Shona Kirsty Yves was the first horse to go through every one of the processes that Blue Sky Thoroughbreds have, so it was gratifying for the latter’s owners Bruce le Roux and Tinus Gericke to see her winning at Hollywoodbets Scottsville on Sunday.
The Eightfold Path three-year-old bay filly is superbly named and the accolades for that go to Bruce’s wife Delia.
Delia first looked at the name of the dam, Well In Flight, who was by Bruce’s late resident stallion Just As Well.
She also wanted to somehow incorporate “Blue Sky Thoroughbreds” into the name.
The real Shona Kirsty Yves was indeed “well in flight”, because she was born on an aeroplane bound for England from Ghana.
Her mother Debbie Owen chose those three names because the initials spell “SKY”.
So, a well thought out name for the Blue Sky Thoroughbreds-homebred filly.
Bruce owned Spring Valley Stud farm in the KZN Midlands before forming Blue Sky Thoroughbreds together with Tinus, who is a long-time racing fan and owner.
Blue Sky Thoroughbreds purchased the farm whose two previous owners had been Golden Acres stud and Yellow Star stud.
Bruce and Delia moved house to the latter farm, believing they would sell the Spring Valley Stud farm.
However, they ended up keeping Spring Valley.
So, now all of Blue Sky’s broodmares reside at Spring Valley.
The new farm’s focus is on pre-training and training.
The young horses are moved from Spring Valley to Blue Sky Thoroughbreds farm after being weaned.
Ivan van Wyk used to train for Yellow Star Stud.
He is now in charge of both the pre-training and training operations at Blue Sky Thoroughbreds.
The pre-training facilities are top class.
However, Bruce said work still needed to be done on the facilities for training horses of racing age.
They have a 1200m grass track and a 1200m dirt track.
However, the dirt track becomes muddy when it rains, so the training has to to then be switched on to the grass.
They plan to bring in Umgeni sand and create a beach track, similar to the one at Summerveld, although they do not intend to ever have a big training operation.
Shona Kirsty Yves is the first horse to go through the whole Blue Sky Thoroughbreds process i.e. she was bred by them, and pre-trained and trained on their farm.
She started completely unfancied on the market at 50/1 on Sunday, having finish unplaced in her first three starts, all over 1400m.
However, Bruce said all of the jockeys who had previously ridden her had given good reports and wanted to stick with her, believing she would win soon.
Ivan had also been bullish when speaking to Bruce on Friday and believed the drop in trip would suit her too.
Rachel Venniker only picked up the ride in the morning and rode a typically astute race.
Shona Kirsty Yves jumped well and was in the front line.
When the heavily backed favourite, Fortune Bay, who dwarfed her, moved into the lead 400m out, it looked like the race was over.
However, Shona Kirsty Yves on her inside was staying on gamely and after a thrilling tussle just got up by a neck.
The two horses had come together in the closing stages and an objection was lodged.
However, it never looked likely to be upheld and was duly overruled.
Bruce revealed Rachel Venniker was impressed and wants to keep the ride.
Blue Sky Thoroughbreds recognise the difficulty of competing with breeders who have more money, so are constantly upgrading their stock and buying broodmares.
Most of their purchases come from the Cape.
They also bought an expensive yearling called Hashtagyolo by Dynasty a few years ago and she soon proved to be an exciting racehorse. She won her first three in impressive style, including the Grade 3 Flamboyant Stakes.
However, she then unfortunately had to be hospitalised due to illness.
Upon recovery she had three runs in the strongest company in Cape Town, culminating in an unplaced run in the Grade 1 Paddock Stakes.
She was retired having had just six runs.
However, the money originally splashed out for her has been worthwhile for Blue Sky Thoroughbreds. Hashtagyolo’s first foal, a colt by Gimmethegreenlight, sold for R1.2 million at this year’s BSA Nationals to Antony Beck.
Hashtagyolo currently has a Vercingetorix yearling filly, which Blue Sky Thorougbreds will keep in line with their policy of upgrading their broodmare band, and she also has a Vercingetorix filly at foot.
Shona Kirsty Yves has a strapping New Predator half-brother at the BSA November two-year-old Sale on Sunday.
Blue Sky Thoroughbreds have about 120 broodmares of ever improving quality and look likely to become a powerhouse of KZN breeding.
Meanwhile, Shona Kirsty Yves Owen derives a lot of amusement from her dealings with customs officials, because on her passport her place of birth reads: “Born on an aeroplane 10 mile south of Mayfield, Sussex.”
She has become well known because she did research to find other cases like hers and has founded an exclusive club called Skyborns, which has a 50-strong membership.
