WHY THE READY TO RUN?

EMPERORS PALACE
SUMMER READY TO RUN SALE
22 February 2012

It’s a no-brainer. Racing is about running, not walking, and the advantage the customer gets from the benefit of seeing a horse run, is like hindsight. It might not be quite 20/20, but it’s not far off. Besides, by their nature, Ready To Run sales are staged when the horses are nearly there : “ready to run”. Especially when the sale is in February. Horses bought a year ago as yearlings and put into training, have already cost their owners something approaching R100,000, whereas if you buy today, you could be running within a few months (and in some cases, weeks).

Then there’s arguably the most compelling factor of all. The Ready To Run, pound-for-pound (and despite its limited numbers,) has produced more Black Type performers than any other sale. For the past two years, it’s thrown up the leading earners in the country, Pierre Jourdan and Igugu. Seventeen millionaires have graduated from the ranks of its candidates in recent seasons, three of them international celebrities.

Wednesday’s sale has popped out of the bottle, genie-like, driven by the success of some outstanding runners, who for whatever reason, were not previously sold. Unwanted in a previous auction ring, late maturers, injury or defective engineering, cost them, and from the ranks of those of the past, have emerged some outstanding performers. That’s the beauty about the Ready To Run, where horses like Pierre Jourdan, Emperor Napoleon, Black Wing and Imperial Dispatch, whom the good Lord did not treat that well when it came to dishing out legs, showed at the gallops that if anything, the way they were made, enhanced their style. The same fate befell J J The Jet Plane, remember. Others to have been left behind on the farm include the two multi-millionaire international campaigners, Imbongi and Paris Perfect, millionaires Emperor Napoleon, Bold Ellinore, Hear The Drums, Catmandu, Vangelis and Amphitheatre, and big Stakes performers Salutation, Ecole Militaire, Nondweni, Coastal Waltz, Similitude and Dignify.

Last year, Summerhill sent a draft of horses to Shongweni, and while the market appeared to suspect their purpose, given the poor prices they made, those that were close to them, knew there’d be some runners. The Sophomore Sprint hero, Sithela, who took out a brace of Group One performers on his big day, cost R50,000, and only a training track accident cost him his life and probable favouritism for the R2 million Emperors Palace Ready To Run Cup. Among the rest, there’ve been two first-time winners, another Durban winner which cost R7,000 and one at R12,000, and some promising performances from the likes of Isipho and Gida, who’ve given notice of budding careers. None of them cost more than R50,000. Students of pedigree though, will tell you this catalogue is much the stronger, and the DVD promises to endorse that.

The Summerhill team is confident there are horses here that will make them proud.

It’s worth mentioning too, nine of them hold tickets for the R2,5 million Emperors Palace Ready To Run Cup in November. And then there are the stallions, Kahal who’s third leading active sire at the moment, the perennial “General”, Muhtafal, and the two promising young stallions, Stronghold and Mullins Bay. Those alone underwrite the quality of the 2012 Emperors Palace Summer Ready To Run Sale.

Enquiries Michael Holmes Bloodstock (031 309 5522). Sale commences 11am Wednesday 22^nd February at Summerhill Stud.

SUMMER READY TO RUN SALE : READY TO ROAR

EMPERORS PALACE
SUMMER READY TO RUN SALE
22 February 2012

The preparations for the Emperors Palace Summer Ready To Run Sale, to be staged in the Al Maktoum School Of Management Excellence at Summerhill Stud next Wednesday 22^nd, are well underway. The catalogues were posted last Monday, together with DVDs of the gallops, and there are all sorts of bullish sentiments emanating from the home of the champion breeders.

Last week Summerhill’s Ready To Run supremo, Tarryn Liebenberg, suggested that the catalogue was up there with the best Ready To Run publications of the past, and that is very quickly evident at a glance. There are close relatives to champions Icy Air and Bridal Paths, millionaires Catmandu and Amphitheatre, and Stakes performers Salutation, Ecole Militaire, Nondweni, Coastal Waltz, Similitude, Dignify, J&B Met hero Angus, Ice Axe, Cape Tango and Poppy, and a number of smart updates from siblings to several of the candidates.

According to Liebenberg “there’s a lot of talk from the training yards of the first runners by Mullins Bay and Stronghold, which reinforces the presence in the catalogue of Kahal, presently the nation’s fourth leading stallion, and the perennial top-flight performer, Muhtafal. We’ve already witnessed a winner, as well as a sparkling debut performance from a Joey Ramsden first-timer from the progeny of Stronghold, and if anything, our expectations for Mullins Bay’s stock were slightly ahead”. Michael Holmes, who convenes the sale as part of his Horses In Training show, tells us “there’s already solid interest in the Ready To Run, so word of the gallops is already out. There are some exciting prospects in the line-up, and if last year’s sale is anything to go by, there will be real value for those looking for it. Ever since the catalogue hit the street, there’s been a noticeable increase in the bookings of tables at the sale”.

While the Summerhill management are understandably reluctant to single out any individuals, the grapevine is banging a bongo drum with strains that include fillies by Kahal (Lots 26, 36 and 49;) Mullins Bay’s daughters (lot 20, a three-quarter sister to last week’s impressive Gary Alexander winner, Classic Illusion and lots 34 and 39), two by Muhtafal (lots 11 and 21) and two very well related Stronghold fillies (lots 22 and 44). The appropriately named Kahal colts, Flyfirstclass (lot 18) and No Worries (lot 31,) and the Ravishing filly (lot 45) look particularly smart on the Summerhill website (www.summerhill.co.za) and click the Sales tab and then Ready To Run.

The truth though, lies in their performances at the gallops, and for our money, there’s plenty more to this draft that the grapevine can cope with.

Please contact Michael Holmes Bloodstock and ask for Edwina (031 309 5522) or Megan Romeyn on 083 601 5242. Table bookings on a first-come, first-served basis.

Enquiries :
Tarryn Liebenberg +27 (0) 83 787 1982
or email tarryn@summerhill.co.za
www.summerhill.co.za

MALHUB COLT TOPS SHONGWENI SALE

Seven Network with Karis Teetan aboard
(Photo : Gold Circle)

A Malhub colt, Seven Network, topped the Michael Holmes Bloodstock Shongweni February Sale held last week.

Seven Network is a two-year-old colt who has had 3 runs; finishing runner-up in his second start and winning his last start in fine style at Clairwood Racecourse on the 15 February. The colt was bred by neighbouring stud, Spring Valley Stud (Bruce and Nadine Le Roux), who are also the breeders of multiple Group 1 winner, Buy And Sell.

The Malhub colt was sold for R180,000 to James Goodman and looks like a horse that is improving with every run. Definitely one to look out for in the future.