WSB Met Runner Bless My Stars is one of five scratching from the WSB Met meeting due to a movement control order put in place after an AHS case was reported in the vicinity of Randjesfontein (Picture: JC Photos)

The five Randjesfontein-based horses who were declared to run on WSB Met day but were still stuck on the Highveld will not be able to travel down to Cape Town.

An African Horse Sickness case has been reported within a 30km radius of the training centre.

Reportedly this happened, in agonising fashion, just a day before the horses would have been allowed to travel.

An AHS outbreak leads to a 40 day travel ban for horses within a 30km radius of it.

The ban for the previous case would have ended today (23rd January).

The news was a particularly devastating blow for trainer Sean Tarry and owner Kenneth Pillay of Kestorm Investements who had declared both WSB Met runner Bless My Stars and R7.5 million Gold Rush runner Storm Brasco.

They had been on tenterhooks for the last week hoping there would be no reported AHS outbreaks in the vicinity.

The 23rd was so agonisingly close.

However, AHS outbreaks at this time of the year in that vicinity are quite normal … it is known as AHS season.

Tarry had also declared the Laurence Wernars homebred colt Proceed in the Listed Summer Juvenile Stakes and the Lammerskraal Stud-owned filly Winter Greeting in the Listed Pongracz Olympic Duel Stakes.

The Mike and Adam Azzie-trained Drakenstein Stud homebred filly Coldhardstare was also declared for the latter event and will not be able to travel.

The Vaughan Marshall-trained Ken and Jan Truter homebred Lancaster Bomber gelding Coastal Commander was the first reserve for the Gold Rush and now looks likely to get a run.

Written by Mark van Deventer (Cape Racing)

Dapper and erudite broadcaster, Rishi Persad, is excited about his first trip to Africa as he makes his way to the edge of the continent to present Saturday’s World Sports Betting Cape Town MET card.

Persad’s family raced horses when he was growing up in the West Indies, and after getting a law degree in London, he moved into broadcasting with At The Races back in 2002. He has since become a familiar face at the races, covering big meetings around the world such as the Breeders Cup, Dubai World Cup, L’Arc de Triomphe, Grand National, Cheltenham, Royal Ascot and Glorious Goodwood.

Though horse racing is closest to his heart, Persad is a versatile sports journalist with a wide resume. He has worked at Olympic Games in Athens, Beijing and London, reported from the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, gone back to his Caribbean roots for the Cricket World Cup, regularly been part of Wimbledon broadcasting teams, and has presented at iconic golf events such as the Ryder Cup, US Masters and The Open.

The 49-year-old will be a key member of Cape Racing’s team of presenters and pundits as they cover a stakes laden card at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth. The City of Cape Town Majorca Stakes, World Pool Cape Flying Champs and World Sports Betting Cape Town MET over 2000m are all prestigious Grade 1 Weight-for-Age contests attracting many of South Africa’s best thoroughbreds.

“From a personal point of view, it has always been a burning ambition to visit South Africa,” says Persad of his upcoming travels. “To have the opportunity to do that, attend the country’s most famous race day, and broadcast alongside a talented team – including one or two old friends – is just about the perfect set up. I cannot wait to experience the big day.”

Persad’s genial manner, racing savvy and TV expertise will buttress World Sports Betting Cape Town MET coverage, which will be beamed to racing jurisdictions across the globe. The World Pool collaboration with the Hong Kong Jockey Club will also provide a massive boon to betting turnovers across the 11-race programme, and provide record exposure for an historic South African horse race, which dates to 1883 when first run as the MET Mile.

This week 15 years ago two great horses were set to have a final showdown in the Met, a race which was likely to determine which one of the pair would go down in history as the better.

The legendary Mike Bass-trained Pocket Power was at the time a six-time Gr 1-winning six-year-old and five of them had been in Cape Town i.e. three L’Ormarins Queen’s Plates and two Mets. The Zandvliet Stud-bred Jet Master gelding’s sole Gr 1 win outside of Cape Town had been a dead-heat in the Durban July with the Justin Snaith-trained superstar filly Dancer’s Daughter.

And the two July dead-heaters were now set to clash in the Met and resolve an ongoing debate between their respective supporters.

