Picture: Klawervlei Stud
John Koster bred the twice champion stallion phenomenon Vercingetorix out of the stud farm he founded in Bonnievale in the Breede River Valley, Klawervlei Stud, and he reaped the dividends of this achievement on Monday after a full circle.
Klawervlei Stud was sold earlier this year to Laurence Wernars by John and his partner in the farm, Bernard Kantor, and their stock was sold on Monday in what was reported to be the biggest equine dispersal Sale in South African history.
R83,878 million was realised from the Sale and Vercingetorix was responsible for a high percentage of that figure.
Vercingetorix was sold by Klawervlei as a yearling for R1.4 million, which they would have been thrilled with as they would have had little idea of the money-spinning success he was destined to become as a sire after a sterling racing career.
However, Klawervlei supported the stallion they bred prodigiously and the rewards were reaped at Monday’s dispersal Sale.
Eight shares Klawervlei Stud held in the Silvano stallion each went for between R2,5 million and R2.7 million apiece. gathering a total of R20,900,000.
Vercingetorix’s Hollywoodbets Durban July-winning son Oriental Charm had one stallion share sold for R100,000.
There were six Vercingetorix broodmares on the Sale and they realised a total of R4,26 million with the highest priced one being Cullinan Blue. The latter is out of the Rock Of Gibraltar mare Gibraltar Blue and is in foal to One World. Lammerskraal Stud landed her for R3,100,000, which was the Sale’s top price.
Eleven Vercingetorix yearlings on the Sale realised a total of R8 million. The highest priced of these yearlings was a colt out of the Gr3-winning five-time-winning Jet Master mare Off The Mark and this colt was retained by Kantor after he bid R2,4 million for him. A Vercingetorix yearling was also one of the three withdrawn lots of the Sale.
So, all in all the super stallion was responsible for gathering a sum total of R33,26 million from 26 lots on the Sale.
The 26 lots represented 14.6% of the 178 lots sold, but the R33,26 million was 39,65% of the Sale’s aggregate, which shows what an influence Vercingetorix has been.
John also bred the great champion stallion Captain Al out of Klawervlei Stud and his ancestors, which included no fewer than four stallions and a number of mares, were also significant contributors to the Sale’s aggregate.
One share in the promising former Captain Al freshman champion sire Erik The Red, who has a Gr 1 winner already with just two crops to have raced, went for R400,000.
Two shares in Captain Al sire One World, who smashed the freshman sire records with his first crop, went for R500,000 and R450,000 respectively.
A share in last season’s freshman champion stallion, the Captain Al sire Malmoos, went for R450,000.
Three shares in the Captain Al sire Captain Of All went for R15,000, R10,000 and R18,000 apiece.
Seventeen Captain Al broodmares were sold and they fetched a total of R7.31 million.
The highest priced of them, The Secret Is Out, a Gr 1 winning daughter of one of matriarch Mystic Spring’s best daughters Secret Of Victoria, went for R2,4 million secured by Finch River Stud. That price is particularly high considering she is not in foal.
One World had 5 yearlings sold for a total of R1,885 million, and a further yearling who was withdrawn. The highest priced One World was out of the Sale’s top-priced mare, Cullinan Blue, and fetched R600,000 sold to “Numzaan”.
Malmoos had two yearlings both going for R200,000 and Erik The Red had one yearling which went for R400,000.
So, all in all ancestors of Captain were responsible for R11,838 million of the aggregate accumulated from 32 lots. The 32 lots represented 18% of the number of lots and the R11,838 million represented 14.11% of the Sale, which once again underlines Vercingetorix’s dominance of the South African Sales ring these days, considering Captain Al is a Klawervlei legend.
