The Khaya Stables Gr2 Diadem Stakes has the honour of being the oldest weight-for-age sprint in South Africa.
Run under different guises over the years, the sprint started out as the Diadem WFA Plate, was run as the Southern Cross Stakes in 1971 and 1972 and then reverted to the Diadem Stakes from 1974 onwards.
What Winter storms to victory under Bernard Fayd’herbe in the Diadem in 2012 (Pic – Hamish Niven Photography)
It may only carry Gr2 status, yet it has been won by some of the country’s top sprinters. Remarkably, the very first winner was a filly, the top-class sprinter Tetrina, who landed the 1957 inaugural running by a half length, defeating Black Pirate.
Tetrina became an influential broodmare and produced no less than four stakes winners, headed by Cape Derby hero Arion and Sceptre Stakes victress Tarma.
Black Pirate again had to settle for second twelve months later when Tetrina’s own brother Royal Affair sauntered home by seven lengths, despite losing four lengths at the jump.
Twelve months later, Black Pirate finally got his moment in the sun, before making it two in a row the following year. He was no one-dimensional sprinter either, as he finished second in both the Queen’s Plate and Met.
As for Royal Affair, this brilliant, if unsound sprinter, won the 1959 Queens Plate, despite breaking down inside the final furlong. He became a sire of note, with his son Lancaster emulating his sire in the 1974 Diadem.
The grey flyer Lords, winner of the 1972 race under top British rider Willie Carson, was another to excel at stud, siring champions Phantom Earl, Extra Cover and Scarlet Lady. Diadem winners of a recent vintage who added great value at stud include the mighty Captain Al and What A Winter. Captain Al won in 2000 and is the sire of two subsequent winners in Captain Of All (2014) and Kasimir (2019 and 2020). His influence now stretches to the next generation, as Captain of All is the sire of this year’s contender Meu Capitano.
Top sire What A Winter posted back-to-back Diadem wins in 2011 and again in 2012 and has yet to emulate Captain Al, although he came close in 2021, when daughter Hello Winter Hello ran second.
What A Winter is in fact one of a number of exceptional sprinters to have claimed the Diadem more than once, pride of place going to the wonderful geldings Flobayou and Nhlavini, both of whom won the 1200m dash on three occasions.
Karl Neisius guides champion Flobayou to victory in the 1995 Diadem (Pic – Supplied)
The former beat fellow champion sprinter Taban in 1994, repeated in 1995 and after finishing fourth in 1996, bounced back for a third win in 1997.
Nhlavini triumphed in 2001 and again in 2002, finished second in 2004, before exacting revenge in 2005 as a seven-year-old veteran.
It is not just pure sprinters who have made the Diadem their own, some of the best classic horses have used the race as their seasonal pipe-opener and the results reflect that the Kenilworth 1200 is a worthy test of a true champion.
Classic horses to have stamped their authority on the sprint include Durban July winner Over The Air, who came with a late rattle to beat the exceptional filly Sweet Chestnut in 1979. Another grand filly, the Queen’s Plate victress Wainui, taught Met winner Mark Anthony a galloping lesson when she won the 1989 Diadem by almost five lengths.
And then there is the outstanding Irish import Flaming Rock. The mark of a true champion is the ability to both sprint and stay, and none showed this rare ability as did this dual Horse of the Year. Successful in both the Rothmans July and Queens Plate, the Chris Snaith-trained champion put pure sprinters in their place not once, but twice, claiming the Diadem in 1991 and again in 1992.
Members of the fairer sex likewise, have etched their name on the honour roll. The Scott Bros homebred Leta became the second female winner when she defeated subsequent dual Queen’s Plate winner Chichester in 1969. Seventeen years later in 1986, Politician’s speedy daughter Izindaba beat a crack field, followed three years later by Wainui.
In 2013, Mike de Kock and Kevin Shea brought Mary Slack’s Welwitschia to the Cape, and she defeated Cape Derby winner Jackson by a length and a quarter. She subsequently became the dam of dual Gr 1 winner Desert Miracle.
The last filly to win the Diadem was Lanner Falcon in 2015. In fact, the race proved a one-two for the fairer sex, as she defeated Fly By Night, who would subsequently claim the Gr 1 Mercury Sprint.
Des and Neville Scott lead in 1969 Diadem winner, Leta (Pic – Supplied)
The Khaya Stables Diadem has been won by champions, from champions, providing spectacle, fame and folklore. Besides which, its rich history and lasting impact on our tracks and stud book cannot be overstated.
Faull On The Fall
In a move condemned as a disgrace by racing expert Charles Faull, 2015 saw the Diadem subverted to WFA plus penalties, with the victory going the way of the Mike Bass-trained Lanner Falcon (Grant van Niekerk), over Fly By Night, Gulf Storm and King Of Pain. “This was a very important race. It’s a disgrace that a race with such a great heritage and importance to South African sprinting history has been reduced to a conditions event.”
The following year, the race was inched even further forward in the calendar, being run in mid-January 2017 and went the way of Trip To Heaven (Sean Tarry / S’manga Khumalo), who characteristically got left at the gates and came flying to win by 3,5 lengths from the always game, Tevez.
In 2018, the race was won for the first time by Justin Snaith, with his Lammerskraal-bred Bishop’s Bounty and the in-form Grant van Niekerk, by two lengths from the evergreen Tevez.
2019 saw the race moved right back to its current slot at the end of February, to share the billing with the Vasco Prix du Cap.
Charles adds in closing: “The Diadem has been won by champions, from champions, providing spectacle, fame and folklore. Its rich history and lasting legacy on our tracks, stud and history books, cannot be overstated.”