Dancer’s Daughter was a grey British-bred by little known sire Act One (the latter ultimately became a national hunt jumps stallion). Her legacy lives on in SA today because the dam of multiple Gr 1-winning Drakenstein Stud homebred Rain In Holland, and her useful siblings, is a half-sister to Dancer’s Daughter.

Dancer’s Daughter was a year younger than Pocket Power, but was in reality a year-and-a-half younger as she was born to Northern Hemispehere time.

Nevertheless, she was already a four-time Gr 1-winning five-year-old at the time of the 2009 Met, having done the Paddock Stakes Majorca Stakes double, then won the weight for age Gold Challenge over 1600m at Clairwood before her dead-heat with Pocket Power in the July.

Her Gold Challenge win was astonishing because she pulled the whole way under Weichong Marwing and still won. Among the defeated was Pocket Power, whose race did not pan out well, and he was beaten 1,50 lengths into fourth.

Many pundits believed Dancer’s Daughter would not stay the July trip after her pulling antics in the Gold Challenge.

However, Kevin Shea, known for his sublime hands, was called in and the filly settled beautifully towards the back and in one of the all time great Julys she caught Pocket Power, who had come from midfield.

The pair went to the line as one.

The dead-heat verdict was well received by all and sundry.

Pocket Power carried topweight of 58kg in the July and gave Dancer’s Daughter 5kg, which shows how good he was.

However, he was never quite as good in Durban as he was in Cape Town.

Bernard Fayd’Herbe stated around the time of the 2009 Met that he felt Pocket Power had only been at about 80% of his true ability in Durban in 2008.

Subsequent to the July the pair met in the Gr 1 Champions Cup over 1800m at Clairwood, which was not a weight for age race back then and both had wide draws. Pocket Power, carrying topweight, was beaten half-a-length by the Sean Tarry-trained Buy And Sell, while Dancer’s Daughter, receiving 1,5kg from Pocket Power, finished 0,85 lengths behind him in fourth.

So in their three clashes the score was one victory each and one tie.

Pocket Power of course had given weight to Dancer’s Daughter in the July, but on the other hand Dancer’s Daughter had won the only weight for age clash between the pair.

The Met was going to be the race that separated them.

The one dampener to the Met was that on the day Pocket Power won his third L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate in succession, Dancer’s Daughter suffered a shock defeat at odds of 3/10 in the defence of her Paddock Stakes crown.

The winner was the Geoff Woodruff-trained Emblem Of Liberty (National Emblem). Pocket Power’s full sister and stablemate River Jetez, who was to win the Met just over a year late, was second. Dancer’s Daughter was only 0,6 lengths behind the winner in third.

Justin Snaith explained away the defeat, saying she had still been a little on the heavy side for the Paddock Stakes as the Met was her mission and he pointed out that after being hampered just before entering the straight she had recorded the fastest 400m to finish time of all the Gr 1 runners on the day.

Snaith was happy with Dancer’s Daughter’s Met draw of 13.

“The thirteen draw has been very lucky for her,” he said.

Kevin Shea was to arrive the day before the race.

“He knows her now and was the only one who managed to get her settled last season,” said Snaith. “But she has quietened down and settling is no longer an issue.”

Candice Robinson, daughter and assistant to Mike Bass, did not have any defeats to explain away.

The only concern for Pocket Power fans was his infamous foot.

He had not been bothered at all by it throughout this season until pulling up a little “foot-sore” after the Diadem Stakes.

However he went onto win the Queens Plate with ease and Robinson said on the Saturday before the Met, “He is nice and sound and in very good shape”.

On the Monday morning before the Met Pocket Power put up a scintillating sand gallop over 1400m at Milnerton in his final serious workout before the R2,5million event.

Dancer’s Daughter did pacework over 800m on the heavy sand at Phillipi training centre on the Tuesday.

Ironically she was ridden by Pocket Power’s jockey Bernard Fayd’herbe, a good friend of Justin Snaith’s. Bernard had also worked her before the July, being just about the only jockey who could stop her when she was in a galloping mood.

Fayd’herbe reported to trainer Snaith after the Phillipi gallop that she “felt very good”.

Snaith said that she was now “spot on”.

He said the yard had worked her harder than any other horse going into Met day.

“She needed to do that work and she has finally lost the weight she was carrying. When I see how fit she is now and how much work she can take I now realise that she was only half-fit for her run in the Paddock Stakes.”

And so the big day dawned.

