Crimson King wins the Listed Aquanaut Handicap (JC Photos)
By The Pedigree Obsessor
A quality cut of rump steak is vastly improved with a little patience and allowed to “hang”. And so it is with some bloodlines, who sadly are retired too early denying what is to come.
Not so in the case of CRIMSON KING (Dynasty x Cup Of Rubies) who came out and won a good race under a masterful ride this past week from another example of a “matured rump” (forgive me Striker, no offence intended whatsoever, only compliments).
With a race record of 33 runs – 4 wins (3 graded) – 11 places (5 graded) and earnings of R609k this horse is no slouch.
CRIMSON KING, now a 7 year old, is a classic example of patience rewarded that is unlikely to be spent just yet thanks to his ownership being under the very sharp eyes for deep-down quality in Messrs De Beyer and Louw.
That his merit rating hit 108 in only his fifth run early in his career, signalled his quality but perhaps stifled his performances thereafter and prematurely for a bloodline that is known to improve over time. However, he recovered reasonably quickly from that merit rating and produced a string of reasonably good performances under the watchful eye of Glen Kotzen.
The obvious question is where his goodness comes from, which can be found in both his sire, no explanation required and with whom the Crawford Yard are almost synonymous, and a very decent but generally unheralded female line of relatively high performance.
The first dam CUP OF RUBIES (Mogok x Stirrup Cup) was a modest race performer with a 15 runs – 3 win – 5 place record for earnings of R180k. Her bloodline quality however is confirmed by her being bred on the same Mogok sire over Royal Chalice mare cross as the exceptionally well performed and multiple stakes winner GYPSYS WARNING as well as being a half-brother to July winner HUNTING TOWER.
As a broodmare, CUP OF RUBIES, was bred just 5 times at Highlands, producing 3 colts by resident sire Dynasty. The first colt DO OR DARE was not successful and retired after 8 runs. CRIMSON KING next and a third full brother KING REGENT a very good performer with 13 runs – 4 wins – 6 places – (1 graded) for earnings of R949k. The reason for persisting with Dynasty is that the nick to Fort Wood was well proven with a number of very decent race performers on record, HUNTING TOWER being the principal indicator. The nick extended back into the 3rd Dam MICHABO, who had also produced rather nicely with Fort Wood.
So that CRIMSON KING has ended up being a very decent race performer is evidenced by the solid line of performance pulling forward 2 generations from the confirmed FORT WOOD influence.
The best steaks are indeed those that are matured slowly and CRIMSON KING is a “prime” example.
