MILLIONAIRES OR THERE ABOUTS

Pierre Jourdan
(Photo : JC Photographics / Summerhill Stud) 

“WHEN OUR BRAND GOES ON,
THE CLASS IS INSIDE”

Continuing the extracts from the Summerhill Sires Brochure for 2010/2011. Are you on the mailing list? If not then please let us have your details and we’ll gladly ensure you get a personal copy when it’s published on the 1st August.

“This is some sales ring. As the colt leaves, there is no murmur from the buyers in the black-backed chairs of  the pavilion. They are a congregation of sorts. They merely turn the catalogue page as more conventional worshippers turn the pages of hymnals. A quarter of a million for a youngster is nothing special here. Rich men seek the Holy Grail, rather than mere racehorses.

Summerhill is different though, because Summerhill has made it that way. We’ve always said, there’s a horse for everyone here. You might not take on the Harry Oppenheimers of the world in the boardroom,  but at the races you can. On the turf, as well as under it, all men are said to be equal. And while you might be justified in believing that buying from the Champions could be costly, racing abounds with its own fairytales.

Every graduate of the Summerhill paddocks is an individual creation. Shoppers at our “A” Block sales yard are looking to be reassured. They want a nice horse, but an inherently precious one, a piece of art. All our horses start out this way, and all of them are brought up this way. Truth is though, we are not the masters of God’s engineering, nor are we purveyors of fashion.

The result is the peculiar democracy of the South African turf that enables every one of Amphitheatre, Icy Air, Dynamite Mike, Hear the Drums, Catmandu, Salutation, Winning Leap and Pierre Jourdan, all of them millionaires, to be bought for R60,000 or less. Imbongi suffered the indignity of never raising a bid, yet this year he was anointed Victor Ludorum at Dubai’s Racing Festival. Taxi drivers and muck-shovellers could’ve invested in the lot.

These horses remind us why we like racing. They are defiant in the face of improbability. They triumph despite their “wheels” or their lack of illustrious parentage. They can be splendidly unscientific, often doing what they shouldn’t be able to do. In the age of computers, satellites and DNA, the racehorse is proof that two and two doesn’t always make four.

At least that’s the case when you’re dealing with Summerhill. You know when our brand goes on, the class is inside. That every youngster emerging from our paddocks, has been given the identical chance, that he’s a handmade product of the best upbringing of a horse known to man.

After that, we’re in the lap of the gods. It does seem though, looking at the Leader Board, that in the eyes of the gods, some men are more equal than others.”

SOUTH AFRICAN BREEDERS CHAMPIONSHIP

#	Breeder	Stakes (ZAR)
1	Summerhill Stud	18,290,962
2	Ascot Stud	6,324,400
3	Lammerskraal Stud	6,190,425
4	Normandy Stud	5,994,150
5	Highlands	5,926,499
6	Klawervlei Stud	5,894,875
7	Wilgerbosdrift	5,890,200
8	Scott Bros	5,414,937
9	D Cohen & Sons	5,324,412
10	Maine Chance	5,174,462

Sporting Post as at 11 July 2010

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

THE BREEDERS’ PREMIERSHIP : A NEW RECORD

SOUTH AFRICAN THOROUGHBRED BREEDERS’ PREMIERSHIP
2009 - 2010

It was the celebrated South African flyhalf, Naas Botha, who once famously said that “the Currie Cup is not won in May.”  He was quite right, and that’s been proven time and again with the passage of the years. However, Summerhill’s record of five consecutive Breeders’ Championships is one that stands alone in the last forty years, and this weekend, with a full three months of the racing season left, we have eclipsed all our previous (and South African) earnings records, as our runners amassed more than R1million for the week, catapulting our collective earnings for the season past the R16million mark.

We’ve asked the question before, only to be proven wrong, but we wonder whether we can ever best this season again. The log tells the story. And asks the question.

Figures courtesy of Sporting Post as at 5 May 2010

Breeder	Stakes	AEPR	SW Wnrs	SW Wins
Summerhill Stud	16,037,712	64,151	11	14
Lammerskraal Stud	5,207,650	56,605	3	3
Normandy Stud	5,113,525	71,021	6	10
Wilgerbosdrift Stud	4,960,900	55,740	3	4
Highlands Farm	4,599,587	38,845	2	2
Maine Chance	4,499,312	38,787	2	2
Ascot Stud	4,478,225	46,167	3	3
D Cohen & Sons	4,289,662	33,513	0	0
Avontuur Farm	4,264,325	63,647	5	5
Klawervlei Stud	4,201,075	25,933	2	2

JUST LOOK AT THE LOG...

SOUTH AFRICAN BREEDERS LOG

And then visit the website (www.summerhill.co.za click Sales)
and see what’s on offer.

You’ll never believe it, but you can buy a racehorse from the Champions…
for very little money… Ready To Run.

BE A CHAMPION. JUST DIAL THE CHAMPIONS.

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

or contact Kerry Jack
+27 (0) 82 782 7297

South African Breeders' Championship : THE BIG FIVE

A misty Summerhill morning
(Photo : Greig Muir)

“More Bulldust Part 3”
Extract from Summerhill Sires Brochure 2009-2010

Horses are a language we can all share.

Sometimes there are quiet asides, sometimes dramatic moments, but there’s always a story to tell. Look hard enough and you’ll find romance in the life of every great racehorse.

At Summerhill, we think we’re the luckiest people on the planet. We wake up on one of the great pieces of real estate on earth; we gaze out upon a World Heritage site, the Drakensberg; we go to work with some of mankind’s finest human beings; and we get to work with the noblest creature the good Lord ever created.

On the way, we’ve visited the mountain top, a place few people ever get to go. In the annals of recorded history, only six farms have ever aspired to the South African Breeders’ Championship, the tightest contest in all of racing. In what must surely be remembered as the “Summerhill decade”, we’ve known so many champagne moments, but they are mere footnotes in an extraordinary tour de force.

Understand, there was no big enterprise or family cash behind Summerhill. In a world as competitive as it’s ever been, and with massive fortunes pouring into the game, we’ve had to do things differently. A bit of inspiration, loads of perspiration, the occasional celebration.

The result is an animal that’s had to be different. A horse that runs like he knows what he owes.

The “Toyota” of South African racing: excellent quality, great dependability, and outstanding value. The virtues our nation has come to respect most. And they know too, this is the “Genuine Article”. Honest, authentic, the original.

Any number of records and five consecutive Breeders’ Championships later, besides God, we owe these victories to the racehorse. Our history was written on his back. We are his heirs, but he is his own heritage.

For close on a century now, our families have devoted themselves to this religion. We are unashamedly proud of our connectivity with our sport, and the fact that every day, there’s a new story to tell.

So mark this then. When you’re dealing with Summerhill, you’re not only buying a horse or a service. You’re buying a piece of history.

If you’re not on the mailing list, or if you’d like to check that you are,
please email Marlene at info@summerhill.co.za for your copy
of the world’s number one Sires brochure.

Click below to read “Bulldust” Part 1 and Part 2