Since its inception in 1982, the Daily News 2000 has invariably drawn the cream of every classic generation. Contested at Hollywood Greyville, the race boasts an honour roll worthy of its Gr1 status, with many Daily News winners eventually joining our stallions ranks.
Daily News winner Vercingetorix – international campaigner and top notch Maine Chance sire today (Pic – Gold Circle)
The very first running of the 2000m event was won by Prince Florimund, a son of the stoutly-bred Dowdstown Charley.
Trained by David Payne, he put together a three-year-old winter campaign worthy of championship honours, his facile victory in the Daily News 2000 coming after a three-length defeat of Wolf Power the Gr1 SA Guineas. In a rousing finale to the season, he again thumped the famed grey in the Gr1 Clairwood Winter Handicap and was voted Horse of the Year and Champion Three-year-old.
Prince Florimund – first ever Daily News winner (Pic – Supplied)
He added the Gr1 Champion Stakes in his sole outing as a four-year-old, whereafter he was sent to the States and the California stables of the legendary trainer Charlie Whittingham, to be exact. Successful in the Gr3 San Gabriel Handicap at Santa Anita, his finest effort was in defeat when he tested the legendary gelding John Henry in Hollywood Park’s Gr2 American Handicap.
Prince Florimund returned to South Africa for stallion duties, but being out of a mare by stamina influence St Cuthbert, was arguably too stout for this country. He was never a commercial success, notwithstanding the fact that his best runner was the Gr3 winning sprinter Coal. Ironically, he did have the last laugh, as the broodmare sire of one of the greatest gallopers of modern times, the mighty Pocket Power, and of course, his Gr1 winning full sister River Jetez.
A Daily News 2000 winner who did enjoy a fruitful, if all too brief stud career, was the handsome Bush Telegraph, who claimed the race in 1987 for the powerful partnership of Graham Beck and Laurie Jaffee. Bush Telegraph went on to rewrite the record books when he became the first three-year-old in 14 years to win the Gr1 Rothmans July, and in a new record time to boot.
Sadly, his stud career at Highlands lasted just five seasons, his death at age ten robbing the industry of a potentially great stallion, considering he sired Gr1 winners Crimson Waves, Ashtontown, and of course the great London News, who emulated his sire in the 1996 Daily News 2000.
Twice Horse of the Year and Champion Three-year-old, London News followed in his sire’s footsteps by winning the centenary renewal of the Gr1 Rothmans July and he took the Jaffees and trainer Alec Laird on a journey of a lifetime when landing Hong Kong’s prized Gr1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup just nine months later.
Although he never managed to replicate his own brilliance at stud, he proved himself a more than average stallion, siring the Gr2 winner Sambuca, Mercury Chief, Oracle News and Sally Bowles. He also features as the broodmare sire of Gr1 Gold Challenge hero Undercover Agent.
Blue-blooded Dancing Duel claimed the Gr1 SA Guineas/Daily News 2000/Rothmans July treble in 1993 and was widely expected to become a worthy successor to his revered sire Dancing Champ when he retired to stud. Out of Broodmare of the Year Mashka, he was, after all, a full-brother to the seven-time Gr1 winner and dual champion mare Olympic Duel.
He too, never reached the same heights as a stallion, siring just a quartet of stakes winners, the best of which Gr3 winner Dancette, who subsequently became the dam of King’s Cup winner Social Order.
Since the start of the new millennium, 14 Daily News 2000 winners have joined the stallion ranks, of which four became Gr1 sires.
Top honours must go to Dynasty, a fluent two-length winner of the 2003 race for Fieldspring Racing and trainer Dean Kannemeyer.
One of three Horse of the Year recipients sired by the iconic Fort Wood, he has proven himself one of the pre-eminent classic sires of the modern era, to the extent that he was the country’s second leading sire in 2013 and 2014.
Jackson – 2012 Daily News winning son of Dynasty (Pic – Gold Circle)
Like his illustrious father, he too sired three Horse of the Year winners, amongst which the Daily News 2000 winners Irish Flame (2010) and Legislate (2014). The pair were split by Gr1 winning son Jackson, who cruised home in 2012. Add to that runner-up efforts from Run For It (2011) and It’s My Turn (2016), and a third by Horizon (2017), and it would be safe to say that Dynasty has left an indelible mark on the Daily News 2000.
Needless to say, his Daily News 2000 winners all retired to stud and have enjoyed varying degrees of success.
It is no secret that Legislate’s fertility issues account for his paucity of runners, yet he has made an impact with the likes of Hoedspruit (Gr2 Premier Trophy), Airways Law (Gr3 Cup Trial) and Zimbaba (Gr3 Flamboyant Stakes).
Jackson, who retired to birthplace Highlands as a triple Gr1 winner, is proof that notwithstanding impeccable credentials, stallion success is not a given. Despite having had access to the high quality Highlands broodmare band, his returns have been disappointing, the best of his seven stakes winners to date being the Gr1-placed, Gr3 winning filly Pretty Young Thing.
Sadly, the vagaries of horse breeding are best illustrated by subsequent SA Horse Of The Year Irish Flame, who failed to cut the mustard, to the extent that he did not sire a stakes winner.
Elusive Fort – won the Daily News in 2006 and a very successful sire today (Pic – Supplied)
Elusive Fort, who came out tops in a one-three Fort Wood finish in 2006 (future Durban July hero Hunting Tower ran a close-up third), has enjoyed plenty of success as a stallion. Given that he has enjoyed less support than Dynasty, both in term of quantity and quality of mares, he has sired Gr1 winners of the ilk of Durban July winner and 2021 Daily News third Kommetdieding, Siren’s Call, Lauderdale and Out Of Your League.
