Avontuur’s late flagbearer VAR – legacy lives on through his daughters
It was always a given that champion sprinter VAR’s credentials as a conduit of speed would enable him to make his mark as a damsire and he is now delivering on that promise.
The late Avontuur stalwart boosted his reputation in that sphere with an impressive ‘wow’ double at Hollywoodbets Scottsville’s big sprint meeting on Saturday with the juvenile Thunderstruck winning the Gr1 Gold Medallion and Alesian Chief claiming the Gr1 Golden Horse Sprint.
Via Africa wins Gr1 SA Fillies Sprint in 2013
Mind you, VAR already boasted a fine record at this prestigious meeting as a sire, one which stretches back to 2009 when first-crop son Villandry became his very first Gr1 winner with victory in the Gold Medallion. And whilst the Allan Robertson Championship has inexplicably eluded him, VAR has sired multiple winners of the remaining features, the most notable of which successive doubles in the Golden Horse/SA Fillies Sprint.
Contador and Via Africa did the honours in 2013, while twelve months later, Duncan Howells’s champion repeated in the SA Fillies Sprint and Normanz gave Charles Laird a back-to-back double in the Golden Horse Sprint.
Remarkably, VAR’s first Gr1 success as a broodmare sire also came at this very same meeting in 2020, when he sired the first two home in the Gold Medallion, victory going to subsequent Champion Juvenile Tempting Fate, who led home paternal half-brother Pray For Rain.
This season, VAR mares have already accounted for a quartet of Gr1 winners if one includes Via Africa’s Australian-based son In The Congo, who has established himself as one of that country’s leading sprinters.
Locally, Master Archie won the Computaform Sprint and is out of VAR’s daughter La Volta, who, like her sire, was a sprinter of note and scored a signature win in the Listed Bauhinia Handicap over the minimum trip.
Varikate wins the 2014 Gr2 Post Merchants in style
Gold Medallion winner Thunderstruck’s dam Varikate also took after her sire and made all to beat the boys in the Gr2 Post Merchants.
In contrast, Alesian Chief’s dam All In The Mind won up to a mile and hails from a female line where most of the standout members excelled over ground, notably the Gr1 Gold Cup hero Milleverof.
Significantly, both Master Archie and Thunderstruck are by sensational Ridgemont Highlands stallion Rafeef, a son of Australian standout stallion Redoute’s Choice, as is Snitzel, the sire of In The Congo.
I have a feeling that many breeders with VAR mares will clamour to replicate what is fast turning out to be a cross which should provide them with a rich seam to mine.
Now an established top ten broodmare sire, this past weekend’s Gr1 double has put him in sixth place on the list with a tally of half a dozen individual stakes winners, only one less than that of the mighty Jet Master.
In addition to his Gr1 winning trio, VAR has two other Graded stakes winners on his team in Paul Peters’ admirable Smorgasbord and the juvenile Karangetang.
Karangetang – promising 2yo (Pic – JC Photos)
By Twice Over out of VAR’s daughter Variety, Smorgasbord has clearly inherited his damsire’s turn of foot. Conqueror of 2020 Golden Horse Sprint winner Warrior’s Rest in the Gr2 Senor Santa Stakes, he added to Saturday’s major occasion when he ran on for third behind Alesian Chief.
Karangetang, from the first crop of Erupt, took the racing world by storm by landing the Gr3 Protea Stakes and Listed Storm Bird Stakes in his first two starts, a feat which saw him named the Highveld’s Champion 2YO colt/gelding.
Have you seen the latest SP Sprint?
