Malmoos is pictured winning the Gr 1 SA Derby and thus landing the SA Triple Crown (JC Photos)
Sarah Whitelaw
There will, once again, be plenty of interest in the performances of first season sires this season. Some very well bred and well performed stallions will be represented by first crop runners this season.
Below are the stallions set to be represented by their first two-year-olds in South Africa this season:
CHIMICHURI RUN: Trippi -Spiced Gold
A G1 winner by a G1 winner and champion sire out of a G1 winner, Chimichuri Run looks likely to come up with his share of early two-year-old winners. Winner of the G3 Haval Motors South Africa Umkhomazi Stakes (a race previously won by last season’s Leading First Season Sire Erik The Red among others), Chimichuri Run won at ages, 2,3,4,5 and 6 in a career which saw the chestnut bank more than R2.222 million in prize money.
He showed his class at three, when Chimichuri Run won both the G1 Tsogo Sun Sprint and G3 Spring Spree Stakes, with Chimichuri Run finishing first, second or third in no fewer than 14 graded stakes races.
Chimichuri Run is one of 94 stakes winners for Trippi, South Africa’s Champion Sire of 2015-2016. His dam Spiced Gold dead-heated for first place in the G1 S.A. Fillies Classic and was placed in a further three black type races. A daughter of Kahal, Spiced Gold was produced by Little Legend, whose sire Complete Warrior is the broodmare sire of, among others, Captain Al. Chimichuri Run, who traces back in female line to the hugely influential mare Samovar (ancestress of the likes of Don’t Forget Me and Mtoto), had first crop yearlings make up to R300 000 at the 2025 KZN Yearling Sale.
MALMOOS: Captain Al -Justthewayyouare
Malmoos will be bidding to become the third consecutive son of Captain Al to be South Africa’s Leading First Season Sire when his first two-year-olds hit the tracks this season. Malmoos’s paternal half-brother One World was South Africa’s Leading First Season Sire of 2023-2024, while Malmoos’ three-parts brother Erik The Red headed the same list last season.
Winner of the 2021 South African Triple Crown and two other graded races, Malmoos is a full-brother to G3 East Cape Derby/G3 Lonsdale Stirrup Cup winner Captain Splendid and half-brother to Listed Off To Stud Stakes/Listed The Independent On Saturday Insider East Coast Cup winner Mascherina. His Listed Spook Express Handicap winning dam Justthewayyoure is a Fort Wood half-sister to dual G2 winner Master Of My Fate, one of South Africa’s top stallions. Master Of My Fate enjoyed a wonderful season in 2024-2025 where his ten stakes winners included the G1 winners Atticus Finch (Betway Summer Cup), Golden Palm (Douglas Whyte Thekwini Stakes) and Jan Van Goyen (World Pool Moment Of The Day Premiers Champion Stakes).
Malmoos’ first yearlings proved very popular in 2025. He had yearlings make up to R1 100 000 at the Summer Sale, while Malmoos’ yearlings averaged an impressive R534 211 at the National Yearling Sale.
REAL GONE KID: Snitzel -In The Fast Lane
The late Snitzel, four times Champion Sire in Australia, was a truly remarkable stallion. The son of Redoute’s Choice left behind 161 stakes winners, with Snitzel responsible for 23 G1 winners and more than 1280 winners. Among his stakes winners are 12 champions, a G1 Cox Plate winner, a G1 Oakleigh Plate winner, three G1 Galaxy Handicap winners, two G1 Australian Guineas winners, and his daughter Marhoona delivered his third G1 Golden Slipper Stakes winner earlier this year.
Snitzel was Leading Sire of 2YOs in Australia on five occasions and is also enjoying increasing success as a broodmare sire and sire of sires.
His speedy son Real Gone Kid won six of just 13 starts in South Africa, with Real Gone Kid winning from 1000m to 1250m. The classy chestnut accounted for a number of high-class gallopers during his career including champion sprinters Kasimir and Rio Querari.
A full-brother to G2 Cartier Sceptre Stakes runner up Stiptelik and half-brother to British debut winner Girl Racer, Real Gone Kid is out of the Jet Master sired champion In The Fast Lane. The latter, Equus Champion 3YO Filly of 2013-2014, won all of the G1 Avontuur Estate Cape Fillies Guineas, G1 Woolavington 2000 and G2 Choice Carriers Championship. An exceptionally well bred mare (she hails from the family of 2025 stars Chronicle King and Gimmethatpearl among others), In The Fast Lane was a half-sister to seven stakes horses including fellow G1 winning champion Let’s Rock‘N Roll.
Real Gone Kid had yearlings make up to R550 000 at the 2025 KZN Yearling Sale, and R325 000 at the 2025 March Yearling Sale.
