All the talk this week is naturally about the R5 million Gr1 Hollywoodbets Durban July and one thing is clear, Drakenstein Stud will launch heavy artillery in our premier race.
Breeders of current favourite See It Again and Pacaya, Gaynor Rupert’s operation will also be represented by a record five homebreds: Safe Passage, Trip Of Fortune, Winchester Mansion, and the fillies Rain In Holland and Silver Darling. An embarrassment of riches indeed!
A younger Trip Of Fortune in action (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
Remarkably, only Trip Of Fortune and Winchester Mansion are by the stud’s flagship stallion Trippi and on pedigree, they share an intriguing link, for both have as their third dam the fine broodmare Manuka.
By Rainbow Dream, Manuka was no slouch on the track either, managing a third in the Gr2 Rex Trueform Fillies Championship.
However, that paled into insignificance when she exchanged the racetrack for the broodmare paddocks, for amongst her eight winners were Gr1 Computaform Sprint hero Rodoille and the Gr2 Diadem Stakes winner, and multiple Gr1-placed, Blue Tiger. The latter was by Counter Action, as was Manuka’s exceptional half-sister Wainui, the first filly in 50 years to win the Gr1 Queen’s Plate.
Countess Kiwi, the dam of Wainui and Manuka, was by the obscure sire Quo Banco, whereas her dam, the New Zealand import Kiwi, was a half-sister to the mighty Sledgehammer, one of the iconic heroes of the seventies.
So, let’s see where Trip Of Fortune and Winchester Mansion fit into this female line.
Trip Of Fortune’s dam Louvre, topseller recently on the CRS Winter Mixed Sale, won the Gr2 Tibouchina Stakes and earned Gr1 small black type when third in the Gr1 Garden Province Stakes.
Louvre wins the 2013 Tibouchina
Sired by the Sadler’s Wells horse Doowaley, she was by far the pick of six winners out of Manuka’s daughter Prive, a modest two-time winner by the Arc winner Saumarez, a son of Rainbow Quest.
It might be termed the unkindest cut of all, but since gelding Trip Of Fortune has been a revelation, with victories in the Gr1 HF Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut Stakes, Gr2 Drill Hall Stakes, Gr2 Green Point Stakes and Gr3 Matchem Stakes. His superior form up to a mile gives rise to stamina concerns – but let’s be fair, he’s never been tried over further and who knows, the staying influence of both Doowaley and Saumarez may well come to the fore.
In contrast, there are no such doubts about paternal half-brother Winchester Mansion, winner of last year’s Gr3 Pocket Power Stakes over the classic Derby distance.
Although his dam Sea Point scored as a juvenile over 1000m, she was by another son of Rainbow Quest, the Irish 2000 Guineas winner, Spectrum. Ironically, she produced the precocious Gr1 Tsogo Sun Gold Medallion winner Sand And Sea to Twice Over, whose progeny are generally later-maturing types.
Sea Point’s dam Compass Point is a Model Man daughter of Manuka. A winner of four races up to 1200m, she produced five winners in all, including the unbeaten Gr1 Cape Guineas winner Pointing North to Joshua Dancer, whilst Jallad daughter Pointing East finished third in the Gr3 Strelitzia Stakes.
Incidentally, both Sledgehammer and Wainui contested the July.
The great Sledgehammer
Cyril Hurvitz’s champion started favourite for the dramatic 1975 renewal, where he was cut into during the race and could only finish 13th behind the winner Gatecrasher, who as we all know, lost the race in the stewards’ room after hanging badly in the straight and almost putting runner-up Distinctly over the rails.
Although Sledgehammer never reached the same dizzying heights in the breeding shed, he became a successful stallion and sired the Gr1 winners Damb
Wainui took her chances in the 1990 running after a busy season during which she had won the Gr1 Queen’s Plate, the Majorca Stakes, the SA Fillies Sprint and the Poinsettia Stakes, whilst finishing third in the Met.
By the time the July came around, she had clearly gone over the top and ran 15th behind Ilustrador. One of the leading lights of her generation, she sadly produced little of note as a broodmare and died at the early age of 11.
Should either Winchester Mansion or Trip Of Fortune manage to pull a rabbit out of the hat on Saturday, it will be a first July success not just for the female line, but also for their sire, who came close last year when Jet Dark found only Sparkling Water his superior.
Trippi: End Sweep – Jealous Appeal (Valid Appeal)
Pic – Drakenstein Stud
What more can we say about this extraordinary horse, who has grown to a behemoth amongst the leading stallions and at the advanced age of 26, is enjoying another stellar season.
Not only has he sired Gr1 Met winner Jet Dark, Gr1 winner Trip Of Fortune, and of course the Champion miler elect Charles Dickens, but he is also broodmare sire of Gr1 Golden Horse Sprint winner Gimme A Prince.
The Drakenstein linchpin notched up yet another stakes winner last weekend when juvenile daughter October Morn powered home to put her rivals to the sword in the Listed Perfect Promise Sprint at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth.
By the way, she too, has a link to the Durban July, for her third dam is the champion Devon Air, who led from start to finish to claim the country’s premier race in 1984.
