David Hepburn-Brown is very excited about the string that Hemel ‘N Aarde Stud will be offering at this year’s National Yearling Sale.
Not only does this string include yearlings by such top-class stallions as Gimmethegreenlight, Vercingetorix and What A Winter, it includes lots from some truly outstanding female lines.
One lot sure to attract plenty of attention is the Gimmethegreenlight colt (Lot 155) out of the winning Dynasty mare Zrinski. Not only is the latter dam of 12-time winner Walls Of Dubrovnik, Zrinski is also a half-sister to the Gimmethegreenlight sired Yulong Prince, winner of the G1 Cantala Stakes in Australia and G1 Daily News 2000 in South Africa.
Yulong Prince, who covered over 80 mares in his first season at stud in Australia, hails from an excellent female line with his numerous high-class relatives including champions and leading sires Kris and Diesis.
This is also the female line of this season’s exciting three-year-old and recent G3 Ballylinch Stud “Red Rocks” 2000 Guineas Trial Stakes winner Hans Andersen.
David rates Yulong Prince’s three-parts brother very highly, and says of him, “He is a lovely colt, very correct and this quality colt has plenty of scope about him.”
Other standout lots in this draft include two What A Winter yearlings -both of whom sport exciting updates. Inspector James (Lot 171), “a lovely, athletic colt with a lot of scope”, is a full-brother to promising two-year-old Women Of Fame, who finished second in her first two starts before finishing third in the G3 Pretty Polly Stakes.
Ironically, G3 Pretty Polly Stakes runner up Elegant Ice has a What A Winter full-sister (Lot 254) on offer here in the form of Exceedingly Glam. The latter “a big, strong, well-grown filly” also numbers smart recent winner Elegant Noble as a half-brother.
David is also very keen on triple graded stakes winner Shango’s full-sister Fiery Pegasus (Lot 55), saying, “She is a very nice filly, and is a lovely, athletic filly”, and says of the beautifully bred Vercingetorix filly Casa Estiva (Lot 375) “she is a very nice, strong, well balanced filly and is a half-sister to the classy Casa Inverno.”
Hemel ‘N Aarde’s National Sale draft can be found in Block H at the TBA Complex in Germiston.
