Ridgemont Highlands’ Gr1 winning young stallion Rafeef came up with his very first winner when his two-year-old daughter Bella Chica won at Turffontein on Thursday afternoon.
One of just three runners for her sire thus far (all of three having either won or finished in the money thus far), the Ashley Fortune trained Bella Chica got off the mark at the second time of asking when she won Thursday’s All To Come Maiden Juvenile Plate over 1000 metres.
Bella Chica (Gabriel Pieterse) is Rafeef’s first winner (Pic – JC Photos)
Under Gabriel Pieterse, the Klawervlei Stud bred Bella Chica dug down deep to record a short-head win, with the filly having finished a close-up third on her only previous start.
Out of the Captain Al mare War Path, Bella Chica was a R35 000 buy from this year’s Klawervlei Farm Sale.
Her sire Rafeef was a superb racehorse, who won six of ten starts including the 2017 Gr1 Computaform Sprint and Gr2 Hawaii Stakes. In landing the Computaform Sprint, Rafeef (who earned over R1 000 000 during his career) accounted for a pair of Equus Champions in Talktothestars and Carry On Alice, while the bay downed the likes of champions Will Pays, French Navy and Talktothestars when he won the Hawaii Stakes that same year.
The blue blooded Rafeef, a full-brother to Equus Champion and Gr1 SA Nursery winner Mustaaqeem, is one of more than 170 stakes winners sired by multiple champion Australian sire Redoute’s Choice, and he is out of former South African Horse Of The Year National Colour.
