John Koster makes an acceptance speech for one of Klawervlei Stud’s six Breeders Championships (Equus Awards)
John Koster can look back on many significant achievements as owner of Klawervlei Stud, most of them equine but also the community the farm has built.
The farm has been sold to Laurence Wernars and the dispersal Sale of all the equine stock is on Monday August 10, but the good news is that John will not be lost to the industry.
He said, “I am going to stay on with Laurence and help set it all up for him.”
He said the length of his stay had not been decided, but he envisaged it being for at least three years and maybe longer.
Asked if he would then go and enjoy some retirement years, he replied, “I don’t think I will ever be able to retire. When this game is in your blood it is deep in your blood.”
He explained that the sale of the farm had always been inevitable after the tragic passing of his son Nick, who was going to become the fourth generation owner.
The stud operation was started by John’s grandfather Ralph Koster.
Ralph was born in Germany in 1900 and went to the frontlines as a 16-year-old.
When the war was over he got on a ship and came to South Africa.
Ralph actually bred mules in the beginning.
John revealed, “He was importing throughbred stallions to cover donkey mares and the result would be these hardy, tough mules that could work like hell because they had the will of the thoroughbred. And then one day Alex Robertson said to him, ‘You can’t use these beautiful thoroughbred stallions on donkey mares!” and so he bought four thoroughbred mares and that is how he started.’”
Klavervlei Stud was founded in 1953 by Ralph in Beaufort West. Ralph imported broodmares from the best Irish and English families to his Karoo farm (these mares provided Klawervlei’s current genetic pillars).
Ralph’s sons Werner and Wilfred and his grandson John became the Koster Bros breeding operation.
Wilfred later departed to start Cheveley Stud in the Ceres Valley, which is today owned by his son Vaughan Koster.
John, who is the son of Peter Koster, later founded the Klawervlei Stud operation at the farm Wagenboomheuwel in Bonnievale in the Breede Valley in the 1980s.
The official best achievements of Klawervlei Stud are well documented, but John mentioned some of his best memories, “I am a man of the soil and one of the best memories is just the whole privilege of being able to farm this beautiful land and building up an amazing community. Everything about us is community. And obviously having the privilege of raising my family here and breeding some really decent horses.”
“Thoroughbred breeding is steeped in our family for three generations, it’s in our blood and we’ve had a really good run. Koster Bros were Champion Breeders four times and Klawervlei were six times Champion Breeders.”
“Klawervlei have bred some great stallions. We bred Vercingetorix, we bred Captain Al, we bred Rafeef together with Arrowfield, we bred One World, we bred William Longsword and we bred Kommetdieding.”
“In my first season at stud I bred Roland’s Song. She was a Champion Two-Year-Old, Champion Three-Year-Old, Champion Older Filly and Horse of the Year. She was a great filly.”
“Captain Al was really the one who made the farm though – he put my kids through school and I’ve still got sons and daughters of Captain Al. He is probably the horse I am closest to I guess. I am close to all of them actually, but of all the horses I have bred he has been the most significant in the stud book. He was Champion Sire and he was Champion Broodmare Sire three years in a row. But then again Vercingetorix has made a massive difference to the South African stud book too and Rafeef and One World are also doing exceptionally well.”
“We’ve had overseas winners Vercingetorix and Shea Shea.”
“We’ve bred some great fillies as well like Carry On Alice and Real Princess. Real Princess has become an incredible broodmare herself for Lady Christine Laidlaw’s Khaya Stables.”
“In the 2016/2017 season we had six individual Gr 1 winners of eight Gr 1s (Carry On Alice X 2, Edict Of Nantes X 2, Just Sensual, William Longsword, Mustaaqeem and Rafeef.”
Vercingetorix has become a record-breaking phenomenon and John was asked whether he had foreseen such success.
He replied, “I think he is the best racehorse I have ever bred, so he was always going to have a good chance.”
Among the avhievements of the Koster family is they have bred a July winner in every generation.
Ralph Koster bred the 1971 winner, the Syd Laird-trained Mazarin, the second generation Wilfred Koster of Cheveley Stud bred the 1996 winner, the Alec Laird-trained London News, and in the third generation Vaughan Koster of Cheveley Stud bred the 2014 winner, the Justin Snaith-trained Legislate and John’s Klawervlei Stud bred the 2021 winner, the Harold Crawford and Michelle Rix-trained Kommetdieding.
Only seven horses in history have won both the July and the Met and the Koster family have bred two of them, London News and Kommetdieding.
It is interesting to note that two other breeders to have achieved this feat i.e. Alex Robertson (Yataghan) and Zandvliet Stud (Pocket Power) played mentorship roles to the Koster family at certain stages, with Alex having given Ralph the aforementioned advice about his thoroughbred stallions, and probably further mentorship too, while John spent a season with Paul De Wet and his son Dan in his informative years.
Meanwhile, John said buyers had been flocking to Klawervlei over the last few weeks to look at the stock on Sale.
He said, “There has been a lot of interest, which is great.”
He added, “There are a lot of very nice mares. I think the yearlings will go well and I think the stallion shares will go well. There’s a lot for everyone.”
Sarah Whitelaw takes an in-depth look into the dispersal sale in the next article of the newsletter,
Klawervlei’s great name will live on after the Sale and is sure to be the breeding ground for more heroes and heroines of the racetrack.
