Avontuur Thoroughbred Estate’s triple G1 winning sire Oratorio had a day to remember at Kenilworth on Tuesday when his offspring won three of the eight races carded!
The Oratorio treble included a pair of two-year-old winners in the form of Optimum and Athalia, with Oratorio’s three-year-old son Jephthah winning Tuesday’s last race on the card for trainer Vaughan Marshall and jockey Luyolo Mxothwa.

Remarkably, Oratorio’s only other runner on the card, first-timer Benicarlo, also caught the eye when running on strongly for second by his paternal half-brother Optimum –giving his sire three winners and a second from only four runners.

The Piet Botha trained Optimum ran on smartly to shed his maiden at the third time of asking when accounting for Benicarlo by a length and a quarter in Tuesday’s first race –a maiden juvenile plate over 1000m. Bred by the Connemara Stud, the Oratorio colt had been second at his previous start when beaten less than two lengths by the winner.

Optimum’s well related paternal half-sister Athalia (who is from the same female line as Oratorio’s own sire Danehill) provided Oratorio with a two-year-old double when the Basil Marcus bred filly stormed home to get off the mark by just under half a length in a maiden juvenile plate for fillies over 1200 metres. Out of the Greys Inn mare Souk, Athalia is a sixth two-year-old winner for Oratorio this season.

The Boland Stud bred Jephthah, who had beaten the smart Royal Italian when making a winning debut as a two-year-old, picked up his second career victory when landing Tuesday’s eighth and final race, a MR 79 divided handicap by a length and a quarter.

Oratorio, whose G2 Colorado King Stakes winning son Divine Odyssey is set to take his place in the G1 Vodacom Durban July on Saturday week, is the sire of 54 stakes winners to date with his offspring having earned in excess of $64 000 000.

The son of Danehill has two lots on offer at the 2019 KZN Yearling Sale, which takes place at the Sibaya Casino next week.