Malhub: A Bright Star In The Sky,

This weekend’s racing results in America demonstrated the pure class of the pedigree of KZN-based stallion, Malhub, when his half brother Dhaamer won the Group 3 Sunset Handicap at Hollywood Park in style.

Sent off as the 2-5 favourite in the Sunset Handicap (Gr.3), Dhaamer was content to sit at the back of a small field, before streaking away in the home strait to win by 3 ¼ lengths. This is the second Group 3 win in America for the Dubai Destination gelding, his first being an impressive runner-up performance in the Tokoyo City Stakes (Gr.3) at Santa Anita in April, and then romping home in May to win the Round Table Stakes by four lengths.

Both Dhaamer and Malhub share the same dam Arjuzah, a Listed and Stakes winner herself. The pedigree for both goes a lot deeper though, as Arjuzah’s sire Ahonoora was not only a multiple Group winner, achieving his greatest success in the William Hill Sprint Championship (formerly Group 2 now a Group One race), but he was a prominent sire of the brilliant Dr.Devious winner of multiple Group Ones including: Epsom Derby, Dewhurst and Irish Champion Stakes. Ahonoora’s sire in turn, Lorenzaccio was famed not only for his defeat of Triple Crown winner Nijinsky in 1970 in the Champion Stakes, but for his victories in the Prix Jean Prat (Gr.1) and the July Stakes (Gr.2).

Dhaamer’s half brother Malhub was a precocious and talented sprinter, whose finest hour came in the Group One Golden Jubilee Stakes where he beat a top class field of Group One winners, including Johannesburg (Eclipse Horse of the Year) and Invincible Spirit (Champion sprinter and sire). With a pedigree like this, it’s no wonder that Dhaamer’s future is so bright, and one can only hope that he does it justice!