By Ada van der Bent
If there is one race every breeder strives to win, it is the Gr 1 Cape Paddock Stakes, after all, its honour roll is studded with the names of some pretty influential matrons who have had a profound impact on the Stud Book.
The inaugural running of this coveted 1800m race for fillies and mares took place in 1960 and was appropriately won by the grand racemare Sun Lass. She became a veritable goldmine at stud, whose accomplished stud record consists of no less than six stakes performers, amongst which Yataghan, whose six top level victories included the Durban July, Queen’s Plate and Met; the Merchants winner and Guineas runner-up Gallantry; and the stakes winning full sisters Tallulah and Violetta. In addition, she features as the ancestress of champions Consensual, Just Sensual and Destroyer, as well as the Gr1 winners In Camera, Give Me Five and Attenborough.
Three years later, Majorca strolled to a four-length victory and subsequently found only the mighty Colorado King too good in the Gr 1 Cape Derby. Retired to the Klawervlei paddocks, she went on to become a notable broodmare for the Kosters, producing the Gr1 performers Haiti and Aegean, while her descendants include Gr1 winners Rabada and Chimichurri Run. The prestigious Gr1 Majorca Stakes run on Met day, is named in her honour.
Then there is Party Time. A classic winner of the Gr 1 Cape Fillies Guineas, she ran third in the Paddock Stakes at three, before setting the record straight as a four-year-old. Notwithstanding her racetrack achievements, the impact she has made on the Stud Book is incalculable. From her descend champions Trademark, First Arrival, Lets Rock’N Roll and In The Fast Lane, the Gr 1 performers Morisco, Out Of Your League, Eligible and Time Of My Life, as well as classic winners Sally Bowles, Lambarina and Winter Weather.
Probably the most visually impressive Paddock Stakes winner was the phenomenal racemare Renounce. She romped to a dominant five length victory in the 1965 renewal and twelve months later, increased that to a stunning eight lengths, still the biggest winning margin in the history of the race.
The most successful trainer, and by a proverbial street, is the late maestro Terrance Millard, who practically owned the Paddock Stakes, winning the contest sixteen times. His list of winners reads as a veritable who’s who of top fillies and includes the Horse Of The Year recipients Olympic Duel and Tecla Bluff.
In recent years, the Justin Snaith-trained winners Dancer’s Daughter, Oh Susanna and Captain’s Ransom likewise garnered racing’s ultimate accolade.
Equally interesting is the fact that daughters of two Paddock winners have emulated their dams.
New Zealand-bred Hoeberg landed the Paddock Stakes eleven years after her dam Petrava won the 1985 renewal. Petrava of course, reserved her place in racing lore as the dam of champion sire Jallad.
Last year’s winner Beach Bomb is a daughter of dual champion Beach Beauty, who triumphed as a five-year-old in 2013 and showed she hadn’t lost a step at age six to become the first back-to-back winner since Olympic Duel twenty-two years before her.
In the finest tradition of the Paddock Stakes, Beach Beauty has become a treasured broodmare as the dam of five stakes performers from her first five foals and not surprisingly, she was voted last season’s Broodmare of the Year.
Incidentally, this year’s field features yet another runner produced by a former Paddock Stakes winner. Little Suzie, who most recently finished third in the Gr 1 Cape Fillies Guineas, is the first foal of 2018 and 2019 victress Oh Susanna. Should the Drakenstein homebred prove equal to the task, she will add yet another chapter to the rich history of this important race.
By the way, recent Gr 1 Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas winner and fancied L’Ormarins King’s Plate contender One Stripe is a grandson of Badger’s Gift, who scored the pinnacle win of her career in the 2007 Paddock Stakes as a six-year-old. She led every step of the way to score at the expense of champion Sun Classique.
