Contested at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth over 1800m, the Cartier Gr1 Cape Paddock Stakes for fillies and mares is the one race which every breeder wants to win; it not only establishes the excellence of the winner’s female line, but it also lays the foundation for the future.
History shows that its honour roll of winners is studded with some pretty influential mares, many of whom have had a profound impact on the Stud Book.
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Those that resonate include Majorca, Renounce, Party Time, Tecla Bluff, Petrava, Kiss Of Peace and Olympic Duel to mention but a few.
This year’s renewal, which will again be sponsored by famed jewellers Cartier, is made up of a field of seven runners, one of the smallest in years. Yet what it lacks in numbers, it definitely makes up for in sheer quality.
The main protagonists are likely to be favourite Princess Calla and three-year-old Beach Bomb.
Remarkably, both have strong connections to the Paddock Stakes.
Reigning Horse of the Year Princess Calla hails from a family which already boasts two previous winners.
Princess Calla’s fourth dam Precious Platinum is a half-sister to champion and 1985 winner Petrava, who raced with such distinction for Laurie and Jean Jaffee.
Trained by David Payne, this New Zealand-bred was voted the country’s champion three-year-old filly following wins in the Gr1 SA Fillies Guineas, Gr1 Stuttafords Fillies Guineas and of course the Paddock Stakes.
Petrava – related to Saturday’s fancied galloper Princess Calla (Pic – Supplied)
Petrava also reserved her place in racing lore as the dam of champion sire Jallad, whilst her New Zealand-bred daughter Hoeberg won the Paddock Stakes eleven years after her dam.
Named after the Jaffee-owned residence in St James, she proved to be very much her mother’s daughter. In fact, one could argue that she was superior to her dam on the track.
Successful in the Gr3 Strelitzia at two, she proved nigh invincible at three, winning the Gr2 Golden Slipper, the Gr1 Cape Fillies Guineas, the Paddock Stakes, Gr1 SA Fillies Guineas and the Gr1 Woolavington Stakes.
It came as no surprise that she emulated her dam as the country’s champion three-year-old filly of 2001. Subsequently campaigned overseas, she won Singapore’s Gr3 Chairman’s Trophy and placed third in Dubai’s Duty Free.
At stud, Hoeberg produced just one foal, an American-bred filly who ran three times and eventually ended up in Saudi Arabia, where she made little impact as a broodmare.
Luckily, Princess Calla has continued the excellence of this fine female line in recent years.
Her dam Princess Royal won the Gr2 Sceptre Stakes and is a half-sister to champion juvenile filly Princess Victoria, a dual Gr1 winner of the Allan Robertson and Golden Slipper at two, who added to that the Gr1 Cape Fillies Guineas and Gr1 Garden Province Stakes at three.
The siblings are out of Platinum Princess, whose half-brother Cup Of Grace won the Gr3 Thaba’Nchu Sun Casino Stakes and finished third in the Gr1 Summer Cup, whilst half-sister Kitco produced the Gr1 Golden Horse Medallion runner-up Pray For Rain.
The Drakenstein and Bass Team lead Beach Bomb in after her WSB Gr1 Cape Fillies Guineas victory (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
Recent Gr1 Cape Fillies Guineas winner Beach Bomb has an even more tangible link to the race as her dam is none other than champion Beach Beauty, who has the distinction of being one of just seven dual Paddock Stakes winners.
Runner-up as a four-year-old when beaten by a lack of pace, the daughter of Dynasty set the record straight at five when she crossed the line almost four lengths clear of her field.
And while many of her contemporaries were already nursing their first or even second foal, Beach Beauty showed she hadn’t lost a step at age six to become the first back-to-back winner since Olympic Duel twenty-two years before her.
To say that Beach Beauty has proven her mettle as a star broodmare for Drakenstein Stud would be an understatement.
To date, she boasts a 100% strike rate with her first five foals, four of which are stakes performers.
Beach Beauty – dam of Beach Bomb – wins the 2014 Cape Fillies Guineas (Pic – Equine Edge)
In addition to Beach Bomb she has produced Gr2 World Sports Betting Guineas winner Wild Coast, Gr2 Western Cape Fillies Championship victress Amanzimtoti and the multiple Gr3-placed stayer Rex Union.
Should Beach Bomb prove up to the task on Saturday, she will add yet another chapter to this important race’s rich history as only the second Paddock winner produced by a former winner.
