As is so often the case when a horse either dies or is sold, his progeny suddenly come up trumps, one such example being Visionaire.
Last weekend, he sired a new stakes winner when Gavin Smith-trained juvenile Vision And Wonder followed up on a 7.25-length maiden romp to score an impressive victory in the Listed East Cape Nursery at Fairview.
Vision And Wonder storms to victory in the Listed East Cape Nursery (Pic – Pauline Herman)
The Sandown-bred colt joins Gr3 Fillies Mile winner Emirate Gina and the stakes-placed runners Famous And Rich and Idita as his sire’s fourth black type performer of the current season.
An imposing chestnut grandson of Gone West, Visionaire arrived at Summerhill Stud in 2011 boasting a fine race record, the highlight of which a breath-taking last to first victory in the Gr1 King’s Bishop Stakes at Saratoga.
Visionaire (Grand Slam – Scarlet Tango)
Described by stud owner Mick Goss as “the stallion with rock star looks”, the powerful chestnut quickly made an impact with his first local crop, so much so that he led all freshman sires at the end of the 2014 season.
By the time he left six years later for Lammerskraal Stud, Visionaire had already sired a bundle of stakes winners headed by the Gr1 SA Fillies Classic winner Takingthepeace and the Graded stakes winners Africa Rising, Heaps Of Fun, The Thinker and Royal Pleasure.
Notwithstanding those credentials, the imposing chestnut hardly received the support he deserved from Cape breeders.
The stallion market being notoriously fickle, that lack of support was always going to tell and it hardly came as a surprise when last year, Visionaire moved again, this time to the Karoo where he now stands at Schalkie van der Walt’s Gelykfontein Stud.
The rustic beauty of Gelykfontein
To say that Visionaire was welcomed with open arms in a centre woefully short of stallion power would be an understatement. After all, here was a good-looking Gr1 winner and sire, who had added a second Gr1 winner to his resume in the shape of Lammerskraal-bred champion juvenile Good Traveller, winner of the Gr1 Premiers Champion Stakes at Hollywoodbets Greyville.
“I’m glad to say that all the Karoo breeders supported Visionaire,” remarked Schalkie. “He was so popular, he ended up covering 43 mares. I sent him 15 of my own mares including Gr2 winner Ecstatic Green.”
Read more about Gelykfontein – in the Van der Walt family since 1884!
Schalkie bred the daughter of Gimmethegreenlight and sold her for R500 000 at the 2019 National Sale.
Ectstatic Green wins the Gr2 The Debutante under Lyle Hewitson (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
She carried Chris van Niekerk’s silks to victory in the Gr2 Debutante Stakes, and narrowly missed out on Gr1 glory when pipped on the post in the Gr1 Allan Robertson Championship.
As fate would have it, Schalkie was able to buy her back at the end of her racing career when she was offered for sale online.
He makes no secret of his belief in Visionaire and remarked: “Trainers like his foals, they are sound, scopey horses.”
Be that as it may, the lack of interest from breeders was glaringly obvious at last week’s National Sale, where the stallion was represented by just one filly, the sister to Takingthepeace.
As an own sister to a Gr1 winner, she was always going to attract a fair share of interest and it was trainer Roy Magner who won the battle with a final bid of R475 000.
Now 18 years old, Visionaire may be approaching the twilight of his stallion career, yet he boasts another feather in his cap, that as the broodmare sire of See It Again, who gave Michael Roberts a maiden Gr1 win as a trainer when successful in the SplashOut Cape Derby.
Schalkie remains optimistic about the way forward. “Covid saw many people sell up, but now that it’s over, there is a sense of revival around. I’m lucky to stand a horse like Visionaire. “
