Breeding racehorses in South Africa is not for the faint-hearted. A tough economic climate, rising input costs and the lack of an export market are just some of the daunting hurdles to overcome.
Hence the launch of new breeding venture Paardeberg Stud is to be lauded and serves as a welcome boost to the local breeding ranks.
Paardeberg Stud – a place of great beauty and peace (Pic – Jeremy Nelson)
Situated 45 minutes from Cape Town near the Paardeberg mountains, the property formerly known as Dudleyvale is currently in the process of being restored by respected breeder Sally Bruss on behalf of British businessmen Steve Ajax and Charles Palmer, who purchased the 200-hectare farm earlier this year.
Sally recalls how she became involved with Steve and Charles.
“I have known Steve for years, he raced in partnership with my late husband Neil and used to stay over at Lammerskraal when he was out here for the Cape summer. When I left Lammerskraal and moved to Tulbagh, he supported me by acquiring some mares.”
“What’s interesting is, that they wanted to invest in the Western Cape, they like the way things are turning around.”
There is no doubt that Sally has embarked on this daunting new venture with a sense of déjà vu, after all, she developed the famed Lammerskraal Stud virtually from scratch as well.
“It’s like Lammerskraal all over again, but I am 35 years older,” she quips.
“Lammerskraal was started from a wheat farm, and while there were paddocks in place, there is nothing here. This used to be a cattle farm with some vineyards. We have to start all over again, there were no paddocks, no water cribs, nothing. There are no stables, no hay barns. Old barb wire fencing had to be removed and every paddock we build we have to lay out water.”
That Sally is literally run off her feet comes as no surprise, for she has to develop both equine and human facilities.
The Paardeberg team tending to their precious champions (Pic – Jeremy Nelson)
“We have to renovate all the labour accommodation, which is completely run down, without running water and electricity.”
On the flip side, there is no shortage of water. “We have scheme water which is pumped to the farm from the Berg River miles away, as well as two boreholes and a stream from the mountains,” she adds.
Another advantage is that Paardeberg is in close proximity to Varsfontein Stud with its powerful line-up of stallions.
Steve and Charles obviously know a winner when they see one, for Sally’s remarkable track record shows that during her tenure as the manager of Lammerskraal, she expertly nurtured the bloodlines of an its enviable broodmare band to yield no less than 20 Gr1 winners, amongst which Horse of the Year recipients Yard-Arm and Celtic Grove and quite a few Equus champions.
In similar vein, the new owners of Paardeberg Stud are aiming to build up a quality broodmare band and have embarked on purchasing well-performed fillies and racemares.
“Over the last year, we have bought a dozen or so and are always on the lookout,” Sally added. “We bought Ripple Effect from Ashley Fortune. She’s now with Glen Kotzen.”
Ripple Effect – now with Glen Kotzen (Pic – JC Photos)
The three-year-old daughter of Erupt was precocious enough to land the first baby race of the 2022 season and subsequently chased home champion Mrs Geriatrix in the Listed Ruffian Stakes before running third in the Gr1 SA Nursery to Lucky Lad.
A number of high-class mares are already roaming Paardeberg’s brand new paddocks, including the stakes winning maiden Red Berry. A ‘nice, big, strong mare’, she is by the Redoute’s Choice horse Redoute’s Promise, from the fabulous Taineberry female line, which Sally knows only too well through her daughter Strawberry Lane.
She earned Lammerskraal an Equus Broodmare of the Year award as the dam of Gr1 winner Solo Traveller and Redberry Lane. Red Berry will visit Erik The Red as her first mate.
Obviously, there are a couple of mares with tangible links to Lammerskraal. Sourced from last year’s reduction sale are Izora and Gail Force, daughters of champion racemare Icy Air.
The former ran second in the Gr3 Umzimkhulu Stakes, is already dam of two multiple winners and has been tested in foal to champion Jet Dark.
Gail Force has an ‘exquisite’ What A Winter filly at foot and will also visit the Drakenstein newcomer.
Paardeberg is also home to the Western Winter sisters La Belle Helene and Nina Katrina, daughters of Majorca victress Trojan Belle, who also produced the ill-fated of Gr2 winner Buran and Gr1-placed Ice Belle to the former Lammerskraal champion.
Booked to visit The United States this season, Nina Katrina has a filly at foot by Malmoos, who in turn is the selected mate for La Belle Helene.
Sally Bruss and her daughter Caitlin Jourdan, with Manager Steven Wasmuth (Pic – Jeremy Nelson)
Sally is more than taken with the first foals by the young Ridgemont stallion, “they are outstanding with great temperaments,” she remarked. No surprise then, that another young mare set for Ridgemont and a liaison with Malmoos is Magic Trick, a Trippi daughter out of the Gr1 winner Little Miss Magic.
Western Winter’s champion son What A Winter has successfully covered Ponal, an Ideal World full sister to the Gr3 winner Cape Speed.
This stakes producer struck with her first foal Pamushana’s Pride, who won the Listed Derby Trial and was runner-up in the Gr1 SA Derby.
Also in foal is the Oratorio mare Mrs O, a Gr2-placed half-sister to stakes winner Simona and a grandaughter of the fine Lammerskraal mare Donya.
“She was the very first mare covered by Rafeef this year,” Sally said of Mrs O, who has a What A Winter yearling filly.
Sally is extremely excited about Paardeberg’s foundation stallion, the English-bred Expert Eye. Purchased from Juddmonte, the Gr1 Breeders Cup Mile winner arrived in mid-October and is currently in quarantine.
“Robin Bruss sourced him from Juddmonte, who sold him purely because they needed space for their newly-retired stallion Chaldean,” Sally remarked.
“He’s a quality, athletic horse with very good conformation. He has two crops to race and is a prolific sire of two-year-olds. His sire Acclamation is a source of sprinter/milers and is also an emerging sire of sires, with the very popular Mehmas and Dark Angel in the UK. He is sire also of Romantic Warrior, who won the Gr1 Cox Plate in Australia on Saturday.”
“This horse offers amazing opportunities for breeders, as South Africa has not been able to import many stallions in recent years. His progeny don’t act in the soft, which makes him ideal for our conditions and as a source of speedy two-year-olds, he deserves to be given every chance to succeed by our fellow breeders.”
Exciting times. For now, it’s heads down though and knowing Sally, her unwavering enthusiasm and meticulous attention to detail will ensure that her partners will be handsomely rewarded in times to come.
