Rabada Stallion Day Ignites Interest In Wartburg-based Stalwart

Picture : Rabada posing at Summerveld on his stallion day (Candiese Lenferna Photography)

Rabada was brought down from his Bloomhill Stud home in Wartburg to Summerveld on Saturday for a stallion day with a difference and Bloomhill’s Sandra Threthewey was thrilled with all aspects of the event.

She said, “There was a beautiful vibe and Rabada behaved like a dream. He is such a calm and collected horse. He stood under the tree for an hour-and-a-half with his groom before being paraded and he then walked and stood and didn’t do anything funny, so people understood what I have been saying about his temperament. They always say ‘But he is by Brave Tin Soldier’ and Brave Tin Soldiers can be highly strung. But I think everybody realised that with 65 odd people standing watching him and he did not do a thing wrong … and he stood still so everybody could photograph him … everybody said, ‘Wow!!’ He has got the most magnificent temperament!”

She continued, “It was phenomenal. There was a mixture of people from breeders, to owners and trainers, and also farriers and vets. He was well received and it was a positive, good event for our industry which needs positive vibes and a positive attitude for the future. The feedback has been positive and we have some nice new business. Between Saturday and Sunday evening he had got an extra ten mares already. Some people who couldn’t make it to the stallion day came to the farm on Sunday and two more clients are coming to the farm this week to see him and chat about mares.”

She added, “We have had phone calls from the Cape and they are looking at mares they can send and they said if they don’t have mares they are going to buy mares to send.”

Rabada stands for R10,000 payable on a live foal, but Bloomhill Stud have given a special incentive offer in which a breeder sending two mares will get one cover free of charge.

Another incentive for the resulting Rabada crop of this season’s coverings is that the first one of them to win a Gr 1 in KZN will earn a R50,000 bonus for the owners.

Tretheway said these incentives confirmed Bloomhill Stud’s belief in Rabada as a stallion and their commitment to both him and to the horseracing industry.

Rabada, bred by Summerhill Stud and trained by Mike Azzie, was an early August 4 foal in 2012 and went on to win the Gr 1 Premier’s Champion Stakes as a two-year-old and the Gr 1 Daily News 2000 as a three-year-old.

He is proving to be a fine stallion, despite the limited opportunities he has had, and last season had a 47.8% winners to runners strike rate with eleven winners of 14 races from 23 runners.

This compares to the national champion stallion Gimmethegreenlight’s percentage of 48.2% and although the latter obviously had a lot more runners he also enjoyed a lot more opportunities being an in demand Western Cape-based stallion.

Included among Rabada’s runners is the like of the promising MJ Odendaal-trained gelding Addabar, the Doug Campbell-trained gelding Ermelo and the Weiho Marwing-trained filly Soldier’s Eye.

Addabar, now a four-year-old, has been the subject of a big offer from overseas after cruising to a comfortable win over 1800m last time, meaning he has won all three of his races contested over distances of a mile and beyond in impressive style.

Mohammed Sheik has been brokering a deal between the interested parties in Bahrain. However, it will not be easy deal to complete with the export protocols as they are and also with the timelines in place for travel and the accompanying red tape involved.

Addabar is also the ideal horse to promote the up-and-coming Odendaal stable and if he does not go overseas MJ plans to target him at the next SA Champions Season. As a horse who does not need to be rushed, MJ aims to get Addabar there with a competitive merit rating.

In a twist to the stallion day, MJ rode Addabar to event and he was also paraded.

Ermelo, now a three-year-old, is a big, long-striding individual who has won two out of four starts and he finished a fine 3,25 length third in his last start over 1400m in the Listed Gatecrasher Stakes to the talented Mike de Kock-trained Gimmethegreenlight colt Gimmeanotherchance.

He is merit rated 96.

The Weiho Marwing-trained filly Soldier’s Eye is merit rated 97 having won two races before finishing fifth in the Gr 1 Douglas Whyte Stakes over 1600m at Hollywoodbets Greyville in the last race of her two-year-old campaign.

That high merit rating did not stop her running a close second in a fillies and mares handicap over 1750m at Hollywoodbets Scottsville in her first start as a three-year-old.

Rabada is out of the Fard mare Jordie, who also produced the Listed-placed multiple winners Glider Pilot (A.P. Arrow) and River Tyne (Stronghold).

He looks to be a stallion to follow.

Sandra concluded, “Rabada is going to be one of the commercial stallion and he just needs the support. I said to the people on Saturday, ‘With the stats he has got, can you afford to ignore him.’”

Pictures below of the stallion day taken by Candiese Lenferna.