July Day Celebrations for Varsfontein

Master Plan

Saturday the 6^th of July, July Day at Greyville racetrack, a day where many hopes and dreams were set to either blossom or evaporate. The day started on a high for Varsfontein with Master Plan claiming the Gr 3 Mango 2200. The Jet Master gelding out of Princess Polly was second last most of the way and accelerated really well to win comfortably for trainer Alec Laird and Owner Fred Crabbia.

Next to show her grit, from the same family as Master Plan, was Along Came Polly.

This two year old filly is out of Perfect Polly who is a half-sister to Princess Polly. Having already flown the flag high for her sire, Judpot, by running second in the Gr 1 Alan Robertson, she repeated the achievement by running second in the Gr 1 Golden Slipper. Along Came Polly faced a tough task as she rounded the turn far back in the heavy going, but her turn of foot was electric and she crossed the line with some very well performed fillies trailing behind her. We hope that

trainer Gavin Van Zyl and owner Mr Burnard will be rewarded with a place in the number 1 box in the near future.

Forest Indigo

Judpot was the only freshman sire to be represented in both Juvenile races, and Forest Indigo was his runner in the Golden Horseshoe. Forest Indigo had a tough task in a very high class field which included two Grade 1 winners. He jumped from a wide draw, raced three wide all the way round and then unleashed a driving finish to get up on the line to win in style. The handsome, dark bay colt is a beautiful advert for his sire, Judpot, showing much power and athleticism on the day. He was Alec Laird’s second winning Varsfontein

graduate of the day, this time for owner Chris Gerber.

July Day proceedings rolled on to the main race in which Varsfontein was represented by Michael De Broglio’s diminutive iron filly, Do You Remember. Born and raised on the farm, the filly was runner-up in all three Triple Tiara races before emphatically winning the Gr 1

Woolavington. She lived up to her “all heart” reputation by coming in third in the Durban July, almost hidden behind the big, burly colts. Congratulations to Michael de Broglio and to Geoff Woodruff.

All in all, it was a wonderful day for Varsfontein and a fantastic day for Judpot – a Grade 1 winning colt and a Grade 1 second placed filly on the most prestigious day in the South African racing season. Judpot’s statistics for his first season have been incomparable – he has achieved the following:

Judpot

Gr 1- win

Gr 1- second place x 2

Gr 2- win

Gr 3- 4^th place

Listed- 3^rd place x 2

Listed- 4^th place

We cannot think a South African sire

in the past 50 years who has achieved this much with his first crop of 2 year olds.