Bennie Marais
There was appreciative applause around the sale ring when Mike de Kock went to R3,4 million for Klipdrif’s Jet Master colt, Master’s Spirit last year.
A limited edition member from Jet Master’s last crop, this colt was not only an impressive physical specimen – he came with an intriguing story too. The day after Jet Master’s funeral, the Klipdrif staff were doing some routine work with the colt’s dam in the crush. Master’s Spirit broke free and ran off, only to be found standing quietly at his sire’s grave.
No sooner had they rounded him up and returned him to his mother, than he broke away and made a beeline for the grave for a second time. Shane van Zyl said it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. It seems that Jet Master’s spirit is still very much in evidence on the farm that he made his home.
Bennie Marais is quiet, considered man at the helm of Klipdrif Stud. The son of a wine farmer didn’t grow up in a racing environment or with any racing connections, but he had a natural affinity for horses and was a keen American Saddler show rider. After school and national service, most of which Bennie spent doing farrier work, Bennie found work with Dr Tommy Foulkes, gaining experience and learning the hard way by foaling down mares in the breeding season.
Dr Foulkes and neighbour Duncan Barrie may have provided the initial encourage-ment for starting a boarding farm, the credit for the hard work that went into building their facilities and their reputation are all Bennie’s. When he inherited 45ha of farmland right across the road from the farm he’d grown up on, Bennie took the plunge and set up shop. The farm lacked horse facilities as it had previously been used for dairy cattle and sheep, but Bennie slowly and meticulously developed the buildings and paddocks into the enviable facilities that they are today.
Thanks to a recommen-dation from Foulkes, the Birch Brothers were one of his first big clients and Klipdrif opened with 10 boarders in their first year. But the clients, and the horses, kept coming and Klipdrif is now arguably one of the best boarding facilities in the country with smart, well-constructed buildings, neat post and rail fencing and immaculately cut lawns. Shane van Zyl is the stud manager and all staff live on the property.
The attention to detail and the results are perhaps down to the fact that uniquely, Klipdrif is purely a boarding facility and there are no private mares, so all the farm’s efforts are channelled itno their clients’ horses. They take seasonal as well as permanent boarding mares and also take on sales prep projects for outside clients when required.
“The core of the operation is the permanent boarders and we have clients from all over the country. Some are large, some small, but every single one counts. The biggest thing in boarding is the huge outlay on feed, labour and so on, and as the profit margin is small, one cannot do it without having good clients. We are very fortunate in this regard.”
Apart from the foaling, mare management and sales prep, Bennie and his team also offer advice on matings when required. “With us it works as follows. If people ask us for advice, we do. But some prefer to do their own thing, so it depends. In choosing a mating, our advice is strongly influenced by conformation because one has to have the right conformation at sales. Not that we get it all right of course, but we try!”
Because mare owners are always credited as breeders, boarding studs earn recognition very gradually because they receive little publicity for the winners they rear, however some standouts that have been raised the Klipdrif way include JJ The Jet Plane, Ebony Flyer, Captain’s Lover, Captain’s Secret, Silver Flyer, Jet Legend and Love Is In The Air.
The farm also stands stallions and previous residents have included Beldale Lustre, Swift Call and Noble Thatch, but the arrival of Jet Master just before his 3rd covering season in August 2003 ensured their place on the map. “The chances of a boarding stud being offered a stallion of his ability are not that great and I thought it was a great opportunity when we were approached to stand him,” Bennie recalls. “Also I liked what I had seen of his foals and he came to us before his third covering season.” Jet Master spent the rest of his life at Klipdrif and his death in November 2011 was a massive blow.
However, there is little time for resting on your laurels in the horse business and Klipdrif stood Soar With Eagles for the 2012 season. Soar With Eagles is a son of Kingmambo and a full brother to Archipenko and his first South African foals will be available in 2015. Klipdrif recently received a second stallion in Elusive Fort, whose first crop are just hitting our tracks and at the time of going to print, he has had 3 runners and 2 winners.
Klipdrif consigns an impressive 29 yearlings, making it hard to make a short list, but highlights include a Judpot colt out of a stakes placed mare from the Young Polly family (#10), a half-brother to Ebony Flyer and Captain’s Lover by Western Winter (#92), a half-sister to Lizarre by Captain Al (#398), a Trippi filly out of a full-sister to the dam of Lizarre (#252), a Western Winter colt out of Zim Champion filly and member of the Party Time family, First Arrival (#296) and Horse Chestnut colt out of another representative of the Party Time family (#413).
