A picture taken three years ago of Kingman colt T’Challa with his SA-bred mother Ebony Flyer (Jet Master) (via Meta)
The Andrew Balding-trained Team Valor-owned T’Challa, a Kingman colt out of the SA-bred star Ebony Flyer, made it a career second win in his fifth start at Newbury on Saturday.
The three-year-old colt enjoyed the step up to a mile and two furlongs, having only ever raced over a mile before.
Under Oisin Murphy he made all carrying 8 stone 13 pounds off an official rating of 85.
He always looked to be doing enough and won by three-quarters of a length from Houstonn, who is by SA-based stallion Expert Eye.
He returned odds of 5/1 and earned a cheque of £15,702.
Ebony Flyer was one of the most talented fillies to ever race in South Africa, but was unable to reach her full potential due to a breathing issue.
The Jet Master filly was one of only two horses to ever beat the great Igugu on South African soil, doing so in the Gr 1 Cape Fillies Guineas in December 2010.
She had to have a tie back operation after a subsequent third place finish in the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate, which meant she missed the Champions Season in her three-year-old career.
However, she came back to win more races, including the Gr 1 Majorca Stakes and Gr 1 SA Fillies Sprint.
She was trained by Justin Snaith and raced by Team Valor.
She has been a bit of a disappointment at stud.
Her best runner to date has been Cot Campbell (Trippi), who was bred by Drakenstein Stud and Team Valor in partnership and raced by that partnership too. He won one race and finished fourth in both the Gr 1 Cape Guineas and CTS 1600 and was third in a Gr 3 before departing for Hong Kong, where he was unsuccessful.
Ebony Flyer’s son Captain Of Tortuga by Captain Al won four times.
Ebony Flyer also had a three time-winning Silvano filly called Black Silver who was a Listed runner up.
Her only other runner in the UK to date besides T’Challa has been a Dark Angel filly who ran one fourth in six starts.
T’Challa was officially bred by Gaynor Rupert’s UK breeding operation Cayton Park Stud in partnership with Team Valor and Cad Racing.
