Klawervlei’s outstanding sire Captain Al dominated proceedings on Sun Met day on Saturday.
The former champion sire, and eight times champion sire of 2yos, had no fewer than five winners on the day (and seven winners in total over the weekend), with Captain Al sired runners cleaning up in the Cape features.
Captain Al continued his dominance of two-year-old features when daughter Call To Account and son Kasimir ran first and second in the Listed Princess Charlene Of Monaco SA Foundation Summer Juvenile Stakes.
Call To Account, who is bred and owned by Bernard Kantor, is the third Captain Al runner to lift the prestigious Summer Juvenile Stakes, a race won previously by such G1 winners as Sparkling Gem, Princess Victoria and Copper Parade. She was preceded by Only Emily and Sergeant Hardy respectively.
It was also back to back wins in the Summer Juvenile Stakes for Captain Al, whose subsequent G3 Cape Of Good Hope Nursery winning son Sergeant Hardy had won this race a year ago.
Call To Account, the 77th stakes winner for her sire, had been third, on debut, to another promising 2yo daughter of Captain Al in Princess Peach. Her paternal half-brother Kasmir impressed when finishing second, on debut, in the Summer Juvenile Stakes and he looks more than capable of becoming yet another black type winning juvenile for Captain Al.
The champion’s next feature race win on the day came when his Klawervlei Stud bred and bound son William Longsword defeated a star studded field to lift the CTS Mile. Winner of the G1 Grand Parade Cape Guineas last time out, the handsome colt put a top class field to the sword as he skated clear to land the $500 000 contest by one and a half lengths for owners Mayfair Speculators and trainer Vaughan Marshall. Bred on the same Captain Al/Fort Wood cross as Sun Met third Captain America, William Longsword has now won six of just eight outings.
Captain Al’s great daughter Carry On Alice made it G1 win number four when she got the better of stable mate Trip To Heaven and G1 winner Red Ray to lift the G1 Betting World Cape Flying Championship –a race she was third in 12 months earlier. Bred (and part-owned) by Klawervlei, Carry On Alice has now won G1 races at 2,3,4, and 5, with her previous top level wins including the SA Nursery, City Of Pietermaritzburg Fillies Sprint and Computaform Sprint. Owned by Chris Van Niekerk, Dr John and Jill Warner, and Klawervlei Stud, Carry On Alice’s G1 win on Saturday pushed her earnings to over R3.9 million.
Captain Al was also represented by G1 Sun Met third Captain America and G1 Investec Cape Derby third Captain Gambler to put a cherry on what was a magnificent day for the son of Al Mufti.
The champion’s good form continued the great run of success that Captain Al’s progeny enjoyed at the recent Cape Premier Yearling Sale, where his yearlings fetched up to R4.5 million.