By Alan Carasso
Springhills (Aus) brought up a Redoute's Choice double this week in South Africa Thursday, following on the debut success of Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum's homebred Al Fahad (Aus) going 1200 metres over this turf course Sept. 13. Both 3-year-olds are conditioned by Mike de Kock.
One of two first-starters in the field, Springhills jumped as the 13-20 favourite and reported home a narrow winner over the 1000 metres, pegging back chief market rival Mind Shade (SAf) (Elusive Fort {SAf}) in the shadow of the post. Callan Murray had the winning ride.
Bred in New South Wales by Rod and Jenny Ferguson and campaigned by that couple with Arrowfield Stud, Springhills was an A$300,000 purchase out of the 2015 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale and is the third winner–all by Redoute's Choice–from as many to race out of 2009 G1 Goodwood H. victrix Velocitea (NZ) (Volksraad {GB}). Springhills's full-brother Limehills (Aus) was stakes-placed in 2014, while the current 2-year-old out of Velocitea was purchased for A$340,000 by Mick Price Racing from the Rheinwood Pastoral consignment at this year's Gold Coast sale.
Al Fahad was the 4-1 third choice for his racecourse debut and had to display battling qualities to find his way to the wire first. The homebred descends from the family of Snippets (Aus), Forensics (Aus), Not a Single Doubt (Aus) and Ertijaal (Aus). De Kock believes Al Fahad will appreciate much further than Tuesday's six furlongs.
“Al Fahad has been showing us good work and we thought that he could go on and win first time out if he was good enough, and he proved it,” he commented.
With the victories, Redoute's Choice has been represented by 22 winners from 25 starters in South Africa, six of those at stakes level, including Group 1 winners and champions Musir (Aus) and Majmu (Aus) and Wylie Hall (Aus).
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
