By Tom Peacock
CAPE TOWN, South Africa–Another important season for Frankel (GB) begins in earnest when four of his yearlings are offered at this weekend's Cape Premier Yearling Sale in South Africa, which takes place across the evenings of Jan. 21 and 22.
The champion racehorse has already made a striking impression from his first crop to have hit the track in 2016, culminating in an inaugural Group 1 success by Soul Stirring (Jpn) in the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies in Japan on Dec. 11. His prospects for the first British Classics include G3 Princess Margaret S. winner Fair Eva (GB) and G2 Lowther S. star Queen Kindly (GB).
By coincidence, a few hours before the evening sale begins, Frankel will have had his first South African runner. Miss Frankel (SAf), out of top-class sprinter Val De Ra (SAf) (Var), is running in the opening maiden at Kenilworth and good things are being said of the chestnut with an unusual and prominent white face.
Frankel, who stands at Banstead Manor Stud in Newmarket for a fee of £125,000, has been available to cover a select book to Southern Hemisphere time. With the strict quarantine protocols, South African breeders have been buying overseas mares, getting them in foal and bringing them across in order to bolster domestic bloodlines.
The quartet of yearlings to be offered in Cape Town all have a Coolmore connection and are first foals of mares trained in Ireland by the now-retired David Wachman. They are all unnamed and part of a large consignment from Klawervlei Stud, which is acting as agent.
“They're all very, very nice horses,” said Klawervlei's managing director John Koster. “They've all got quality, wonderful depth and shape to them. They're well-built but athletic; we're really happy with the four of them. Frankel is on fire as a stallion, his progeny have been brilliant so far, and we've seen how well they have been selling around the world. It's very exciting.”
The yearlings are in situ at the Cape Town International Convention Centre and the first to go under the hammer is lot 27, a bay filly out of Daffodil (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}), who was unraced. She was the first foal of Roman Empress (Ire) (Sadler´s Wells), who was third in the 2009 G1 Yorkshire Oaks as well as being a full-sister to Derby runner-up The Great Gatsby (Ire) and a close relative of G1 Grand Prix de Paris winner Imperial Monarch (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}).
Lot 64 is a bay colt out of Fly To The Moon (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}). She won two minor races at The Curragh as well as attaining a listed third at Tipperary as a 2-year-old. Fly To The Moon is a sister of the Group 3-placed Juliet Capulet (Ire) and her dam, Royal Ballerina (Ire), was second in both the English and Irish Oaks in 1993.
Lot 114 is a good-sized bay filly out of Little Fastnet (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}). Little Fastnet managed to place third in maidens at Tipperary and Leopardstown as a 2-year-old but her dam was Damson (Ire) (Entrepreneur {GB}), a flag-bearer in Wachman's early days who ended up the 2004 champion Irish juvenile after her victories in the G2 Queen Mary S. and the G1 Phoenix S. This makes Little Fastnet a half-sister to the speedy juvenile Requinto (Ire).
Closing the sale for Frankel on day two is lot 198, another bay filly out of Supposing (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}). She won a Leopardstown maiden on what was to be her fourth and final start in August of 2014. Supposing is a half-sister to Cameron Highland (Ire), a solid middle-distance listed performer, and the G2 Ribblesdale S. runner-up Field Of Miracles (Ire).
“There's such Frankel mania at the moment, it's going to be riveting, whatever happens,” said bloodstock agent Amanda Skiffington. “It will also be interesting to see if their presence brings in any more interest from outside South Africa. It's such a well-organised sale, it does seem to be getting more international. It has got better year on year and the hospitality is fantastic. You've got a lot of wealthy people who are interested in racing, and in developing it.
Skiffington added, “They have some good stallions of their own–Silvano (Ger) was selling very well last year, as well as Captain Al (SAf) and a few others. With some of the South African pedigrees, if you don't know them as well as the Europeans, you have to judge them more as individuals, but that's something I do anyway.”
Klawervlei, a couple of hours east of Cape Town near Bonnievale, will have its largest consignment at the sale to date, numbering more than 50. Koster expects a dozen offspring of its resident Captain Al, a South African champion sire, to be popular.
“We have a lot of nice pedigrees, a real variety,” he said. “We've also got a very, very nice Scat Daddy filly (lot 125) out of Marquesa Naranja (Ire) (Duke Of Marmalade {Ire}). The dam is a half-sister to Alexander Goldrun (Ire). Scat Daddy sadly died and I think she will probably be the only one sold in South Africa this year.”
Captain Al's daughter of the Galileo (Ire) mare Zippy Zitter (Ire) (lot 226) was given a good mention by several insiders. Lot 187, a Duke of Marmalade (Ire) filly out of Shina (Ger), a full-sister to leading stallion Silvano (Ger) will also be interesting. She is hence closely related to Horizon (SAf), who broke the South African yearling record when going for R5.2-million (£309,700) at this sale in 2015 and is a leading contender for next week's G1 Investec Cape Derby.
The sale begins at 5:30 p.m. local time each evening.
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