Opening Of Breeding Season 2013 Heavily pregnant broodmares are beginning to fill the foaling barns in deep beds of warm straw around the Thoroughbred stud farms in the Midlands, with two of KZN's leading breeding establishments already reporting new foal arrivals for the 2013 season. Today marks the beginning of the racing and breeding season for 2013 and sees another incredible achievement for South Africa and KZN's Champion breeders, Summerhill Stud, taking the National Breeders Championship for a ninth year in a row. A hearty congratulations to Mick Goss and his entire team at Summerhill Stud from the KZN Breeders, we are very proud of their admirable achievement and look forward to the progeny to come from their new sires of 2012, the good-looking Traffic Guard (More Than Ready) and the athletic Golden Sword (High Chapparal) who will have their first foals on the ground this season. We have even more to look forward to next year, with the arrival of Await The Dawn (Giant's Causeway) and Ato (Royal Academy) who will be covering their first seasons at Summerhill in 2013. Fittingly, Summerhill Stud were the first to begin the foaling season with a bay A.P. Arrow filly arrive out their mare Oochee Agent, while Keith Russon and Ian Todd of Backworth Stud in Eston, last year’s winners of the KZN Breeders Achievement Award, have reported two foalings from their maiden mares - Plush, an own-sister to Wonder Lawn has produced possibly the first foal for sire Pathfork, and Flutter Bye - a half-sister to Backworth's successful Gr 2 winner First Again - has produced a foal by Horse Chestnut. Other young sires expecting their first foals on the ground this season include Bush Hill Stud's Curved Ball(AUS), a handsome bay son of Fastnet Rock who is taking the Thoroughbred world by storm. The others include Antigua Island, the big chestnut and very well-bred first son of Black Minnaloushe standing at Middlefield Stud, and Meet At Mala Mala by Western Winter, standing at Invermooi Stud. Bezrin covered a season at Rathmor Stud in 2012 after returning from the Cape; he has subsequently been sold and has returned to the Cape for the 2013 covering season - however he will leave behind yet another crop of KZN-bred foals - recently he has sired the likes of juvenile Bold Black-Type winner Jimmi Choo amongst others for the last racing season. Damage Is Done, closely related to the late great Jet Master in pedigree, is also expecting his first crop of KZN foals since returning to Yellow Star Stud for the 2012 season, as is Kildonan who recently had his first winner with Tribue To Kylie and a number places from his first handful of progeny to race - trainers are rumoured to have a number of promising individuals by the Gr 1 Golden Horse Sprint race record holder and he looks to have a promising career ahead of him at stud. Damage Is Done has produced 10 horses to race, including two winners and Stakes placed Shattered Image, as well as Shiver 'N Shake who has won three times and placed five. St John Gray sent two stallions to Hadlow Stud at the beginning of the breeding season last year - Modus Vivendi (owned by Harold Muller) from the Cape and sire of five-time Gr 1 winning Dancewiththedevil, as well as the big handsome chestnut stallion who consistently brings in the winners - the aptly named Announce who stands alongside his son, Call To Combat. New sires in KZN for 2013, covering their first seasons at stud are all quality acquisitions in alphabetical order (we have only listed their top achievements - most of them have a number of Gr 2 and 3 wins in addition to add to their names): Ato(USA) - by Royal Academy, Summerhill Stud - winner of the Gr 1 Krisflyer International Sprint in Singapore Await The Dawn(USA) - by Giant's Causeway, Summerhill Stud - winner of the Gr 2 Hardwick Stakes in England Byword(GB) - by Peintre Celebre, Middlefield Stud - winner of the Gr 1 Prince Of Wales Stakes in England Crusade(USA) - by Mr Greeley, Scott Bros - winner of the Gr 1 Middle Park Stakes in England Irish Flame - by Dynasty, Bush Hill Stud - winner of the Gr 1 SA Derby and Daily News 2000 In-form sire Toreador joins Bush Hill Stud for his first season in KZN. A son of Danehill, the most successful to stand his stud career in South Africa, he is the sire of Gr 1 winner Link Man as well as Group horses Deliver The Power, Jackodore, She's A Stunner, Straight Forward and Las Ramblas. The KZN Breeders Premium Scheme (which refers to a "KZN-bred" horse) begins the cycle in August 2013. The only incentive programme of its kind where Thoroughbred breeders and owners are rewarded for breeding horses in