Situated between craggy mountains near Piketberg, Wilgerbosdrift continues to produce top-notch, rugged thoroughbreds.
The stud sends half a dozen yearlings to market on the 6 June at the Cape Racing Winter Yearling Sale, taking place at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth.
Lot 15 – First up is City of Love, a Rafeef colt out of Isle de France. This is a venerable Wilgerbosdrift / Mauritzfontein family as the second dam is SA Oaks victress, Ilha Bela and third dam, Ilha da Vitoria was South Africa’s HOTY in 2005/6. Rafeef, of course, was SA’s leading first season sire in 2020/21, so potential buyers will be beating a path to inspect Stable B10.
Lot 36 is a bay Fire Away colt out of Loupe named Tommy Atkins. The well-performed dam has already thrown Black Type performers, Opera Glass (9 wins) Petra (5 wins), and Eternity Ring (4 wins).
Lot 46, a mating to Noor has resulted in a bay colt called, Matroosberg. What a Winter produces the goods each year – his running total is now 334 winners from 518 representatives including 24 Stakes Winners. The second dam is Jet Master mare, Express Queen who threw 7 x winner, Platinum Class and Mauritian Champion Stayer of 2017/18, Our Emperor.
Lot 49 is a filly, Without Hesitation, a first foal out of Passion Peach and by the American stallion, Fire Away. There is plenty of Black Type going back a couple of generations – African Appeal, Mary Lou, and Brave Mary feature under third dam, Kentucky Lass.
Lot 55 – another filly, the grey Proxima by Rafeef ex Punta Chica. The female side has strong Argentinian links through second dam Printemps.
Lot 105, Safari Camp by Rafeef ex Chitengo comes towards the end of the sale and is worth waiting for given the tempting blend of speed and stamina in the pedigree.
Despite his accomplishments over the short cuts, Gr1 Computaform Sprint hero, Rafeef is proving a versatile influence over a wide range of distances, while Chitengo, second dam Gorongosa, and Shangani were all “lang-asem” marathon runners.
The Pinhook incentive scheme, introduced in 2023, will again be a feature of this sale. The incentive allows speculators to make purchases at CRWYS while only having to pay for the stock once selling at the Ready to Run Sale in October.
Note too, that all graduates qualify for the CRS Juvenile bonus, which pays R100,000 to the winning connections.
Further enquiries about Wilgerbosdrift’s quality draft can be directed to Shane van Zyl via [email protected] or 082 872 8229.
Click on the image below to view the full catalogue online:
- Media release by Cape Racing Sales on Friday, 17 May 2024.