Picture: Lot 31: f Erupt – Kinematic Countess
The Armitage family has been involved in horse-racing since Jim Armitage established Rathvale Stud just outside Standerton in the Eastern Transvaal in 1935.
James and his wife Joy moved to South Africa in 2006. They managed to bring 14 mares with them and with Goldkeeper and the handful of mares that had come to South Africa with him a couple of years earlier, they set about rebuilding. James became the 3rd generation Armitage to produce a Gr 1 winner, when subsequent Equus Champion French Navy stormed home to win both the Gr 1 SA Classic and Gr 1 Daily News 2000.
Other high-class performers bred by Sandown include champion Magnificent Seven, this season’s Gr 2 De Grendel Cape Merchants winner Outlaw King, and graded stakes winning siblings Priceless Jewel and Royal Badge.
Last season’s Gr 1 Allan Robertson Championship runner up Rodeo Drive is yet another classy performer bred by the Armitages.
The latest high-class performer reared by Sandown Stud is promising three-year-old Immediate Edge. A colt by Vercingetorix, Immediate Edge is unbeaten in two starts and looks to have a big future ahead of him. Sandown will be offering a pair of well-bred fillies, one on behalf of La Berg Stud, at the 2025 Premier Yearling Sale.
Lot 31: f Erupt – Kinematic Countess
By the sire of graded stakes winners Karangetang and Moonlight Trader and Zimbabwe star Buster Barnes, this filly, a half-sister to promising two-year-old Jordash, is a full-sister to the smart performer Karate Kid. The latter won three of his first five starts before lining up in the Gr 3 TAB J J The Jet Plane Stakes.
Classy racemare Kinematic Countess won eight races, up to 1160m, including two running’s of the Gr 3 Sycamore Sprint. A half-sister to three winners, Kinematic Countess is herself out of speedy Listed KwaZulu-Natal Stakes winner National Navigator, a daughter of successful sire and broodmare sire National Emblem. Kinematic Countess is directly descended in female line from one of history’s greatest broodmares Anchora, the granddam of Fairway and Pharos.
Lot 105: f Rafeef – Up Front
Rafeef, whose progeny include the Sandown Stud bred top sprinter Outlaw King, is having another excellent season in 2024-2025. Not only is Rafeef responsible for this season’s graded stakes winners Chasing Happiness, Mon Petit Cherie and Outlaw King, but he is also the sire of such promising two-year-olds as Easy Tiger and Glastonbury.
Up Front was a top-class two-year-old who ran second in the Gr 1 Allan Robertson Fillies Championship and Gr 2 SA Fillies Nursery. Dam of four winners, including Gr 3 performer Eau De Vie, Up Front is out of a twice winning daughter of outstanding broodmare sire Royal Academy. The latter’s daughters include outstanding South African broodmare Mystic Spring and Piccadilly Circus, dam of multiple champion sire Fastnet Rock, to name but a few.
Up Front hails from a top-class international female line with her numerous high-class relatives including five-time Gr 1 winner and successful sire Dream Ahead.
For more information on this draft, interested parties are requested to contact James Armitage on 072 680 3549.
