Just under a week prior to Charles Dickens’ likely Champions Season debut, Aldo Domeyer and the Drakenstein and Bass-Robinson teams made a clinical start to their 2023 KZN campaign courtesy of the Cape Nursery winner Winter Cloud’s facile victory in Sunday’s R200 000 Gr3 Strelitzia Stakes at Hollywoodbets Scottsville.
After taking a minor bump at the gate from Lady Lacewing, Winter Cloud was relaxed as Hot Pearl cut out the fractions.
Aldo Domeyer gave her the shake up at the 200m and she changed legs.
It was race over as Winter Cloud (6-10) skated clear to win unextended by 2,80 lengths in a time of 63,07 secs and stamp her claims to being a big runner in the Gr1 Allan Robertson Championship in June.
Aldo Domeyer salutes on Winter Cloud (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
A winner of 3 races with a place from 4 starts, Winter Cloud took her stakes earnings to R641 563.
She is one of a string of eight Bass-Robinson big guns in the holiday province for the big season.
Aldo Domeyer said that he felt that the winner would be better suited to the 1200m of the Capital City track, after she changed legs relatively late in the race.
A daughter of Equus Champion What A Winter (Western Winter) who has enjoyed a terrific weekend, she is out of Montelissima, a Montjeu half-sister to Listed Summer Juvenile Stakes winner Arria and Gr2 Senor Santa Stakes third Pivotal Pursuit.
Her second dam Issa is a full-sister to unbeaten Yorkshire Oaks winner Catchascatchcan, dam of Breeders’ Cup Mile winner and former Highlands Stud sire Antonius Pius.
Drakenstein Stud’s four-time Gr1 winning sire What A Winter enjoyed a big day at Turffontein on Saturday with the stallion’s son Isivunguvungu landing the Gr1 Jonsson Workwear Computaform Sprint with his daughter Cold Fact winning the Gr2 World Sports Betting Camellia Stakes on the same day.
What A Winter has now been responsible for the last three winners of the Camellia Stakes with daughters Celestial Love and Winter Smoke victorious in 2021 and 2022 respectively.
A triple Equus Champion, What A Winter is enjoying an excellent and championship chasing season this year thus far, with his flagbearers including not only the mentioned trio Winter Cloud, Isivunguvungu and Cold Fact, but also fellow graded stakes winners Humdinger and Miss Cool.
The champion son of Western Winter is also currently South Africa’s Leading Sire of 2YOs for 2022-2023 by stakes, having already supplied eight juvenile winners thus far.
