Highlands Stud part of Ridgemont’s well performed young sire Rafeef gained yet another update to his stellar pedigree when his close relative Wendylle got off the mark at Greyville on Wednesday.

A flashy grey son of Twice Over, the 3yo gelded Wendylle was always prominent and made much of the running to shed his maiden by 1.75 lengths, beating tote favourite Opensea, over 1000 metres. Bred by Klawervlei Stud, the Louis Goosen trained gelding had followed up a runner up effort in a barrier trial by finishing third over 1000m on his first official start.
Wendylle, a R380 000 buy from the 2017 Klawervlei Farm Sale who was later sold for R210 000 at the 2018 Super Sale, is the second winner produced by the winning Al Mufti mare Silver Candle.
In turn, Silver Candle is a half-sister to seven winners, notably National Colour, South Africa’s Joint Horse Of The Year in 2006, and dam of both Equus Champion, and G1 SA Nursery winner, Mustaaqeem and the latter’s G1 winning full-brother Rafeef.
National Colour, whose eight wins included G1 triumphs in all of the Mercury Sprint, Computaform Sprint and South African Fillies Sprint, is out of Champagne Stakes winner Rainbow Cake.

Rafeef, whose first foals arrived to rave reviews this year, more than lived up to his illustrious pedigree on the track.
The handsome bay, who made his debut in the 2015 G1 SA Nursery, won six of ten outings, banking more than R1.1 million in prize money in the process. His victories included both the 2017 G1 Computaform Sprint (beating Equus Champions Talktothestars and Carry On Alice) and 2017 G2 Hawaii Stakes, where Rafeef downed three Equus Champions!
Rafeef’s sire Redoute’s Choice was back in the headlines this past weekend, with his brilliant The Autumn Sun capturing the G1 De Bortoli Wines Golden Rose Stakes at Rosehill on Saturday.