DUBAI DEBUT

Mike de Kock, Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum, Yousuf Al Sayegh, Christophe Soumillon, Lizard’s Desire and Raihana
(Photos : Mike de Kock Racing / Andrew Watkins)

DUBAI INTERNATIONAL RACING CARNIVAL
MEYDAN RACECOURSE

What better way to honour the opening of the world’s most-talked about racecourse, the Meydan, than the “arrival” of two South African-trained winners in the first two thoroughbred races ever to be contested there. Mike de Kock’s Raihana and the ex Port Elizabeth horse, Lizard’s Desire, pretty much skipped across the new Tapeta surface, to register impressive first-up victories, and while he may have been tainted by the moment, Mike de Kock was quick to proclaim the venue “outstanding”.

It only took three more days before South Africa was celebrating again with Silent Jet’s Listed Stakes victory at the Jebel Ali track in the Shadwell-sponsored sprint. The seven year old son of Jet Master came home by half a length from some decent sprinters, ensuring him a Stakes success in every season since he arrived in the Emirate.

NELSON MANDELA : TWO DECADES ON

Nelson Mandela
(Photo : Moreintelligentlife)

NELSON MANDELA

Yesterday marked the day on which the Nationalist government, which had held power in South Africa throughout the apartheid era commencing in 1948, announced the unbanning of the African National Congress and the release of Nelson Mandela. Nine days later, the secret which Finance Minister Barend Du Plessis had shared with several of South Africa’s senior business leaders at Summerhill several months before, became a reality.

History’s most famous prisoner walked free from Pollsmoor prison after 27 years of incarceration. The man who during his trail in the 1960’s had proclaimed that equality was a principle for which he had lived, and it was one for which he was prepared to die, went on to become democratic South Africa’s first elected president, and arguably the most famous man of all time. Certainly, he is the most exalted African ever, and this week marks the celebration of the most unusual life of our times.

It also marks the 20^th anniversary of the decision on the part of the Rulers of Dubai to send stallion prospects to Summerhill, commencing with, in the case of Sheikh Maktoum’s Gainsborough Stud, the European Champion Stayer, Braashee, and in the case of Sheikh Hamdan’s Shadwell, the good miler, Rami. Both horses entered training later that year, and later served as the foundations of what has become one of racings best-told stories.

As part of our own celebration, we welcomed yesterday the man who was responsible for Sheikh Hamdan’s commitment to South Africa, Angus Gold, one of international racing’s most recognisable figures. The consummate professional, he’s built for Sheikh Hamdan a business of international renown at Summerhill, including the quality stallions, Muhtafal and Kahal.

PARTY POOPERS PEE ON PARADES

The burden of competitive antipathies…
(Photo : Banksy/Dreamstime/RealT)

“WHEN THEY STOP TALKING ABOUT YOU,
THAT’S WHEN YOU NEED TO START WORRYING”

One of America’s most famous sports promoters once said, “Success inevitably spawns its own detractors”.

Every achiever knows this, as well as the old saying, “when they stop talking about you, that’s when you need to start worrying”. It’s as true today as it was when it was first uttered. Here is an extract from a recently filed response to chat room comments on mare ownership at Summerhill. By the way, these fellows were not being malicious – they were merely conjecturing on stuff that was in the public domain.

THE COMMENTS

Posted by : Oscar

I read in the Sporting Post that once again Summerhill Stud is already way clear of all the rest.

My Question is :

How many of the mares on Summerhill Stud, and used to determine stakes won, are actually owned by them?

Posted by : Jack Dash

Not really. Studs like you mention do not have boarders or clients as a general rule. Summerhill has hundreds of residents, most are not owned by the stud.

Still, the horses have been born and bred at Summerhill and total accumulated earnings are the game and they win.

Anyway, how else can anyone compete with billionaires who own these studs if they didn’t register small/owner/breeder boarders from their farms?