Pocket Power, drawn nine, started at 12/10 and Dancer’s Daughter 28/10.

The race was not weight for age back then and Pocket Power had to carry topweight of 58kg but he faced Dancer’s Daughter on weight for age terms because all she was getting from him was her gender allowance of 2,5kg.

So it was going to be a true test.

The race lived up to its billing as “the race of the decade” as the two champions and adversaries were locked in combat as they drove to the line.

In truth Pocket Power never looked like being beaten after he had swept past Dancer’s Daughter half-way down the straight, but a combination of his tendency to loaf in front and the incredible courage of the grey mare saw her closing to within 0,25 lengths at the line.

The magnificent bay wrote himself into the record books as the first horse to ever win the famous Kenilworth 2000m race three years in succession.

Mike Bass had once again worked wonders with the Jet Master gelding, who had had a foot problem throughout his career.

That Summer he had probably never had him better.

During the week the Bass yard had received good luck emails from around the world and some of those close to the mighty Pocket Power had felt the pressure of expectation.

However, the seemingly unflappable Mike Bass was not one of them, and he left the tactics of the race to his trusted jockey, Bernard Fayd’herbe.

Fayd’herbe had been supremely confident before the race and didn’t disappoint. He rode a fine race.

Pocket Power was more handy than usual but Fayd’herbe eased him back in the back straight when he saw Dancer’s Daughter alongside and took a tow from her, knowing she was the one to beat.

The “flat spot” Pocket Power had been known to hit in the past was not evident, a sign that he had been sounder that season than in the past.

He exploded into action when asked the question, leaving the field flat-footed as he swept to the front over 300m out.

He went a length and a tail clear of the brave Justin Snaith-trained mare … but then his usual laziness set in.

Fayd’herbe knew the mare would come back at him, and she did, putting on a marvellous display of a champion thoroughbred’s will to win.

However, she couldn’t quite get there and the score had been settled – Pocket Power had proved himself the better horse.

Pocket Power’s full sister, River Jetez, ran a fine race to finish just a length behind her big brother in third.

Kapil finished a further 2,5 lengths back in fourth, while a big outsider, Golden Dice, was 3,25 lengths further back in fifth.

Pocket Power was owned by Marsh Shirtliff and Arthur and Rina Webber.

The race had illustrated how impossible it was to compare Pocket Power to Met winners of the past.

In his first two Met wins his arrival at the front had come almost lazily, but on this occasion he had to lift himself and that was testimony to the class of Dancer’s Daughter.

But when Pocket Power was at his best, which he always was at Kenilworth, he did just enough to win.

If you had lumped more weight on him, he would probably have done the same.

Gold Circle in a fine gesture allowed Pocket Power’s connections to keep the floating trophy in perpetuity in recognition of his three successive Met wins.

Pocket Power went on to win two more Gr 1s.

He finally won the Gr 1 that had eluded him, the Gold Challenge over 1600m at Clairwood, a race which had given  Mike Bass one of his hardest defeats to ever accept in 2007 … Pocket Power had clearly been the best horse in that race but was hampered twice in the straight before delivering and extraordinary finish from an impossible position to lose by a short-head.

In January 2010 he made it four L’Ormarins Queen’s Plates in succession, but was beaten a length into third by River Jetez in his attempt at a fourth Met.

In 2011 he was fourth when attempting to equal a world record number of wins of the same Gr 1 in the Queen’s Plate and he was 8th in the Met in his career final appearance.

Dancer’s Daughter only had one more runs after the 2009 Met, winning the Gr 1 Empress Club Stakes at Turffontein about a month later.

At stud she produced six runners and four winners including Listed-winning gelding Born To Perform (Silvano) and Listed-placed filly Step Lively (Pathfork).

Picture: Lot 22 is by Elusive Fort and is a half-sister to the useful Golden Tatjana

Black Swan Stud is a boutique stud near Robertson in the Western Cape. Owner Peter de Beyer has 25 years of breeding experience and established the farm in 2011. Situated in the premier breeding area of SA, with its limestone-rich soils and proximity to the top stallions, Black Swan has consistently punched above its weight.

It has a phenomenal record of 75% winners to runners since its inception. CT Met runner-up and now sire, Last Winter, and the winner of the first two legs of the Triple Tiara, Siren’s Call, head the list of stakes winners produced, which also includes Freedom Charter, Sarah, Pretty Betty, Helen’s Ideal, Major Attraction, Ernie.

