SA Mares At Inglis Sale
There is a strong contingent of South African bred mares with offspring on offer at the Inglis 2013 Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale. The first locally bred mare to have a yearling on sale is Alexandra Rose, a daughter of Caesour.
A half-sister to Saturday’s Listed Sea Cottage Stakes winner Alexandra Palace, Alexandra Rose won the G1 Golden Slipper in South Africa, before being exported to the US, where she won the Gr3 Monrovia Handicap.
Sent to Australia, Alexandra Rose has had three foals to date. She has a Hussonet filly on sale, has a Redoute’s Choice colt at foot, and was covered by Redoute’s Choice horse Snitzel this season.
The next mare with South African connections represented on the Melbourne Sale is Almah. A former champion stayer, the versatile Almah also won over hurdles in the UK. She is represented in South Africa by her winning son, Global Strike. She has a Good Journey filly on sale at Melbourne. Almah, a half-sister to this season’s high-class performer Zambucca, was covered by Hussonet this year.
Dash for Gretna was a top-class 2yo, who trained on well to win the Gr3 Acacia Handicap. Sent to Australia, this daughter of Sportsworld has had five foals to date, including a brown yearling colt by leading sire Commands. Dash for Gretna is currently in foal to the brilliant miler Canford Cliffs.
Joshua Dancer mare Gathering Storm won 6 times in South Africa, including the G3 Champagne Stakes. She has a yearling colt by champion Big Brown on sale and is in foal to Redoute’s Choice’s Gr1 winning son Master of Design.
There were quicker fillies than Geordoba in her time, and this grey mare has already had success at stud. Her 5 runners to race have all won, and include the stakes winner Khemosabi (Opunaki Cup). She has a yearling Snitzel filly on sale – which is bred to fly. Geordoba has a Denman filly foal, and carries to Stratum.
Beautifully bred, SA Oaks winner Happy Spirit has a filly by leading sire High Chaparral on offer. The daughter of Silvano’s first and second dams are both stakes winners, and this filly already has considerable paddock value. This filly is the first foal for her dam, who also ran third in the Balanchine Stakes in Dubai.
It is interesting to follow the progress of South African mares and their progeny overseas – even if it is impossible to predict where the next star will come from!
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Shergar – Epsom Derby
Shergar’s Legend
Thirty years ago, last week, the kidnapping of the legendary racehorse Shergar made world headlines. The horse, who was standing at Ballymany Stud at the time of his disappearance, was never recovered, and it is widely assumed that he was killed and buried at an undisclosed location.
A devastating ten length winner of the 1981 Epsom Derby, Shergar is widely regarded as one of the finest racehorses of all time, and, ever since his disappearance, the myth of Shergar has continued to grow.
Shergar left behind just one crop of foals – numbering 35 foals. Of these 35, five (14%) became stakes winners and three won group races. One, Authaal, won the G1 Irish St Leger, another, Maysoon, took the G3 Fred Darling Stakes.
Shergar’s third group winner was Princess Royal Stakes victress, Tashtiya. Interestingly enough, when considering the high-class mares Shergar covered in his sole season at stud, he failed to make an impact as a broodmare sire. The most important horse produced by a Shergar mare was the French G2 winner, Adieu Au Roi (Prix Hocquart).
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Jallad
The Jallad Impact
The now pensioned sire, Jallad, has really made his presence felt this season – as a broodmare sire. Not only is Jallad the maternal grandsire of 2013 J&B Met hero Martial Eagle (Silvano), he is also broodmare sire of recent Dubai winner Royal Ridge (Tiger Ridge).
The Blushing Groom horse is currently second in the South African broodmare sires list, just R130 000 behind the leader, Fort Wood. Thus season alone, Jallad’s broodmare daughters have produced horses who have won 76 races and over R6 500 000 in prize money. He was third on the general broodmare sires list in 2012/2012, and 2010-2011.
Now living out his retirement years at Highlands Farm, Jallad still looks amazing – especially when considering that he is 25 years old. Never one of the front runners for a beauty pageant, Jallad has, however, been one of the best and most consistent stallions to stand in South Africa over the past two decades. Champion sire in 2001, Jallad was also runner up on the log in 2002 and 2004.
Remarkably, the ultra consistent Jallad has produced Gr1 winners in 11 foal crops. His most prolific foal crop came back in 2001, when his 79 foals included no fewer than 15 stakes horses (18%) and four individual Gr1 winners (Rabiya, Succesful Bidder, Vega and Zebra Crossing).
Jallad’s most Gr1 winner, The Hangman (Premier’s Champion Stakes), was conceived when his sire was 20 years old. What is striking about Jallad’s success, is that, of his 15 Gr1 winners, all are out of mares by different broodmare sires. To date, Jallad is the sire of 60 stakes winners, and over 130 black type performers – and this is a number bound to increase over the next few seasons.
It is also worth noting that Jallad’s stable companion, the equally influential and important sire, National Assembly is also still alive – at the advanced age of 29! He too has been much in the news through the deeds of his unbeaten champion Soft Falling Rain.
The latter is set to take his place in Thursday’s Gr3 UAE 2000 Guineas, where he will be opposed by the high-class, former US based colt Fortify (Distorted Humor).
