A half hour after a disappointing effort by their flagbearer Charles Dickens, the Drakenstein Stud team celebrated a Grade 1 exacta and a maiden breeding success in the R1 250 000 WSB Cape Fillies Guineas, courtesy of the royally-bred pocket rocket, Beach Bomb.
Aldo Domeyer drives Beach Bomb up to nab JP van der Merwe and Silver Sanctuary in the shadow of the post (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
It was a super Saturday of celebrations, after the blue and white team celebrated a victory earlier in the day by Serasana in the Gr2 Neds Sandown Guineas at Caulfield in Australia. The daughter of Snitzel is raced in partnership with Mike de Kock, Kia Ora Stud and Larry Nestadt.
After partnering with the late Jack Mitchell in the 2017 Cape Fillies Guineas winner Snowdance, their first breeding success in the prestigious classic made it a classic day of some proportions for the Drakenstein team.
A typically top notch field of the best of the fairer sex sophomores lined up to face the starter, with disappointment for the connections of the smart Red Palace, who was withdrawn after playing ducks and drakes with the starter’s commitment to get our races off on time.
Rascova led stablemate Royals and the fancied Double Grand Slam into the home run, but none had any answers for the feisty Beach Bomb who flew late under Aldo Domeyer to nab Silver Sanctuary in the shadow of the post to win going away.
A daughter of the much-loved Dynasty five-time Gr1 winner Beach Beauty, the diminutive Beach Bomb produced a scintillating turn of foot to beat De Kock raider Silver Sanctuary (8-1) by a neck in a time of 98,63 secs.
Western Cape Fillies Championship heroine Rascova (8-1) was not disgraced in third after showing a lot of pace all the way.
Crowned KZN Breeders Horse Of The Year on Friday evening, Mrs Geriatrix (9-4) made up buckets of ground from into the home straight to finish a top-class fourth.
A first Gr1 winner for the deceased War Front stallion Lancaster Bomber, Beach Bomb has won 3 of her 5 starts for stakes of R969 493.
Beach Bomb looks set for a great season and, while she has some way to go to be anywhere near as good as her Mom, she is showing great promise.
Trained by Dennis Drier, the charismatic Beach Beauty won 17 races during her illustrious career, winning from 1000-2000m.
A delighted Kevin Sommerville congratulates Aldo Domeyer (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
Her 12 graded wins including five Gr1 scores –two wins in the Gr1 Garden Province Stakes and Gr1 Paddock Stakes, and a triumph in the Gr1 Majorca Stakes.
She was also runner up twice in the Gr1 Rising Sun Gold Challenge, and third in the Gr1 J &B Met, when taking on the best males of her generation.
Beach Beauty, who earned over R5,3 million during her career, accounted for some of the best horses of her generation, including the likes of Along Came Polly, Capetown Noir, In The Fast Lane, and Yorker, as well as notable G1 winners like Buy And Sell, Jackson, Pomodoro, and Top Seller.
