Robertson-based breeding operation Ridgemont head into the forthcoming breeding season with the ‘magnificent seven’, their most diverse and exciting stallion attack in the seven winters since the Kieswetter family acquired the historic champion nursery.
Ridgemont – place of beauty, home of champions (Pic – Supplied)
“We are delighted with the line up of stallions we have assembled for the upcoming breeding season and are excited to be able to offer exciting options for mare owners,” Craig Carey told the Sporting Post.
The 2023/24 season just past saw Ridgemont achieve their best new generation results to date and a national top five finish on the SA Champion Breeder log, with near R16 million in stakes earned. The Robertson team also achieved the leading national win percentage strike rate of the top echelon of breeders.
The 2023/24 SA racing season reached a sensational high for Ridgemont when they celebrated breeding the first two home in the prestigious Ridgemont Gr1 Garden Province Stakes on Hollywoodbets Durban July Day.
Ridgemont bred 1-2! Dynasty daughter Happy Chance (yellow silks) chases Humdinger in the Ridgemont Gr1 Garden Province Stakes on 6 July (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
Sponsored for the third consecutive year by Ridgemont, the Gr1 Garden Province Stakes ranks amongst the most important weight-for-age races for fillies and mares in South Africa, and produced a career peak success for the Mike de Kock-trained Humdinger who is out of the Fort Wood mare Himalayan Hill, while the year younger multiple Gr1 placed Happy Chance, a soldier in the Brett Crawford yard, is out of Captain Al’s daughter Three Blue Cranes.
Ridgemont’s Craig Kieswetter is flanked by winning rider Piere Strydom and Gold Circle Director Mayesh Chetty after the Ridgemont Gr1 Garden Province Stakes (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
On the Highveld, The Championships Finale at Turffontein on Saturday 27 April proved a red-letter day for the Ridgemont team, with three home-bred feature winners, and their sires past and present, accounting for four features on the bumper card.
The grand day saw Ridgemont bred Canford Cliffs’ daughter Simply Majestic win the TAB Gr3 Pretty Polly Stakes, followed by Ridgemont’s red-hot sire Rafeef celebrating a dazzling double with his daughters Mrs Browning and Beating Wings winning the TAB Gr2 Camellia Stakes and TAB Gr2 Igugu Stakes, respectively.
Rafeef daughter Beating Wings (Calvin Habib) gets home to beat My Soul Mate under Richard Fourie (Pic – JC Photos)
The feature double highlighted Rafeef’s extraordinary versatility as a sire, with Mrs Browning scoring over 1160m, and her paternal half-sister victorious over 2000m.
The fourth champagne moment on the premier day came in the marathon TAB Listed Gold Bowl, when the evergreen Crimson King, a son of Ridgemont’s iconic late champion stallion Dynasty (Fort Wood), powered home to register his fifth win. Bred by Ridgemont, the gallant winner is out of the three-time winning Mogok mare, Cup Of Rubies, a half-sister to 2007 Durban July winner Hunting Tower.
New Ridgemont sire and Equus Champion Sprinter Thunderstruck and Richard Fourie (Pic – JC Photos)
Just three weeks earlier at Turffontein, Champions Day 3 of The Championships heralded a remarkable top level versatility injected feature double for Rafeef, when his son Thunderstruck, like his Dad six years earlier, won the Jonsson Workwear Gr1 Computaform Sprint, while daughter Frances Ethel stormed home to win the Wilgerbosdrift Bridget Oppenheimer Gr2 SA Oaks.
On the same afternoon another Gr1-winning son of Rafeef, Aragosta, finished third in the World Pool Gr1 Premier’s Champions Challenge, while another of the champion’s progressive sons Positive Attitude ran second in the 4Racing Listed Caradoc Gold Cup. That’s hard hitters from 1000m to 2850m!
In the beautiful valley where top stallions of the ilk of Dynasty, Elevation, Jallad, Jet Master, National Assembly and the legendary Persian Wonder changed the breeding landscape over the decades, the new generation Ridgemont boasts a stallion barn second to none.
The powerhouse includes former SA Champion Freshman sire Rafeef, five-time Grade 1 winner Canford Cliffs and Singspiel’s Grade 1 winner Potala Palace who have all performed admirably in the past season, with exciting times ahead as SA Triple Crown winner Malmoos and blue-blooded speed demon Real Gone Kid have yearlings on the ground.
