Expert Eye winning the Gr 1 Breeders Cup Turf Mile under Frankie Dettori (Picture: Edward Whittaker (Racing Post))
Turf Talk
The newest stallion imported to South Africa is Expert Eye, who is already enjoying notable success in the world’s strongest turf racing centre, the U.K.
Sally Bruss, who is the stud manager of Paardeberg Stud where Expert Eye will stand, said, “The main reason we have hope for him is he has had 58 individual winners already from his first two crops, a lot of then two-year-olds, and they have good actions and like good going. For him to have 58 individual winners in England where the racing is very strong is positive and they haven’t been getting the going they prefer this season as there has been a lot of rain. He himself also finished so well in all of his races, which is also the indication of a horse with a good action and one needing good going.”
Furthermore, his sire Acclamation has been making headlines.
Acclamation’s Hong Kong-based son Romantic Warrior won this year’s renewal of Australia’s most prestigious weight for age event, The Cox Plate.
In the last big juvenile race of the season in the U.K, the Gr 3 Horris Hill Stakes over seven furlongs on the Newmarket Rowley Mile, a son of Acclamation finished first and a son of Expert Eye was second beaten a length after being hampered.
Furthermore one of the highest rated two-year-olds in the U.K this year, the Juddmonte homebred Frankel colt Task Force, is out of a mare who is a half-sister to the dam of Expert Eye.
Expert Eye’s dam is by Dansili (Danehill), meaning she has the Norther Dancer-Mr Prospector nick.
Acclamation was a Group 2-winning sprinter who was placed in Gr 1 sprints multiple times and he by the European Champion Sprinter Royal Applause.
Acclamation’s dam line hails from a mare by Tudor Minstrel, who is the joint third-highest Timeform rated horse in history on 144.
Turdor Minstrel was a source of speed, so there is a lot of speed on Expert Eye’s sire side.
Expert Eye’s dam won over a mile on debut so will provide some stamina. Her sire Dansili was a miler who was the leading sire in France in 2014 and he has produced both a Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner and a King George Vi and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes winner.
Expert Eye’s defining moment in his own career was when winning the Gr 1 Breeders Cup Turf Mile at Churchill Downs in 2018.
He was bred by Juddmonte Farms Ltd and raced for Juddmonte owner Prince Khalid Abdullah.
Franke Dettori dropped him back from a middle draw early in the Breeders Cup turf mile and crept up on the back of the outside train. He went for his run down the middle and still had plenty to do with a furlong to go. However, he then found another gear to win going away by a cosy half-a-length.
He won a Gr 2 over seven furlongs at Goodwood as a two-year-old and won the Gr 3 Jersey Stakes over seven furlongs at the Royal Ascot meeting as a three-year-old. He also won a Gr 3 at York that season and was retired at the end of his three-year-old season after his Breeders Cup win.
Expert Eye has had two stakes winners to date, the filly Juniper Berries who won a Gr 3 on good to firm going over six furlongs at Salisbury, and the filly Snellen, who won the Listed Chesham Stakes over seven furlong at the Royal Ascot meeting also on good to firm going.
The first two Breeders Cup champions to stand in SA were Daylami and Miesque’s Approval. They had limited success but Daylami had been tried for longer as a sire before arriving here and Miseque’s Approval was a dirt horse.
Expert Eye will soon be leaving quarantine and will arrive at Paardeberg Stud on 23 November.
He will be in good hands as renowned horsewoman Sally Bruss’s many years of experience includes breeding and raising no fewer than 20 Gr 1 winner during her time as stud manager of Lammerskraal Stud.
Paardeberg Stud is a collaboration between British businessmen, Steve Ajax and Charles Palmer, along with Sally Bruss. Steve and Charles are most recognised in the racing world as the creators of the ground breaking and award winning Global Team Horse Racing.
