14 minute read
ITB_February2025
GREEN energy
The long-established Varsfontein Stud, one of the premier nurseries in South Africa, stands five stallions including multiple champion sire Gimmethegreenlight, the 2023 champion juvenile Sandringham Summit, first-crop sire Erik The Red, who has got first winners on the board, and the new recruit Green With Envy, raised at the farm and son of its leading sire.
Owner Susan Rowett chats with James Thomas
WHEN ANTHONY KALMANSON established Varsfontein Stud in 1974, he could scarcely have envisioned a more auspicious start.
The first homebred yearling to be offered by the farm was the Royal Affair colt King’s Rhapsody, whose ten victories included the Smirnoff Plate, the race now run as the Grade 1 Gold Medallion.
At the same time, the operation’s first stallion, Mexico II, was setting about leaving an indelible mark on the South African breed by siring champions such as Harry Hotspur.
But, rather than merely being beginner’s luck, these success stories proved a sign of things to come.
Tragically Kalmanson did not get the chance to scale the heights with Varsfontein, and his untimely passing in 1979 saw ownership transferred to his wife Mette and their children, twins Susan and John, and Monique.
Under their stewardship Varsfontein has developed into one of South Africa’s premier thoroughbred nurseries, breeding a slew of racetrack champions and standing a succession of significant stallions.
This season alone Varsfontein has been represented by the Grade 1 winners Atticus Finch, who struck in South Africa’s richest race, the Summer Cup, and Double Grand Slam. Moreover, the farm’s results and reputation have long since resonated beyond the confines of South Africa.
Perfect Promise, winner of the Group 1 CFOrr Stakes in Australia, was bred at the Paarl property by the operation’s former assistant manager Hendrik Winterbach. The same breeder was also responsible for Irridescence, another who called the Varsfontein paddocks home before she developed into a multiple Group 1 winner, with a record headed by a defeat of Ouija Board in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Sha Tin.
Secret Heart, dam of Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf scorer Pluck, was another bred by Varsfontein, as was Yulong Prince, winner of the Group 1 Cantala Stakes at Flemington.
But, for all the illustrious names that have called Varsfontein home, Kalmanson’s daughter Susan Rowett says the family-owned farm has never housed a better stallion than current linchpin Gimmethegreenlight.
The Australian-bred son of More Than Ready became the first Varsfontein resident to bring home the champion sires’ title at the end of the 2020-21 campaign.
Gimmethegreenlight has gone on to have been crowned champion on two further occasions, and not only won the outright title but the champion two-year-old sire and champion three-year-old sire both times to boot.
His record boasts over 130 black-type performers, with his 12 Grade 1 scorers including stars such as Bless My Stars, Got The Greenlight, Green With Envy, Lucky Lad and She’s A Keeper.
He has also done his bit to help showcase the Varsfontein product on the global stage as the aforementioned Yulong
Prince, winner of the Daily News 2000 when racing in South Africa under the name Surcharge, claimed Group 1 laurels in Australia for trainer Chris Waller and owner Zhang Yuesheng.
“It’s been phenomenal,” Rowett says of her journey with Gimmethegreenlight.
“I never thought we’d get him when we heard he was retiring because his original owner, Hassen Adams, had his own stud farm.
“But he loved the horse so much that he wanted him to go to a more accessible, centrally located farm, so we jumped in the car, went to see the horse and to meet Hassen.”
Rowett recounts that Varsfontein faced stiff competition to secure Gimmethegreenlight’s services, but says she found an unlikely source of common ground with the colt’s original owner.
“There were other farms interested, but I still used the old-fashioned split pedigree books,” she explains. “I plonked myself down in Hassen’s office and opened up my split pedigree book. I’d written Gimmethegreenlight up so I started saying to Hassen, ‘Look at this mating, look at that mating’, when it turned out he was using these split pedigree books, too. I’d like to think that’s what helped get us over the line!”
Gimmethegreenlight may not have burst from the blocks with his first juveniles, but by the end of his debut season with runners he had fielded 14 winners, more than double his nearest freshman pursuer.
“The horse wasn’t instantly booming,” Rowett recalls. “We sat down at our stallion syndicate AGM in May, and at that stage some of the shareholders were saying he wasn’t looking very good. We said we still believed in the horse but you have to be practical if he’s not firing, so we reduced the service fee. Within a few weeks, out they all came, a couple of stakes winners and everything else. It’s been a wonderful journey and he’s looking amazing at the moment.”
Asked what has underpinned the 16-year-old’s success at stud, Rowett says. “He really stamps them, and right from when his first foals were being born they all had his little pointy ears, so you could always tell which foals were his.
“But, more pertinent to producing good racehorses, he gives his stock a really strong quarter, so they all have that powerhouse.