Resident stallion Elusive Fort has a proud record with fillies and colts, and his best son, July and Met winner Kommetdieding, is now a sire.

The first juvenile winner of the current season, Almond Sea, was consigned by Black Swan at the 2023 Cape Premier Sale.

Peter says,” We are proud to offer four quality yearlings at the sale, and my personal favourite is the Elusive Fort colt out of Silvano mare, Step Out. However, all four have excellent conformation.”

Stud manager Walter Cowe has decades of international experience and will attend the sale.

Lot 22 Elusive Fort- Goldandsilver filly: Stabled in A31

Half-sister to Golden Tatjana (Trippi Stakes and Farm Sale race winner.) Very speedy and precocious juvenile. Full sister to Treasure Hunt- 4 wins.

Dam, 100% winners to runners. Very speedy female line, including Gr3 winners Golden Shina and Golden Braids.

The only Elusive Fort filly on the sale – and he is an outstanding sire of fillies.

Physical: Good, strong quarters and strong shoulder. It walks beautifully, with a great overstep. Very pretty, classy, and perfectly proportioned.

Lot 51 Erupt-Omaticaya colt in Stable B2

Colt was out of the listed Silvano mare, which won 4 races. Grand Dam is a 3-time winning sister to Gr 3 winner Jet Supreme, by promising young sire Erupt, which has done well with Silvano mares.

Physical: A good, strong colt, very much in the Dubawi mould. Short cannons, strong quarters, and a beautiful head. Well-balanced, athletic walk.

Lot 51

Lot 86 Elusive Fort- Step Out Colt. Stabled in B3

Colt out of a winning Silvano mare from a very strong female line. Dam’s career was cut short after two wins by injury. She is a half-sister to Gr 2 winner Solid Speed and from the family of Gr1 winner Lady in Black and Gr 2 winner Nexus (both by Dynasty). The cross with Elusive Fort should thus be effective.

The only colt by Elusive Fort (Sire of top colts Kommetdieding, Catch Twentytwo, etc) on the sale.

Second foal, young dam, no runners yet.

Physical: An outstanding-looking, strong colt. Well-balanced and very correct. Walks with purpose, with a classic look.

Lot 86

Lot 123 Soqrat- Call of the Hunt filly. Stable A30

Filly is out of the winning mare Call of the Hunt, a half-sister to multiple Gr1 winner Hunting Tower, and from the family of Gr 3 winner Crimson King and his full brother King Regent.

Dam, Two winners from 3 runners so far. Inbred 4×4 to the great Mr Prospector.

Soqrat was Equus champion 2yo and multiple Gr 1 winning miler. He is an exciting sire prospect who will have his first runners this season, and his yearlings have been well received on earlier sales.

Physical: An elegant, athletic filly which stands above the ground. Good, strong shoulder and hindquarters. He walks very well and looks racy. Correct.

Lot 123

ENDS 

For racing queries and sales queries, contact Justin Vermaak at justin@caperacing.co.za or Janine van Blerk at janine@caperacing.co.za  

 

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Picture: Warne Rippon

Off The Record with Charl Pretorius

PART 1

In the world of towering achievements, Warne Rippon stands at 6 feet 5 inches, a man whose imposing stature is matched only by an ongoing array of larger-than-life experiences. Warne’s story is a colourful mosaic of business acumen and a passion for thoroughbreds. Beyond this, his recent philanthropic endeavours are the pillars of his character, and his remarkable journey is a testament to resilience and determination.

An all-round sportsman and backyard steel merchant in his youth, Warne has always lived for the thrill of challenges and the rush of adrenaline – overseeing his now massive steel business, investing in racehorses and developing Buffalo Kloof, his already renowned, bustling game farm.

Widely celebrated in racing for his part-ownership of the erstwhile international superstar Sun Classique, a host of other top performers including Umgiyu, Heavenly Blue, Big Burn, Grazinginthegrass, Shoemaker, Tail Of The Comet and others; and more recently as a sponsor of the ASSM Charity Mile with his part-owned company Allied Steelrode, Warne’s multi-faceted journey is as compelling as it is inspiring.

