a meal of things is an understatement. He already has 21 individual juvenile winners, including the aptly-named, Caspar Netscher (Gimcrack Stakes, Gr2), and several other Stakes performers. He’s not only a shoe-in for the title of Champion Freshman Sire, (from some formidable opposition, mind you, including the similarly named Excellent Art, who stands at Coolmore), but he could well turn out Europe’s overall champion sire of juveniles.

From a Summerhill perspective, the news is encouraging. Like our own Kahal and Darley’s American-based Street Cry, Medicean is another successful son of Machiavellian (also sire of Summerhill resident, Mullins Bay), and just arrived at the farm, is another equally well-performed son of Medicean, Bankable, a much-loved racehorse among the South African public for his exploits at the Dubai Racing Carnival over the past couple of years. Bankable proved his mettle against world champion Raven’s Pass, as well as Eagle Mountain and Passage Of Time in England, and while the rush for services to Bankable is probably due more to local fans appreciation of what we knew of him in Dubai, the news of Dutch Art’s early success is bound to rub off on his bookings. We don’t know Dutch Art in the flesh, but he’d have to be a helluva horse to match the physical attributes of our man, who weighed in at a hefty 560kgs in training with Herman Brown Jnr.

DUTCH ART STRIKES FOR MEDICEAN

Click above to watch Caspar Netscher winning the Gimcrack Stakes (Gr2)
(Image : Sporting Life - Footage : Dubai Racing)

CASPAR NETSCHER
Gimcrack Stakes (Group 2)

The old saying that “timing is everything”, was as appropriate as ever with the outcome of this weekend’s time-honoured Gimcrack Stakes (Gr2) at York. The storied juvenile epic has an honour roll as long as your two outstretched arms, and shares top billing at the York Ebor meeting with races of the ilk of the Juddmonte International (Gr1), the Nunthorpe (Gr1) and the Yorkshire Oaks (Gr1), and has thrown up any number of legendary stallions in its 165 year history. The event is named after Gimcrack, a phenomenal racehorse in the 18^th century, who won twenty-seven times in a career of thirty-six races. The Gimcrack Stakes was established in 1846, and the owner of the winning horse is traditionally invited to give a speech at the annual Gimcrack dinner.

Our own interest in this year’s outcome, is heightened by the arrival at Summerhill of one of Medicean’s best performed racing sons, Bankable, whose first book is already crammed with mares of distinguished history. Just a few pounds separated Bankable from the Timeform rating of his paternal half brother, Dutch Art, now ensconced with his own sire, at England’s pre-eminent thoroughbred nursery, the Cheveley Park Stud on Duchess Drive, a few miles from racing’s headquarters, Newmarket. Sire of the Gimcrack winner, Caspar Netscher (out of a half sister to Summerhill resident, Mullins Bay), Dutch Art looks the natural successor to a long line of distinguished stallions at Cheveley Park, as he already has some 19 individual juvenile winners from his first crop, and occupies a box alongside the best and most consistent sire of this decade in the British Isles, Pivotal. These two were preceded by Pivotal’s father, Polar Falcon, as well as the outstanding sire of juveniles, Music Boy (himself a Gimcrack winner), whose memory is enshrined in a spectacular life-size bronze, just outside the farm’s office.

For Summerhill then, the Gimcrack result was a double celebration, the one in the form of a son of Medicean, the other in the female line of the winner. For the record, the Gimcrack’s Honour’s Board carries the names of Mill Reef, Rock Of Gibraltar, Royal Applause, Amadeus Wolf, Turtle Island, Chaucer, Black Tarquin, Palestine, Petingo, Nebbiolo, Crocket, and the Triple Crown hero, Bahram.

BANKABLE ARRIVES AT SUMMERHILL

Herman Brown Jnr with Bankable
(Photo : Greig Muir)

BANKABLE
Medicean - Dance To The Top

Finance journalist Felicity Duncan commented on the recent economic downturn that “the last few days have been many things; boring was not one of them”. Stock markets plunged and many allowed emotions to overwhelm a sense of reasoning as the market encountered a crises in confidence; on Tuesday the market started a comeback, finishing slightly up.

For us, “it’s all about timing”, we witnessed a comeback as early as Monday night with the arrival of the aptly named BANKABLE (Medicean x Dance To The Top by Sadler’s Wells), who’s racing accomplishments accounted for 8 wins, including 4 at Group and Stakes level.

“Now is not the time to be caught napping”, Summerhill’s Stallion Manager, Greig Muir commented. “We’ve reason to be excited. BANKABLE boasted a Timeform Rating of 122 and is perhaps one of the best looking horses to come through the Summerhill gates in the last decade. He descends from a great sire line and is out of a mare by one of the world’s all time greatest broodmare sires, Sadler’s Wells. He’s perfect”.

This was confirmed by trainer Herman Brown Jnr who, when reunited with the BANKABLE on Wednesday, said “for me, there was very little between BANKABLE and JAY PEG. BANKABLE had the perfect temperament and was confirmationally faultless which gave him the ability to perform over a broader distance with tremendous ability”.

BANKABLE earned over R20 million in stakes over distances from 1200-1800m and ran World Champion Raven’s Pass to one length whilst giving him 6lbs. With 8 wins and 8 places (including 2 places at Group 1 level), “we think you can BANK on this one”.

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

BANKABLE : ONE CAREER, BANKED

Bankable with Sizwe in Johannesburg Quarantine
(Photo : Natalie Houdalakis - T&L Racing Stables)

BANKABLE (IRE)
Medician (GB) - Dance To The Top (GB)

And we think you can bank on his second one, too.

Bankable caused quite a stir at the Investec Stallion Day at Summerhill last Sunday, when the video footage of his big efforts in Dubai was replayed to an international audience approaching six hundred people. He jetted in the same afternoon in Johannesburg, where he’s undergoing his 30 day quarantine under the mindful care of Sizwe Ndlela.

Above is a picture of the warrior, who’s said to be in the best shape of his life. The vets attending the quarantine horses have apparently been gob-smacked. Little wonder, he’s been so popular with his pre-season bookings.

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