Drakenstein Stud’s four-time G1 winning sire, and former South African Horse Of The Year, Futura, came up with another feature race winner when his son Battleground captured the Port Elizabeth Gold Cup (3200m) at Fairview on Friday.
Trained by Lucky Houdalakis, Battleground had finished third in the Listed TAB Gold Bowl back in April, and the gelding bounced back to winning ways with a courageous performance on Friday.
Under a well-judged ride from S’Manga Khumalo, Battleground dug deep to get up and collar Frankel gelding Juan Carlos in Friday’s R175 000 race and score by a neck.
Bred and owned by Drakenstein Stud, gelded four-year-old Battleground has now won four times and has been placed 11 times in 21 outings.
Battleground is out of the Arch mare Archerfield.
His sire Futura has had another good season in 2023-2024, with Futura sons Future Pearl and Future Swing claiming all of the G3 Tabgold Derby, G2 World Sports Betting 1900, G3 Glorious Goodwood Chairman’s Cup and Listed Jonsson Workwear Algoa Cup.
Another son of Futura, The Futurist, won the 2024 G3 Pocket Power Stakes by nine and a quarter lengths.
Champion Futura has 14 lots on offer at the August Two Year Old Sale, including a half-brother (Lot 146) to G3 Victress Stakes winner Fresnaye, and a half-brother (Lot 234) to Equus Champion Nebraas.