Skip to main content

Picture : Master Archie enjoying himself in his paddock at Winterbach Stud and the horses in the neighbouring paddock are clearly interested in him.

The stallion day to introduce Rafeef sire Master Archie at Winterbach Stud last Thursday had good attendance and some shares in the Gr 1 weight for age Computaform Sprint winner were sold.

 
Rafeef was also a Gr 1 Computaform Sprint winner, but had class as well as speed. His progeny are following in his footsteps. Two of his three Gr 1 winners to date have been sprinters and the other one is a SA Derby winner.
 
Master Archie’s damsire sire Var was an outstanding speed stallion.
 
Master Archie’s dam La Volta, an eight time-winning Listed-winning sprinter, is a half-sister to Gr 2-winning middle distance horse Chesalon, who finished third in the July, and she is also also a half-sister to Gr 2 Senor Santa Stakes and Gr 2 Merchants handicap winner Mardi Gras.
 
La Volta’s dam Sarabande was a Gr 1 Majorca Stakes winner.
 
So Master Archie’s pedigree is a mixture of top drawer speed and class.
 
He is going to be a most interesting addition to the South African stallion pool.
 
Master Archie was bred at Winterbach Stud. 
 
Two of the three owners of his dam La Volta, Shaun Hanna and Vasan Harry, had a policy of keeping every alternate foal and racing them.
 
Master Archie fell on a “keep” year.
 
La Volta, who is also owned by Adam Azzie, has done enormously well at the Sales.
 
At the Cape Racing Sales Premier Yearling Sale this year her Querari colt sold for R900,000 to Laurence Wernars.
 
At last year’s BSA National Yearling Sale her Potala Palace colt sold for R600,000.
 
At the 2019 Cape Premier Yearling Sale her Soft Falling Rain colt fetched R800,000.
 
Hendrik Winterbach Jnr said, “La Volta throws a very, very good horse every year and it doesn’t matter who we send her too. She throws you a beautiful foal and those prices show you that her progeny look decent.” 
 
Master Archie as a youngster was sent straight from Winterbach Stud to pre-training with Julia Pilbeam and he then went to the Candice Bass-Robinson yard. 
 
He ran three decent races in Cape Town, but really began to thrive on the fast tracks of the Highveld after being sent up to the yard of Paul Peter.
 
He won his first outing up there over 1000m at the Vaal by 7,50 lengths.
 
However, it was in his next start over the same course and distance where he truly gave a taste of what was to come.
 
In that race he faced Dyce at level weights and slammed him by 2,50 lengths.
 
Dyce, who was always held in high regard, won the Gr 2 Umkhomazi Stakes over 1200m at Hollywoodbets Greyville by 4,30 lengths in his next start.
 
Master Archie started his three-year-old campaign in good style with an easy win over 1000m. By the time April had arrived he had only had three further runs, one of them a 4,75 length demolition of the Gr 1 winner Under Your Spell in the WSB Sophomore 1000, although he disappointed in two runs on either side of that win.
 
However, he put the second of those disappointments behind him by winning the Gr 3 Man O’ War over 1100m with topweight, meaning he gave the runner up Cleaver Green 8kg. He ran at level weights that day with subsequent Gr 1 Golden Horse Sprint winner Alesian Chief and slammed him by six lengths. 
 
In his next start he was about two lengths off the pace in a furiously fast run Computaform Sprint and had to be switched way inward for a run. He ended up on what is invariably perceived to be the unfavourable side of the Turffonteim Standside straight course. However, that did not stop him romping home by two lengths after showing a magnificent turn of foot.
 
Master Archie did not perform to his best around the turn at Hollywoodbets Greyville in the subsequent Gr 1 Mercury Sprint.
 
The following January nothing went right in his trip to Cape Town for the Gr 1 Pongracz Cape Flying Championship. 
 
However, he bounced back with an outstanding win over the Turffontein Standside 1000m. Carrying 62kg, he gave the Gr 1 runner up Bartholdi 2kg and a two length beating.
 
He was widely fancied to successfully defend his Jonsson Workwear Computaform Sprint crown in what was to be his swansong.
 
However, he bruised his foot the day before the race and had to be scratched.
 
Forty to fifty people attended the stallion day last week and Hendrik said, “He showed himself very well and we sold a couple of shares on the day, so I think he was well received.”
 
There were 55 shares available and 16 have been sold.
 
However, there has already been a request for two covers from an outsider and Hendrik is hoping he will cover a total of about 60 mares during the season.
 
He stands for R15,000, made up of R5,000 nom and R10,000 for a live foal.
 
Hendrik has teased him with a few mares who are in season and he is clearly going to relish his new job.
 
Hendrik said, “He is nice and quiet in his paddock during the day but when he comes in he is very alert and looks out his window and over his door and checks out the property and every now and then he gives a stallion call. He is nice to have on the farm, it keeps everybody awake.” 
 
Hendrik added Master Archie was easy to handle at this stage. 
 
He said, “When we take him to the mares he is on his toes but he is not mean.”
 
His duties will start on September 1.