Robin Scott

With a recent winner for Mogok in Hong Kong and a Lifetime Achievement Award at the KZN Breeders Awards, we chat to breeding legend, Robin Scott.

The KZN Breeders Newsletter recently ran a notice that Scott Bros are offering 30 Two Year Olds ready to go into training. Besides progeny of Scott Bros stallions, the draft includes progeny by Kahal, Curved Ball, Kildonan, King Of Kings and King’s Chapel. There is no formal auction, they are all for sale directly off the farm.

The Scott Bros story

The Scott Bros are from Irish stock, with their father hailing from Belfast and their mother also from Northern Ireland. The Scott Bros story has its roots buried in the sands of Isipingo beach, where Robin and boyhood friend George Rowles galloped George’s father’s racehorses across the beach and took part at the local gymkhanas.

At the age of 22, with some financial assistance from his mother, Robin opened the first Scotts shoe store at the bottom of Berea Road in Durban. Brother Des joined in running the retail business which flourished into a national chain comprising 120 shoe and clothing stores, four shoe factories and three clothing factories. Brother Neville was a farmer, who worked for the Oppenheimer’s dairy in White River.

Racetrack success

Robin and Des had a number of horses in training and the distinctive Scott livery of black, white maltese cross, red sleeves and white cap became a firm fixture in winner’s enclosures across the country. “Devon Air was my favourite horse to race,” remembers Robin. “We bought her in the UK, brought her over here and she won three Grade 1 races – the Greyville 1900, the July and the Gold Cup – in three months. The best horses I raced were Jungle Class and Bold West; both were multiple Grade 1 winners trained by Herman Brown.” Another to carry their silks with distinction was Spanish Pool and they had a particularly close and successful association with Terrance Millard, to whom they entrusted the likes of Sunera, Prontisimo and July winning, Devon Air and Ilustrador.

Highdown Stud

It wasn’t long before Robin started acquiring mares, which he kept with John Rowles, George Rowles’ brother. In 1967, the dairy farm across from Ivanhoe came up for sale and the brothers snapped it up, enlisting the help of brother Neville to run it for them. Although they continued the dairy for a while, the lure of breeding soon became too strong, so the cows went and the breeding operation started in earnest. “When Des, Neville and I came into the bloodstock business everyone called themselves by their surnames – Birch Bros, for example,” explains Robin. “I think it’s more significant than saying Highdown Stud.” After travelling extensively to study the best stud farms across the world, the Scott Bros got to work. Neville built all the infrastructure and planted all the trees, and based the stables and farm buildings on the best of what he saw on his travels. “This farm is uniquely built in that everything is central to the stud office,” says Robin proudly. “The workshops, the stallions, the offices and stable blocks are all within easy reach.”

John Slade worked for Scott Bros early in his career. “George Rowles recommended him because he liked the look of John’s foals at the sales. I had a look at the foals, agreed with George and offered him the job. John is responsible for a lot of the trees in our paddocks. He asked if it would be possible to plant trees for shade for the horses – he did quite a lot of the horticulture here. John employed Tim (Bootsma – now succeeding John at Maine Chance), then Tim worked for us for another 10 years,” explains Robin. “Both those chaps now have top jobs and you could recommend them to anyone, anywhere in the world. They’re very good at what they do.”

History

The first stallions to stand at Highdown were Kimberly Kid and the imported Ambiopoise. With a policy of only breeding from high quality mares, the original broodmare band consisted of 30 mares, most of which are still active in the stud book and include the likes of Lenore, purchased from Archie Dell. She produced Leta (grandam of Steiger) and several generations on, The Apache. Also included were Baccarat (grandam of All The Aces), Night Jar (dam of Rise And Rule), Arctic Sweep (dam of High Frequency, Forever Amber; grandam of Goldenflo, great grandam of Foverflo and Flobayou), Rhine Maiden (dam of Pilsener), Elegant Miss (grandam of Chiffon Drive, great grandam of Basic Instinct and Heat of the Moment), Faenza (dam of Finney) and a number of imports including Ofa (dam of Politician) and the dams of La Fabulous, Teal and Ipi Tombe.

While there have been numerous breeding highlights over the years, Politician was an early and obvious standout who came along after only 6 years in business. However, Politician very nearly didn’t happen. It’s a well-worn story, but one that has lost nothing in the re-telling.

“Ofa was purchased from a sale in Kentucky and was the most expensive broodmare to be brought to South Africa at the time. Our great friend Eppie Nelson used to help with our pedigrees and matings and he suggested the mating to Oligarchy. Neville had a fit, because Oligarchy was defunct at the time. He asked why he had to put a mare of Ofa’s calibre to one of the worst stallions in the country! But we did it and got Politician, who won eleven Grade 1 races. We were lucky. You can go a whole lifetime in the breeding industry and never have a champion,” he muses. “Politician only sold for R5,250, which is proof for anyone that buys a cheap horse, that he has a chance as good as anyone else.”