THE RESPONSE (from Summerhill)

1st December 2009
Robert Brogan

Good Morning Robert,

Many thanks for your enquiry concerning the mares at Summerhill, Summerhill’s lead in the breeders’ log, etc.

I’m pleased you raised the matter, as it’s been doing the rounds for some time, I’m told.

Apart from my brother Pat, who was a co-founder of Summerhill as we know it, there’s only one mare on this property registered in the name of Summerhill Stud (Pty) Ltd, in which we don’t hold an equity share. Of the total population of mares on the property (in the region of 400), just over half carry our registration. That means the rest are registered in the names of their owners, and the resultant progeny are registered accordingly. For what’s its worth, my brother has two mares here.

It’s also true that we hold interests in other mares with some of our customers, which are registered in their names (i.e. without reflecting Summerhill), so the statement that if you have mares residing on Summerhill, you’re obliged to register them in the name of the stud, is fallacious.

Those that do register in our name, are our partners, (there are close to 60 individual people in partnership with us), and they use the name Summerhill Stud (Pty) Ltd as their flag of convenience. Clients such as the Maktoum family breed under their own respective banners, (Shadwell and Gainsborough), as do our other individual clients, and the credit for the achievements of their stock accrues to them, and them alone.

The point Jack Dash (or Frodo) made is particularly apt in our case. As recently as 1999, following a ten year partnership which matured in 1998, all of the “Summerhill” stock was put up for sale. We managed to rescue 26 mares from the sale, and started to rebuild the stud from there. There was no inheritance at Summerhill, and cash in generous proportions has always been a relatively elusive commodity. As a result, we called up our friends around the world and invited them to participate with us, and the rebuilding of the stud started afresh. In the bulk of these partnerships, we hold at least 50% (or more), though there are some mares in which we hold a lesser interest.

It’s a remarkable statement on the energy and initiative of our team, that we managed to rebuild the broodmare band in the ten years since 1999 to the degree we have, and that by 2003, we were already third in the Breeders’ premiership, second in 2004, and won our first championship in 2005. It’s also true that by spreading the largesse, we introduced a host of other people to the feeling of being a champion. We think that’s good for the industry, as there was no other way they could aspire to that status alone, given the imperative of numbers to get there.

One other thing, in the nature of a confession. You can’t win the Breeders’ championship in this country (which is the “tightest” in the world) without numbers, and we make no false attempt at concealing the fact that we have numbers. We’re nowhere near the number of mares which Klawervlei now holds (of the order of 400 I believe), but if you look at the average earnings per runner for Summerhill, you will see that despite the negative impact which numbers inevitably have, our horses are more than holding their own by average earnings, an indicator that it’s not only numbers that count, but the quality of what you’re producing.

As opposed to the boutique operators, who produce the Rolls Royces of the industry, we see ourselves as the Toyotas, and for the time being, “everything just keeps going right”!

Thank you for your enquiry; I hope you understand us better now, and that this note might help to correct some of the misperceptions about Summerhill. I’m never sure what motivates people to make the statements the rumour mills have been generating without knowledge of the facts, and to be honest, if you hadn’t raised it, we wouldn’t have answered.

In any competitive industry, when you’re at the top, you have to carry the burden of competitive antipathies. When you’re especially successful, you find that 90% of what is said about you is negative, but that’s the price of being there. Carry it with grace, and do your time with dignity, if you can.

South African Breeders Log

STUD	EARNINGS	AEPR
Summerhill Stud	R 7,467,487	R 34,098
Maine Chance Farm	R 2,670,075	R 29,023
Wilgerbosdrift Stud	R 2,423,975	R 31,894
D Cohen & Sons	R 2,345,937	R 21,925
Lammerskraal Stud	R 2,300,300	R 29,118
Highlands Farm	R 2,101,450	R 20,602
Klawervlei Stud	R 2,063,650	R 18,425
Scott Bros	R 1,979,275	R 15,585
The Alchemy	R 1,962,025	R 30,185
Ascot Stud	R 1,737,325	R 23,164

(Correct as at 26 December 2009)

DUBAI’S WOES: WHERE DO WE GO?