***

Warne Rippon’s story is marked by the dizzying highs of success but not without the humbling lows of defeat. It stretches over 57 years and is not dissimilar to the hardships and adversities most others have to suffer on rocky roads of their own. But Warne raised the bar higher with each fall, reaching for the stars instead of rising weakly and with trembling knees. This took him to unimaginable places.

Born in Grahamstown in 1966, Warne was one of five children, perhaps the naughtiest of the five. He discovered the clandestine pleasure of cigarette smoking in the mid 1970s working in his father’s convenience store in town and, later, also went through a spell of serious drinking with his mates following their exploits on sports fields. The racing bug bit when he worked in the back room of his grandfather’s totalisator agency as a boy.

Warne wasn’t particularly good at school – suffering from ADDHD, difficult and stubborn on top of that – but, with his presence and height, made up for it on the rugby field and especially as a cricketer. He excelled at off-spinning and batting and represented Kingswood College in Grahamstown at the prestigious Nuffield Cricket tournament, in the same period as later Springbok legend Alan Donald. He scored five successive 100s at the time, set his sights on a career in cricket and left for the UK, where he scored over 1000 runs in the then amateur Warwickshire league.

A knee injury sustained on the rugby field, and just 20 pounds sterling per week to live on, curtailed Warne’s progress in England. Down on his luck and demotivated, he returned to Grahamstown. “My dad, a wily entrepreneur, employed me to sell bags and utility packets to liquor stores. I travelled in an old Volkswagen Combi and sold them across the Eastern Cape,” he recalls. “We started doing well and the hawking business grew. Dad once came home with a load of potatoes he’d bought cheaply from a farmer, packaged them into smaller bags and sold them to fruit and vegetable merchants for a tidy profit. He was a good teacher, and I was a fast learner.”

Cricket was still his priority, however, and Warne made the useful Border First XI that once came within a run of beating Transvaal’s famous ‘Mean Machine’, consisting of greats like Jimmy Cook, Henry Fotheringham, Graeme Pollock, Clive Rice and Neal Radford, in a Nissan Shield encounter. He recalls that day: “I was in good form, batting well at three against their fierce attack and heading for 50 when they brought on the fearsome Clive Rice, who’d just returned from the World Series. Clive bowled a bouncer, I’d never seen anything go that fast, then hit me in the chest and the ribs with his next two balls. He ran down the pitch and growled, “Boy, this is a game for men, you shouldn’t be here!” I whacked him for a six, but he got me with the next ball, caught on the boundary and just short of 50 runs. I was black and blue for a few weeks!”

Warne moved to Johannesburg to play for Pirates Club, where he caught the eye of Transvaal selectors with a few 100s and some good bowling, but made the provincial side mainly for his skills with the bat, playing alongside the likes of Jimmy Cook and Neil Fairbrother. Warne tells: “We faced a strong Orange Free State side in the bull ring at the Wanderers in my first game for the side. They had guys like Donald and Hansie Cronjé in their team and there were more than 15,000 people in the stands. I went in to bat at number three with pressure on me after we’d lost an early wicket, so I had a chance to prove myself by stabilising our innings. But Nico Pretorius, the Free State’s ‘steam machine’, bowled his first flyer on my foot and got me for a duck. A naught after one ball in my first, short session at the crease. I was in a hole, not feeling good.

“In the Free State’s innings, I was put out to field at long-off and it wasn’t long before Kosie Venter hit one at me off Clive Eksteen’s bowling. I was always going to catch it, but I didn’t. I palmed it over the boundary ropes instead. Six runs for Kosie. Ten minutes later I was near the boundary again, at cow corner, when Hansie let rip with a shot so high it went up and through the lights. It felt like that ball went hundreds of metres up before it headed down at me, with the whole crowd at my back. I barely got a hand to it, missed again.

“With a duck and two for naught on the catching field, I spotted a brilliant Nando’s Chicken advertising board, up there, somewhere. It read, ‘Why Go Out For A Duck When You Can Go Out For a Nando’s!’ and you can guess what happened. The crowd started heckling ‘Nando’s, Nando’s!’ and I had no place to hide. I was red-faced and annoyed and I asked my captain, Mark Rushmere, if I they could bring me closer to the batsmen, away from the boundary. He put me on backward point, behind the wickets, while Hansie and Kosie were hitting us all over the park and cruising to victory. I was the major contributor to their momentum.

