Dynasty – 7 winners in 7 days
Captain Al – leading stallion
DYNASTY
Dynasty added another stakes winner to his list of achievements and also notched up his 7th winner in 7 days. The stakes winner is owned and bred by Roy and Gladys Meaker. Ice Diamond won the Sledgehammer (L) over 1800m by a length. He has won 4 and been placed 3 times from 11 starts.
Ice Diamond (Dynasty) wins the Sledgehammer (L)
Dynasty’s other winners included Amber Palace, a smart looking 2yo that we own in partnership with Jack Mitchell and Etienne Braun. Trained by the Snaiths and won this 2nd start impressively by 3.5 lengths. Veteran champion jockey Felix Coetzee told Tellytrack after the race that he declined an invitation to return to Hong Kong as he wanted to be part of this colt’s future.
Amber Palace (Dynasty) wins by 3.5 lengths
Amber Palace (Dynasty) wins by 3.5 lengths
Dynasty’s winners last week ranged from 1200m to 2400m. Glen Kotzen told me after Paddy O’Reilly’s 2400m win that he was aiming the horse at the Gr1 Gold Cup.
It was with great sadness that we learnt of the passing of Dynasty’s grandsire Saddler’s Wells. He was undoubtedly the most influential stallion in the world for the past 20 years or more and at the ripe old age of 30 he is reported to have died of a heart attack. Sarah Whitelaw has published a fitting tribute to him on the ARO website and we need add no more to that other than to say that we are very fortunate to have his top performing grandson Dynasty in our portfolio.
STALLION UPDATES
Captain Al is the leading sire in SA. The stallions in our portfolio had an exciting weekend at the valuable feature day at Turffontein on Saturday. Captain’s Wild, Charlie Kosters talented son of Captain Al, was narrowly defeated in the R2m Gr1 Champions Challenge. The irony in the result of this race is that the measure of a horses head could be worth R1.25m at the finishing post and equally ironic is that this smart son of Captain Al was defeated by a son of his grandsire Al Mufti who ran 4.5 lengths behind him in his penultimate start, the Gr2 Colorado King Stakes. We recently observed that Al Mufti is having one of his finest seasons. The first prize in this event pushed Al Mufti’s earnings to over R5m and catapulted him into the top 5. Captain’s Wild was bred by Klawervlei for whom a win in this event would have boosted that studs season earnings to within striking distance of the top of the Breeders log.
The second prize of R400 000 hoisted Captain Al to the top of the general sires log for the 2nd time this season and we pray that he will maintain that position until the end of the season to earn the sire championship that he so justly deserves. There can be little doubt that Captain’s Wild will be a big contender in the big races (hopefully even the Durban July) this season.
It was a great delight for us to see Goldkeeper’s daughter Give Me Five win the Gr2 Camellia Stake. Already winner of the Gr1 Allan Roberts Fillies Championships, like so many winners of that juvenile event, she went off the boil. Just a month ago she gave notice that she was returning to form in the Gr3 Sycamore Sprint with a 2 length victory over the same distance and then she easily accounted for the Gr2 field last Saturday by 2.25 lengths. Her dam Dance Celebre (Jallad) won 3 races. Our confidence in daughters of Jallad making the grade at stud prompted us to buy her at the Estate Late Laurie Jaffee dispersal sale. The mare is in foal to Dynasty this year. Qui Danzig produced the runner up and Team Valour’s Captain Al filly Sting Operation took 4th place in this Gr2 event.
We expected the R1mil Computaform Sprint to be a contest between Mike Bass’s star sprinter What A Winter and the Highveldt flying machine Magico (Dupont). What A Winter missed the break and Magico was beaten for early speed and then was unable to catch the pace maker and had to settle for 4th place.
Count Dubois took 2nd prize in the Gr2 SA Fillies Nursery with Upfront for the Barend Botes stable
