Frances Ethel draws clear to win the Gr 2 Wilgerbosdrift Bridget Oppenheimer SA Oaks (Candiese Lenferna Photography)
Overseas bound Brett Crawford-trained Rafeef filly Frances Ethel showed her class and stamina capacity by surging to a 1,75 length victory in the Gr 2 Wilgerbosdrift Bridget Oppenheimer SA Oaks over 2450m to give Kabelo Matsunyane the first leg of a Graded race double on the day.
Frances Ethel was bought during the week by Team Valor International’s Barry Iriwn together with Anant Singh and Australian owner Perry Sambor.
The original owners, Dylan Chinsammy and Grant Knowles, kept shares but the broker of the purchase Robin Bruss said only Team Valor, Sambor and Singh would stay in tbe ownership after she departed for overseas at the end of the Champions Season.
Bruss said she will run in the Gr 1 Woolavington 2000 and if she runs well there she might go for the Gr 1 Hollywoodbets Durban July or the Gr 2 Track And Ball Oaks.
He said the the plans are to send her to Europe on route to the USA and later on she may well end up in Australia.
Frances Ethel has a fantastic pedigree.
Her sire Rafeef is by champion sire Redoute’s Choice, who is by the record-breaking Danehill, and Refeef is out of National Assembly racehorse and broodmare sensation National Colour, whose grandson Celestial Legend is currently the highest rated three-year-old in Australia.
Frances Ethel’s third dam You’re My Lady (Roberto) is a half-sister to Razyana (His Majesty), who is the dam of Danehill.
Frances Ethel’s dam Daphne Garland is by For Wood and is a sister, among others, to Bay Tree, dam of Gr 1 SA Derby winner Bouquet-Garni.
Bruss believes the SA Oaks should be a Gr 1.
He pointed out, “First run in 1913, the SA Oaks is a chanpionship race for classic fillies at the classic trip of 2450m. As a championship its deserves to be a G1 race not a G2. Inevitably it’s history of winners has created fountainheads of the breed, so it’s value to the Stud Book is inestimable and making it a G2 each year, is a travesty in my book. It’s said that the reason is the fields don’t have great depth, because running so far at altitude is so hard and testing. For me that means an even more compelling reason, because the winners have to overcome so much – and you don’t win the SA Oaks unless you have solid stamina, and have built up a body of work for soundness and durability to even get to the race, then you have to have great cardiovascular ability to run that far in thin oxygen and a great engine to carry you to victory – these are all traits of great value to the breed, and should be recognised and rewarded and not downplayed. The Oppenheimers have won the SA Oaks I think 16 times, and look at the history of their studs in producing Classic champions and July winners in taking those traits forward.
Frances Ethel goes down in the record books as the latest winner and I feel confident that she will acquit herself at the highest level some day in the future.”
Frances Ethel converted 6/1 odds, beating the 16/1 shot My Soul Mate by 1,75 lengths with the 6/10 favourite My Sanctuary beaten 3,25 lengths into third.
