Six-year-old Vikram showed age was no barrier to stakes success when he stormed to his first black type victory in the Gr2 Cape Merchants at Kenilworth on Saturday.
The gelded son of Gimmethegreenlight, who races for Sabine Plattner, defeated a classy field of tip top sprinters which included the Gr1 winning trio of Russet Air, Ambiorix and Russian Rock.
Vikram’s breakthrough at stakes level was also met with delight by former Lammerskraal manager Sally Jourdan, who was attending the November 2YO Sale, where she purchased the R800 000 top-priced lot on behalf of the Hollywood Syndicate.
Plattner Racing assistant Callum Dixon and Shakes Tshbane welcome Vikram (Sandile Mbhele) after the big win on Saturday (Pic- Chase Liebenberg)
“With the sale on, I didn’t even realise he was running, so I’m thrilled to bits,” she remarked.
She has reason to be – as she bred both the newly-minted Gr2 winner and his dam Vermilion while working at Lammerskraal.
Sally owned both Vermilion and her dam, the remarkable broodmare Nacarat. As she recalls: “Nacarat was due to be sold at auction, so I approached Mr Rattray (then owner of Lammerskraal) and bought her for myself. She was a tank of a mare, not very tall at the withers, but deep and roomy, very typical of her sire Pas De Quoi.”
A four-time winner, Nacarat may have lacked the black type of her siblings, the Gr1 winners Set Afire and Rudra and stakes winners, Splendid Red and Aquila Rapax but by golly, she went on to become a veritable blue hen at stud, her progeny making their mark both on the racetrack and in the sales ring.
The magnificent Nacarat
Ten of her eleven runners won, of which seven were black type performers and all but one were sired by the farm’s champion sire Western Winter. Those included the Gr1 winning duo Nania and Red Ray, Gr1-placed Gr2 winner Brutal Force (a R4.5-million yearling), the Gr2 winning sprinter Bishops Bounty, and the Listed stakes winner, Valor Red.
Sally retained their Gr3-placed own sister Vermilion, as well as her stakes winning Go Deputy half-sister Adobe Pink, as well as the dual winner Chambre.
Sired by Rakeen, Chambre has produced eight winners from as many runners to date, amongst which the Western Winter gelding Mr Roy, Gr3-placed winner of seven races.
“He was built like his dam, who is a huge bodied mare,” Sally mused. “He was a seriously good horse but badly needed gelding. He was only gelded at age six, who knows what more he could have achieved had it been done earlier.”
Chambre has been joined at Windy River by her What A Winter daughter Scarlet Chill, “a big, plain mare”. A three-time winner, she is in foal to Soqrat, while mum has a Fire Away colt and will visit The United States.
Adobe Pink, a triple stakes winner over ground, is also a big bodied mare, but a taller version of her dam Nacarat. She has yet to transfer her racetrack brilliance to the broodmare paddocks but as Sally pointed out: “She was unlucky as her first foal died as an unraced two-year-old. The next foal, a What A Winter colt, is a winner. She has been a tricky mare to get in foal, but fortunately now has a Fire Away filly at foot and will next visit Soqrat.”
Then there is Vikram’s dam Vermilion. Trained by Shane Humby, she was runner-up in the Gr3 Prix du Cap and was all set for a Durban winter campaign when she suffered a career-ending suspensory injury.
Retired to stud, she produced three multiple winners to Adobe Pink’s sire Go Deputy before Sally sent her to Gimmethegreenlight in successive years. First time round, the mare gave birth to a filly who raced as Marsala. Highly regarded, she won two of her first three starts and had the distinction of defeating subsequent Guineas winner and Gr1 Woolavington runner-up Fiorella at Hollywoodbets Scottsville.
Vikram pictured just before he became a yearling
Vikram was born twelve months later. “He was a very nice foal, full of substance,” Sally recalls.
Blessed with a fine physique, the then colt sold for the princely sum of R650 000 as a yearling.
Remarkably, the Merchants was Vikram’s first run since he injured a tendon when he won at Kenilworth in February. “I couldn’t believe he was running. You know how tricky a tendon injury can be, but Andre Nel told me afterwards that he was walked in the cold Atlantic, which no doubt did the trick. He’s turned into a monster of a horse!”
Nel trains for Sabine Plattner at her private training establishment on the West Coast.
Sadly, Vermilion died of laminitis shortly after foaling the juvenile Visionaire colt Victor Rail. Sally has retained Vikram’s three-year-old half-sister by Querari, who is currently in training with Candice Bass-Robinson.
Fate dealt Sally another cruel blow however, for Vikram’s Gr2 success came just days after she lost both his Go Deputy half-sister Ventura and her Rafeef colt at foot.
“The foal broke a leg and I think the stress of losing him caused her to colic three days later. We couldn’t save her. She was in foal to Master Of My Fate.”
At least Vikram’s first stakes win provided some solace: “That was great news, I really needed that.”
Breeding racehorses is clearly not for the faint-hearted.
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