A seemingly inconceivable dream spawned on 3 March 2002 when the gelding Splendid Night won a modest Maiden Plate at Hollywoodbets Greyville in Durban took a step closer to reality on Wednesday 23 October 2024 all of 17000km away across the Atlantic Ocean when former South African Champion Sprinter Isivunguvungu was announced as a contender for the $1 million Prevagen Gr1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint to be run on Day 2 of the 2024 Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Del Mar, California.
Watch the replay of the Hollywood Syndicate’s first winner:
The 41st running of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, Thoroughbred racing’s most prestigious two-day global event, with purses and awards totaling more than $34 million, will be held on Friday 1 and Saturday 2 November at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, California for a third time after being hosted at the seaside oval in 2017 and 2021.
‘Future Stars Friday’ features five World Championships races exclusively for 2-year-olds, while a 12-race card featuring nine Breeders’ Cup Championship races makes up the ‘Championships Saturday’ programme, and also SA star Isivunguvungu’s moment to shine on the world stage!
Isivunguvungu in the Hollywood Syndicate silks – an Equus Champion Sprinter carrying our flag on the world stage (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
Led by top U.S. contender Fierceness, Ireland-based City of Troy, and Japan’s Forever Young (JPN) in the $7 million Longines Gr1 Breeders’ Cup Classic, Rebel’s Romance (IRE) in the $5 million Longines Gr1 Breeders’ Cup Turf, and Idiomatic in the $2 million Longines Gr1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff, the Hollywood Syndicate champion flagbearer Isivunguvungu will join fellow SA-bred star Beach Bomb as 212 of the very best Thoroughbreds from around the globe vie for their prized place in turf history in the 2024 Breeders’ Cup World Championships.
The Hollywood Syndicate has flourished out of all proportions in the over two decades since Sean Cormack guided Splendid Night to that humble first victory and the yellow and purple silks now stand on the cusp of a dazzling date with destiny as trainer Graham Motion and his team take on the world’s best with a lightning fast athletic son of past SA champion Sprinter, What A Winter.
Frankie Dettori – one of the great characters of the Breeders’ Cup story (Pic – Supplied)
Horses from a record five continents – Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America – have targeted this year’s Breeders’ Cup event as a record 80 international contenders have been pre-entered.
And there are no false illusions! Frankly, it’s shades of a David vs Goliath battle as the dreamers from Africa take on the world.
Now major players on the South African horsreracing landscape and fast approaching a milestone 600 winners on African soil, the Hollywood Syndicate’s humble roots are in Durban, a rambling holiday city on the East Coast of South Africa, while Isivunguvungu was born at the Everett family’s Narrow Creek Stud in Wolseley, a small town in the upper Breede River Valley region of the Western Cape, and some 90km north east of the sprawling metropolis of Cape Town.
In his Breeders’ Cup profile – see here – it is clear that Isivunguvungu’s magnetism and charisma has already captured some the imagination of local media, with the profile author suggesting his ‘roots are firmly in the United States’.
Western Winter – one of the modern greats in SA breeding
That is because the champion’s sire What a Winter (SAF) is by Western Winter, a son of Gone West.
The late Western Winter, who has made an enormous impact on SA breeding, was placed in four graded stakes races, including a second in the 1997 Gr1 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park, while Isivunguvungu’s dam Miss Tweedy (SAF) is a daughter of Tiger Ridge, in turn a son of the mighty Storm Cat!
Named by Hollywoodbets Brand Ambassador Odwa Ndungane, who will be at Del Mar on the big day, Isivunguvunvungu, whose name means ‘storm’ in isiZulu, was a dual Gr1 winning champion sprinter in South Africa, winning 6 races under the guidance of veteran Zimbabwe-born trainer Peter Muscutt.
Watch Isivunguvungu’s sensational only run on US soil:
Isivunguvungu has been in the care of British-born multiple international Grade 1-winning trainer Graham Motion for over five months and was victorious in his one and only start in the USA when he stormed to victory at Colonial Downs in September, in the process overcoming an arduous 14000km journey across the world and two months of counting the long days in quarantine, to win the 17th renewal of the $150 000 Da Hoss Stakes.
Graham Motion – top class trainer saddles two SA breds (Pic – Supplied)
This won’t be Graham Motion’s first Breeders ‘ Cup ‘rodeo’, after Better Talk Now thrust the professional team into the international spotlight with his win in the 2004 John Deere Breeders’ Cup Turf at Lone Star Park. Graham Motion enjoyed more success at the prestigious event with Shared Account in the Filly & Mare Turf in 2010 and Main Sequence in the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Turf.
He is also a Kentucky Derby and Dubai World Cup winning conditioner, courtesy of the top notch, Animal Kingdom. Graham has celebrated over 2700 victories with purses earned in excess of $150 million.
Puerto Rican-born 29 year old Jockey Manuel ‘Manny’ Franco, who is best known for winning the 2020 Belmont Stakes riding Tiz the Law, was aboard Isivunguvungu for his victory in the Da Hoss Stakes and the talented rider will be looking to add to his over 2100 career victories in what will be a special moment in many countries on that much anticipated Saturday evening.
Isivunguvungu is currently winding up his preparations at Graham Motion’s Herringswell Stables at the Fair Hill Training Centre in Elkton, Maryland and is scheduled to fly to California on Sunday 27 October, just under a week in advance of the big day.
Enjoy following all of the Hollywood Syndicate horses on http://syndicate.hollywoodbets.net
Let’s get behind our champion! Win, lose or draw, enjoy every heartbeat and scintillating stride of the Prevagen Gr1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint which will be broadcast live on GallopTV on Saturday 2 November at 21h41.
Hollywoodbets will be betting on the 2024 Breeders’ Cup from Tuesday 29 October – please visit the site for more.
- Media release by Hollywoodbets on Friday 25 October 2025.
