Former champion sprinter Via Africa reached a significant milestone, that of Gr1 producer, when her three-year-old Snitzel colt In The Congo put up a sensational frontrunning performance to win the Golden Rose at Rosehill on Saturday, while shaving more than a half second off the existing race record.
In The Congo (Snitzel x Via Africa) enjoys international Gr1 success
Via Africa is of course, a daughter of former Avontuur standout Var, who is currently enjoying a well-deserved retirement following an illustrious stallion innings. Twice the country’s Champion Juvenile sire, he has to date sired more than 50 stakes winners, of which a dozen have triumphed at Gr1 level.
Stud manager Pippa Mickleburgh was tickled pink at the news of In The Congo’s success and remarked: “To have an international Gr1 winner out of the champion Via Africa is just really a special moment for all connected to Var in any way. Yes, Snitzel is a proper sire – although one cannot but feel that the sheer speed of mom has shone through.”
Via Africa – daughter of Var is now at stud in Australia
“Long before In The Congo won his Gr1, Var’s daughters were starting to show exciting talent on the broodmare front and the whispers were already out there. No doubt the pure speed his daughters bring to a pedigree will ignite most, so the excitement is now real.”
In a country where a premium is put on speed, it was always a given that Var would make his mark as a damsire and it was in 2019 that he slipped into the top ten leading broodmare sires, a position he also maintained last season.
In The Congo is his second Gr1 winner in that sphere, the first being the Master Of My Fate colt Tempting Fate, who took his unblemished record to four from four in the 2020 running of the Gold Medallion at Hollywoodbets Scottsville. The Dennis Drier-trained colt then lost his form as a three-year-old, the cause of which was eventually found to be a breathing problem. Surgery appears to have done the trick as he had little trouble dispatching of his rivals in his first post-op start which was also at the Pietermaritzburg track.
Tempting Fate was bred at Avontuur Stud, where a good number of Var mares now roam the paddocks, the most famous of which being champion Val De Ra. She too, was trained by Dennis Drier and was the country’s undisputed sprint queen of 2010-11, having defeated What A Winter in both the Gr1 Cape Flying Championship and Gr1 Computaform Sprint.
Like Via Africa, she left her birth country and started her broodmare career in the UK, but returned to South Africa in foal to the unbeaten superstar Frankel, to whom she foaled a filly at Avontuur. Named Miss Frankel, she duly emulated her dam in the Listed KwaZulu-Natal Stakes and is now at stud in France.
Val de Ra (Var – Minelli) has daughters in both the UK & Australia (Pic- hamishNIVENphotography)
With Via Africa already in its fold, the famous Arrowfield Stud snapped up Val De Ra’s Trippi filly All That Jazz at last year’s Cape Premier Yearling Sale, and she is now in training in Australia.
“To have Val de Ra daughters in both Europe and Australia can surely only help this pedigree fly,” Pippa remarked proudly.
However, Val De Ra’s Silvano colt Madison Square had the misfortune of injuring himself on the way to the National Yearling Sales. “It was heart-breaking, as we couldn’t sell him and he has needed time to heal. Let’s hope we can race him and perhaps, he could be a future sire for us.”
Val De Ra’s latest foal is a yearling filly by Oratorio and she has been covered by champion sire Gimmethegreenlight.
Tempting Fate’s dam, the Gr3 Tommy Hotspur victress Miss October, is an own sister to Gr1 Mercury Sprint hero August Rush. She is a grandaughter of none other than the exceptional import Devon Air, one of six Durban July winners trained by maestro Terrance Millard. Also dam of the Gr2-placed Trippi filly Spring Break, Miss October has a ‘fabulous’ yearling filly by the Drakenstein sire.
Miss October mare foaled a full sister to Tempting Fate earlier this month and will next visit Vercingetorix.
Also destined for the court of Maine Chance’s rising star is Valeta, who foaled a colt to the champion son of Silvano this spring. Out of Gr1 winner Sarabande and a Gr1-placed own sister to the stakes winner La Volta, Valeta boasts a 100% strike rate with seven winners from her first seven foals, amongst which the Gr1-placed Gr3 winner She’s A Giver.
Tempting Fate (Sean Veale) is led in by his connections after his recent win (Pic- Candiese Lenferna)
Interestingly, Valeta’s stakes winning own sister La Volta is the dam of the progressive Rafeef colt Master Archie, who recently completed a fine hat-trick for Paul Peter. Rafeef is a son of Redoute’s Choice, as is In The Congo’s sire Snitzel, which makes the Ridgemont/Highlands stallion a logical choice as a mate for any Var mare. To that end, Avontuur has already cashed in on the cross and sold a Rafeef colt out of the Gr2 Post Merchants victress Varikate for a million at the Nationals earlier this year. Not surprisingly, she is already safely back in foal to him.
Also marked down to visit Rafeef this season is Var’s daughter Star Burst Galaxy, a dual stakes winner of nine races. Her yearling is by Silvano (the sire of her Gr3 winning half-sister Star Express) and she has a Vercingetorix colt at foot.
Although not a stakes winner, the Var mare Kitco has made a fine start to her broodmare career with her first two foals, the Gr1-placed stakes winner Pray For Rain and stakes-placed On The Double. She is a member of the prolific Platinum Lady family of Princess Victoria, Princess Royal and Cup Of Grace.
“Kitco has a super foal on the ground by Oratorio and visits William Longsword this season,” remarked Pippa.
With a view to the future, Avontuur has retained Courante, the Var full sister to Valeta and La Volta. “She is in training with Mike de Kock, so let’s hope she can keep the family flag flying.”
Var may be retired from active duty – however if the success of both Via Africa and his Avontuur-based daughters is anything to go by, his legacy as a broodmare sire looks assured.
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