Drakenstein Stud’s prominent and popular stallion What A Winter made news this weekend when his daughter Chilly Winter claimed the first two-year-old race of the 2018-2019 South African racing season.
Trained by Paul Reeves, the Neil Butcher bred filly was always prominent and up with the pace in Saturday’s 900m dash at Kenilworth, with Chilly Winter staying on gamely to hold off a challenge from the favourite Shinnecock and went on to win by a neck.
Chilly Winter, her sire’s only juvenile runner thus far this season, was a R250 000 buy from the 2018 Cape Premier Yearling Sale.
Her triple Equus Champion sire has some exceptionally well bred juveniles representing him this season, with What A Winter juveniles this season including offspring of such stakes winners as Adobe Pink, I’m Like Hello, Lielums, and Haizi.
Four time G1 winner What A Winter looks set for another big season in 2018-2019 with his 3yos including brilliant filly and G2 Western Cape Fillies Championship winner Clouds Unfold –a leading contender for the upcoming G1 WSB Cape Fillies Guineas, and the promising Sacred Arrow, who holds an entry in the 2018 G1 Cape Guineas.
His brilliant daughter Magical Wonderland, a member of her sire’s first crop, is a runner in Saturday’s G2 Southern Cross Stakes.
What A Winter has 12 lots on next year’s Cape Premier Yearling Sale, including a half-sister to stakes winning fillies Little Genie and Luna Child (Lot 24), a colt out of Listed East Coast Handicap winner Deputy Ryder (Lot 38), and a colt out of a G3 placed half-sister to Equus Champion Hammie’s Hooker (Lot 216).