ON the same day that Diane Nagle and her husband David were inducted into the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association Hall of Fame, she came agonisingly close to winning a pair of Group 1 races in her beloved South Africa.

The four-year-old South African-bred gelding Kasimir (Captain Al) boosted his winnings to more than double his yearling purchase price with his victory in the Group 1 Cape Flying Championship over five furlongs at Kenilworth, and Diane is joined as part-owner of the winner by Anna Doyle (whose husband Peter and son Ross bought the winner), Linda Shanahan and others.

In the 10-furlong Group 1 Cape Derby, just a neck separated the winner Atyaab (Dundeel) and runner-up Charles, the latter son of Trippi also being part-owned by Diane Nagle, Sue Magnier, Linda Shanahan and others. Nonetheless, Saturday was a day and night to remember.

Kasimir last year won the Group 2 Cape Merchants Handicap and now he becomes the 22nd Group 1 winner for his sire who died in 2017 after losing a battle with laminitis. Captain Al (Al Mufti) won nine races, three times at two, from five furlongs to a mile. At three years he gained his biggest success in the Group 1 Cape Guineas over a mile.

At stud he was champion sire in South Africa in 2015 and he has been champion sire of two-year-olds a record eight times. He has set many standards for a stallion in South Africa and his daughters have been responsible for three Group 1 winners. He stood for his stallion career at Klawervlei Stud and, in addition to Kasimir, he was responsible for the third-placed Search Party.

Kasimir joins the 2014 Group 1 Durban Golden Horseshoe winner Afrikaburn (Trippi) as the second top-level winner for their dam Aquatint, an unraced daughter of Peintre Celebre (Nureyev) who was imported from Australia. Aquatint is a granddaughter of the brilliantly fast Sigy (Habitat) who won the Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp as a two-year-old. She produced a couple of Group 3 winners, including Sicyos (Lyphard), but it is in South Africa that her family is now resurgent.

Four Group 1 races were staged on the one day last weekend at Kenilworth. The feature was The Met, first run in 1883 as The Metropolitan Mile. It was won by Rainbow Bridge, a four-year-old son of Ideal World (Kingmambo) and is that sire’s second winner of the race. The winner this year is the first foal of the South African-bred Halfway To Heaven (Jet Master), a Group 3 winner over seven furlongs. Her second foal is the unbeaten three-year-old Hawwaam (Silvano) who won the Group 2 Dingaans over a mile last year and the Group 3 Ruffel Stakes over a furlong less this year.

The Cape Derby winner Atyaab is the first Group 1 winner for the champion New Zealand three-year-old Dundeel (High Chaparral), and he is the second stakes winning son of the multiple Group 2 winning miler Sylvaner, a daughter of Danasinga (Danehill). She previously bred the Australian stakes winner Vesper (Zabeel). Sylvaner is a half-sister to Centisle (Centaine) who won the Group 1 Goodwood Handicap more than two decades ago.

Finally, Clouds Unfold landed the Group 1 Majorca Stakes and this was another case of a first Group 1 winner for her sire What A Winter. That son of Western Winter (Gone West) was a champion sprinter twice in South Africa and he won 15 of his 26 starts, four times at Group 1 level.

Clouds Unfold is a daughter of the Montjeu (Sadler’s Wells) mare Montelissima and she is a half-sister to the stakes winning juvenile Arria (Antonius Pius). Their dam was a full-sister to the dam of Antonius Pius (Danzig), the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks heroine Catchascatchcan (Pursuit Of Love).

Breeders, stallion masters and readers are invited to contact Leo Powell at leopowell@theirishfield.ie with news and updates for the column, and to visit our website www.theirishfield.ie for daily breeding news