Meydan Racecourse in Dubai
(Photo : www.meydan.ae)

DUBAI’S ECONOMIC TURNDOWN

You can imagine that with Summerhill’s connection with the Ruling Family in Dubai going back twenty years this coming February, our phone lines have been burning with inquisitive pressmen wanting to know the state of the nation. While most of it has already been displayed in technicolor across the television screens of the world, we have a different perspective. Ours is to do with horses, and a recollection of a contribution from the late Sheikh Maktoum’s Gainsborough Stud and the present Deputy Ruler, Sheikh Hamdan’s Shadwell Stud which, to the degree that they raised the bar in the quality of horses they were sending to South Africa, changed the face of breeding in this country irretrievably.

While it’s not the Arab way to speak out about these things, (which means there’ll be any amount of conjecture), our confident guess is that the UAE in general and Abu Dhabi in particular, will not let Dubai stand alone. That being the case, while it won’t quite be business as usual, we fully expect the Maktoum family’s influence over affairs in the Middle East especially, and across the world as well, to continue, albeit in a more subtle fashion for the time being.

Of course, the doomsayers will claim that Dubai’s dilemma will trigger a second wave of extreme recession, and given the austerity that will flow from the departure of expatriates from the Emirate and the envitable lay-offs that must follow, things will never be quite the same again. You’d be underestimating Sheikh Mohammed if you thought that, and we believe you’d be underestimating the resolve of the UAE as well, to stand together.

Nonetheless, from a horseman’s perspective, it’s the last thing you’d want, notwithstanding the envy their worldwide dominance attracts. We doubt that even their strongest competitors, Coolmore, would see it in anybody’s interests that the Maktoum equine empire should suffer, because that would have implications for the balance sheets of every single player in the game. The Maktoums have not only been central to the creation of records in thoroughbred value, in international auction markets and in the promotion of racing itself, they employ many thousands of horsemen and other personnel in their stud farms, their auction companies, their publishing businesses and their racing yards, across the length and breadth of the world. It would be catastrophic for the industry if this were to come to an end, or for that matter, suffer any measurable diminution.

The Maktoum family’s intervention in racing some thirty five years has altered the course of our sport unrecognisably, and we’re the better for it. We all need to be hoping that things will settle, as the financial press are beginning to suggest, and that the Dubai World Cup for record prize money next March, will take its place at the new Meydan facility as scheduled.

If events at the Tattersall’s Foal sale of the last week are anything to go by, John Ferguson, acting for Sheikh Mohammed, was the biggest buyer yet again in a surprisingly buoyant market, which suggests that at the very least, the Maktoum family’s personal finances appear to be in good order. That said, buyers in general at the sale were as intrepid as ever, best described by Sheikh Hamdan’s racing manager, Angus Gold, as “extraordinary trade in an extraordinary business”.

ROBBIE BYRNE : EQUISOFT PIONEER

Robbie Byrne (center) with Team Equisoft
(Photo : Equisoft)

“TALKING OF WEBSITES, A WORLD LEADER VISITS”

Starting yesterday in Cape Town, the Western Cape Breeders are putting on a grand show featuring international speakers from across the globe, not the least of whom is Robbie Byrne, pioneer of breeding’s best administration software programme. We came by Robbie and Equisoft courtesy of big names like Sheikh Maktoum’s Gainsborough, Sheikh Hamdan’s Shadwell, Coolmore, Gainesway in the USA, etc and we’ve never looked back.

So much so, that on his last visit here, Robbie told us that much of the new territory he was exploring came courtesy of his association with Summerhill, and that we’d become their most ardent drivers of innovation as far as the growth and capabilities of their programme were concerned.

Once Robbie has completed his speaking assignment in Cape Town, he and Michael Hartnet are headed this way for four days of “fat chewing”, so watch this page for outcomes.

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