Paardeberg stallion Expert Eye celebrated a new stakes winner on Friday 20 September when three-year-old son Witness Stand put up a dominant display to win the Listed Dubai Duty Free Stakes over 1400m at Newbury.
Always prominently placed, the gelding moved into the lead over three furlongs out and kicked into gear to cruise home by three lengths.
A six-length debut winner over 1400m at Chester as a juvenile, Witness Stand was gelded after finishing sixth in the Gr2 Vintage Stakes on his second outing.
He returned in the autumn to finish second in the Gr3 Horris Hill Stakes at Newmarket.
Witness Stand – looks a bright prospect! (Pic – Steve Cargill/Supplied)
This year at three, he landed a valuable contest at Glorious Goodwood and was fully deserving of a breakthrough at stakes level. His next target is likely to be the Gr2 Challenge Stakes at Newmarket on 11th October.
Witness Stand is the clear pick of four winners produced by the Oasis Dream mare Respondez, who is a full sister to the Gr1-winning sprinter Prohibit.
The gelding joins the fillies Snellen and Juniper Berries as the third stakes winner from his sire’s first crop, whilst the second has already yielded two smart juveniles in recent Gr3 Prix des Chenes runner-up Nesthorn and the filly Naina, who completed a hat-trick of wins this week when she strode to a fluent victory at Yarmouth.
Meanwhile, the stud’s Sally Bruss reports that the first two mares covered by Expert Eye have been tested in foal.
They are Pathfork’s multiple stakes winning daughter And We Danced, and the Gr2-placed Oratorio mare Mrs O, whose first foal is the stakes-placed Var filly Priscilla Maisey.
Expert Eye – top class racehorse now stands at Paardeberg Stud (Pic – Dan Abraham)
