Promising three-year-old Zeus (Soft Falling Rain), who made it four wins from four starts when victorious at Turffontein on Saturday, is the latest above average performer produced by a daughter of deceased stallion Windrush.
Zeus, also one of a growing number of high-class performers inbred to Storm Cat, is out of one of the best broodmare daughters of Windrush in the form of Lil’ Bacio.
Read more about Zeus and his plans
Gavin Lerena and Zeus make it four-from-four (Pic – JC Photos)
Saturday’s winner is one of four winners, from as many runners, produced by the unplaced Lil’ Bacio, whose previous runners include Gr1 SA Derby winner Out Of Your League (Elusive Fort) and Gr3 World Sports Betting Gold Cup runner up Paybackthemoney (Marchfield).
Lil’ Bacio, however, is just one of a number of daughters of Windrush to make their mark at stud.
Windrush’s greatest daughter, the ill-fated Mother Russia, was not only a champion on the racecourse but her only foal, Nother Russia (Tiger Ridge) emulated her dam in becoming an Equus Champion.
Like Zeus, Nother Russia was closely inbred to legendary stallion Storm Cat. Between them, Mother Russia (L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate, Paddock Stakes, Majorca Stakes and Empress Club Stakes), and Nother Russia (Empress Club Stakes twice), won six Gr1 races and earned in excess of R7 million in prize money.
Handsome Zeus in the pre-race parade (Pic – JC Photos)
Windrush also sired the very smart racemare Sunsational, winner of both the Gr3 Final Fling Stakes and Gr3 Prix Du Cap, with Sunsational going on to produce Gr1 SA Fillies Classic/Gr2 SA Oaks queen Juxtapose (Judpot).
Another daughter of Windrush to land the Gr3 Final Fling Stakes (this time on two occasions) was A Daughters Legacy. The latter, whose eight career wins also included a score in the Gr3 Victress Stakes, has produced Gr1 Premiers Champion Stakes/Gr2 Durban Golden Horseshoe runner up Ancestry (Oratorio) and Gr2 The Debutante heroine A Womens Way (Var). The latter is another inbred to the great Storm Cat.
In contrast, Windrush mare Arctic Breeze went unplaced during her career, but she more than made amends at stud when she produced Equus Champion Sprinter, and Gr1 4Racing Computaform Sprint winner Rio Querari (Querari).
Arctic Breeze’s dual Gr3 winning full-sister Nordic Breeze had a Querari filly fetch R900 000 at the recent Cape Premier Yearling Sale, with another full-sister Nordic Wind having a Vercingetorix colt make R850 000 at the same auction.
Yet another Windrush mare to leave her mark is Sapphire Silk – dam of current high-class Singapore based galloper Katak (Potala Palace). The latter, unbeaten in five starts in South Africa, has since gone on to win in Singapore and finish second in the Queen Ellizabeth II Cup.
Windrush (Seeking The Gold – Tempest Dancer)
The Gr3 Stymie Handicap winning Windrush certainly had the pedigree to become a successful broodmare sire -his sire Seeking The Gold left behind nearly 180 black type winners, including the likes of Dubai Millennium, Flanders and Heavenly Prize, and is damsire of more than 170 stakes winners, including such Breeders’ Cup winners as Blame (Arch), She Be Wild (Offlee Wild) and Take Charge Brandi (Giant’s Causeway).
Windrush’s dam Tempest Dancer, a full-sister to Kentucky Oaks queen Sardula, was sired by multiple champion sire Storm Cat -Leading Broodmare Sire in the USA on four occasions, and broodmare sire of more than 300 stakes winners!
