Charles Dickens becomes the first Drakenstein Stud-owned horse to win the L’Ormarins King’s Plate in 2024. The stud is situated on the L’Ormarins estate, a wine farm which sponsors the big race and whose owner Gaynor Rupert and team have transformed the King’s Plate into the Royal Ascot of South African racing (Picture: Wayne Marks)
By Ada van der Bent
This year marks the 165th running of South Africa’s premier mile race, the L’Ormarins King’s Plate Gr 1. First contested in 1861, the prestigious race was run as the Queen’s Plate in honour of Queen Victoria. The race became the King’s Plate during the reigns of Edward VII and George VI, but reverted to its original name in 1953 after the accession of Queen Elizabeth to the throne. Following her passing in 2022, it is once again known as the King’s Plate.
In all its gloried history, the honour roll reads like a veritable who’s who and includes the names of such Titans of the Turf as Sea Cottage, In Full Flight, Sledgehammer, Politician, Wolf Power, Flaming Rock, Empress Club, London News and Jet Master. The latter is the only modern-day winner to sire a Queen’s Plate winner, this the incomparable Pocket Power, the only horse to have won the race four years running, a record which is unlikely ever to be equalled.
Only eleven three-year-old have managed to hold their own against their elders, the most recent of which last year’s winner One Stripe, who has since shown winning form Stateside. This year, Jan Van Goyen is the lone sophomore in the line-up and like One Stripe, enters the King’s Plate off a victory in the Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas Gr 1.
Just three members of the fairer sex have won the race since it was contested under weight-for-age conditions: Wainui (1989), Empress Club (1993) and most recently Mother Russia (2011).
DID YOU KNOW
That the L’Ormarins is one of a ‘win and you’re in’ races, where the winner is automatically guaranteed an entry into the Breeders’ Cup Mile Gr 1 contested in the States.
That the adage ‘if at first you don’t succeed, try and try again’ perfectly applies to that grand galloper of the sixties William Penn. After placing third behind the mighty Sea Cottage in 1967 and fourth to Peter Beware in 1968, he returned as a seven-year-old in 1969 and finally managed to capture the coveted race by relegating Peter Beware to second.
That in 2012 future champion stallion Gimmethegreenlight broke a 38-year drought to become the first three-year-old winner since Yataghan back in 1973.
That Candice Bass became the first lady trainer of a King’s Plate winner with Drakenstein homebred Charles Dickens in 2024. She followed in the footsteps of her father Mike, who won the race with Trademark and of course the legendary Pocket Power.
That champion trainer Justin Snaith aims for his fifth winner, having won it last in 2022 when Jet Dark made it back-to-back victories. His father Chris trained 1990 winner Flaming Rock.
That Drakenstein Stud has bred four of the last five King’s Plate winners and will this year be represented by Eight On Eighteen, See It Again and Sail The Seas.
CARTIER PADDOCK STAKES
Widely regarded as the race every breeder strives to win, the Cartier Paddock Stakes Gr 1 has been contested since a wonderful source of fillies who later became influential broodmares, one of which being the inaugural winner Sun Lass. She turned into a veritable goldmine at stud, producing no less than six stakes performers, amongst which was Queen’s Plate hero Yataghan.
Party Time, whose impact on the Stud Book has been profound to say the least, ran third at three and set the record straight as a four-year-old. The grandam of 2001 Queen’s Plate winner Trademark, her name still pops up, albeit remotely, in pedigrees of black type winners, with last season’s Golden Horseshoe Gr 2 winner Chronicle King being a fine example.
Party Time was trained by the late maestro Terrance Millard, who practically owned the Paddock Stakes, winning the contest sixteen times. This phenomenal list of winners includes not just Party Time, but also standouts such as Horse of the Year Tecla Bluff and multiple champion Olympic Duel, who won the race not once, but twice.
Last year’s winner Double Grand Slam is back to defend her crown and will aim to become the eighth back-to-back winner of the Paddock Stakes, a feat achieved in recent times by Beach Beauty, Oh Susanna and Queen Supreme. No filly or mare has ever won the Paddock Stakes three times.
The biggest winning margin in the Paddock Stakes belongs to the phenomenal racemare Renounce. Following her five-length romp in the 1965 renewal, she increased that to a stunning eight lengths twelve months later.
Two Paddock winners have emulated their dams. New Zealand-bred Hoeberg claimed the honours eleven years after her dam Petrava won the 1985 renewal.
Champion Beach Beauty, who triumphed as a five-year-old in 2013 and showed she hadn’t lost a step to make it a double at age six, is the dam of 2023 winner Beach Bomb.
This year’s contender Little Suzie is the first foal of 2018 and 2019 Paddock victress Oh Susanna. Should the Drakenstein homebred prove equal to the task, she will add yet another chapter to the rich history of this important race.
WORLD POOL CAPE FLYING CHAMPIONSHIP
Like the L’Ormarins King’s Plate winner, the World Pool Cape Flying Championship Gr 1 also carries an automatic invitation to the 2026 Breeders Cup Sprint at the prestigious year end meeting. No wonder then that this year’s renewal has attracted runners from all racing centres. Gr 1 winners Lucky Lad and Buffalo Storm Cody head the Highveld contingent, top filly Direct Hit and Kingdundee represent the Eastern Cape, while I Am Giant is the sole KZN-trained raider.
While some of the country’s finest sprinters have won the 1000m dash more than once, amongst them Signor Amigo, Flobayou, Nhlavini, What A Winter and the Australian-bred mare Laisserfaire, it is the mighty Sentinel who stands supreme as the only three-time winner, completing the hat-trick in 1975.
Only one horse has managed to claim both the Cape Flying Championship and (then) Queen’s Plate in modern times. That honour belongs to the mighty Jet Master. Three weeks after completing an impressive double in the mile race, he annihilated his rivals in the sprint by more than six lengths, a margin which to this day, has never been matched. A seven-time champion stallion, he sired 2007 winner Mythical Flight. This year, he features as the grandsire of Jan Van Goyen and as the broodmare sire of Dave The King.
It takes a special female sprinter to pull one over the boys in this sprint and those few that have managed to do so, include some of the finest. This year, What A Winter’s six-year-old daughter Asiye Phambili will attempt to add her name to an exalted list which includes not just aforementioned Laisserfaire, but also the champions Sweet Chestnut, Val De Ra, Via Africa and Carry On Alice.
