When Time For Love streaked to victory in the Listed Ladies Mile at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on Sunday, the four-year-old added to the ever-growing impact of Australian super sire Redoute’s Choice in this country, given that she is the first South African-bred stakes winner sired by his son Time Thief.
Craig Zackey has Time For Love in charge as My Flower Fate (Corne Orffer) tries hard (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
Redoute’s Choice needs no introduction, his locally based stallion sons Rafeef, Wylie Hall, Redoute’s Promise and Buffalo Bill Cody have all sired black type winners.
Time For Love’s victory is a poignant one, considering it came barely a month after the sad passing of her breeder Hassen Adams, who imported Time Thief in 2015.
At the time of purchase, the horse had spent the first five years of his stud career under the Darley Australia banner, following a seven-start racing career which yielded two victories over 1000 and 1200m, including the Listed Zeditave Stakes. Twice Gr1-placed, he was runner-up in the Caulfield Guineas and also ran third in the Australia Stakes.
A robust individual, as befits one of the Danzig sire line, Time Thief’s female line is well known in this country. He is after all a three-parts brother in blood to Sabine Plattner’s dual champion sprinter Laisserfaire.
A winner of no less than five top level events, this daughter of Danehill twice won the Gr1 SA Fillies Sprint and also showed up her male rivals in the Computaform Sprint and two renewals of the Cape Flying Championship.
The siblings are out of Gr3 winner Procrastinate, whose accomplished stud record consists of six black-type performers, whilst their once-raced half-sister Sybarite became the dam of Justin Snaith-trained Zodiac Ruler, a winner of the Gr2 Golden Horseshoe and runner-up in both the Gr1 Premier’s Champion Stakes and Gr1 Investec Cape Derby.
The family has enjoyed its fair share of success in this country, given that Procrastinate’s half-sister Watercolours produced the Gr1-placed, Gr2 winning stayer Blake, whilst another half-sister Rainscene is the dam of Swallow Stakes victress Nona In Command, who counts the Gr3 winners Pretty Young Thing and Warrior as her first two foals.
Significantly, Dynasty sired Blake, whilst his sons Jackson and Futura feature as the sires of Pretty Young Thing and Warrior respectively.
Time Thief – a son of Redoute’s Choice who has received little support here (Pic – Supplied)
Time For Love finds herself in good company since her sire’s most successful Australian offspring were also fillies.
Pride of place must go to the outstanding speedster In Her Time, who claimed both the Gr1 Black Caviar Lightning Stakes and Gr1 The Galaxy in a stellar nine-win career which earned her the honour of Australia’s Joint Leading Older Sprint Female of 2018.
The multiple stakes winning sprinters Volkoff and In My Time likewise were members of the fairer sex and their pedigrees are quite illuminating, Volkoff’s grandam being by our exported champion Hawaii, whilst In My Time’s fourth dam Luskin Rain is a half-sister to Rainbeam, who of course features as Time Thief’s third dam.
Time For Love comes from a dyed-in-the-wool South African dam line. She is out of the modest two-time winner Teresina, whose previous foals include Gr2 Cape Merchants runner-up Ready Steady Go and Time For Love’s year-older full sister Terra Time, who ran third in the Gr3 Yellowwood Handicap.
An own sister to Gr3-placed Eagle Squadron, Teresina is by champion Jet Master out of the Golden Thatch mare Goodgollymisspolly, a half-sister to that grand galloper Young Rake. A dual winner of the Gr1 Champion Stakes and runner-up in the Gr1 Durban July and Gr1 Cape Derby, he is by Rakeen, as is Jet Master. When mated to Goodgollymisspolly’s half-sister Princess Polly, Jet Master sired Master Plan, winner of the Gr1 Champions Cup. Intriguing stuff.
Sadly, for all his credentials, Time Thief has been under-utilised in this country. In seven seasons, he has sired an average of less than 30 foals per crop, a sad indictment and just another example of a stallion who has fallen through the cracks.
Whilst he sired Gr1 Cape Guineas third Macthief from his first crop, Time For Love is one of 57 live foals from his fourth crop, his biggest, which to date has also yielded last season’s Gr1 Gold Medallion third Oceans Time, Gr3 SA Fillies Nursery second Time For Glor,y and the multiple Gr2-placed speedster Time Fo Orchids, who most recently finished second behind Rafeef’s daughter Mrs Browning in the Gr2 Camellia Stakes.
Now a sprightly 18 years old, Time Thief is still enjoying life at Nadeson Park, as is Time For Love’s dam Teresina, who is currently in foal to Twice Over.
By the way, Time For Love’s victory continues a rich vein of form for Redoute’s Choice, whose champion son The Autumn Sun sired a remarkable trio of Gr1 Classic winners in the space of the last three weeks: Autumn Angel (Australian Oaks), Vibrant Sun (Australasian Oaks) and Coco Sun (South Australian Derby).
