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Nick Jonsson with the WSB Cape Derby trophy (Picture: Wayne Marks).

 

Owner Nick Jonsson first knew of the existence of his Grade 1 SplashOut Cape Derby winner See It Again when the latter was just a foetus.

He is now looking forward to both him and his famous three-part brother Do It Again running in the Hollywoodbets Durban July.

He pointed out the former would be the youngest horse in the race and the latter the oldest.

He said See It Again had always reminded him of Do It Again.

He said, “He is a chestnut version – it is not just the looks though, he is tough and has a similar action.”

Nick received a phone call a few years ago from a breeder informing him that their Visionaire mare Supreme Vision, a twice-winning half-sister to Jonsson’s dual July-winning Twice Over gelding Do It Again, was in foal to Twice Over. The resultant foal would therefore be a three-parts brother to Do It Again and would he be interested in buying her. 

Not being a breeder, Nick offered an amount they didn’t accept, but he did alert Drakenstein Stud of the potential buy.
 
He then noticed the subject foal at the Cape Premier Yearling Sale of 2021 and it was duly bred by Drakenstein, who had obviously followed up on his notification and bought the mare.
 
He liked the look of him as he came into the ring and was surprised there was no opposition to his R120,000 bid.
 
Michael Roberts happened to be walking past just after he had signed for the colt.  Nick stopped him and gave him the release ticket and said, “Here I’ve bought you a horse.”
 
Nick has been an owner for a long time, but his rise as a big owner has come phenomenally quickly.
 
He won the July for the first time in 2018 and in the same race became the first owner to do the July one-two (Do It Again and Made To Conquer) since his good friend Luke Bailes did it in 1990.
 
Nick has since then won another July, two L’Ormarins Queen’s Plates and a WSB Met.
 
If not mistaken all 12 of his Grade 1 wins have been achieved in the last five years.
  
He is a Michaelhouse old boy and is the fourth generation of a successful Durban family.
 
However, his family history contains a remarkable rags-to-riches story.
 
His great grandather Frederick Lennard Jonsson was a Swedish orphan rescued from a life on the London docks by a kindly London family.
 
Frederick later set out for India to make his fortune, but was shipwrecked off the Wild Coast.
 
Adrift for a week on a life raft, he and the only two other survivors landed at Port St. Johns.
 
From there he made his way to Durban where he became a legend.
 
He owned the first two storey hotel in South Africa, the Alexandra on Point Road, and a few other hotels, including the famous Royal Hotel.
 
He had a farm on the Bluff and a farm in Umbilo.
 
Frederick Jonsson was a founder member of the Durban Turf club and was on its first board in 1897.
 
Nick’s father “Benji” continued the Jonsson tradition in racing and became chief executive of the Jockey Club and chairman of the SA Jockey Academy, as well as an avid racegoer and loyal owner.
 
Nick’s own success as a businessman has enabled him to entrench the Jonsson name in SA racing folklore.
 
However, See It Again would put the cherry on the top if he were to win the July this year.
 
Nick drew the short straw for the colours of Do It Again, so instead Bernard Kantor’s yellow and blue silks hang in the Hollywoodbets Greyville Classic Room’s July wall of honour.
 
A See It Again victory will see the Jonsson’s now familiar cyclamen (pink), green and white colours hanging on the wall.