Varsfontein Stud’s red-hot resident sire Gimmethegreenlight enjoyed a truly magnificent weekend this week.
The 2012 G1 L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate winner, and South Africa’s Champion First Crop Sire of 2015-2016, was represented by no fewer than four winners over the weekend, with Gimmethegreenlight’s four timer including winners of major races in both South Africa and Zimbabwe.
His star son Surcharge, bred by Varsfontein, picked up a well deserved first G1 victory when landing the R2 000 000 Daily News 2000 at Greyville on Saturday. In the process, the Stuart Pettigrew trained colt accounted for the winners of all the Cape Guineas, Daisy Guineas, Sea Cottage Stakes, and Racing Association Stakes.
Surcharge, runner up in all of the G1 SA Derby, G1 SA Classic, and G2 Gauteng Guineas, has now a trio of feature race victories to his credit, with the colt having previously won both the G3 Tony Ruffel and Listed Secretariat Stakes. Produced by the placed Diktat mare Congestion Charge, Surcharge has won or placed in ten of his 11 outings, with Saturday’s G1 win pushing his earnings to R2 273 375 (he also picked up a BSA added value bonus of R154 000).
Surcharge, whose own brother made R525 000 at this year’s National Sale, is the second G1 winner to have emerged from Gimmethegreenlight’s first two crops, with the sire also responsible for Premiers Champion Stakes winner Gunner.
He is one of an impressive 11 stakes horses produced in Gimmethegreenlight’s second crop, with this crop having also produced brilliant G2 Camellia Stakes winner Green Plains, G1 filly Rose In Bloom and G1 SA Fillies Classic second Green Top.
Not only was Gimmethegreenlight the sire of the major South Africa feature race winner this weekend, but his daughter Simona picked up one of Zimbabwe’s biggest races when the 4yo triumphed in the OK Grand Challenge at Borrowdale on Saturday. Trained by Bridget Stidolph, Simona romped home to a two length win under jockey Calvin Habib.
One of 12 black type performers produced in Gimmethegreenlight’s record breaking first crop, Simona is out of the Western Winter mare Ginger Hill.
Gimmethegreenlight, whose outstanding sire More Than Ready is sire of Saturday’s G3 Pennine Ridge Stakes winner Catholic Boy, was also represented by his 14th juvenile winner this weekend when Mr Green Street won over at Kenilworth.
Gimmethegreenlight’s eight strong KZN draft includes a half-brother to 8 time stakes winner Red Flyer (Lot 4), a colt out of a stakes placed daughter of champion sire Trippi (Lot 19), a colt out of a G3 placed daughter of outstanding sire and broodmare sire Encosta De Lago (Lot 236) and a filly whose stakes placed dam is a half-sister to Summer Cup winner Flirtation (Lot 239).