Silvano’s son Vercingetorix enjoyed a brief, but spectacular campaign on local soil. Unraced at two, he was unbeaten in four starts at three, the highlights of which was his defeat of dual classic winner Capetown Noir, first in the Gr2 KRA Guineas and again in the Daily News 2000. Voted the Equus Champion Three-year-old colt, he went on to win the Gr1 Jebel Hatta in Dubai and also ran third in the Gr1 Audemars Piquet Queen Elizabeth II Cup in Hong.
Returned to South Africa to stand alongside his phenomenal sire at Maine Chance Farms, the imposing bay quickly established himself amongst the country’s elite stallions and ironically, was denied a first General Sires championship in 2021 by none other than his own sire!
To date, he has sired champions Cousin Casey, Mrs Geriatrix and Nebraas, as well as the Gr1 winners Vernichey, Ambiorix, Chansonette, Pomp And Power, Astrix and ill-fated Alesian Chief.
For interest sake, let’s take a brief look at those Daily News 2000 winners who failed to reach similar heights in the breeding shed.
Badger’s Coast won the very first Daily News 2000 of the new millennium and his earlier defeat of dual Durban July winner El Picha in the Gr1 J&B Met, made him a worthy recipient of the Champion Three-year-old title. A Badger Land half-brother to Horse of the Year Surfing Home, he sadly died after covering no more than a handful of mares in his very first season at stud.
Paternal half-brother Badger’s Drift carried all before him a year later by completing the Gr1 SA Classic/SA Derby/Daily News 2000. Out of Broodmare of the Year On The Roof, his female line was that of breed-shaper Blushing Groom, yet he failed to pass on his brilliance in his second career. The sire of just five stakes winners, his claim to fame as a stallion is Ivory Trail, who burst on the scene late to deny the mighty Pocket Power in the 2009 Gr1 Champions Cup at Clairwood, whilst shattering the 35-year-old course record set by Sabre way back in the seventies.
Russian Sage joined Dynasty and ill-fated Rabiya as Fieldspring Racing’s third Daily News 2000 winner in 2008 and was named the Champion Three-year-old of his generation. He retired to the Gary Player Stud but proved a huge disappointment, his sole stakes winner being the Gr2 Drill Hall Stakes winner Perovskia. In fact, he eventually ended up being gelded and became a showjumper.
For fear of sounding churlish, the course of history has probably impacted on the stud careers of both The Apache and Rabada.
A Scott Bros-bred champion and winner of the 2011 Daily News 2000, The Apache will always be remembered for his gut-wrenching defeat in the fabled Gr1 Arlington Million, where he had crossed the line first, only to be disqualified by the stewards.
The son of Mogok returned to stand at his birthplace, but despite his outstanding international race record, he also won at Gr2 level in Dubai and finished second in the Gr1 Dubai Duty Free, he enjoyed no more than limited support from breeders and with the demise of the renowned Nottingham Road stud farm, he has virtually faded into obscurity. To date, he counts the stakes-placed duo of Flashy Apache and Apache Fighter amongst his best runners.
Rabada- 2016 winner under a brilliant tactical ride by Anton Marcus (Pic – Gold Circle)
The jury is still out on Rabada, who prevailed in the 2016 Daily News 2000 under a tactical ride from Anton Marcus. Also a juvenile Gr1 winner of the Premiers Champion Stakes, he received less than 30 mares in his first season at Summerhill Stud and by the time the farm changed hands, had just covered a slightly increased second book of mares. Rabada now stands at Bloomhill Stud near Wartburg, and from those initial two small crops, he has sired stakes-placed Zatara Magic and Ermelo, as well as the talented four-time winner Addabar.
We are yet to see in action the progeny of Surcharge, Hawwaam and Got The Greenlight, the most recent Daily News 2000 winners to enter stud.
Surcharge, who broke through at Gr1 level in the 2018 running, was renamed Yulong Prince and exported to Australia where he tasted further Gr1 glory before his retirement to stud.
Surcharge – raced in Australia as Yulong Prince (Pic – Gold Circle)
His first crop are yearlings, as are those of Hawwaam, who completed a Gr1 hattrick with a stylish victory in the 2019 Daily News 2000. He joined Vercingetorix as Silvano’s second Daily News 2000 winner, with gelded stable companion Safe Passage making it a treble two years later, this at the expense of Pomp And Power, a son of Vercingetorix.
Champion Two and Three-year-old Got The Greenlight counts the 2020 Daily News 2000 amongst an impressive five Gr1 victories and retired to Camargue Stud as the first Gr1 winning son of champion Gimmethegreenlight. Sadly, his maiden covering season was marked by fertility issues and we do hope that his stallion career gathers momentum.
Focusing on Saturday’s nine-strong field, both Gimmethegreenlight and Vercingetorix will be represented by two runners apiece. Current favourite is the former’s Gr1 Cape Derby winner Green With Envy, who recently completed a hat-trick of stakes wins in the Gr2 World Sports Betting Guineas.
Vercingetorix will rely on Hotarubi, runner-up in both the Gr2 Gauteng Guineas and Gr2 Colorado King Stakes, and of unexposed Gr3 Politician Stakes second The Grey King.
Dynasty’s name too, pops up amongst the runners as the damsire of Gr3 Byerley Turk winner Mid Winter Wind.
