Ebony Flyer winning the SA Fillies Sprint, beating Welwitschia, who has outshone her at stud being the dam of dual Gr 1 winner Desert Miracle (Picture: Gold Circle)
Team Valor International have been partners with Gaynor Rupert in the breeding career of three-time Gr 1-winning SA-bred Jet Master mare Ebony Flyer and this mare has a promising Kingman colt who will represent Team Valor at Newmarket on Friday (17 May).
On April 28 the Kingman colt T’Challa ran second on debut on the Southwell All Weather over a mile and he now runs in a Novice Stakes event over a mile on the Rowley Mile.
The Andrew Balding-trained colt will be ridden by Kevin Stott and is 3/1 second favourite behind the Godolphon colt Creative Story (Too Darn Hot).
The race jumps at 15H53 SA time.
Ebony Flyer was one of the most talented fillies to ever race in South Africa, but was unable to reach her full potential due to a breathing issue.
The Jet Master filly was one of only two horses to ever beat the great Igugu on South African soil, doing so in the Gr 1 Cape Fillies Guineas in December 2010.
She had to have a tie back operation after a subseuqent third place finish in the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate, which meant she missed the Champions Season in her three-year-old career.
However, she came back to win more races, including the Gr 1 Majorca Stakes and Gr 1 SA Fillies Sprint.
She was trained by Justin Snaith and raced by Team Valor.
She has been a bit of a disappointment at stud.
Her best runner to date has been Cot Campbell (Trippi), who was bred by Drakenstein Stud and Team Valor in partnership and raced by that partnership too. He won one race and finished fourth in both the Gr 1 Cape Guineas and CTS 1600 and was third in a Gr 3 before departing for Hong Kong, where he was unsuccessful.
Ebony Flyer’s son Captain Of Tortuga by Captain Al won four times.
Ebony Flyer also had a three time-winning Silvano filly called Black Silver who was a Listed runner up.
Her only other runner in the UK to date besides T’Challa has been a Dark Angel filly who has run one fourth in six starts.
T’Challa was officially bred by Gaynor Rupert’s UK breeding partnership Cayton Park Stud in partnership with Team Valor and Cad Racing.
