2008 FILLIES GUINEAS KICKS OFF CAPE RACING IN STYLE
11 December 2008
On Saturday, 6 December, hundreds of guests celebrated the start of the Western Cape racing season in style at the Avontuur Estate R500 000 Gr 1 Fillies Guineas at Kenilworth Race Course in Cape Town.
From mid-day, designer-dressed VIP guests started arriving and were welcomed with a glamorous Avontuur wine cocktail prepared by Liquid Chefs in the Peninsula Room on the 4th floor. Lots of award-winning Avontuur wines on the tables, exciting racing throughout the day and the reunion of old friends ensured a festive vibe!
The picnic area under the shady trees was bursting with activity with hundreds of youngsters being entertained by jumping castles, slippy slides, face painters and free candy floss. Parents indulged themselves by relaxing with friends and family and keeping an eye on their offspring.
A new addition to the day was the inaugural Tony Taberer Memorial Race, won by “Lady Windermere” with Lindy Taberer handing over the prize to a jubilant winning team, led by owner Pieter de Beyer and trainer, Glen Kotzen.
Then it was time for the main event with betting hotting up in the last few minutes before the start. After a fantastic first-ever Gr 1 win for the owners of Snaith-trained “Sparkling Gem”, the celebrating team gathered together next to the track to be handed their trophies by the entire Taberer family, led by Lindy, Blair, Michael and Phillip.
Blair thanked the Avontuur team under general manager, Pippa Mickleburgh for their hard work to make the day such a success and congratulated the winners on behalf of the sponsor.
A perfect, sunny Cape Town day at the races ended off with guests celebrating their winnings with a last drink and promises to meet again next year for the 2009 Avontuur Estate Fillies Guineas.
Commented Pippa Mickleburgh: “Once again the Avontuur team has put together a festive and fitting start to the racing season! The day was a great success for us and once again proves our commitment to racing in South Africa. See you next year!”
VAR GETS QUICKLY OFF THE MARK AT KENILWORTH
17 November 2008
AVONTUUR Stud’s stallion VAR got off to a great start when his first runner, Enchanted (Aldo Domeyer), won her 800m debut at Kenilworth on Saturday.
Enchanted is owned by Port Elizabeth based Aldo Scribante and trained at Fairview by Nic Claassen, who made a rare trip to the Cape because he rightly felt that this one was good enough to take on the normally stronger Cape counterparts.
Enchanted wins for VAR. (Gold Circle).
Pippa Mickleburgh of Avontuur Stud commented: “We are so excited, I must have got 50 text messages from well-wishers, including one sent by Mr and Mrs Henry Divine of Jet Master fame. The support is heartwarming and of course it is great for VAR’s first runner to have been a winner. We’ve put our trust in him, he is doing the job covering 120 mares a season and his progeny are going to make the grade.’’
Enchanted was bred from the Ginistrelli mare Classical Magic, who has already produced decent sprinter-miler Super Symphony and leading stayer Magic Ballad. Super Symphony herself has just thrown a VAR foal bred by David Hepburn-Brown.
Avontuur Estate will host the visiting international jockeys at the beautiful Somerset-West farm next Wednesday and Pippa looked much forward to it: “Frankie Dettori will be reuniting with VAR, the racehorse he rode to victory in the Group 1 Prix d'Labbaye at Longchamp. Also I met Frankie several years ago at the Dubai World Cup . He’s a rave, I can’t wait to have him and his colleagues at the farm.’’
AVONTUUR'S "HEAVEN ON EARTH" SURROUNDS WELCOME FOALS
13 October 2008
Avontuur Estate, known for fine wines and great racehorses, shows off its new born foals to SAHorseracing.COM readers this week. The Western Cape farm is one of the most beautiful in the country - a great home for any of gods majestic creatures, most especially his finest - the racehorse.
It was the man above who blessed Avontuur with some outstanding foals over the past few weeks as "Avontuur's angels" graced the paddocks of the estate. Avontuur's other angel, Var, also graces the Estate and he can lay claim to being the "dad" to many of the new arrivals.