“And he’s pretty versatile; South Africa doesn’t race over any great staying distances, but he gets them to sprint and over the Classic distances. Some come early, although as they’ve got more expensive the trainers don’t push them as much and they clearly train on.”
Gimmethegreenlight’s exploits on the racetrack have been more than matched by a toughness away from the Turf, as he has battled through laminitis and Cushing’s disease.
While the busiest sires in South Africa may cover around 150 mares per season, Rowett says Gimmethegreenlight now serves a “carefully managed” book numbering 95.
This may reduce the ammunition he has to aim towards another sires’ championship, but what he lacks in quantity he more than makes up for quality.
“He’s vulnerable to horses who have massive books, but he’ll have the quality,” Rowett says.
“Champions will still come, but maybe not the championships. It’s great to have his blood though and we’ve got some lovely ‘Gimme’ mares now, who are throwing really nice stock.
More Than Ready’s blood wasn’t already here when he arrived in South Africa, so that makes those mares easy to mate.
“I hope he’ll leave a big legacy.”
THAT LEGACY may well include one of Gimmethegreenlight’s stallion sons. Sandringham Summit, winner of the Grade 1 Champion Stakes at two, joined his sire on the Varsfontein roster in 2024, while Green With Envy, hero of the Cape Derby and Daily News 2000, is new for 2025. Both horses have returned home having been born and raised at Varsfontein.
“Sandringham Summit got around 120 mares in his first season, so that was a good start,” says Rowett.
“And he’s let down beautifully. Even though he was a really good two-year-old he was quite a Classic-looking type in training, but he’s really put on as a stallion. He’s developed into a real powerhouse and we’re really excited about him.”
Gimmethegreenlight is not the only Grade 1 winner-siring stallion on the Varsfontein roster. He stands alongside the redoubtable Master Of My Fate, another homebred hero whose flag has been flown this year by the aforementioned Atticus Finch.
“Master Of My Fate hasn’t had the superstars that ‘Gimme’ has, but he’s worked hard because he started from a lower base,” says Rowett. “He’s got his great supporters though and had his biggest winner in this year’s Summer Cup. We have some stunning Master Of My Fate yearlings that are out of ‘Gimme’ mares.
“It’s giving me a nice kick because you dream of those sorts of crosses working.”
All of Varsfontein’s stallions, with the line-up completed by first-crop stallion Erik The Red, who has recently got his first winners on the board, can rely upon crucial home support from within the stud’s own broodmare band, which numbers in the region of 150.
“There aren’t many staying stallions so we’ve looked at bringing in more of the Classic or middle-distance fillies, otherwise you’re just breeding speed on speed on speed,” says Rowett.
“People here want to win the Met or the July and those races. We’re hoping that if you bring in a bit of staying power under the female side then it goes well with the sprinting blood we have here.”
As well as acquiring ready-made broodmare prospects, Rowett says the stud has also targeted well-bred fillies at the yearling sales.
This approach means Varsfontein currently has a three-year-old Camelot sister to Luxembourg in training in Ireland with Ger Lyons, while the Italian maestro Alduino Botti has been entrusted with Rosi Of Vio.
She is a two-year-old Waldgeist half-sister to top-class talents Biz The Nurse and Biz Heart, and the well-related Sottsass filly Cronstadt, both of whom were sourced at the SGA Yearling Sale in Milan. Croachill, Cronstadt’s Churchill half-sister, is already part of the Varsfontein broodmare band.
“If you want to buy fillies for stud it’s difficult because you have the rest of the world coming and doing their shopping [at Tattersalls],” Rowett says. “But my brother is extremely good at finding value, and found that you could pick up well-related fillies as yearlings, especially those who aren’t as fashionably bred or are out of older mares.
“Because you only get one foal out of each mare each year, sometimes we try to buy two half-sisters, then you get the knock-on effect
if it goes well. We’ve done well with our imported mares and that’s been one of our successes, bringing in new blood.”
Yearling sales showcase Varsfontein’s outlook
There is a striking example of Varsfontein’s global approach among the 16-strong draft being prepared for the upcoming Cape Town Premier Yearling Sale, which is hosted by Cape Racing Sales on March 13 and 14.
Named Made In Chelsea (Lot 94), the What A Winter colt out of the Irish-bred Talk Posh has a whole host of black-type winners on his page, but none jumps out more than recently crowned champion miler Charyn, who has retired to the Sumbe stallion roster in Normandy after winning last year’s Group 1 Queen Anne, Prix Jacques le Marois and the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.
The consignment also contains plenty of eye-catching pedigrees who are distinctly more South African.
