Sandringham Sold But Remains In Training With Nieuwenhuizen

Sandringham Summit easily wins the Gr 1 World Pool Moment Of The Day Champion Stakes over 1600m, beating arch rival Main Defender (Candiese Lenferna Photography)

Turf Talk

Rakesh Singh has sold the top class colt Sandringham Summit, whom he bought for R1.7 million at the 2022 National Yearling Sale, to the horse’s breeder Varsfontain Stud.

The Gimmethegreenlight colt will remain in training with David Nieuwenhuizen, but he is already being syndicated for stud by Freeman Stallions.

Sandringham Summit, winner of the Gr 1 World Pool Moment Of The Day Champion Stakes over 1600m at Hollywoodbets Greyville as a two-year-old, is the joint highest rated three-year-old in the land at present together with Pathfork gelding Main Defender.

He has earned the highest Ability Rating from Karel Miedema’s raceform of any horse this season.

Miedema awarded him a 117 AR for his second placed finish to Main Defender in the Gr 3 Graham Beck Stakes over 1400m at Turffontein Standside in which he lost by a shorthead when giving the winner 1kg with the rest of the field well beaten.

John Freeman is thrilled to have Sandringham Summit on his portfolio and said in his newsletter:

Some of the stand-out keys for me in adding Sandringham Summit into our portfolio are; firstly that I like working with the Varsfontein Stud Farm team. We have loads of experience and success together in stallion management.

Just as important is that Sandringham Summit is a Gr1 winning CHAMPION son and suitable successor for Varsfontein’s dual champion sire Gimmethegreenlight who is firing on all cylinders – he leads the sire log again this season – more about that in this edition.

Sandringham Summit’s multiple stakes winning dam (she won 5 races incl Gr2, Gr3 and listed) Townsend, is a daughter of everyone’s favourite serial champion sire Captain Al. Reads like a movie script!

Sandringham Summit’s pedigree is extremely current and up-front. Meaning that the action isn’t only in the tail line. It’s right up in the first two dams. Townsend has seven foals to her credit with seven winners so far and six winners (high strike rate) two of which are stakes winners: Sandringham Summit and his Var half-brother Eden Roc who stands at Clifton Stud.

The next dam Palace Gossip won eight races and was stakes placed three times – she had 100% winners from foals produced including a stakes winner. All those important boxes ticked!

What I especially like about Sandringham Summit’s pedigree is that it has loads of the sort of vital ingredients that we all look for in our mating plans. Most importantly he isn’t already inbred to them. Meaning he has ONLY one line of Northern Dancer (and strategically via a daughter) and he has only one line of Mr Prospector. Those two are major keys in most breeding theories and are endemic in more than half of the mares in our stud book.

This is a big plus for all of the mares carrying multiple lines of Northern Dancer via sons and mares that could do with another line of Mr Prospector. Then of course the pedigree is also loaded with blue hen’s which love being repeated in champions. Class! So much so that pedigree360 gives Sandringham Summit six green dots – very highly rated. Here is their summary:

Freeman confirmed to the Sporting Post that “shares literally flew off the shelf” which speaks volumes for the colt’s popularity with local breeders.

“Varsfontein will retain 20 of the 46 shares on offer,” he added. “Thanks to all of the star breeders that are participating.”