As the old cliché goes, when a stallion dies, his progeny come to the fore. That certainly applies to former Drakenstein resident Lancaster Bomber, who died after just two seasons at stud.
Gavin Lerena gets Siddeley home (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
It didn’t really need confirming, but the performance of his handful of crops has reminded us that the thoroughbred realm would be better off with him still being here.
Sire of first-crop Gr1 Guineas winners Snow Pilot and Beach Bomb, the much-missed son of War Front promptly doubled his Gr1 win tally in one fell swoop when second-crop son Eight On Eighteen defeated his elders in the Gr1 Cape Town Met, while the Gr1 Majorca Stakes went the way of four-year-old daughter Rascova, who incidentally, was her sire’s very first winner and stakes winner.
This past weekend, Eight On Eighteen scored a bloodless victory over six overmatched rivals in what many pundits surely regarded as a substandard renewal of the SplashOut Gr1 Cape Derby.
Be that as it may, his victory completed yet another feature double on the day for Lancaster Bomber, with first-crop daughter Siddeley claiming the SplashOut Gr3 Prix Du Cap.
It was a well-deserved maiden stakes success for the Lammerskraal homebred, who was retained by her breeders as ‘she didn’t scope very well’, according to stud manager Lindi Garlicki. In hindsight, that proved a blessing in disguise.
In due course, Siddeley went into training and joined the powerful equine armoury of Snaith, but as he recalls, she arrived at the stable as a companion to a more highly regarded filly. Ironically, the four-year-old is now a Gr3 winner, whereas the other filly is still just a one-time winner. Oh, the vagaries of racing!
Truth be told, Siddeley has always been on the cusp of a stakes win, running with credit in defeat on more than one occasion. After scoring second time out as a juvenile, she earned small black type in her post-maiden run when a gallant second to top Port Elizabeth filly Luna Halo in the Listed East Coast Fillies Nursery.
At three, she ran second to Ripple Effect in the Listed Olympic Duel Stakes and in a return to Fairview, narrowly failed in her bid for stakes glory when beaten a head by old adversary Luna Halo in the Listed Breeders Guineas.
Going into the Prix du Cap, her credentials looked cast-iron, as she came off an eye-catching third in the Olympic Duel Stakes.
The ill-fated Lancaster Bomber (War Front) – winners aplenty (Pic – Drakenstein)
Siddeley’s pedigree is not to be sneezed at either.
She is out of the Trippi mare Sunset Tripp, who likewise was trained by Justin Snaith and carried Greg Bortz’s silks to victory in the Listed Sweet Chestnut Stakes. More importantly, she is a granddaughter of the fine racemare Imperious Sue, one of a select number of female Met winners and the dam of Gr1 Woolavington 2000 victress Imperious Star.
Sunset Tripp was acquired by Lammerskraal at the end of her racing career and produced Siddeley as her third foal. The mare has since toured the sales ring twice, first at the Lammerskraal reduction sale in 2022, and again two years later at the total dispersal sale of Nadeson Park, where she was knocked down for R700 000.
The saga has come full circle so to speak, with former Lammerskraal stud manager Sally Bruss signing the docket on behalf of Paardeberg Stud in what proved to be an inspired purchase, given that the mare is now a stakes producer.
Siddeley is the latest stakes winner to emerge from a proper dyed-in-the-wool South African dam line, that of Victory Moon, Royal Air Force, Wild Hyacinth, Imbongi, Spring Garland and Hidden Beauty.
Black type updates are an essential way to highlight the quality of a filly’s pedigree. Suffice to say, with a Gr3 success under her belt, she is now a valuable broodmare prospect for her owners. Not bad for an erstwhile travelling companion!
