There’s a newcomer amongst the top five stallions on the General Sires List, one which may well continue to make plenty of noise for the remainder of the season.
According to statistics published by the NHRA following the weekend’s action, Flower Alley has rocketed into fourth place.
That comes as no surprise, since the Wilgerbosdrift resident has been churning out a steady stream of winners.
Flower Alley (photo: hamishNIVENPhotography)
This past weekend alone, he sired four across-card winners in the space of 24 hours, amongst which a brand-spanking new stakes winner.
Talented four-year-old daughter Santa Therese initiated the quartet at Friday’s Fairview meeting. Despite lugging the steadier of 62 kg, the four-year-old was the epitome of class to score for the seventh time in succession.
Successful in eight of ten starts, and also a triple stakes winner of the East Cape Paddock Stakes, Breeders Guineas and Jockey Club Stakes, Alan Greeff’s charge is clearly in sublime form and it would come as no surprise to see her venture across the Kei in search of Graded black types.
Santa Therese – top class (Pic – Pauline Herman Photography)
Her victory proved to be a fine prelude to one of those remarkable race days every breeder/stallion manager aspires to. The Charity Mile meeting at Turffontein proved to be one of those days for Flower Alley, the stallion siring a fine treble of winners on the card, amongst which a brand new stakes winner.
The tone was set when two runners by Flower Alley fought out the finish to the second race, victory going to the filly Damova, a half-sister to the dual Gr3 winner Goodtime Gal and to Gr3-placed Tirzan. The runner-up and favourite Cheringoma is a half-brother to dual stakes winner Chitengo and to the exciting prospect Shangani, who broke his stakes duck in the Java Handicap in the penultimate race.
Thirty five minutes later, Prince Evlanoff made it a Flower Alley double when he put all of six lengths between himself and a small but competitive field. Trained by Alec Laird, this late bloomer has now won two of his last three starts and may well be tried at stakes level.
Bold Fortune – stakes icebreaker on Saturday (Pic – JC Photos)
Four-year-old daughter Bold Fortune reserved the best for last when she broke through at stakes level with a convincing two-length victory in the Gr3 Yellowwood Handicap.
Trained by Stuart Pettigrew, she was bred by the Narrow Creek Stud, who had acquired her in utero when purchasing her dam, the Rich Man’s Gold mare Plata Parana, from Wilgerbosdrift.
Significantly, the newly-minted stakes winner again underlines Flower Alley’s ability as a sire of classy fillies. He is after all the sire of the high-class Gr2 winner Princess Calla, whose string of places include five at Gr1 level, Oaks Trial winner Fayrooz, Marygold, who chased home Horse of the Year Summer Pudding in the Gr1 SA Fillies Classic and Pomander, who did the same in the Gr2 SA Oaks.
That Flower Alley’s female runners appear to be superior to their male counterparts is further underlined by the fact that all nine juvenile winners from his second crop (current three-year-olds) were fillies.
Kenilworth Cup winner Bayberry, the Gr3-placed duo of Firealley and Azores, and East Cape Derby runner-up Rock Aloe, have to some degree balanced the scales, but for now Flower Alley is clearly making more of an impact with his fillies, which bodes well for his future as a broodmare sire in this country.
In that sphere he has already tasted international success as the damsire of champion Japanese two-year-old filly Lucky Lilac, who incidentally, is out of his Gr1 winning daughter Lilacs And Lace.
To what can we ascribe Flower Alley’s ability to produce a high proportion of good fillies?
Perhaps it is the fact that he boasts a strong female line.
His fourth dam Dumfries, is a daughter of Goofed, which makes her a half-sister to the important stallion Lyphard. In fact, Flower Alley’s dam Princess Olivia is inbred to Goofed, as her sire Lycius is out of a Lyphard mare.