Var - the king of Avontuur
Pippa Mickleburgh, General Manger of the Estate, continues, "In short the season is going really well – stables have been repaired and we are back using all the stables; the past week of sun really helped to settle everything down and encourage the mares to cycle normally. The late heavy rains made the early part of this season very difficult and hopefully summer as arrived.
"We have in total 17 foals and 13 to go! so far mainly colts so we are very happy."
Mickleburgh commented on some of her recent arrivals
Grey’s Inn - Classique Story colt (pictured above) - 'most imposing and strong; a credit to his sire and dam. This is an exceptional foal all goes well for Grey's Inn as a sire"
National Emblem - Cherry Pepper (Sadler's Wells) (pictured) - "flashy colt, tall and rangy really top class –the half brother to Tabscorez (decent horse in Mauritius)"
Spectrum - Azabu Park filly (pictured) - "Magnificent strong and robust filly dam won 10 races"
Jet Master - Toga filly - "Plain very tall classy – dam a good race filly with Mike De Kock"
Silvano - Amazon Lily colt - "rugged tough colt the half brother to Fire King (facile winner at the Vaal last week)"
Var - Soho Secret (pictured above)
Avontuur Estate's stallion standout, Var, has been booked to 120 mares and 56 have been covered to date. The stallion has had support form all the provinces of the republic and from all leading studs.
Avontuur have purchased three race fillies this season. They are all in foal to Var - Alluvial, Winona and Young Sensation (pictured from left). This continues their policy of upgrading the band of mares every season.
Avontuur is expecting 14 foals by Var from the likes of Sarabande, Model IQ (sister to Mentor), Red Remedy, Avian Talk (Arg), Murmuration (Arg) and London Belle.
"The Peaceful life on our new 50 hectares purchased end of 2006 high up in the Helderberg - the one month old foals live an idyllic life with the best view in the Western Cape," concludes Mickleburgh.
AVONTUUR ESTATE IN TOP 10 AT YEARLING SALES
11 April 2008
Looking forward to the rest of the sales for the year, Pippa commented that Avontuur will have six fillies and four colts available for the Western Cape Sales at Grandwest and two fillies in KwaZulu Natal, which should be the cherry on top for a fantastic Avontuur Stud year!
The Estate would like to thank the buyers and under bidders for their support which made this Avontuur’s best-ever sale and wish them well on the tracks.
At a Glance with Lance Benson
Var and Away 8/01/08
The natural synergy between wine and the thoroughbred racehorse has become a fashionable and trendy marketing mirror for horseracing in recent times. The simple fact of the matter is that the marriage is a happy one and has a mystique and appeal to a diverse consumer cross-section that will unearth pleasure in both. One of the major players is Avontuur Stud, where family values, old fashioned sentimentality and a competitive spirit are the cornerstones of a success story over twenty years in the making. It is also of course, the home of Var.
God’s country is really the only way to describe the picture perfect setting of Avontuur Stud as it nestles peacefully off the R44 between the history laden villages of Somerset West and Stellenbosch. Sadly I use the term ‘villages’ with more poetic and artistic licence than they probably warrant. I am in fact probably thirty years late as development and urban sprawl have inexorably changed the character of these still pretty Boland ‘dorpies’. However, in spite of the burgeoning modernization, it is not difficult to comprehend or picture the vision that the late Zimbabwean, Tony Taberer experienced when he decided to set up shop there and established Avontuur Wine Estate some twenty two years ago. The thoroughbred racehorse breeding operation commenced some four years later with Divine King as the resident stallion but it was really only with the already well established sire Dominion Royale’s arrival in the early 1990’s that the fortunes of Avontuur Stud took off.