Rafeef – what an impact he has made (Pic – Supplied)
Multiple Grade 1 winner and newly crowned Equus SA Champion sprinter Thunderstruck, a son of Rafeef, and the exciting recently imported US Grade 1 winner Hit The Road – like multiple champion sire Gimmethegreenlight, a son of sire of sires More Than Ready – are the new arrivals in the illustrious Ridgemont stallion class of ’24.
Interestingly, Thunderstruck will be the third member of the Redoute’s Choice clan to stand at the historical Robertson nursery, as Rafeef is by the revered former Arrowfield champion, whilst speedball barnmate Real Gone Kid is by his champion son Snitzel. Besides his proven racing ability, Thunderstruck’s wide spectrum of appeal will also lie in the fact that he is a third-generation winner of the Computaform Sprint.
Rafeef made an early impact as South Africa’s Leading First Season Sire in 2020-2021, and the champion athlete continues to make his presence felt, with his flagbearers this season including the graded stakes winners Beating Wings, Cats Pajamas, Frances Ethel, Mover And Shaker, Mrs Browning and, of course, the brilliant Thunderstruck.
Sean Veale has Rafeef son Cats Pajamas in full stride down the inside as Dantonfromsandton (Richard Fourie) chases with Bjorn Ironside (Gavin Lerena) making up the trifecta (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
Rafeef marked his 20th black-type winner and ended the last term in style when his son Cats Pajamas won the @Worldpool Gr2 Twitter Stakes on the season climax World Pool Gold Cup day.
Nearing his 500 international winner mark, Ridgemont’s five-time Gr1 winning stallion Canford Cliffs has also enjoyed another exceptional season, with his exciting Listed Ruffian Stakes winner Almond Sea, victorious in four of her five starts. Canford Cliffs’ son Meridius sealed his berth in the Hollywoodbets Durban July, with an impressive performance to win the Gr3 Jubilee Stakes.
A R3,6 million yearling of his year Ridgemont’s Gr1 winning stallion Potala Palace enjoyed the distinction of landing the final feature of the SA Champions Season when his daughter Red Palace won the Riding High Together Gr2 Gold Bracelet, just hours after another of his daughters, Frozen Fantasy, ran third behind champion Quid Pro Quo in the Gr1 Douglas Whyte Stakes.
Potala Palace daughter Red Palace wins the Riding High Together Gr2 Gold Bracelet (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
From the family of Sadler’s Wells, Nureyev and Fairy King, Potala Palace is a son of Singspiel, whose sire In The Wings is also paternal grandsire of Goliath -winner of the 2024 Gr1 King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes.
A R4,4 million yearling, SA Triple Crown and multiple Grade 1 winner Malmoos arrived at Ridgemont in 2022 with an impressive record of seven wins from 1200m to 2450m, and has the distinction of being the last Grade 1-winning son of multiple champion sensation Captain Al.
Malmoos displayed the stamp of a top-class racehorse, boasting an eclectic mix of speed and stamina, and has been well supported in his first two seasons, stamping his progeny with his trademark athleticism.
The lightning fast Snitzel son Real Gone Kid (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
A son of multiple Australian champion sire Snitzel, the blue-blooded Real Gone Kid was one of the fastest gallopers, reeling off six victories before standing his first season in 2022.
Hailing from a wonderful female line, Real Gone Kid is a son of Equus Champion, and Gr1 Cape Fillies Guineas and Gr1 Woolavington 2000 champion In The Fast Lane – a daughter of seven times South African champion sire Jet Master. His first yearlings will enter the sales ring in 2025.
The world-class miler and US Grade 1 winner Hit The Road (USA), a son of internationally acclaimed sire More Than Ready, is the newest addition to the top team.
The top-class Hit The Road in action (Pic – Supplied)
Ridgemont’s Craig Kieswetter confirmed that the beautifully bred, tough and durable miler with the dazzling turn of foot has been purchased in partnership with fellow leading breeders, Wilgerbosdrift & Mauritzfontein. Out of the US Ranger mare Highway Mary, a three-parts sister to Gr1 winner and sire War Command, Hit The Road is bred along a very powerful sire line.
From the female family of Roberto’s champion producing sire Silver Hawk and recently retired multiple Gr1 winner Charles Dickens, Hit The Road is bred on the very successful cross of More Than Ready over Danzig line mares – predominantly through Danehill – that has produced multiple stars.
“There is a lot of anticipation and excitement in the South African breeding industry at the moment and the feeling is no different here at Ridgemont. All seven of our stallions have been well subscribed and we are looking forward to welcoming mares, and their owners, in anticipation of helping them breed their next champion.” concluded Craig Carey.
