Addabar cruises to a pillar to post victory under Calvin Habib in his first attempt at a middle distance race last time out over 1800m at Hollywoodbets Greyville. (Picture: Anneke Kitching)
MJ Odendaal has nurtured Addabar into an exciting prospect and a “generous offer” has now come from Bahrain for this four-year-old Rabada gelding.
Addabar has won both of his races this season over 1600m and 1800m respectively, meaning he is now a three-time winner from just seven career starts, and his merit rating has been raised to 90.
MJ said, “I’ve always thought very highly of him. He is a half-brother to Under Your Spell (Gr 1-winning sprint-miler). Her best trip was 1400m to a mile, but I think this horse being by Rabada … he won an 1800m quite convincingly the other day (Hollywoodbets Greyville turf won by 2,70 lengths off an 82 merit rating). Calvin Habib said to me he will have no problem going ten furlongs. He’s a very, very smart horse. He’s run three times over his trip and he won all three very well. We gave him two runs up the straight to start with and he was green and needed the experience, then he won well over 1600m (by five lengths on the Hollywoodbets Greyville turf). Then I put him in a 1400m and asked Grant van Niekerk to drop him in to see if we can teach him, but Grant came back and said to me, ‘Magic horse, but he has such a big action you’ve got to use his action, don’t try and put him behind.’ It is not that he has to lead, but his cruising speed is a little bit quicker tham most horses, which helps a lot. In a proper run race, they’ve got to stay in touch with him and he then has tremendous acceleration. Calvin said to me he’s a really, really good horse. He said to me the other day he turned for home and he just squeezed him, never touched him with the whip, and he said he heard the noise of the hooves behind him becoming softer and softer until he couldn’t hear them anymore!”
MJ managed to land the Summerhill Stud-bred Addabar, after vat and other expenses, for about R180,000 at the sales.
He said, “He was an extremely small yearling which I think was the only reason we were able to buy him. Uncle Brahm (Malherbe) said he really liked him and if he was any bigger we wouldn’t be able to afford him. I will never forget when we brought him in Taryn (MJ’s wife) asked me if we had bought a little pony for her niece Georgia! But he has grown into a big horse. However, he was a horse you obviously couldn’t rush early, lacking in maturity as he did. As a four-year-old he will just get better and better. I am blessed to have a horse like him.”
Mohammed Sheik has been brokering a deal between the Bahrain parties and MJ after the “very good offer”.
The Sale will not be easy to complete with the export protocols as they are and for a small up and coming yard it would be tough to lose a horse who would be “the ideal horse to promote our stable”. However, at the same time, MJ and Taryn own Addabar outright so a successful sale would provide a significant financial fillip.
If the sale does not happen MJ plans to target him at the next SA Champions Season. As a horse he does not need to rush he aims to get him there with a competitive merit rating.
MJ concluded, “He’s lightly raced and everytime he runs he improves.”
MJ concluded by thanking all of his supporters and naming some of the horses the public can look out for.
He said, “We don’t have numbers but I think we have some quality horses and we don’t have a lot of owners either but we have some very nice owners. A big thank you to Mr Adam Kethro for his wisdom. The legendary Lance Micheal and his brother Derick. Mr Scott Gaskell and Lady Desiree de Andrade, whose horses El Dante and Johnny the Thief will be very competitive in their divisions. Magic Mike Jardim and Marvelous Martie van Wyk whose Disco colours stand out. Mr Michael Gramanie and Mr Preggie Somasundram, whose filly Certainly will take some beating on Wednesday. Mr Chad Zoghby and his lovely wife, Tania Zoghby, who are not just a great owners but are very good friends.
The long standing support of Mr Lionel Adams. To our Sponsor Hollywood, who’s tremendous support for Racing is absolutely amazing. Their support and Charity work has changed many lives and businesses outside our industry. They are a miracle to many.”
