Gray shows the way
T JOHN Gray, pictured, has started the season in fine style and the private trainer is currently out in front on the national owner’s log.
Meanwhile, his magnificent five-time Gr 1-winning mare, Dancewiththedevil, is shortly due to be covered by Silvano at Maine Chance Farms.
Gray was once known as “the sand king” of South African racing, so can always be expected to do well at this time of year, which is known as the “sand season.”
However, of the 12 winners he has trained to date this season, eight of them have been on turf.
He owns 11 of these winners outright and has a share in another, while he has bred 10 of them through his breeding operation, Graystone Stud.
Gray’s strike rate as a trainer this season is 18.18%.
Gray’s best day of the season to date was a treble at Turffontein on August 23 from just three runners, all of them ridden by
SPiere Strydom. The Summerhill-bred Stronghold gelding Don Vito won a handicap over 1 450m at odds of 7-1 and then his home-breds, the gelding Norgay and the colt Mai Thaiga, both won handicaps over 1 800m at odds of 2-1 and 3-1 respectively.
Both of the latter horses are by Gray’s own sires, Sarge and Jam Alley respectively.
Peintre Celebre
Jam Alley is an Australian-bred by the Prix de l’Arc de Trio0mphe winner Peintre Celebre and won the Gr 1 SA Classic over 1 800m at Turffontein.
Sarge is a two-time winner by National Assembly and ran third in the Gr 3 Godolphin Barb Stakes, while his full brother Announce, whom Gray also stands, was a four-time winner, including the Listed Thukela Handicap.
However, their respective worth as stallions lie in their magnificent pedigrees.
Their dam You’re My Lady, by the top racehorse and sire Roberto, is a half-sister to the dam of the mighty Danehill, while You’re My Lady’s dam Spring Adieu, by Buckpasser, is a half-sister to the probable most influential sire in thoroughbred history, Northern Dancer.
Sarge and Announce are rich in the blood of Northern Dancer and also in the blood of the famous stallions Buckpasser, Nasrullah and Mahmoud.
Gray also stands Announce’s son Call To Combat, who is out of the All Fired Up mare Silent Heat.
He won seven times, including a Listed event, and he placed in another Listed race as well as in a Gr 2.
He had his first foals in 2012, so they should be on the track soon.
All of Gray’s stallions stand at Hadlow Stud in the KZN Midlands.
Hadlow also stand the British-bred stallion by Zafonic, Modus Vivendi, who was formerly owned by Craig Ramsay and is now owned by Harold Muller.
Dancewiththedevil
Modus Vivendi famously produced Dancewiththedevil, whose feats earned her an Equus Champion older filly/mare award and also earned Gray a Breeder Of The Year award. She helped Gray to finish second on the national owner’s log in the 2010/2011 season and to top ten positions on the national trainers’ log for two consecutive seasons.
Dancewiththedevil loved soft ground so was sent to the UK to race, but sadly the awaited rains never arrived and she was retired after just one unplaced start at Royal Ascot last year.
She subsequently failed to sell at the Tattersalls December mare sale so was returned to South Africa.
Meanwhile, Hadlow Stud are excited about her full-brother, who has just been born, as he looks to be a magnificent specimen.
Overall Modus Vivendi has been disappointing as a sire, but it is not surprising that he has thrown a champion as he is a full-brother to Xaar, a twice Gr 1 winner who was Timeform-rated 132 and was a European champion two-year-old colt.
Modus Vivendi himself won twice in France and placed in both a Gr 3 and Listed event before joining Mike de Kock in Dubai.
He was reportedly never beaten in a gallop there, but was unfortunately badly injured in his first start.
Gray has been a bit short of big race fire power in the last couple of seasons, but his green and white colours are a familiar sight at every racemeeting on the Highveld and as a virtually self-contained operation his success is highly impressive when considering how hard it is for the average owner to win just one race.