I WAS fortunate enough to visit South Africa once, and one of the most beautiful parts of that country is the wine and food region. It is also home to Gaynor Rupert’s Drakenstein Stud.

Last weekend the farm had a memorable day. Labelled ‘the future of Drakenstein’, Charles Dickens was one of the pair of homebreds to bring up a Group 1 double at Kenilworth. The son of leading sire Trippi (End Sweep) is certain to have a place at stud when his racing days are over.

Unbeaten in two starts as a juvenile, Charles Dickens won six times and was twice runner-up at three, all of his outings that season. Two of those wins were in Group 1 contests, and he became a classic winner when landing the Cape Guineas. His three starts this season have been highlighted by the weekend win in the Group 1 L’Ormarins King’s Plate, going one better than he did a year ago.

He is the best of four foals, runners and winners for the Group 2 Ipi Tombe Stakes winner Demanding Lady (Dynasty), and three of these have earned some blacktype. The three are all by Trippi, and include the stakes winner Somerset Maugham and three-time winner Charles, second in the Group 1 Cape Derby.

Dewhurst Stakes

Charles Dickens comes from a female line that has put down markers in all parts of the world. His fourth dam Beautiful Bedouin (His Majesty) bred the Grade 2 E.P. Taylor Stakes winner Wandering Star (Red Ransom), and her son War Command (War Front) went one grade better when successful in the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes. Also in this remove of the family is the New Zealand champion and Group 1 One Thousand Guineas heroine Rollout The Carpet (Holy Roman Emperor).

The two most recent racing stars descending from Beautiful Bedouin are the Grade 1 Frank E Kilroe Mile Stakes winner Hit The Road (More Than Ready), and last year’s Grade 1 American Pharoah Stakes winner and Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile second Muth (Good Magic). Also at the weekend, Muth started off 2024 on the right foot, landing the odds in the Grade 2 San Vincente Stakes. This is a family that keeps on giving.

A favourite

Trippi, a Grade 1 winner in the USA, will forever be a favourite at Drakenstein, where he has become developed into one of the greatest sires in South Africa. When he won the Vosburgh Handicap at three he beat another champion sire in More Than Ready. Trippi’s son Jet Dark, who also stands at Drakenstein. Trippi has sired more than 90 stakes winners, a baker’s dozen of them successful in a Group 1 race.

Something that Charles Dickens and the weekend’s other Group 1 winner, Beach Bomb, have in common is that they are out of daughters of Dynasty (Fort Wood). Horse of the Year, champion three-year-old, four-time Group 1 winner and multiple champion sire, Dynasty died five years ago at the age of 19. He is responsible for over 80 stakes winners, and is now an influential sire of sires and broodmare sire.

While Charles Dickens has an automatic berth in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Mile, Beach Bomb’s triumph in the Group 1 Paddock Stakes means that she has a place in the $2 million Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf. In winning, Beach Bomb beat the reigning South African Horse of the Year, Princess Calla. On her previous start Beach Bomb took the honours in the Group 1 Cartier Cape Fillies Guineas.

Beach Bomb is one of a pair of Group 1 winners in the first crop of Lancaster Bomber (War Front). He won just twice, at two and four, and his best performance came in the Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup which he won on what was his final start. In so doing he pushed his winnings to almost £1.1 million, and this was thanks to finishing second in such prestigious Group and Grade 1 races as the Dewhurst Stakes (to Churchill), Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (to Oscar Performance), St James’s Palace Stakes (to Barney Roy), Woodbine Mile and Breeders’ Cup Mile, both times to World Approval.

Heart attack

Sadly, Lancaster Bomber died at Drakenstein Stud in 2021, collapsing in his paddock following a heart attack. He left behind just two crops, and the success enjoyed to date already shows that he has left a big gap.

Four wins in six starts now for Beach Bomb is likely the start of what could become a prolific career for the three-year-old filly. That said, she has a long way to go to match her dam, Beach Beauty (Dynasty). That mare took her family page to a whole new level during a racing career that saw her crowned champion twice in South Africa.

She won 17 of her 31 starts, enjoyed five victories in Group 1 races, and four of her runner-up finishes were at the highest level. She has been just as impressive since going to stud, with five foals producing five multiple winners, three of them group winners. In addition to Beach Bomb, she is dam of the Group 2 winners Wild Coast (Trippi) and Amanzimtoti (Trippi).