Warne Rippon and his brother with the WSB Cape Fillies Guineas trophy (Picture: Wayne Marks)
Fatal Flaw is not the first Gr 1 winner Warne Rippon and Arun Chadha have had as racing partners, but it is the first Gr 1 win the business partners have had under the banner of their racing syndicate, the ASSM Syndicate, which they formed in about May 2021.
Warne has previously had massive individual success with the wonder filly Sun Classique, who is the highest earning SA-bred filly in history having won numerous Gr 1s in South Africa and in Dubai. Sun Classique’s first Gr 1 win was in fact in the Cape Fillies Guineas and she went on to win the Gr 1 Majorca Stakes, the Gr 1 Woolavington 2000 and the Gr 1 Dubai Sheema Classic over 2400m.
Warne and Arun’s partnership in the Mike de Kock-trained Australian-bred Snitzel colt Heavenly Blue yielded victory in the Gr 1 SA Classic and Heavenly Blue has also become a successful sire.
However, his success became before the formation of their ASSM Syndicate, which stands for Allied Steelrode Stretcher Material.
The ASSM syndicate has owned such good horses as Gr 2 winners Catch Twentytwo and Big Burn and stakes winners River Queraress and Three Rocks as well as the promising but ultimately disappointing Shoemaker and also hardknocking sorts like White Pearl, Sugar Mountain and Wolf Mountain.
However, Fatal Flaw is the best horse they have had to date.
They bought her for R210,000 at the BSA National Yearling Sale.
Fittingly this New Predator filly is out of a mare whom Warne used to race.
Warne part-owned Sun Classique together with Lionel Cohen and after her succcess with Mike Bass in South Africa and Mike de Kock in Dubai, Mike Bass bought a Rock Of Gibraltar filly for Warne and Lionel called Alinga.
Alinga won five races in 14 starts, including a Listed race.
She was initially owned in the breeding shed by Chris Gerber and produced a number of winners, including seven time winner Alingalonga.
Chris passed away in 2018 and Laurence Wernars bought Alinga and sent her to his Australian-bred New Approach stallion New Predator.
The result was Fatal Flaw who not only gave Warne and Arun their first Gr 1 winner under the banner of the ASSM Syndicate, but it was also a first Gr 1 winner for the late New Predator, a first Cape Fillies Guineas win for Piere Strydom and also a first Gr 1 win for Brett and James Crawford as official training partners.
Warne has realised over the years how hard it is to win Gr 1s so there were tears of emotion on Saturday and he quipped in the winning interview, “I don’t think there is enough money in the country to buy this filly.”
She looks to have a stellar career ahead of her.
