Chad Le Clos Toreador Colt To Debut On Wednesday

Chad Le Clos Toreador Colt To Debut On Wednesday

Olympic and World Champion swimming hero Chad Le Clos is “very excited” ahead of the debut of the first racehorse he has ever owned, the Paul Lafferty-trained Unbelievable Chad, and will be on course at Scottsville on Wednesday to cheer him on.

Lafferty described the two-year-old Toreador colt as “a very nice horse who should run very well” in Wednesday’s first race, a Maiden Juvenile Plate over 1200m, under Ian Sturgeon.

Chad’s father Bert was overwhelmed when his son clinched the Olympic 200m Butterfly gold medal in 2012 with a final lunge that enabled him to pip swimming legend Michael Phelps.

Phelps was a hero of Chad’s and the win was unexpected.

Bert said, “When the BBC interviewed me I just couldn’t stop saying UN-believable, UN-believable! From there the word just stuck and they have even called Chad’s book Unbelievable! You must understand that having come from small beginnings in Greyville and then Pinetown, I was just so excited, it was a moment in a million. I always say to people I am the richest man in the world. You just can’t buy what we have.”

The BBC interview went viral on social media and this was also partly due to Bert’s touching admiration for his “unbelievable, most down to earth, beautiful boy”. Bert later featured in a South African television advertisement singing the Nat King Cole classic Unbelievable.

Chad has gone on to become both a World and Commonwealth champion and currently holds the world short course records in both the 100m and 200m butterfly.

Bert is a former bookmaker so knows a lot about the Sport Of Kings.

He said, “I wanted Chad to enjoy a different outlook and watching the horse run once every two months will be fun. He knows absolutely nothing about the game, he has only been to one July, but he is very excited about Wednesday.”

Bert also revealed that in everything he does Chad likes to be a winner, so he will expect his horse to be as well prepared for racing as he is for his swimming events.

Chad has won many admirers not only for his swimming exploits but also for his humble nature and he will likely be a big drawcard at the Scottsville meeting, which he will attend with Bert, other members of the family and friends.

He owns the horse in partnership with Greg Blank, Phillip Kahan and Bridget Conway. Kahan’s The Alchemy Stud bred the Toreador colt. The colt sold for R320 000 at the 2014 Suncoast KZN Yearling Sale, out of Pink Tinge by Rakeen. His three year old half-sister by Seventh Rock is a winner with four places, also trained by Paul Lafferty.

Toreador currently resides at Bush Hill Stud and has recently had the likes of the brillantly quick Prospect Strike and filly Lazer Star in the limelight. With an admirable Winners to Runners percentage of almost 40%, Toreador’s progeny are always well received at sales where he achieves healthy averages for his progeny sold which invariably end up in the Winners enclosure.

Toreador stood for a fee of R15 000 in 2014.