The arrival in 2005 of the lightning fast son of Forest Wildcat, Var, will go down in history as a turning point in South African horseracing and breeding in the 21st century. It took a healthy dollop of innovative courage and refreshing foresight to buck the trend of the past two decades and introduce serious international class speed into our bloodlines. For Avontuur the results have been quite phenomenal. The title of Champion First Season Sire in 2008/9 and sire of the most individual two year old winners this past season speaks volumes of an emerging whirlwind on the sensational sire horizon.
An undisputed economic and commercial fact of life. That is the reality that every successful business in this testing, but infinitely rewarding, game has a powerful and charismatic leader who has a presence and stamp about them that sets them apart from the ordinary. The undisputed captain of the good ship, Avontuur, is just such a woman. A person of endearing character and charm, endless energy and tangible humility, Pippa Mickleburgh just oozes a love and an encyclopedic knowledge of the three devotions closest to her heart – fine wine, beautiful horses and good people.
Born under the appropriately earthy, profound and serious energy of the star sign of Capricorn, her twenty-one years at the market leading Avontuur has seen progress and unparalleled growth. I can only describe my two hours chatting to her last week in the intimate environs of the Avontuur Estate Restaurant on the breathtaking patch of paradise near Somerset West as invigorating, enlightening and a rare privilege and pleasure. No agendas, no boring politics, no scandal and no backstabbing. Just fascinating talk of a speed demon called Var, exciting future plans, fast horses, wonderful friends and recollections of a colorful and fascinating history spanning two decades.
Var In Front
The 140 hectares of pure pleasure that is Avontuur Estate is guaranteed to take one’s breath away. The idyllic picture of relaxed thoroughbreds in lush emerald green paddocks and the 80 hectares of sauvignon blanc, cabernet sauvignon and other vine varieties form a picturesque backdrop and lend a somewhat misleading sense of peace and tranquility to a multi-million rand award-winning business that boasts quality and integrity as the very cornerstones of its business ethos. And a stallion called Var is at the centre of it all. A few studs in this country stand out as aggressive marketers of their product – but no stallion has had the pure pride and PR lavished on him like the attention and spotlight of anticipation that greeted Var on his arrival in 2005 as the fastest horse and most expensive first season sire ever to stand on African soil. The late Avontuur supremo Tony Taberer had identified the need to find a worthy successor to the grand old man Dominion Royale – himself a truly phenomenal sire and the backbone of the Avontuur breeding operation for what feels like an eternity.
Pippa takes up the story: “Var arrived with the main objective of injecting speed into our pedigrees and in the long run I have no doubt that his daughters will prove invaluable assets in the breeding shed with their speed genes in abundance. The racing and breeding game is strangely fickle and no matter how good you are it feels like the world is waiting for you to fail! But Var has exceeded all of our wildest dreams. On the flipside, his fantastic two year old crop, including Villandry, Vacherin, August Rush and Valeta, have battled to sustain their racing prowess with the extreme shortage of sprint races for them. Having performed at two, they are three year olds running off good handicaps and up against it. We have to improve and vary the racing programme to accommodate the change of mindset of the breeders over the past few years. Believe it or not, we really do have a large selection of speed horses in SA and we are short of good races for them especially as early three year olds and heaven help a two year old that wins a Group 1. The handicapper has them dead in the water for a year! There is a very true saying in racing that says, ‘have a Group 1 winner at two and have no three year old.’ As a means of correcting this inequality, the Var Syndicate is working with the authorities in putting a series of sprint races together. Exciting stuff and watch this space! His three year old crop trained on to achieve solid statistics and have the leading filly Val de Ra rated 108 and solid feature winners in Lochlorien and Esterel. They are sound and tough and will hold their form come the summer season. Var has had sustained support in the sales ring as he produces ‘lookers’ with superb temperaments and I am thankful to the owners and trainers who have supported us so admirably, “she explained.
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Tight Ship
Pippa runs the Estate and its two core businesses with an iron fist and an air of control and confidence that is refreshing. And it shows in everything from the cordial and impeccable security officer at the front gate right through to the immaculately orderly and clinical winery. She acknowledges the existence of the recession but says that adversity creates opportunities:” The clichéd statement that times are tough holds very true at present. But it is times such as these that test us and it presents a great opportunity to dig deep and invest in what you believe. Economically, more than ever, our buyers are only prepared to buy the best – even on the wine sales side of our business the premium wines sell more readily than entry level wine. It all boils down to buyers being more discerning. We have also always strived to sell a quality product to a quality client and continue to strive to build a solid client base. I also live by the maxim that this game is built on friendships and I work really hard at building long lasting friends who are safe and trusting in the knowledge that they are getting a quality product that has had the best start in life. That principle applies equally to the purchase of a horse as to a good bottle of wine,” she said.
