Picture: A Case Of You looking a picture of well-being
The Drakenstein Stud Stallion Day is always well attended and will have a famous member of a famous Australian racing family attending the event on Thursday (August 13).
Gai Waterhouse, the iconic Australian trainer, is in South Africa and will be attending the popular Stallion Day.
Patrons will be introduced to a top class band of exciting stallions.
Most of them are young and full of promise and it sure is exciting times for Drakenstein with a number of the stallions yet to have their first runners.
The Drakenstein stallions are:
A Case Of You (IRE) (Hot Streak (IRE)), winner of the Gr 1 Prix de l’Abbaye and Gr 1 Al Quoz Sprint;
Charles Dickens (Trippi), rated by the iconic Bass yard as the best horse they have ever trained, he won the Gr 1 Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas, the Gr 1 Hollywoodbets Gold Challenge and the Gr 1 L’Ormarins King’s Plate and he was ranked 7th in Longines World’s Best Racehorse rankings upon his retirement;
Futura (Dynasty), a four-time Gr 1 winner and Equus Horse Of The Year, he did the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate and Met double and also won the Champions Cup twice. He is the sire of the Hollywoodbets Durban July winner Note To Self;
Jet Dark (Trippi), he won five Gr 1s including the rare feat of winning two open wfa Gr 1s as a three-year-old, the Queen’s Plate and the Champions Cup, and he went on to repeat his wins in both races and he added the Met;
One World (Captain Al) was a Met winner and was crowned Champion Freshman sire, with his record-breaking 30 individual first crop winners. He also equalled the record for the highest number of 2YO winners in a season, both records previously held by his sire Captain Al. One World is sire of dual Gr 1 winner One Stripe, who has made a big impact in the USA;
Oriental Charm (Vercingetorix) is the son of a stallion phenomenon and his biggest win was of the Gr 1 Hollywoodbets Durban July;
Sharp Frank (GB) (Frankel) is a son of global sire-sensation Frankel and half-brother to South African Horse of the Year Oh Susanna, he has a world-class pedigree;
Snow Pilot (Lancaster Bomber) is by a late sire who has had five Gr 1 winners from just two crops to race, including Equus Horse Of The Year Eight On Eighteen. Snow Pilot won the Gr 1 Cape Guineas and is out of the Gr 1 Cape Fillies Guineas winner Snowdance (Captain Al), who hails from the Mystic Spring family, one of the most successful families in the South African stud book;
What A Winter (Western Winter) a four-time Gr 1-winning Champion Sprinter, who has sired six Gr 1 winners. His progeny are versatile and dependable.
There will be plenty to say about these nine fine stallions.
Gai Waterhouse visited a very chilly Randjesfontein on Wednesday morning alongside her assistant, Emma Coleman, and was shown around at De Kock Racing by Monique de Kock and ‘Chaperone-to-the-famous’, JJ van der Linden of Global Bloodstock Logistics.
Monique said: “We spent a lovely morning together and what an honour it was to meet Gai. We took her to the track and to our stables and enjoyed a good amount of time chatting, a privilege indeed!”
Waterhouse has trained no fewer than 164 Gr 1 winners, with Australian legends like Sebring, Pierro, Desert War, Descarado, Grand Armee and Alligator Blood passing through her yard.
She won the Melbourne Cup in 2013 with Fiorente.
Gai is the daughter of the Australian Hall Of Fame trainer legend Tommy J. Smith, who won two Melbourne Cups (Toparoa and Just a Dash), four Caulfield Cups, seven W. S. Cox Plates, six Golden Slippers, and thirty-five derby winners across Australia. In all Smith trained 246 Group One winners and his best horses included the legendary Kingston Town.
Waterhouse flew to Cape Town on Wednesday afternoon for dinner with Mike and Mathew de Kock, and they’ll be attending the Drakenstein stallion day on Thursday.
Waterhouse trains in partnership with Adrian Bott and they have a few South African clients, including Larry Nestadt and Gary Player.
One of the Australian-based horses Nestadt and Player have shares in is the Waterhouse/Bott-trained Gr 2 Brisbane Cup winner Alalcance, who is currently paying Aus$26 in the Melbourne Cup betting.