“Something was bound to happen again and it did when Kosie hit one towards third man, in my direction but not within plausible reach. I don’t know what happened, but I grew wings. I flew in the air, reached out and made a miraculous catch. To cheers and applause, the announcer at the Wanderers, more of an entertainer actually, switched on his mic and exclaimed in what sounded like full-blast stereo around the bull ring, “Ladies and Gentleman, Warne Rippon has held one!’ I think the pressure brought on by that game was a pivotal point for me. I played several more games, but in my heart decided that I had to look for something better.”

Warne with legendary cricketers Barry Richards (left), Mike Proctor and Graeme Pollock

The lack of a decent income just before the big professional cricket era forced Warne to consider another return home. “When they heard I wanted to leave, one of the guys at Pirates club arranged a job interview for me at Baldwins Steel. He was Jimmy Breaky, owner of Debrell Steel, a small steel business in Johannesburg. I went to the Baldwins factory, it was massive, an awe-inspiring place. It fascinated me. I was interviewed by Vaughan Richey (who’d later work for us), and expecting to land the job, but I didn’t. It was only months later, when my bags were packed and I was ready to leave, when Jimmy phoned and called me in. They employed me as a learner worker. During this time, I went racing with them a few times, Jimmy was involved with some good horses including Villandry and Affirmation and, having worked in a betting shop, it didn’t take long for me to get hooked on the live racing experience. I added gambling on the ponies to my list of vices, sick for the racing game.”

It was back to square one when Debrell Steel closed in 1994 and left Warne stranded and without a job, at 28 years of age. This was the year of South Africa’s first democratic elections and Warne’s marriage to Wendy Ford. “We had a proper wedding in a marquee tent, Wendy’s dad paid for it. To make an impression I offered to settle the drinks bill, which came to a hefty R5,000. I wrote out a cheque for 5k knowing I had only R3,900 in the bank and quietly hoping my father-in-law would hang on to it for a while so that I could find the cash to make up the balance.

“But he folded the cheque in half and put it in the top pocket of my suit jacket. He said: ‘You’re going to need that to start your own business.’ With Debrell gone, I had no alternatives. I had to carry on in the steel business. Luckily there is always a Group 1 filly behind this restless colt. I bought R3,900 worth of steel and put it on the back of Wendy’ Isuzu bakkie, her perk from a small company job that kept us going. I sold the steel for almost double the price and my business was off the mark.”

Soon, Warne owned a few bakkies of his own and he remembers: “We were up against the steel giant Macsteel and others. We were competing with them out in the field and they named us, ‘The Bakkie Brigade’. I loathed the mocking. I saw it as a challenge. We worked harder, expanded, employed staff and established Allied Steelrode, which grew into a giant of its own through perseverance and hard work. Arun Chadha joined me as my partner in 2010. I wanted to get into Africa. Arun was based in Zambia and wanted to get into South Africa, so it was the perfect fit. He is like me, stubborn with a mind of his own, except a very smart man. He has taken us giant leaps forward. Today, Allied Steelrode is one of the biggest steel companies in Sub-Saharan Africa. We employ over 700 people.”

Wayne and Arun

Warne has taken a back seat at the steelworks, allowing Arun to run the company. “You can’t have two bulls in the same ring,” he quips. “Arun is very good at what he does. With my growing involvement in conservation work at my game farm, my other farm projects and plenty of travelling, I handed over to him. We see each other at the racecourse most of the time.”

Warne’s had more personal setbacks recently with the loss of both his in-laws and his mother, but, on the positive side, he is presently in the United States where he’ll be attending the Safari Club International World Conservation Awards in Nashville, Tennessee. He is one of six nominees.

Next week: Warne and the unbelievable story of champion mare and USD multi-millionaire Sun Classique, who turned his life around by funding his game farm, took him to the top of the mountain but also to the brink of suicide. We also discuss his incredible philanthropic journey, and the vital importance of this year’s general elections for the future of the African continent, including horseracing and conservation.

Picture: Lot 23 is by Master Of My Fate and is from the family of Gypsy’s Warning 

Redoubtable vet Dr Marianne Thomson continues to work her breeding wizardry out of Ambiance Stud near Worcester. Full brothers, Al Nitak and The Sheik, G1 Summer Cup victor, Royal Victory, G1 sprinters, Alesian Chief and Cataloochee are some of the luminaries hailing from Ambiance – a true boutique stud with a low output in terms of volumes that nevertheless punches far above its weight.

