Bridget Oppenheimer

Mrs Bridget Oppenheimer is fondly known as the “Queen Mum” of South African racing.  With countless champions to have raced in her and the late Mr Harry Oppenheiner’s black-and-yellow colours, she is truly a giant of the turf.  The peerless Horse Chestnut stands out amongst them all, and Mrs Oppenheimer is particularly passionate about him, but there have been a host of others.  Winning Form was delighted to speak with her ahead of this year’s Vodacom Durban July, a race Mrs Oppenheimer has won six times.    She wasn’t prepared to try and tip the winner, but she had many interesting tales to tell about her experiences in racing and breeding.

Where do you live? Milkwood Estate in Durban.   In Johannesburg, I moved into Blue Skies after Mr Oppenheimer died.

Was your family interested in racing? We had always been interested in breeding and the thoroughbred racehorse.  When the late Mr Harry Oppenheimer returned from the War in North Africa, where he served with the Desert Rats, we put our passion for horses into fruition and started breeding and buying horses.

Your daughter Mary Slack has in her own right become a leading owner and breeder.  Is there any friendly rivalry between the two of you when you have runners in the same race?We are very pleased for each other when each other’s horses win.

Can you tell us about the origins of your Mauritzfontein stud farm? It was a Remount stable during the Anglo-Boer War, so the stables were always there.  But in 1945, Mr Oppenheimer decided to stand as a Member of Parliament and was required to reside in the Constituency, and that is when we moved to Maurizfontein.

Who is the Mauritzfontein stud manage? Gavin Schafer is the stud manager.

How many mares do you keep at Mauritzfontein, and who are the stallions currently standing there? We had Strike Smartly, who died recently.  We had autopsies and so on done, but have never been able to find the cause of death as all the tests came back negative and he showed no signs of heart trouble.  Currently, we stand Ideal World, who is beautifully bred by Kingmambo out of Banks Hill, by Danehill.  His first foals will be born in August this year.  Fort Wood, by Sadler’s Wells,  is still there as well.

This year has not been a good one for us at Mauritzfontein.  We lost four mares, because with all the rain it has been a quagmire.  We’ve had hardly any frost, which results in the grass being tall and all sorts of bugs live in it.  The tall grass leads to more infections than normal, and we need frost to kill off the midges which transmit African Horse Sickness.

Who advises you on the purchase of potential stallions and can you tell us a little about how you came to acquire Fort Wood? Gavin Schafer, the stud manager, advises me and when we went to see Fort Wood in England Gavin loved the horse.  However, the horse had a sore back leg and the young Vet in the UK advised us that Fort Wood would never be able to cover any mares.  However, Gavin but a boot on the leg, which enabled Fort Wood to stand as a stallion – and the rest is history!

You obviously have a great interest in breeding thoroughbreds.  Do you plan all your mares’ matings yourself or is a team effort? It’s a team effort.

The Mauritzfontein stallions aside, who are your favourite current South African sires? My daughter Mary Slack and I send four mares to each other’s stallions each year.

Wilwyn and Free Ride were two of your notable stallions of years gone by.  Can you tell us a little more about them and some of their best progeny? Wilwyn was an American horse who did very well, siring King Willow amongst others.  We also had Janus as well as Free Ride, who were both very successful sires.

Who would you say is the best horse you have bred? Horse Chestnut.  He was exceptional.

You have won the Vodacom Durban July six times.  Could you give us a pen picture of each of those six races?

1959 – Tiger Fish
He was a lovely horse, and he won well.

 

1965 – King Willow
He was a fantastic horse!

1975 – Principal Boy (what were your thoughts while the objection was being decided and did winning the race in that fashion take something away from the experience?) It was a horrid time.  Harry and I sat in the parade ring and the objection took ages, and it was not a very pleasant experience to win the race that way.

1992 – Spanish Galliard
Guy Nicholson and Keith Acutt were in the Rhodesian army together.  Keith was a very good friend of Harry’s and decided they would all get involved with Spanish Galliard.

2004 – Greys Inn
Another fantastic horse.  He is now back in the Cape and is standing at stud.

2007 – Hunting Tower
I feel that  in retrospect that we should never have sold this horse.  He is now back in South Africa, in the Cape.

Do you have a particular favourite amongst your July winners? All of them, none of them stands out.

Tell us about your first Gold Cup winner? That was Pacer in 1977, who dead heated with Don The Stripe.

Horse Chestnut is considered by many to be the best horse ever bred in South Africa.  When did you first realize that he was something out of the ordinary? He was the best horse we’ve ever had, he is absolutely magnificent!  He is now standing at Drakenstein Stud in the Western Cape.

Whose decision was it not to run Horse Chestnut in the July, and do you have any regrets about it? It was a joint decision.  We decided not to run him because we were convinced that he wouldn’t see out the 2200m.  It wasn’t a difficult decision.

Horse Chestnut’s win in the J & B Met arguably stands out as a once-in-a-lifetime performance, especially as three-year-olds rarely win the race.  Can you tell us a little about your emotions before, during, and after that race? It was probably the most emotional experience I’ve had in horse racing when he won the J & B Met.

July winners and Horse Chestnut aside, who would you say were the best horses that you have bred and raced? All my July winners were absolutely exceptional!  Horse Chestnut had his own horse box and refused to travel with any other horses .  One day on the way to Turffontein the horse box broke down and we couldn’t get him into a float with other horses.  Fortunately, a passer-by hitched up the box to his vehicle and got Horse Chestnut to the course in the nick of time.

“Wastage” is an inevitable part of racing.  Have you owned any horses that you feel may have been champions if things had not gone wrong? Ribofilio was a disappointing sire, he simply never lived up to expectations.

In the past you employed the services of private trainers like John Breval and John Gorton.  Can you tell us who your current trainers are? Mike Azzie, Robbie Sage, Craig Eudey, Gavin van Zyl, Charles Laird, Stephen Page.  I also had horses with Basil Marcus before he moved to Singapore.  Basil is not finding it easy over there and has only received disappointing support from owners.

Who decides which horses should go to which trainers? All the trainers are invited to the stud to have a look.  Sometimes they come, sometimes they don’t!  They basically choose which horses they want to work with.

Can you tell us about the origins of your black-and-yellow colours and who chose them? We were looking for bright colours, there is no significance to the colours.  They were available and we were simply looking for something we could see from a long way off.

 

What is it about racing that makes you passionate about the game? Seeing a foal being born and seeing it develop into a champion is what I enjoy.  I have never had a bet in my life, and Harry only very rarely had a bet.  My granddaughter Jessica Slack is very passionate about horses, which I am very happy about.

 

What would your advice be to new people coming into racing as owners or breeders? It all depends what people want out of racing.  It is a fantastic sport, with all its traditions, but if people come in expecting make money overnight they will probably have their expectations dashed.  It is very expensive, you have to come into the game for enjoyment and passion, not expecting to make money.

This is a thorny question, but in your opinion what can be done to raise and/or improve the profile of racing in the public consciousness? Phumelela and Gold Circle are too concerned about making money.  Some of the passion has gone out of the sport.  I understand that there are shareholders to think about, but it has become less about the thoroughbred racehorse and more about making a dollar.

Have you had any bad recent experiences in racing? The going at the postponed Gold Challenge meeting at Clairwood the other Monday was very poor.  They should not have raced, because it probably did the track harm.  There was also an occasion when a rake was left lying on the course, I had two runners that both came back bleeding as a consequence.  This resulted in large Vet bills, which I referred to Gold Circle for payment.

And lastly – in your opinion, what will win the 2011 Vodacom Durban July? Without knowing the draws I cannot pick the winner.