Good Day Sunshine gives Vercingetorix a first of two Graded wins on the day (Gr 2 and Gr 1) and the second of three wins overall on the day and gives her dam Miss Florida a second stakes winner this season(JC Photos)
It was fitting on Saturday that on a day in which prolific Durban-based owner Nick Jonsson scored a Gr 1 exacta and moved into second place in the national owners championships that the first Gr 1 winner he both owned-and-bred, Miss Florida (Captain Al), had a Gr 2 Wilgerbosdrift SA Fillies Nursery winner, the Mike and Mathew de Kock-trained Good Day Sunshine.
This is now Miss Florida’s second stakes winner, the first being Good Day Sunshine’s three-year-old stablemate, the Canford Cliffs colt Miami Mountain, who won the Gr 3 TAB National Currency Sprint over 1100m in February.
Miss Florida, who is out of the Trippi mare Diva’s Daughter, has only had three runners to date and so already having two Graded winners augurs well for her future.
She has a yearling full-brother to Good Day Sunshine and was covered by Vercingetorix in 2024 too, with a registration of the resulting progeny from the latter mating still pending.
Good Day Sunshine, who was bred by Ridgemont and is owned by them in partnership with Devin Heffer, is unbeaten in two starts and gave sire phenomenon Vercingetorix the first of two Graded winners on the day and the second of three winners overall.
Vercingetorix’s other Graded winner on the day was Gr 1 TAB Empress Club Stakes winner Double Grand Slam.
Vercingetorix goes to 15 stakes winners for the season of 21 races, so is on track to break the SA record he set last season of 23 stakes winners in a season (of 33 races).
Jonsson, who has won the WSB Met for the last four years running with four different horses, has gone about R2,5 million ahead of third-placed Sabine Plattner on the national owners log.
Mauritzfontein, Khaya Stables and Drakenstein are next best.
Jonsson is about R7.8 million behind runaway leaders Hollywood Racing.
