MTHOKOZISI SITHOLE'S 2011 READY TO RUN TOP LOTS

Mthokozisi Sithole
(Photo : Leigh Willson)

EMPERORS PALACE READY TO RUN SALE
6 November 2011

Mthokozisi Sithole, known as “Small Boy” on the farm, has a great personality and is the practical joker in the Pre-Training division. He has brought on horses for previous Ready To Run sale’s such as: Mannequin, Paris To Peking, Mzwilili and Smangaliso.

Mthokozisi’s top lots are :

Lot 139 : Red Rover - colt by Victory Moon out of a Jallad mare. He is a first foal from a well performed American family. The dam, Rosella is a sister to stakes winning, Rudi Rocks. Although a late foal, he has come along way and is a natural athlete.

Lot 65 : Negev - filly by Stronghold out of a Mill Reef dam line. Negev is a sister to one of this years favourites for the Emperors Palace Ready to Run Cup, Extra Zero. From a great European family of Dish Dash (G2 winner), Maroof (G1 winner and Champion older horse in Europe) and Desert King (G1 winner and Champion older horse in Ireland and Europe).

The Emperors Palace Ready To Run Sale
Sunday 6th November

*Six cheque payment scheme for qualifying buyers.

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

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.

Timeform ranks SEA THE STARS as ‘All Time Great’

Sea The Stars and Mick Kinane
(Photo : News Of The World)

Scarcely had the ink dried on our piece on SEA THE STARS and RACHEL ALEXANDRA, than Sea The Stars’ merit rating was published.

Sea The Stars has joined the list of all-time greats after his stunning Irish Champion Stakes win at Leopardstown, according to Timeform – and there is the mouth-watering prospect of better to come.

Australian and New Zealand Bloodstock News reports that Timeform have provisionally given John Oxx’s colt a huge rating of 140, which puts him alongside Shergar, Dancing Brave and Dubai Millennium as the third best horse since 1970.

Only Brigadier Gerard (144) and Mill Reef (141) have been allotted bigger ratings by Timeform since 1970. Timeform’s Flat Editor Jamie Lynch commented: “Mastercraftsman (130) appears to have run his race in third, and there is also good reason for believing that Fame And Glory deserves a rating of 135, and to be bracketed in the same league as Sinndar (134), Galileo (134) and St Jovite (135).

“Therefore the form of the race looks solid, and we have given Sea The Stars a provisional rating of 140.

“Furthermore, Sea The Stars again didn’t look all out, leaving the impression there could be an even better performance in him if ever comes up against something able to test him fully. “He should now be classed as one of the all-time greats.”

TIMEFORM RATINGS SINCE 1970

HORSE RATING

Brigadier Gerard	144
Mill Reef	141
Sea The Stars	140
Dubai Millennium	140
Dancing Brave	140
Shergar	140