Branding
Avontuur sponsors jockey MJ Byleveld and is now an established sponsor of the Grade 1 Cape Fillies Guineas. Pippa was full of praise for Byleveld and said that he was a great ambassador for the Avontuur brand: “I know people are critical of the real impact and return on jockey sponsorship but MJ makes it his business to keep up to date with the news and developments here and he has just had his best season ever so is a positive, walking, talking advertising board for us. He also promotes the farm at every turn – not only on Tellytrack after riding winners – but whenever he sees an opportunity,” she said proudly. I asked Pippa how the synergy between the horse, fine wine and the sponsorship of a high quality race like the Fillies Guineas had worked for her business.
“I believe that our sponsorship of this race has been a win-win scenario. It has been beneficial to our image as leading breeders of quality horses, but at the same time I feel that our name and brand has also added class and value and underscored the event. I also believe that sponsors are key to the future of horseracing – but unfortunately as a business racing appears to have little idea how to lure, maintain, reward and truly satisfy the sponsor. Racing needs to make it a fantastic and enjoyable occasion and most importantly to ensure that every effort is exerted to make their day a success. I feel horseracing is guilty of signing the sponsor up and then forgetting about them. Perhaps we need to consult other sporting codes and ascertain how they look after and build sponsor relationships. Surely rugby or cricket organizations would be willing to help us? And we should not be afraid to ask as it is truly amazing how helpful people are when one just asks,” she said.
Pippa went on to say that stakes are always a burning issue and ultimately the key to growth and survival and that this aspect could be remedied by addressing sponsor management. She said that it was vital that racing was also run correctly to prove to commerce and industry as well as stakeholders that capable and able people were in control. She said that, more than ever, a strong captain was needed to step up to the podium
Life Goes On
The new Cape Premier Sale in J&B Met week has been a talking point amongst breeders and Pippa said that she was all for innovation and thinking out of the box: “The sale is scheduled for the prime time in the Cape in terms of the weather and plenty of overseas visitors and with some innovative marketing we can all tap into this potentially lucrative market to great advantage. I am not convinced that the timing is as good for the yearlings though as breeders will be under pressure to get the horses prepared. I will obviously support it though as we have to be where the competition is and being right in our backyard, I am going to give it some serious thought as we have wonderful entertainment and marketing facilities here. Ultimately though, the true success of this Sale will only be tested in the results in two years time,” she cautioned.
Avontuur’s wines are as good as their horses and their relatively new winemaker Natalie Nel has settled in well and recently won a four star award in the Wine magazine for the Cabernet Franc and a bronze medal for the Dominion Royale Shiraz. This is a great start to Natalie’s career and bodes well for their wines keeping pace with their horses. The marriage between the horse and wine is a happy one and this theme is underlined by their top of the range black-label wines being named after their top horses. The energetic Pippa smiled broadly as she acknowledged again that the market was ‘tight’ at the moment : “ We don’t let sideshows or problems get us down. Life goes on and things will turn. For now I am determined to maintain our focus on excellence. The experience of a visit to Avontuur will be a memorable one in any climate. It’s fine wine, fast horses and fab food from start to finish,” she declared.
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Bitter Sweet
I was thoroughly disappointed, but hardly surprised, to note that Tellytrack appear to have censored a section of the post-race interview of the Sandy Beach Stakes at the Vaal on Saturday. The connections of the winner of the last leg of the jackpot, the immensely talented Cinnamon Sugar, are known to be passionate racing men who speak their minds and have only the very best interests of the game at heart. Sadly though it is now a well known fact that one is judged in this industry on what faction one supports and not on the extent of one’s loyalty and love of the game.
Tellytrack’s subservience and the hypocrisy and inconsistency is what is really ludicrous to my mind as one only has to watch the post-race interview of the fourth race at Kimberley on Monday, to hear trainer Peter Miller openly criticise commentator Bumpie Schoeman for an earlier commentary. Miller suggested that Schoeman stick to commentating and not passing opinion – and was ‘irritated’ by the commentator’s comments. Bumpie is one of our entertaining race-callers and having him just calling horse names ad nauseam would be boring. I am all for freedom of expression and having one’s say, but then what is good for the goose, is good for the gander. Miller’s criticism was broadcast uncensored on the evening’s replays.
This apartheid style selective gagging by Tellytrack and proliferation of salaried yes-men is just the reason we are in a bigger mess today than we were yesterday. Managers are rewarded for popularity and toeing the party line rather than their ability to manage or make a real difference. The day that one individual in this industry has the backbone to stand up and say, ‘enough is enough’, is the day that things may just start improving. Till ten, don’t hold your breath. And don’t dare say a word….
