Sandown Stud’s inform sire, and former Irish champion, Pathfork is having a wonderful season thus far in 2022-2023 and the son of Distorted Humor was back in the headlines when his son Royal Victory ran out a hugely impressive winner of the G3 Tony Ruffel Stakes at Turffontein on Monday.

Runner up in both the G1 Premier’s Champion Stakes and G2 Durban Golden Horseshoe at two, three-year-old Royal Victory had finished fourth in the G2 Jonsson Workwear Dingaans on his previous start.
However, the Nathan Kotzen trained gelding made no mistakes in Monday’s Tony Ruffel Stakes (1400m), where Royal Victory outclassed his rivals to win as he liked.
Under an inform S’Manga Khumalo, Royal Victory cruised into the lead at the top of the straight, and was simply ridden out to win with considerable ease by three and three-quarter lengths.
Bred by Ambiance Stud, Royal Victory is out of the Kahal mare Kailani.
The talented Royal Victory is now likely to be aimed at the G2 Gauteng Guineas. Royal Victory is the second three-year-old son of Pathfork to land a feature race in the past few days, with Pathfork’s progressive son Jimmy Don running out a smart winner of the Listed Secretariat Stakes on Christmas Eve.

Royal Victory is the 15th stakes winner for his sire, whose progeny also include the G1 winners Mighty High and Pearl Of Asia.
Pathfork is also enjoying plenty of success with his older runners this season, with his son Bingwa having capturing the G2 Allied Steelrode -Onamission Charity Mile earlier this season (while beating subsequent G1 Betway Summer Cup winner Puerto Manzano into second), with Bingwa having captured the same race back in 2021.