Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
When Siena Grima steered God’s Window (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) to a breakthrough Group 1 victory in the G1 Epsom Handicap on Saturday, the immediate story was quite rightfully focused on the apprentice jockey’s first top level ride - but the cornflower blue and white colours she wore had a story of their own.
The silks' owner Gaynor Rupert, of South African nursery Drakenstein Stud, has produced numerous Group 1 winners in her home country, but it was her first in Australia. And Rupert would like to ensure it is not the last.
A name with a view
Six-year-old God’s Window is not the first time the Drakenstein silks have been carried in Australia. First Light (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) - the first foal born at Cayton Park Stud, the British arm of Rupert’s breeding enterprise - was the pathfinder. He was sent down to the stables of Chris Waller in 2022, where he won three races headed by the G3 Colin Stephen Quality.
“Everybody in the world admires Australian racing,” Rupert said. “The prizemoney is enormous, and the quality of racing is very good. We were going to geld God’s Window, so we thought that we could send him down to Australia and see how he performed.”
"Everybody in the world admires Australian racing." - Gaynor Rupert
Trained in the Northern Hemisphere by John Godsen, God’s Window was a debut winner as a 2-year-old and had picked up a handful of stakes placings in Britain - including two behind multiple Group 1 winner Kalpana (GB) (Study Of Man {Ire}) - before his export. Gosden supported the plan.
Gaynor Rupert | Image courtesy of Chase Liebenberg
Like all of Rupert’s horses, he received a name with South African influence.
“God’s Window is a beautiful locale in South Africa near the Lowveld, it’s very high up,” she said. “And they say that if you stand on the mountains there, you can see all the way to Mozambique. His dam’s name is Perfect Clarity, so it seemed a very appropriate name for him.”
For the son of Dubawi (Ire), acclimatising to Australia took a long time, and it was only into this second preparation that he started to find his feet.
“Luckily Chris was so patient, so professional, and he has thought that God’s Window had it in him all this time,” said Rupert.
God’s Window look out | Image courtesy of South Africa Tourism
No expectations
The Epsom was God's Window's first start at the level since an unplaced run in the G1 Epsom Derby and under the handicap conditions, he was allotted a featherweight 50kg.
“Competing in a Group 1, we had no expectations,” Rupert said. “You always have hope, but we had no expectations for such a result.
“And I think it was just a plan that came together perfectly.”
The cornflower blue silks had been 15th in a field of 16 at the turn for home, and yet Grima charted a route round the outside the field with the gelding, who powered home to put nearly a length and three quarters on his rivals at the line.
“She rode him brilliantly,” Rupert said. Grima had coaxed a similar turn of foot out of the gelding for his Australian breakthrough in May.
“She understands him so well, and he clearly runs for her. Chris was very emotional when she won, it was quite a big thing for everyone on the team - and it is all credit to Chris. He planned it out a while ago.”
“She (Grima) understands him (God's Window) so well, and he clearly runs for her.” - Gaynor Rupert
Reflecting on the race, she added, “when he was right at the back like that, I was thinking, ‘gosh, I hope we can finish in the top 10’. And then I could see he was traveling so well.
“Siena rode him so easily. Never got into trouble, and there was enough horse to go a bit wide and have a clear run, so it was a perfect race.”
For Dubawi, it was also a special occasion, as the Darley supersire notched his 65th individual Group 1 winner and his 330th stakes winner worldwide.
Very good horses
Started in 2017, Cayton Park maintains a handpicked broodmare band, and in the year that God’s Window was bred, the herd had only 10 members. His dam, Listed Oaks Trial winner Perfect Clarity (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}), was a strategic purchase to start with quality.
“When we started in England, we were looking for a few good broodmares, but you just can't buy the Group 1 winners,” Rupert said. In choosing Perfect Clarity, she prioritised conformation alongside the black-type and the pedigree.
“She was one that we all loved, and we have kept a sister to God’s Window called Perfect Portrait, who I am now very grateful to have.”
Drakenstein Stud is a much older establishment. Rupert’s breeding interests trace back to the eighties, but the stud’s foundation in 2001 would serve as the launchpad for one of South Africa’s leading breeding empires. The property now stands nine stallions, headed by homebred multiple Group 1 winners Charles Dickens (SAf) and Jet Dark (SAf), both sired by the stud’s late foundation sire Trippi (USA).
“He has two grandsons at stud in America, Not This Time and Liam’s Map,” Rupert said of Trippi, who passed away earlier this year at the age of 29. “His name is very much throughout the studbook. His sons are two of the best horses I have ever bred.”
“His (Trippi) sons are two of the best horses I have ever bred.” - Gaynor Rupert
Trippi (USA) | Image courtesy of Drakenstein Stud
Charles Dickens, a three-time Group 1 winner, produced a particularly special performance for the farm when winning the 2024 G1 King’s Plate, a race sponsored by Rupert since 2000 and one she had yet to win.
