Highlands Farm’s leading sire Dynasty was the toast of the turf this past weekend in South Africa when the former Horse Of The Year was represented by a pair of eye catching graded stakes winners.
First of the Dynasty sired runners to land a graded race was the Maine Chance Farms bred Horizon.
A R5.2 million buy from the 2015 Cape Premier Yearling Sale, the Candice Bass-Robinson trained colt picked up the first stakes win of his career with a one and a quarter length win over the well bred Australian import Newlands.
The lightly raced Horizon, who looked an unlucky loser of the Listed Grand Foods Jet Master Stakes last time out, looks on track for a tilt at the G1 Investec Cape Derby –a race won by his own sire Dynasty back in 2003.
Dynasty has already been represented by three Investec Cape Derby winners (Jackson, Legislate and It’s My Turn), as well as a dual Derby winner in Irish Flame, and Horizon could well provide his sire with more Derby glory.
Not only is Dynasty a sire of outstanding colts, but he is also enjoying more and more success with top class fillies.
His Cheveley Stud bred daughter Bela-Bela, last season’s Equus Champion 3YO Filly, is one of her sire’s best and she picked up the second G1 win of her career when downing a star studded field of fillies and mares to lift the 2017 G1 Maine Chance Farms Paddock Stakes at Kenilworth on Saturday.
A R1 400 000 buy from the 2014 Emperors Palace National 2YO Sale, Bela-Bela (whose previous wins included the G1 Woolavington 2000 and G2 KRA Fillies Guineas) has now won six of just nine outings and banked over R1.8 million in stakes.
Third in last year’s Paddock Stakes, the Varsfontein Stud owned filly looks on track for a tilt at the G1 Sun Met at the end of January.
The sire of 42 stakes winners and counting, Dynasty has enjoyed an excellent few days, with yet another daughter, A Time To Dream, having lifted the Listed Lady’s Bracelet on Wednesday.
He has 11 lots on offer at the Cape Premier Yearling Sale, including siblings to G1 winners Futura, Potala Palace and Solo Traveller as well as a colt out of Jet Master’s G1 winning daughter Viva Maria.