The year 2007 will go down as a watershed in the history of Avontuur and a bleak one at that – it saw the passing of the legendary Tony Taberer and his beloved Dominion Royale, at the age of 24 years. Pippa Mickleburgh, General Manager of the operation and the farm’s public face, has seen eighteen Boland winters and lives for all that is Avontuur – she takes up the story:
“If we go back to early 2005 Mr. Taberer and I decided that perhaps we should start looking for a replacement for Dominion Royale as he was 20years old. Mr Taberer had been so ill for so long but his love for the farm and the horses kept his spirits up. He decided to go for a “proper” horse as he put it. He would often say that when he goes he wanted to leave “us” something really special. Robin Bruss was contacted to help in our search, and the story of the acquisition is a separate chapter all on it’s own! The deal was very complicated and rather expensive. Mr Taberer was adamant that he wanted this champion and nothing was going to stop him. It was clear to all of us that the whole process gave him energy and renewed vigor.
Var arrived in July 2005 and stole all our hearts immediately - he was an absolute hit . At that time he was the most expensive first season sire to come to SA, and he may very well still be. His viewing day was a sell-out with 250 people attending and everyone was bowled over. He had a way of somehow creeping into everyone’s heart- much like the grand old man, Dominion Royale had done so many years before. Tough old farmers melted in his presence people would say he touched their souls! I don’t want to get too emotional but I think this horse was “sent” to us to give us hope and the energy to fight as Mr. Taberer was by then very ill. Var and him connected and they were the best of friends – anyone who knew the Taberers knew how special Var was to him.”
Pippa went on to explain the syndication and the forthcoming National Yearling Sales: “He was fully syndicated in a week to top breeders across South Africa and covered more than 80 mares the first year. His foals were outstanding and he got 97 mares in 2006 and has just covered 103 mares in 2007. His popularity is growing and we are so excited and cannot wait to see his offspring on the track- with a bit of nervous apprehension as well! It will be a tough National Sales this year, selling his first crop without my mentor; but I know he will be watching over us. When Mr. Taberer passed away in May 2007, I took Var to the entrance of the Chapel to say goodbye: it was moving but for me the right thing to do. Var stood proud, behaved impeccably and said goodbye. Saying goodbye to our two ‘kings’ in one year has been a tough test of character – but I have every confidence in the new young guns, Var and Mr. Taberer’s sons, Blair, Michael, Philip and his wife, Lindy. We are determined to keep his dream alive and are positive that Var is going to assist us in getting there.”
For those of you interested in seeing what Avontuur are offering on the various Sales, Pippa gave me a brief overview. She did however say that she is available at any time for any enquiries- email her on stud@avontuurestate.co.za.
National Yearling Sales
Eighteen Avontuur lots are scheduled for this sale with seven on the select night:
VALETA: Var x Sarabande - a striking strong grey first foal filly, the dam a Gr 1 winner trained by Joey Ramsden in her recent racing days.
JET TRAIL: Jet Master x Azabu Park – a tall , rangy filly, the dam a multiple Group winner- her 2nd foal.
ALDERRY: Al Mufti x Derrywood – a big, robust filly the half sister to last season’s top two year old, Royal Vintage – now in Dubai.
COOL CHICK: Western Winter x Wise Dame – a classy, tall, smart filly – the half sister to the well performed Royal IQ.
SPORTS ACCLAIM: Fort Wood x Sports Chestnut – strong, close coupled racy colt – ¾ brother to Horse Chestnut’s dam, a Gr1 winner.
PULITZER: National Emblem x Classique Story – tall,racy colt; dam by Elliodor.
WINTER FIRE: Western Winter x Avon Rouge – flashy , strong colt – a half brother to Bullion , an exciting 3yo from the family of Surveyor
On the white pages there are seven Var youngsters, the best perhaps a strong colt “Vacherin” out of the stakes performer and producer Golden Treat, a flashy strong filly out of Soho Society called “Miss Var “(London News family) then “Lamorna” a really smart filly by Var out of Lena (USA) and therefore a half sister to Ladonna who was fourth in the 2007 Fillies Guineas. There is also a Captain Al filly, and a Fort Wood filly to complete a superb draft for 2008.
There are three horses on the Vintage Sale:
CALEB ; Kabool x River Divine – a big flashy colt
THE ABBOTT; Modus Vivendi x Graceful Abbey — a stunning strong colt
CARPENTERIA; Modus Vivendi x La Brea Pits — a big strong first foal of a group performing mare.