“The Durban July is a wonderful race and we love it, but it’s a handicap and I prefer to breed for a weight for age contest like the King’s Plate or the Champions Cup, where you have speed as well as stamina,” Rupert said. “Races that are 1600 metres to 2000 metres, that is the ultimate that we are trying to breed for.”
Jet Dark’s five Group 1 wins include two editions of the G1 Queen’s Plate and two editions of the G1 Champions Cup - the first back-to-back winner of the race since rostermate Futura (SAf) in 2014, who ended half a century since the previous double victor. G1 Cape Derby winner Eight On Eighteen (SAf) (Lancaster Bomber {USA}) added his fourth Group 1 win in July.
Jet Dark (SAf) | Standing at Drakenstein Stud
Drakenstein-bred Oh Susanna (Street Cry {Ire}), born in Australia in the season that Winx (Street Cry {Ire}) turned three, became the first 3-year-old filly in history to win the G1 Cape Metropolitan Stakes, en route to being crowned South African Horse Of The Year in 2017/18. Her record stretched to four Group 1s before retirement and last year her daughter Little Suzie (SAf) (Trippi {USA}) added her name to the honour roll with victory in the G2 Woolavington Stakes.
They are far from the only stars to either walk the sales in Drakenstein’s draft, or carry their silks on the track. In 2022, the farm produced the winners of 20 of the 35 stakes races that took place in South Africa, and have exceeded that number twice in the seasons since.
Rupert credits at least part of her stud’s success to prioritising soundness as well as the pedigree pages she has spent decades curating.
“We don’t medicate in South Africa, so we try to breed very sound horses,” she said. “We send our weanlings to the Karoo for six months before the sales. It is a semi-desert region in the middle of the country where the calcium content is very high in the soil, so they develop very strong bones. I think that gives me a big advantage.”
Going the long way round
South African horses have made their way to Australia in various ways over the years, but almost invariably to our broodmare bands; Via Africa (SAf) (Var {USA}), dam of Autumn Glow (The Autumn Sun) and In The Congo, and National Colour (SAf) (National Assembly {Can}), whose grandson Celestial Legend welcomes his first foals this year, are chief of mind.
Breeding programs across Australia benefit from the likes of Group 1 winners Vernichey (SAf) (Vercingetorix {SAf}) and Under Your Spell (SAf) (Capetown Noir {SAf}), dual Group winner Ektifaa (More Than Ready {USA}), and offspring of Group-winning Merlene De Lago (Encosta De Lago). But few, if any, South African horses reach our tracks.
Via Africa (SAf) | Image courtesy of The Thoroughbred Breeders' Association of South Africa
“We have very good horses in South Africa, we just haven't been able to compete on the world stage because of the lengths of quarantine,” Rupert said. “Right now, to send a horse to Australia from South Africa, we have to go via Europe.”
“To send a horse to Australia from South Africa, we have to go via Europe.” - Gaynor Rupert
The looming presence of African Horse Sickness has long left South Africa in isolation, but through protocols constructed by Australian veterinarian Dr Evan Sargent, the dark cloud has started to shift. In August, South Africa opened their doors in reverse, with NZB Airfreight completing its first flight of Thoroughbreds to the country since 2014.
The appetite to compete overseas is already present, it only needs to be easier to feed.
“Now that travel conditions are improving, hopefully you will see more of us there,” Rupert said. “I know people would love to come and compete in different places. We've gone to America and done very well there, but it's much harder because it's the Northern Hemisphere and our horses are bred in the South.”
Gimme A Nother (SAf) (Gimmethegreenlight) has been a shining beacon for South African horses internationally, picking up her fourth consecutive Group win in Woodbine’s G1 EP Taylor Stakes last month.
Drakenstein’s own Beach Bomb (SAf) (Lancaster Bomber {USA}) has been another, winning two Grade 3 races last year and adding a string of Graded placings since, including a half-length second in the G1 New York Stakes behind She Feels Pretty (USA) (Karakontie {Jpn}).
Gimme A Nother (SAf) | Image courtesy of Herringswell Stables
The travel route for God’s Window, coming from Britain, was markedly smoother than what either mare would have to undertake to reach Australia.
“We would love to send South African horses to Australia,” Rupert said. “If the invite could be extended to a couple of our good horses and the travel conditions made slightly easier, you might find a lot more will come down.”
Rupert can foresee it being another avenue of trade as well. After all, the exchange of bloodstock between the two countries has already been successful in small doses.
“We have had a lot of South Africans go and buy yearlings from Australia over the years, but very few Australians come to South Africa to buy,” she said. “If the travel routes were easier, that could change.”
For the meantime, Rupert keeps tabs on South Africa’s representatives around the globe - and that extends to Autumn Glow, the champion daughter of a South African champion.
“We always watch the racing whenever there's a South African interest and see how our horses and our bloodlines are doing, and how we are competing on the world stage,” Rupert said. “The few of us that there are.”