Politician may have put the Scott Bros on the map, but with the help of champions sires Jungle Cove and Foveros among others, there have been many subsequent successes. They were also responsible for breeding Arctic Cove and Jungle Rock and more recent stars Eton Square, Orbison, Meadow Magic, The Apache and recent Gold Cup winner, Wild One.

As the family fortunes have waxed and waned over the years, in 1990 Robin took a decision to sell Highdown, holding a number of dispersal sales, including many of the stud’s top broodmares. He then had a change of heart and sold his Berea home instead, moving to Nottingham Road to take over the running of the farm, where he has been ever since.

Regarding the stock dispersal earlier this year, Robin confirms that that was Des’ stock. “None of us are getting any younger and this sort of thing happens to everyone eventually. Chris Saunders had to sell his farm, our neighbour George Rowles has got out of racing – we’ll all eventually have to do the same if there’s no-one to continue the business. Des sold about 40 mares – we’ve still got 150 on the farm. We’re just going through breeding season now, getting them back in foal, etc. I’m not saying we won’t be dispersing and selling our farm in future, I guess it’s just a matter of seeing how things go at that particular time.”

Good value

Highdown stock is usually value for money. “We do well with Mogok progeny at the sales,” says Robin. He’s popular because he suits the chaps who don’t have the funds to pay for the Western Winters.” Funds or not, Mogok has had more international success than most stallions standing in SA, with Gr1 and Gr2 winners in Dubai and America such as Gypsy’s Warming and The Apache. His Gr1 winning son Orbison, was sent to Dubai, but sadly injury forced his return and he was unraced in the UAE. Meteor Mike is a five time winner in Singapore and Mogok has recently scored in Hong Kong with Monsieur Mogok. “From my point of view, there are very few stallions in the country that are as well bred as Mogok,” offers Robin. “He is by Storm Cat, he’s a half brother to Machiavellian and his third dam is Natalma, the dam of Northern Dancer. As far as I’m concerned, in my lifetime there has never been a better progenitor than Northern Dancer. You can bring all the other stallions like Mr Prospector and the rest, but there’s no-one quite like him. He’s been the greatest influence on the breed in my time. You can imagine that when they sent Mogok’s dam to Storm Cat, the service fee was about $450k no return. That’s how good his sire line is, you know what I mean? And that’s the sort of pedigree he’s got,” he says warmly.

“It was fortuitous that we got Mogok from the Niarchos family on a sale in France. A bloodstock agent who’s a friend of ours phoned my brother and said ‘do you want the best bred stallion in Europe?’ Des said of course he wanted him, but wouldn’t be able to afford him. The agent said he’d never raced and he thought he could get him for a decent price. It doesn’t matter to me if a horse hasn’t raced. I prefer a horse that hasn’t raced with good pedigree, to a horse with a Gr1 win and no pedigree, because the genetics aren’t there to make the success.”

“He’s really done us proud. He’s produced 2 ARCSA award winners, multiple Gr1 winners, his performance overseas has been fantastic. He’s done the job as far as I’m concerned, but he doesn’t get the recognition. I don’t know why, but he doesn’t. As far as we’re concerned, he’s been a great servant to us and still is.”

Stallion roster

Of the rest of the stallion roster, Robin says, “Miesque’s Approval was the best horse to race in his year. He was the best grass horse in America, he won the Breeders’ Cup Mile and he’s an Eclipse winner. He’s done us proud. His progeny run very well on the poly surface and he was the 2nd leading sire last year. He’s very good. He gets winners all the time, but we haven’t had a very big winner from him yet. He’s had Gr2’s and so on, but no big winners. But it’ll come. He’s doing very well.”

“Now we’ve got Crusade, who’s a Middle Park Stakes winner in England, which is their major 2yo race. He’s a Natal Breeders Syndicated horse, and they’re giving him support because they own shares – you always support the company you own shares in. He’s a beautiful looking horse and a lovely stallion. He’s had 100 mares a year for the last few seasons, which augers well and indicates the popularity of the horse. His foals are very nice indeed and I think he’s going to be popular at the sales.”

“Eightfold Path came into the country at the same time and he’s absolutely magnificent. He’s by Giant’s Causeway, the leading sire in the world in terms of stakes winners. His dam won 5 Gr1 races, which is simply unheard of. She won every major race in France including the French Guineas and the French Oaks and we’re so blessed to have this wonderful pedigree. Eightfold Path belongs to a chap in Mainland China who bought him with a view to breeding here and taking horses back to China when racing opens there eventually.”

Renewed optimism

Although the Cape has been the breeding power house for a number of years, there is a definite feeling of renewed optimism and energy in the KZN ranks. Robin concurs. “It’s like a pendulum this breeding game. You do well for a bit and then you don’t and then of course, the thing swings back. KZN has certainly got the stallions to make the process swing back to us and it will. It’s a phenomenon of the business and you’ve just got to wait your turn.”

Anyone interested in the Highdown draft can view them on the KZN Breeders website, or contact Robin directly either by phone on 082 495 4920 or by email at [email protected]