There are ten lots due to be sold at the Grand West Sale:
Five of them are by Var; perhaps the best a colt called Villandry out of Amazon Lily and a Var filly called Valuta, out of a winning Fortwood mare.
The others include a Parade Leader filly out of the Sadler’s Wells mare Cherry Pepper called Kanzan, bred on the famous and so popular Kingmambo x Sadler’s Wells cross. Then a very nice Dominion Royale filly called Decorum , the half sister to Group winner Cup Of Grace and a smart attractive Victory Moon filly x Rehaab (Mtoto), called Night Sky.
CART HORSE ASSOCIATION DONATION HANDOVER
(2 January 2008)
On Wednesday, 19 December, Avontuur Estate handed over a cheque for R15 000 raised at the Cape Fillies Guineas on 1 December, to assist the Cart Horse Protection Association with their sterling work in the Western Cape. On the photograph is from left to right: Megan White, Fundraiser/PR of the Association, Blair Taberer of Avontuur Estate and Dee Terblanche, General Manager of the Cart Horse Protection Association.
NEWS ARCHIVE:
11 December 2008
On Saturday, 6 December, hundreds of guests celebrated the start of the Western Cape racing season in style at the Avontuur Estate R500 000 Gr 1 Fillies Guineas at Kenilworth Race Course in Cape Town.
From mid-day, designer-dressed VIP guests started arriving and were welcomed with a glamorous Avontuur wine cocktail prepared by Liquid Chefs in the Peninsula Room on the 4th floor. Lots of award-winning Avontuur wines on the tables, exciting racing throughout the day and the reunion of old friends ensured a festive vibe!
The picnic area under the shady trees was bursting with activity with hundreds of youngsters being entertained by jumping castles, slippy slides, face painters and free candy floss. Parents indulged themselves by relaxing with friends and family and keeping an eye on their offspring.
A new addition to the day was the inaugural Tony Taberer Memorial Race, won by “Lady Windermere” with Lindy Taberer handing over the prize to a jubilant winning team, led by owner Pieter de Beyer and trainer, Glen Kotzen.
Then it was time for the main event with betting hotting up in the last few minutes before the start. After a fantastic first-ever Gr 1 win for the owners of Snaith-trained “Sparkling Gem”, the celebrating team gathered together next to the track to be handed their trophies by the entire Taberer family, led by Lindy, Blair, Michael and Phillip.
Blair thanked the Avontuur team under general manager, Pippa Mickleburgh for their hard work to make the day such a success and congratulated the winners on behalf of the sponsor.
A perfect, sunny Cape Town day at the races ended off with guests celebrating their winnings with a last drink and promises to meet again next year for the 2009 Avontuur Estate Fillies Guineas.
Commented Pippa Mickleburgh: “Once again the Avontuur team has put together a festive and fitting start to the racing season! The day was a great success for us and once again proves our commitment to racing in South Africa. See you next year!”
VAR GETS QUICKLY OFF THE MARK AT KENILWORTH
17 November 2008
AVONTUUR Stud’s stallion VAR got off to a great start when his first runner, Enchanted (Aldo Domeyer), won her 800m debut at Kenilworth on Saturday.
Enchanted is owned by Port Elizabeth based Aldo Scribante and trained at Fairview by Nic Claassen, who made a rare trip to the Cape because he rightly felt that this one was good enough to take on the normally stronger Cape counterparts.
Enchanted wins for VAR. (Gold Circle).
Pippa Mickleburgh of Avontuur Stud commented: “We are so excited, I must have got 50 text messages from well-wishers, including one sent by Mr and Mrs Henry Divine of Jet Master fame. The support is heartwarming and of course it is great for VAR’s first runner to have been a winner. We’ve put our trust in him, he is doing the job covering 120 mares a season and his progeny are going to make the grade.’’
Enchanted was bred from the Ginistrelli mare Classical Magic, who has already produced decent sprinter-miler Super Symphony and leading stayer Magic Ballad. Super Symphony herself has just thrown a VAR foal bred by David Hepburn-Brown.
