Former top sprinter Red Ray has been retired to stud. He will begin his stud career at Klawervlei later this year.

One of four nominees for Equus Champion Sprinter last year, the Lammerskraal Stud bred owned Red Ray won five of 16 outings and banked over R1.9 million in prize money.
The charismatic Red Ray was one of the best two-year-olds of his generation, when he won his first three in a row, before finishing second to Willow Magic in the G1 SA Nursery at Turffontein.

Red Ray trained on well to land the G3 Cape Classic where he slammed subsequent Horse Of The Year Legislate by an effortless two and a half lengths. He would go on to place in three Grade One races that season before being exported to Dubai. Red Ray made a single start in the UAE and was later repatriated and returned home to trainer Joey Ramsden.

He impressed when landing the 2016 G1 Mercury Sprint, where Red Ray accounted for no fewer than four G1 winners, as well as sprint stars Trip Tease and Trip To Heaven.

Red Ray is one of 20 G1 winners sired by ill-fated Gone West horse Western Winter, who headed the SA General Sires List on three occasions. Western Winter’s numerous high class performers also include dual Equus Champion and current leading first crop sire What A Winter, and fellow champions Bad Girl Runs, Ice Cube, Winter Solstice and Yard-Arm.

A full brother to G1 Thekwini Stakes winner Nania and G2 Merchants hero Brutal Force, Red Ray was one of five stakes winners produced by the now deceased Pas De Quoi mare Nacarat.

This is also the family of multiple G1 winner Set Afire, like Red Ray, a son of Western Winter.