A racehorse that is sending a murmur of excitement through the South African racing community is the unbeaten Rainbow Bridge, a winner of three Gr3 races and unbeaten from five starts.
The son of Ideal World is bred by Mauritzfontein and Wilgerbosdrift, but interestingly his damline is entirely a KZN pedigree – with stallions Jet Master / Rambo Dancer / Our Casey’s Boy in the female line.
Born in the Cape, his dam Halfway To Heaven, a winner of a Gr3 Prix Du Cap and Listed race amongst her seven wins is by KZN-bred Champion sire Jet Master and in turn out of KZN-bred Pas De Basque, a mare that stood at Ingrid Klug’s Wynnholme Stud until her passing from a heart issue two years ago – she left behind a filly by Duke Of Marmalade.
Ingrid picks up the story of how she came to own the daughter of Rambo Dancer, who she admits, was a bit light on pedigree but had produced a really good horse in Halfway To Heaven and a winner by Lecture, and possessed that special something that made Ingrid sure she could be a broodmare of note.
“I bought Pas De Basque from a girl based in Johannesburg who had her as a riding horse – a mutual friend had advised that she was looking for a home for Pas De Basque. She was not the easiest broodmare to manage when it came to stud duties, and was retired from breeding altogether – she either reabsorbed or kept aborting her foetuses.
“She was a daughter of Rambo Dancer who I love and no slouch on the track being an 8-time winner – that was one of the factors that sold me on her. I looked up her breeding and thought this pedigree could be a real mare prospect.
In her previous breeding career before becoming a riding horse, she was a difficult mare to breed with, and her previous owners tried for years to get her into foal, even sending her to Onderstepoort (veterinary facility in Johannesburg) for advice.
“I sent in her first year with me, to Kahal as I liked the Machiavellian cross with Rambo Dancer, and she reabsorbed. I had wanted to send her back for the second year but sadly Kahal died. I then leased her to Clive Murphy and he sent her to Byword which produced a foal – we put her on Regumate for the duration of her pregnancy and she managed to produce a live foal.”
The following mating she was sent to Duke Of Marmalade and the filly will go to racing early next year for Clive Murphy. She has been named Miss Marmalade and sadly she was orphaned as a foal. Ingrid describes her as being a lot like her mother, a very nice filly. Ingrid states “My plan was to send her to Twice Over, what a mating that would have been!”
“I always had a feeling about her pedigree and I thought it would work, and thats why I felt I could take a chance with her. I liked Rambo Dancer in particular, which also gave me Fly Away Home which produced Black Wing – again evidence of the Machiavellian (Mr Prospector) x Rambo Dancer cross [which also produced No Worries].”
Rainbow Bridge sold for R300 000 from what appears to be a superior crop of yearlings from the 2016 Nationals. He was sold to the Late Chris Gerber and has earned over R600 000 in stakes.
Halfway To Heaven also produced Hawwaam, a very handsome Silvano colt who won first time out in South Africa’s very first ‘hands and heels’ race recently at Turffontein. Trained by Mike De Kock, the million Rand purchase is owned by Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum.
Rainbow Bridge trained by Eric Sands is likely to be headed to the Queen’s Plate and Met in the new year.
It seems that even though Pas De Basque was plagued with challenges when it came to the breeding shed, she appears to have begun a legacy that will be forever etched into the history books.
Rainbow Bridge is an early favourite for the Gr1 Sun Met.