On Friday we celebrate Heritage Day.
While there may be disagreements about the way it’s been interpreted, the general principle that will probably be agreed by everyone is that the day recognises how our nation reached this point, specifically from the perspective of our cultural diversity.
Oscar Foulkes writes:
To borrow generally from this principle, it gives cause for me to reflect on the 50 years since the founding of Normandy Stud, especially because the bulk of our broodmares descend from foundation mares purchased in the early years.
There are additional layers of pertinence, because my sister and I have been sorting through our father’s papers since his passing in January.
In amongst very old documents that could have been trashed 20 years ago, was his matings book, which allows for an absorbing canter down memory lane.
The 1978 season saw the coverings that would produce Fillies Guineas winner In Camera, Smirnoff Plate (now Gold Medallion) winner Entourage and SA Derby winner Agitator.
In Camera’s winning debut on a wintry afternoon at Kenilworth, when ridden by Garth Puller, was also my first day on a racecourse, dressed up in jacket and tie to look as if I was old enough to legally attend a race meeting, even though I was just 15 years old.
1979 was the season that resulted in multiple graded stakes-winner Expertise.
A total of just 44 coverings across these two seasons resulted in four top horses.
The list of stallions in the inside cover covered the entire period for which the book was in use. So, there are deletions and additions. Strikingly, very little use was made of the leading sires of the era.
One has to believe that the broodmares made an outsized contribution to the stud’s success. And, while some of the families’ success dwindled, the majority of Normandy’s best horses in recent decades trace to the best mares of the 70s.
It’s incomplete to consider the heritage behind Normandy Stud without looking at the paths that led my parents to starting their own breeding operation.
Born in Beaufort West, Tommy Foulkes was introduced to breeding by Ralph Koster, who employed him at Klawervlei and later supported his veterinary studies at Onderstepoort.
I grew up with stories of the Kosters, the Girds, and a reverence for Karoo breeding, which led the industry for a long time.
The Karoo connection must have played in big part in my parents’ acquisition of several important mares from Alex Robertson.
Interestingly, almost all our Grade One winners are from female lines that trace to daughters of his great stallion Abadan.
After my parents’ divorce, my father was no longer involved in the stud, but the mares he was instrumental in purchasing, as well as the stud management and veterinary knowledge he imparted, were essential foundations for future success. This is heritage for which I’m extremely grateful.
Oscar and Veronica Foulkes (photo: Wayne Marks)
Veronica Foulkes, née de Wet, is Ashton born and bred. Her family had been breeding Thoroughbreds in the valley since the early 1870s, at Zandvliet, Prospect and Excelsior Studs. It’s interesting, but largely coincidental, that seven consecutive Queen’s Plate winners were ‘de Wet’ products.
Pocket Power was bred by her cousin Dan de Wet.
The brilliant Normandy-bred Winter Solstice
His four Queen’s Plate victories were bookended by Normandy-bred Winter Solstice (twice) and Mother Russia. These are just a few of the highlights of her solo operation of Normandy Stud.
Her own broodmare purchases have been no less prescient. In the mid-80s she purchased the grandam of Cape Derby winner Grande Jete, followed in the late 90s by the grandams of Grade I winning sprinters Sergeant Hardy and Rio Querari.
Isaac Newton said: “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
To the giants who have come before me, thank you!
