The result of the Gr1 HSH Princess Charlene Empress Club Stakes at Turffontein’ s Royal meeting was a first all round. The winner, former Cape-based Princess Calla not only broke through at the elite level on her Highveld debut, she also provided trainer Ashley Fortune with a maiden Gr1 success.
Flower Alley (photo: hamishNIVENPhotography)
Furthermore, the filly is the first South African Gr1 winner for Wilgerbosdrift-based stallion Flower Alley.
A powerful chestnut of great balance and symmetry, the son of Distorted Humor certainly enjoyed a red-letter day, Princess Calla’s Gr1 success following immediately after the running of the Listed Spook Express Stakes, where Opera Glass become his fifth stakes winner of the season.
That quintet also includes Gr2 Peninsula Handicap winner Firealley and Bold Fortune, who claimed the Gr3 Yellowwood Handicap and narrowly defeated Perfect Witness in a Flower Alley one-two finish to the Gr2 Ipi Tombe Challenge.
Princess Calla (Aldo Domeyer) gives Flower Alley his first Gr1 winner (Pic – JC Photos)
Port Elizabeth-based daughter Santa Therese, a triple stakes winner and successful in this season’s Listed Jockey Club Stakes, incidentally hails from the same female line as Opera Glass, that of the mighty Horse Chestnut.
Princess Calla was previously trained by Adam Marcus, for whom she won the Gr2 Umzimkhulu Stakes and Gr3 Prix du Cap, while placing in a string of Gr1 races, notably the Cape Fillies Guineas, Woolavington 2000 and Garden Province Stakes.
Her female line is exemplary, to say the least. She is the first foal of Gr1 Allan Robertson Championship second Princess Royal, who was trained by Glen Kotzen.
A quirky, if talented, daughter of Captain Al that would invariably play up on her way to the start, but with the assistance of renowned horse whisperer Malan du Toit and the comforting presence of lead pony Ghostly Galleon (a former Cape Nursery winner and 22 years old at the time), she put it all together to win the Gr3 Sceptre Stakes at three.
Glen recalls: “She absolutely had loads of talent and it was only when she got to the course that she played up. Ghostly Galleon took no nonsense from her and the two of them got on like a house on fire.”
Flashback to January 2016 – Glen Kotzen’s Princess Royal wins the Sceptre Stakes
Princess Royal’s second foal, the three-year-old Silvano colt Platinum Sky, finished third in this season’s Gr3 Sea Cottage Stakes. Her juvenile son Power Factor, also by Silvano, was purchased for R2.4 million by the Hong Kong Jockey Club at last year’s National Yearling Sale.
Kotzen also trained Princess Royal’s half-sister, the champion Princess Victoria, a four-time Gr1 winner of the Allan Robertson Championship, Durban Golden Slipper, Avontuur Estate Cape Fillies Guineas and Garden Province Stakes.
Interestingly, both fillies were raced in a partnership which included Georgina Jaffee, a daughter of the late Laurie and Jean Jaffee. True doyens of the South African turf, they had a relationship with this female family stretching back to Princess Calla’s fourth dam Precious Platinum. By the legendary Sir Tristram, she was a half-sister to the Jaffee-raced champions Petrava and her daughter Hoeberg.
Petrava – seen with late Laurie Jaffee won 1985 Gr3 In Full Flight Stakes
Petrava also reserved her place in racing lore as the dam of champion sire Jallad.
Flower Alley’s stakes double once again underscored his impact as a sire of superior fillies – of his seven South African-bred stakes winners, only Firealley and Kenilworth Cup winner Bayberry are males.
This ability to produce a high proportion of good fillies probably comes as no surprise, considering he boasts a particularly strong female line. His fourth dam Dumfries is a daughter of Goofed, which makes her a half-sister to the important stallion Lyphard.
In fact, Flower Alley’s dam Princess Olivia is inbred to Goofed, as her sire Lycius is out of a Lyphard mare.
Flower Alley has eleven yearlings catalogued on this week’s National Sale.
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