Avontuur Estate will host the visiting international jockeys at the beautiful Somerset-West farm next Wednesday and Pippa looked much forward to it: “Frankie Dettori will be reuniting with VAR, the racehorse he rode to victory in the Group 1 Prix d'Labbaye at Longchamp. Also I met Frankie several years ago at the Dubai World Cup . He’s a rave, I can’t wait to have him and his colleagues at the farm.’’
AVONTUUR'S "HEAVEN ON EARTH" SURROUNDS WELCOME FOALS
13 October 2008
Avontuur Estate, known for fine wines and great racehorses, shows off its new born foals to SAHorseracing.COM readers this week. The Western Cape farm is one of the most beautiful in the country - a great home for any of gods majestic creatures, most especially his finest - the racehorse.
It was the man above who blessed Avontuur with some outstanding foals over the past few weeks as "Avontuur's angels" graced the paddocks of the estate. Avontuur's other angel, Var, also graces the Estate and he can lay claim to being the "dad" to many of the new arrivals.
Var - the king of Avontuur
Pippa Mickleburgh, General Manger of the Estate, continues, "In short the season is going really well – stables have been repaired and we are back using all the stables; the past week of sun really helped to settle everything down and encourage the mares to cycle normally. The late heavy rains made the early part of this season very difficult and hopefully summer as arrived.
"We have in total 17 foals and 13 to go! so far mainly colts so we are very happy."
Mickleburgh commented on some of her recent arrivals
Grey’s Inn - Classique Story colt (pictured above) - 'most imposing and strong; a credit to his sire and dam. This is an exceptional foal all goes well for Grey's Inn as a sire"
National Emblem - Cherry Pepper (Sadler's Wells) (pictured) - "flashy colt, tall and rangy really top class –the half brother to Tabscorez (decent horse in Mauritius)"
Spectrum - Azabu Park filly (pictured) - "Magnificent strong and robust filly dam won 10 races"
Jet Master - Toga filly - "Plain very tall classy – dam a good race filly with Mike De Kock"
Silvano - Amazon Lily colt - "rugged tough colt the half brother to Fire King (facile winner at the Vaal last week)"
Var - Soho Secret (pictured above)
Avontuur Estate's stallion standout, Var, has been booked to 120 mares and 56 have been covered to date. The stallion has had support form all the provinces of the republic and from all leading studs.
Avontuur have purchased three race fillies this season. They are all in foal to Var - Alluvial, Winona and Young Sensation (pictured from left). This continues their policy of upgrading the band of mares every season.
Avontuur is expecting 14 foals by Var from the likes of Sarabande, Model IQ (sister to Mentor), Red Remedy, Avian Talk (Arg), Murmuration (Arg) and London Belle.
"The Peaceful life on our new 50 hectares purchased end of 2006 high up in the Helderberg - the one month old foals live an idyllic life with the best view in the Western Cape," concludes Mickleburgh.
AVONTUUR ESTATE IN TOP 10 AT YEARLING SALES
11 April 2008
| The Avontuur team returned triumphantly from the Yearling Sales in Gauteng this week after finishing 6th on the vendor’s list with sales of R8 million for 16 yearlings. In addition, the first VAR’s on the premier auction were extremely well received and sales exceeded all expectations. “13 of VAR’s progeny were sold for R4.37 million, which put him top of the list for first season stallions and we are very happy with the support we received from buyers for his exciting debut,” says GM, Pippa Mickleburgh. They were: |
 Alderry, a bay filly, sired by Al Mufti, which was sold at the National Yearling Sales in Johannesburg for a cool R1,6 Million to the Mike de Kock stable. |
| NAME | PRICE | BUYER |
| Valeta | R850 000 | Mike Azzie |
| Cool Chick | R1 million | Team Valor |
| Alderry | R1.6 million | Mike de Kock |
| Winter Fire | R850 000 | Waio Marwing |
| Sports Acclaim | R250 000 | Dominic Zaki |
| Jet Trail | R750 000 | Alec Laird |
| Townsend | R250 000 | Goodwood Racing Club |
| Fortworth | R150 000 | Glen Kotzen |
| MacNair | R330 000 | Robert Sage |
| Lochlorian | R380 000 | Mike Azzie |
| Vareuse | R350 000 | Charles Laird |
| Lamorna | R350 000 | Michael Roberts |
| Miss VAR | R350 000 | A Crabbia |
| Valiant | R250 000 | Dominic Zaki |
| Enchanted | R250 000 | Nic Claasen |
| Pulitzer | R300 000 | Joey Ramsden |
| Val de Ra | Not Sold | To be retained |
Looking forward to the rest of the sales for the year, Pippa commented that Avontuur will have six fillies and four colts available for the Western Cape Sales at Grandwest and two fillies in KwaZulu Natal, which should be the cherry on top for a fantastic Avontuur Stud year!
