The Ridgemont Highlands broodmare band has received a boost with the news that the Brett Crawford-trained dual graded stakes winner Pretty Young Thing has been retired from racing and is set to pursue a maternal career in the power paddocks of the champion Robertson nursery.
The athletic daughter of Dynasty’s multiple Gr1 winner Jackson closes her impressive track resume with five wins, including two graded stakes successes, and six places – including one at Gr1 level – from her seventeen starts.
Anton Marcus steers Pretty Young Thing to a runaway success in the Poinsettia Stakes (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
A filly of genuine heart and class with an electric turn of foot that impressed top judges in champion jockeys Anton Marcus and Greg Cheyne, Pretty Young Thing reached a career high on Cape Derby day in 2020.
On a memorable summer’s day in the shadow of the mountain, she overcame a wide draw and produced a relentless galloping performance to beat her Gr1 Cape Fillies Guineas champion and Ridgemont stablemate Front And Centre by 3,50 lengths in the Gr3 Prix Du Cap.
Coming out four months later, and clearly in need of match practice over a trip short of her 1400m best, Pretty Young Thing showed pace and courage to win the Post Bollywood Gr3 Poinsettia Stakes over 1200m at Hollywoodbets Scottsville.
Craig Kieswetter – ‘exciting times ahead for Pretty Young Thing’
Ridgemont’s Craig Kieswetter said that Pretty Young Thing was Jackson’s best performing daughter to date and ‘ticked all the boxes’.
“She brings racing quality as a dual graded stakes winner and Gr1 placed filly. She also possesses a terrific pedigree, and is a half sister to recent Gr3 Cape Winter Guineas winner, Warrior. Her temperament and character is also exemplary – she is a hardy and tough lady who travelled well and took the demands of racing in her stride. All round, she displayed that competitive spirit and never-say-die temperament that ensures a great fit with the Ridgemont mantra of continually upgrading our broodmare band in order to send the best to the best, to produce the best. We believe Pretty Young Thing holds promise of an exciting future in the paddock,” he concluded.
Pretty Young Thing’s leading Gr1 trainer Brett Crawford, who has trained top fillies of the calibre of exported champion Run Fox Run for the Ridgemont Team, told the Sporting Post that the daughter of Jackson was a filly ‘with a big heart, a will to win, and a great temperament’.
Brett Crawford – ‘she had a will to win’
(Pic- Candiese Lenferna)
“She will indeed be a massive asset to Ridgemont’s broodmare band. I will follow her progress with great interest,” concluded Crawford.
A nominee in the 2019/20 Cape Breeders Champion 3yo Filly category that included SA Horse Of The Year, Summer Pudding, Jackson’s second-crop flyer is out of Nona In Command, a daughter of the deceased breed-shaping sire, Commands.
Also trained by Brett Crawford, Dynasty’s most handsome son Jackson won the Gr1 Investec Cape Derby, Gr1 Daily News 2000 and Gr1 Champions Cup and has the proven track ability and blood to conquer the world, hailing as he does, from the same family as multiple champion sire Smart Strike, and the ill-fated South African champion Soft Falling Rain.
