What a weekend it was for Barbara Sanne of Oldlands Stud.
Delighted to have bred the dam of Vodacom Durban July hero Kommetdieding, Barbara again earned bragging rights as the breeder of Zarina, who ran out a surprise winner of the Jonsson Workwear Gr1 Garden Province Stakes thirty five minutes later.
Kommetdieding – July winner (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
Friendless in the betting at 75-1, Zarina flashed a devastating finishing burst to claim the scalps of two exalted rivals, Triple Tiara winner War Of Athena and multiple Gr1-placed Princess Calla.
Sired by Master Of My Fate, Zarina is also the second winner of this prestigious mile with a Zimbabwean background. The 2004 winner Battle Maiden was bred across the Limpopo by Geoff Armitage and trained by the late Neil Bruss. By Goldkeeper, she likewise prevailed in dramatic fashion by defeating none other than future Horse of the Year Ilha Da Vitoria in a photo finish.
Zarina is out of the Zimbabwean bred Mamalushka, and was raced by Barbara in partnership with the late trainer Ernie Anderson. Not the biggest of individuals, she scored her sole win as a five-year-old at Turffontein over 1160m.
Zarina pips Princess Calla & War Of Athena in the Garden Province (Pic- Candiese Lenferna)
Mamalushka’s pedigree is the epitome of international breeding. Bred in Zimbabwe, she was sired by American blue-blood Kitalpha out of Breezing On, who was by English import Hallgate out of a mare sired by a South African-bred son of King’s Stand winner Drum Beat.
Her sire Kitalpha was arguably one of the best-bred horses to stand in Zimbabwe. A son of Mr. Prospector and the legendary Miesque, this unraced own brother to champion racehorse and successful stallion Kingmambo enjoyed great success at stud where he topped the 2009 sires list and sired four champions including Horse of the Year Rebecca’s Fleet.
Kitalpha
He spent six seasons in Zimbabwe before his repatriation to the States where he stood in Kentucky until his death in 2012 at age 13. Interestingly, he is also the broodmare sire of last season’s Zimbabwean Triple crown winner Lily Blue. Successful in all of the Zimbabwe Guineas, Derby and Oaks, the daughter of Black Minnaloushe has twice scored on the Highveld this season.
Mamalushka’s dam Breezing On, a stakes-placed juvenile winner over the minimum trip, was very much her father’s daughter, the tip top sprinter Hallgate.
He counted Ascot’s Cornwallis Stakes amongst seven juvenile wins (he also lost one race in the boardroom) before adding the Diadem Stakes at three and the Palace House Stakes at four.
He probably ran his best races in defeat, when beaten a neck by Green Desert in the Vernons Sprint Cup at Haydock and also finished third in a tight, three-way finish to the Gr1 Prix de l’Abbaye at Longchamp.
Breezing On was out of the prolific broodmare Gold Leaf, whose eight winners from 13 foals also included the fine sprinter Tobacco Trail and Bohemian Star, the dam of Guineas winner Bohemian Arch and stakes-placed Bohemian Flyer and None Better.
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A daughter of the stakes winning Drum Beat horse Cover Note, Gold Leaf too, had flashed her precocity as a juvenile by winning the Nursery.
Her dam was the modest one-time winner Gold Laurel, by Aureole’s disappointing son Laureate.
Whatever talent Gold Laurel lacked on the racetrack, she certainly made up for as a broodmare and counted the stakes winners Gold Villan, Gold Crown, Gold Leaf and Gold Gremlin amongst her five foals.
This formidable quartet dominated Zimbabwean racing in the eighties and earned their dam a Broodmare of the Year award. Furthermore, daughter Gold Gremlin became the dam of Zimbabwe’s 1999 Horse of the Year Goldie.
Zarina’s Gr1 victory in the Garden Province has revived a family which has gone rather quiet in recent times and underlines once again that while excellence in a pedigree may lie dormant, it has an uncanny knack of resurfacing.
Barbara reports that Mamalushka has a yearling colt by Quasillo, a weanling colt by Potala Palace, and is once again in foal to Zarina’s sire Master Of My Fate.
Remarkably, she is now one of a duo of brand new Gr1 producers amongst the Oldlands broodmare band as Kommetdieding’s dam Adorable is also back at the stud.
Offered online last year, Barbara was quick to snap up the daughter of Captain Al for a bargain R8000.
The mare dropped a Gold Standard colt in November and is safely in foal after visiting the July winner’s sire Elusive Fort.