These include the Gimmethegreenlight half-brother to Greyville Guineas-winning Zapatillas (50), the Erik The Red colt whose 11 winning siblings feature the Grade 1 scorers All Is Secret and The Secret Is Out (77), the Gimmethegreenlight half-brother to Cape Guineas winner Tap O’Noth (110), thr Turffontein Man O’ War Sprint scorer Mercantour’s half-brother (111), and the Gimmethegreenlight filly out of Grade 3-winning Silvano mare Due Diligence (154).
“South Africa is incredibly diverse as far as the farms are concerned, but our philosophy is to bring them up as naturally as possible,” says Rowett. “We like a short prep for the sales so we don’t interrupt their normal growth plans. That means picking the right sales is important so you don’t force a horse for an early sale.”
Another key factor is Carl de Vos. With so many moving parts involved in running a busy operation – from stallion management, foaling mares and raising and prepping youngstock – De Vos’ expertise across the spectrum has been central to Varsfontein’s success.
To illustrate the growth he has overseen, when Vos joined Varsfontein in 1988, the farm was foaling down less than 20 mares. Now, when clients’ mares are factored in, that number now stands at around 160.
De Vos, who turns 64 in March, is also an accomplished breeder in his own right, he and his wife Amanda having bred three South African Oaks winners from their blue hen mare Star Of Arcole, namely Arcola, Princess Of Light and Ash Cloud, all of whom are by different sires.
De Vos, who was awarded the breeder of the year accolade in 2014, is also responsible for Yorker, winner of back-to-back Grade 1 contests that same year.
“We were still young when my father died so there came a crunch time because we knew we couldn’t just keep going as we were,” Rowett says.
“We knew we’d have to invest and give it a proper go. I was around 24 at the time and the manager [Hennie de Jager], who’d been a friend of my father’s, was retiring.
“I’d met Carl at the races and felt that if we’re going to give this a go, we should consider Carl. He and my mother really hit it off, and he gave us the motivation and incentive and the trust that we could invest and it would all be properly run.
“We got success very quickly after that and we’ve never looked back.
“Carl’s absolutely the reason we’ve been successful.”
Exciting future with ban lifted
The upcoming sales in Cape Town are not the only events that Rowett and De Vos have to look forward to.
The broader outlook in South Africa has become considerably more rosy with new hands on the tiller – namely 4Racing and Hollywoodbets – bringing about a fresh impetus that has seen prize-money boosted and a growing desire to increase racing’s share of the wider audience.
This renewed optimism has coincided with the lifting of the 13-year ban on direct exports of horses to the EU, a rule that effectively isolated South Africa from the global racing stage.
Although far too modest to trumpet her own part in proceedings, Rowett’s fingerprints can be found all over the revival in South African racing.
She, along with Chris van Niekerk, was a central figure in the Export Task Team that formed South African Equine Health and Protocols (SAEHP), the industry body that worked tirelessly alongside the government to see direct exports reinstated.
Rowett was also recently appointed chairperson of the National Horseracing Authority of South Africa, the country’s equivalent of the Jockey Club. This is her second term as chair, having become the first woman to hold the position when
“There’s new vigour and the new operators are much more awake to marketing racing properly,” she says on the country’s current outlook. “The other thing is the reinstatement of direct exports. For that we have to thank the Asian Racing Federation and the Hong Kong Jockey Club for their help and support, they’ve been a huge factor in getting that open.”
However, Rowett is not expecting planeloads of overseas buyers to descend on the South African yearling sales, and instead believes there will be other knock-on benefits from horses carrying the SAF suffix being able to compete on the world stage once again.
“I’m not sure the breeders are going to benefit directly because no one, besides maybe the Hong Kong Jockey Club, are going to come and buy unraced yearlings,” she says.
“It’s the proven horses that’ll bring their money, there were quite a few last year,
then that will trickle back to the locally-based owners who will hopefully reinvest. It’s the trickle-on effect that’s huge. And that’s when everyone gets excited because they can follow international racing.”
Team Valor has already made a number of noteworthy investments in proven South African performers, including the Grade 1 winners Bless My Stars, a daughter of Gimmethegreenlight bred by Varsfontein now with Todd Pletcher, and the star juvenile Quid Pro Quo.
“South Africans are hugely patriotic,” she continues. “It was so long ago that it’s almost been forgotten, but there used to be tour parties going to Dubai with Mike de Kock to fly the flag for South Africa.
“To have horses being able to run in Dubai and the Breeders’ Cup brings all that optimism back.
“There were a dozen new stallions standing their first seasons in 2024, whereas a couple of years before that there were only two. That’s a sign that things are picking up, and that there’s confidence in the stallion market and confidence among breeders.”
With over five decades of success already in the history book, there is every reason to be confident that Varsfontein’s next chapter will be every bit as prosperous as the first, way back in 1974.