The Estate would like to thank the buyers and under bidders for their support which made this Avontuur’s best-ever sale and wish them well on the tracks.
At a Glance with Lance Benson
Var and Away 8/01/08
The natural synergy between wine and the thoroughbred racehorse has become a fashionable and trendy marketing mirror for horseracing in recent times. The simple fact of the matter is that the marriage is a happy one and has a mystique and appeal to a diverse consumer cross-section that will unearth pleasure in both. One of the major players is Avontuur Stud, where family values, old fashioned sentimentality and a competitive spirit are the cornerstones of a success story over twenty years in the making. It is also of course, the home of Var.
God’s country is really the only way to describe the picture perfect setting of Avontuur Stud as it nestles peacefully off the R44 between the history laden villages of Somerset West and Stellenbosch. Sadly I use the term ‘villages’ with more poetic and artistic licence than they probably warrant. I am in fact probably thirty years late as development and urban sprawl have inexorably changed the character of these still pretty Boland ‘dorpies’. However, in spite of the burgeoning modernization, it is not difficult to comprehend or picture the vision that the late Zimbabwean, Tony Taberer experienced when he decided to set up shop there and established Avontuur Wine Estate some twenty two years ago. The thoroughbred racehorse breeding operation commenced some four years later with Divine King as the resident stallion but it was really only with the already well established sire Dominion Royale’s arrival in the early 1990’s that the fortunes of Avontuur Stud took off.The year 2007 will go down as a watershed in the history of Avontuur and a bleak one at that – it saw the passing of the legendary Tony Taberer and his beloved Dominion Royale, at the age of 24 years. Pippa Mickleburgh, General Manager of the operation and the farm’s public face, has seen eighteen Boland winters and lives for all that is Avontuur – she takes up the story:
“If we go back to early 2005 Mr. Taberer and I decided that perhaps we should start looking for a replacement for Dominion Royale as he was 20years old. Mr Taberer had been so ill for so long but his love for the farm and the horses kept his spirits up. He decided to go for a “proper” horse as he put it. He would often say that when he goes he wanted to leave “us” something really special. Robin Bruss was contacted to help in our search, and the story of the acquisition is a separate chapter all on it’s own! The deal was very complicated and rather expensive. Mr Taberer was adamant that he wanted this champion and nothing was going to stop him. It was clear to all of us that the whole process gave him energy and renewed vigor.
Var arrived in July 2005 and stole all our hearts immediately - he was an absolute hit . At that time he was the most expensive first season sire to come to SA, and he may very well still be. His viewing day was a sell-out with 250 people attending and everyone was bowled over. He had a way of somehow creeping into everyone’s heart- much like the grand old man, Dominion Royale had done so many years before. Tough old farmers melted in his presence people would say he touched their souls! I don’t want to get too emotional but I think this horse was “sent” to us to give us hope and the energy to fight as Mr. Taberer was by then very ill. Var and him connected and they were the best of friends – anyone who knew the Taberers knew how special Var was to him.”