Five of her yearlings will enter the ring on Thursday, 25th January 2024, at Cape Racing Sales’ CPYS. Dr Thomson presents two Rafeef’s (Lots 43 and 76), a One World filly (Lot 35), a Master of My Fate filly (Lot 23) and an Hawwaam colt which comes near the end of proceeding as Lot 122 and is a first foal of Sail from Seattle mare, Boeing City.

Lot 122

Likewise, Lot 23 (see picture above the headline) is also a first foal – this daughter of Master of My Fate is out of Gypsy Rose. Second dam Gypsy Queen bred the exported-to-America star, Gypsy’s Warning, who won multiple G1s from sprints up to 1800m.

Lana Belle, the dam of Lot 35‘s One World baby, is unproven at stud as this is only her second foal, the other being a juvenile. The second dam is the high-class Trojan Belle, so Lana’s World is worth closer inspection.

Lot 35

Rafeef has managed 13 stakes winners from just 160 to race in a tremendously encouraging start to his spell in the breeding sheds. Unnamed Lot 43‘s 2nd dam, Russian Muse, is the dam of Champion Older Female in SA in 2009/10, Mother Russia, who in turn produced Nother Russia. She emulated the feat by becoming the Champion Older SA Female seven years later. This is an incredibly potent female line, and buyers may be willing to take a speculative chance on 1st dam, Matushka’s bay colt.

Lot 43

Lot 76 King Redoute is the other Rafeef offered by Ambiance. Dam, the distance versatile, She’s a Pippa won four times between 1200 and 2000m, including Listed successes in the Eastern Cape and has already thrown sprinters, Keep the Lights On (3 wins) and Clifton Crusher (4 wins).

Given that Rafeef won the G1 Computaform dash over the fast Turffontein 1000m, this is an interesting mix of speed and a built-in middle-distance propensity – the second dam She’s on Fire won six up to 2000m.

Lot 76

Dr Thomson is more than willing to discuss the rationale behind these matings. Though she scrutinises pedigrees closely to avoid repeating past mistakes and doing something misguided, she breeds more on confirmation than on “nicks and tucks.” To the wise Doctor, the physical attributes of an athlete are of primary importance and are determined by their parents.

She is also keenly aware of hereditary temperament and factors that impact heavily when planning mating to avoid bad behavioural tendencies.

Following these principles ensures that the resultant progeny from Ambiance Stud are typically fine athletic specimens with good temperaments.

Call Marianne at 082 557 1442 or email doctort@mweb.co.za to learn more.

 ENDS 

For racing queries and sales queries, contact Justin Vermaak at justin@caperacing.co.za or Janine van Blerk at janine@caperacing.co.za  

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Chase Maujean produced a top class ride on In The Beginning at the Vaal Classic track on Tuesday (JC Photos)

Calvin Habib rode a double for Tony Peter and Gavin Lerena rode a double for Johan Janse van Vuuren at Vaal Classic today.

Also noteworthy at the meeting was a potential candidate for Emperor’s Palace Ride of The Month by Chase Maujean on the Joe Soma-trained Captain Of  All filly In The Beginning.

This had looked to be a match race between the Tony Peter pair Vix Princess and Runway Bomb.

Maujen managed to find the rail from a tricky draw of six out nine on the 33/1 shot and bided his time in the straight.

He let the filly go at just the right moment and she got the better of the Peter pair to win by 0,40 lengths.

Readers, please start sending in your Emperor’s Palace Ride Of The Month suggestions

There are prizes to be won in this competition sponsored by Turf Talk’s official hotel partner, Emperor’s Palace.

Chase Maujean’s ride described above is an example of one that can be nominated for the Emperor’s Palace Ride Of The Month.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH CHASE MAUJEAN’S GREAT RIDE ON IN THE BEGINNING

CLICK HERE FOR THE DETAILS ABOUT EMPEROR’S PALACE RIDE OF THE MONTH COMPO

Across The Board

This term, that describes something as all‐encompassing, originated from betting on horseracing. In the early 1900s, someone placing a bet “across the board” would collect if the horse finished first, second or third – much the same as each‐way betting as we know it today.

Hands Down

When someone wins an event “hands down” it means an easy victory, often by a landslide margin. The saying comes from the way jockeys stop riding their mounts when victory is certain by dropping their hands.