South Africa, with a view to improve on breeding stock each year, the Premium Scheme paid out just over R5-million to its members in the previous cycle. If you have a mare in KZN and would like to find out more about getting involved, follow the link for more information. The KZN Breeders Club board have also extended this reward to owners - in the form of our KZN Breeders Race Day that takes place the week before the running of the Vodacom Durban July. For the first time in its history, the 2013 KZN Breeders Race Day saw only those racehorses registered with the KZN Breeders Premium Scheme compete in the KZN Breeders Series - a series of seven races for colts and fillies over distances of 1200m, 1600m and 1900m with a stake of R200 000 each, and to top it all off the KZN Breeders Million Mile for 3 & 4 year olds for a stake of R1-million - this year won by Emilio Baseiro's Gitiano, sired by Mullins Bay and bred by Valjub CC. The entries for our day were overwhelming and the KZN Breeders are thankful for the amazing support from the trainers and owners of KZN-breds - with over 800 horses pre-nominated for the day and over 200 two year olds for the single Juvenile race over 1200m (won by King's Bay). The process and pre-nominations for our KZN Breeders Race Day are set to start soon again for next year - keep an eye on our website and press for details to enter your KZN-bred and follow the logs published, leading up to next year’s race day. Another initiative of the KZN Breeders Club will see the hosting of two exciting events in November. The first will be a sale limited to 100 yearlings and two year olds - a new concept in KZN. Likely to be held at Scottsville racecourse, horses will arrive on the morning of the sale and fall under the hammer from 3pm. Buyers will be fully catered for, with the concept of transport being provided for trainers and owners from Summerveld and Ashburton to Scottsville and back. We would like to thank Gold Circle and the TBA for their support in this regard, look for more information to come soon. This last season has seen a number of KZN-bred racehorses excel and many will be short-listed for the KZN Breeders Awards dinner, to be held in November. Internationally, the Scott Bros handsome son of Mogok - The Apache, is performing exceptionally well after a successful stint in the Dubai Carnival which saw him win the Gr 2 Al Rashidiya and place in both the Gr 1 Jebel Hatta (second) and Gr 1 Dubai Duty Free. He also placed in a British prep run for the Arlington Million - finishing fourth in the Gr 2 York Stakes. KZN-breds such as Flash Drive (by Jay Peg, bred by Yellow Star Stud) and Colour Of Courage (by Judpot, bred by Backworth Stud) gave their respective freshman sires each Bold Black-Type wins, winning the Gr 3 Cape Of Good Hope Nursery and the Gr 2 Umkhomazi Stakes respectively. Love Struck (by Kahal), owned by Alesh Naidoo, went on to win the SA Classic Gr 1 from Tellina (out of a Spectrum mare). Kahal continues his astonishing momentum this season – standing at Bush Hill Stud, his service fee has increased and his book is already full as a result of his continued success. Kahal’s other achievements for the season include Gr 3 winners Festival Of Fire and Enchanted Kingdom, Checcetti and Eastern Greeting, The Mouseketeer, and No Worries who placed second in the Daily News 2000 Gr 1, and placed in the Vodacom Durban July. Kahal's most recent Black-type success was Distinguished who won the Darley Arabian Listed on Gold Cup day. Another KZN-bred Group 2 winner came in the form of a chestnut filly that passed through the sales ring unsold - Virgo's Babe bred by Midlands Thoroughbreds. Knock On Wood won the Gr 3 London News Stakes for sire Muhtafal, now standing at Spring Valley Stud. In the meantime the farms continue to prepare for the busy season ahead. The grass is beginning to grow in the paddocks and become greener as Spring beckons; maiden and barren mares stand under infra-red lights to enhance their fertility; the stallions begin to pace the fences readying themselves for the 1 September when the breeding season officially opens, and the farm managers brace themselves for cold sleepless nights as the foaling season begins. The KZN Midlands' dirt roads fill with the dust-trails of horseboxes, transporting precious mares back and forth to be covered and ensuring another high quality and very exciting crop of KZN foals for 2015. Keep a watch out on our website and Facebook page for photos and pedigrees of some of our foals to come from the farms. We would like to thank and wish all our supporters the best for the upcoming season ahead!