Pippa went on to explain the syndication and the forthcoming National Yearling Sales: “He was fully syndicated in a week to top breeders across South Africa and covered more than 80 mares the first year. His foals were outstanding and he got 97 mares in 2006 and has just covered 103 mares in 2007. His popularity is growing and we are so excited and cannot wait to see his offspring on the track- with a bit of nervous apprehension as well! It will be a tough National Sales this year, selling his first crop without my mentor; but I know he will be watching over us. When Mr. Taberer passed away in May 2007, I took Var to the entrance of the Chapel to say goodbye: it was moving but for me the right thing to do. Var stood proud, behaved impeccably and said goodbye. Saying goodbye to our two ‘kings’ in one year has been a tough test of character – but I have every confidence in the new young guns, Var and Mr. Taberer’s sons, Blair, Michael, Philip and his wife, Lindy. We are determined to keep his dream alive and are positive that Var is going to assist us in getting there.”
For those of you interested in seeing what Avontuur are offering on the various Sales, Pippa gave me a brief overview. She did however say that she is available at any time for any enquiries- email her on stud@avontuurestate.co.za.
National Yearling Sales
Eighteen Avontuur lots are scheduled for this sale with seven on the select night:
VALETA: Var x Sarabande - a striking strong grey first foal filly, the dam a Gr 1 winner trained by Joey Ramsden in her recent racing days.
JET TRAIL: Jet Master x Azabu Park – a tall , rangy filly, the dam a multiple Group winner- her 2nd foal.
ALDERRY: Al Mufti x Derrywood – a big, robust filly the half sister to last season’s top two year old, Royal Vintage – now in Dubai.
COOL CHICK: Western Winter x Wise Dame – a classy, tall, smart filly – the half sister to the well performed Royal IQ.
SPORTS ACCLAIM: Fort Wood x Sports Chestnut – strong, close coupled racy colt – ¾ brother to Horse Chestnut’s dam, a Gr1 winner.
PULITZER: National Emblem x Classique Story – tall,racy colt; dam by Elliodor.
WINTER FIRE: Western Winter x Avon Rouge – flashy , strong colt – a half brother to Bullion , an exciting 3yo from the family of Surveyor
On the white pages there are seven Var youngsters, the best perhaps a strong colt “Vacherin” out of the stakes performer and producer Golden Treat, a flashy strong filly out of Soho Society called “Miss Var “(London News family) then “Lamorna” a really smart filly by Var out of Lena (USA) and therefore a half sister to Ladonna who was fourth in the 2007 Fillies Guineas. There is also a Captain Al filly, and a Fort Wood filly to complete a superb draft for 2008.
There are three horses on the Vintage Sale:
CALEB ; Kabool x River Divine – a big flashy colt
THE ABBOTT; Modus Vivendi x Graceful Abbey — a stunning strong colt
CARPENTERIA; Modus Vivendi x La Brea Pits — a big strong first foal of a group performing mare.
There are ten lots due to be sold at the Grand West Sale:
Five of them are by Var; perhaps the best a colt called Villandry out of Amazon Lily and a Var filly called Valuta, out of a winning Fortwood mare.
The others include a Parade Leader filly out of the Sadler’s Wells mare Cherry Pepper called Kanzan, bred on the famous and so popular Kingmambo x Sadler’s Wells cross. Then a very nice Dominion Royale filly called Decorum , the half sister to Group winner Cup Of Grace and a smart attractive Victory Moon filly x Rehaab (Mtoto), called Night Sky.
CART HORSE ASSOCIATION DONATION HANDOVER
(2 January 2008)
On Wednesday, 19 December, Avontuur Estate handed over a cheque for R15 000 raised at the Cape Fillies Guineas on 1 December, to assist the Cart Horse Protection Association with their sterling work in the Western Cape. On the photograph is from left to right: Megan White, Fundraiser/PR of the Association, Blair Taberer of Avontuur Estate and Dee Terblanche, General Manager of the Cart Horse Protection Association.
 |
NEWS ARCHIVE:
For all queries, contact Pippa Mickleburgh at +27 (021)855-1442 or stud@avontuurestate.co.za
