The high class Vercingetorix
Former Equus Champion Vercingetorix has settled in well to his new home at Maine Chance Farms. The handsome bay, who is standing his first season at stud this season, joins a roster which includes his own champion sire Silvano, proven Gr1 sire Black Minnaloushe and the very exciting sire Querari.
The latter, recently named Outstanding New Stallion at the Cape Racing and Breeding Awards, has really let down into a handsome stallion and Querari is set to cover a top class, and full, book of mares in 2015.
His stable companion Vercingetorix, who has test covered his first mare, was recently introduced to his paddock following four months of box rest. The bay, who until recently was hand walked for exercise, returned to South Africa after injury prematurely ended his Dubai campaign. Vercingetorix looks in great spirits and is clearly more than eager to begin his stud career.
Well received
He was been well received at stud, with Vercingetorix set to cover 120 mares this year. A really quality and athletic horse, Vercingetorix (who is out of the Gr2 placed mare National Vixen), who stands 16.2 hands, has been blessed with his sire’s wonderful length of rein and superb shoulder. He is also a good horse to work with, and is said to have a great temperament – much like Silvano himself. Vercingetorix is the second son of Silvano to retire to stud in South Africa, with his paternal half brother, and fellow Equus Champion, Bold Silvano set to have his first crop reach the track this season.
Lomitas’ legacy
Another son of the Lomitas stallion at stud is multiple Graded winner Proudinsky, who is currently at stud in North America. Proudinsky was a top class performer, who earned over $1 million, and his seven wins included four at graded level.
Stud manager John Slade feels Vercingetorix will be suited by a wide range of mares, but may enjoy daughters of Captain Al in particularly. The latter is the sire of Vercingetorix’s talented half siblings Trinity House (Gr3 Umzimkhulu Stakes) and Never Forever (8 wins, 3rd Gr2 Umkhomazi Stakes), while Captain Al’s sire, Al Mufti, has enjoyed notable success with Silvano himself.
Speed or stamina?
Vercingetorix
Vercingetorix, who traces directly back in female line to 1000 Guineas winner Problem, was an outstanding racehorse, who won Gr1 contest both here and aboard.
It will be interesting to see how much stamina Vercingetorix (who is bred on the same Silvano/National Assembly cross as Gr1 Allan Robertson Fillies Championship winner Happy Valentine) passes on to his progeny, as while he is by a classic source in Silvano (whose offspring include two Gold Cup winners), his female line is one largely associated with star sprinters.
Remarkably, there are no fewer than three champion sprinters close up in Vercingetorix’s pedigree- Scarlet Lady, Extra Cover and Phantom Earl (the trio all being sired by Lords).
Grooms’ Co-op
The Klawervlei Stud-bred Vercingetorix also represented an important milestone and triumph for the Riverside Grooms Thoroughbred Co-Op. Remarkably, he was the first weanling ever pin hooked by the Riverside Grooms Thoroughbred Co-Op, who raised the Silvano colt at Riverton Stud, where the Chairman and three members of the co-op currently work.
Sent to the 2011 Emperors Palace National Sale, Vercingetorix was knocked down for R1.4 million – where he was the fourth top priced colt sold that year. He made that purchase price tag look cheap during a career which saw him win his first seven outings on the bounce and earn more than £1 million in stakes.
Racing achievements
After winning over 1400m on debut, Vercingetorix then reeled off wins in his last three local appearances, with his victories including a pair of defeats of star miler Capetown Noir in both the Gr2 KRA Guineas and Gr1 Daily News 2000. His continued where he left off in Dubai, where Vercingetorix landed a handicap over 1800m, before going on to take the spoils in the Gr1 Jebel Hatta. In that race, the South African star accounted for the notable performers and Gr1 winners Trade Storm (Woodbine Mile) and Linton (Stradbroke Hcp), to name but two.
While Vercingetorix then lost his next two races, he was by no means disgraced in either of them. His second place finish in the Gr1 Dubai Duty Free saw only the world’s top rated thoroughbred of 2014, Just A Way (Heart’s Cry), finish ahead of him, while those defeated by Vercingetorix included the Gr1 Breeders Cup winner and champion Dank (Dansili), Gr1 Gulfstream Park Hcp hero Mshawish (Medaglia D’Oro), Japanese 2000 Guineas winner Logotype (Lohengrin), multiple Gr1 winner Hunter’s Light (Dubawi), QE II Cup winner Blazing Speed (Dylan Thomas) and champion filly The Fugue (Dansili). His final outing of 2014 saw Vercingetorix beaten just over two lengths by Hong Kong Horse Of The Year, Designs On Rome (Holy Roman Emperor) in the Gr1 QE II Cup at Sha Tin. Two lengths behind Vercingetorix that day was Epiphaneia (Symboli Kris S), who would go on to land one of the world’s biggest races, the Gr1 Japan Cup, later that same year.
He ended 2014 with a Longines Rating of 118, which placed Vercingetorix above such top international performers as Ambitious Dragon (Pins), Beholder (Henny Hughes), Buffering (Mossman), Esoterique (Danehill Dancer), and Melbourne Cup winner Fiorente (Monsun).
Injury
Unfortunately, injury curtailed Vercingetorix’s campaign in 2015, when he made just two appearances. One of them, however, saw Vercingetorix land the Gr2 Al Rashidiya over former Derby fancy True Story (Manduro).
