Beach Bomb catches the eye on US debut

Beach Bomb, the star South African filly exported to the US in March, finished a commendable runner-up in her first race in her new environs at the weekend – showing she’s likely to be in good nick for an all-important Breeders Cup assignment in early November.

The diminutive four-year-old, a winner of two Grade 1 races in Cape Town’s summer season, finished 1.75 lengths behind red-hot 1-5 favourite Maman Joon in the Violet Stakes, a $100,000 feature at Monmouth Park racecourse in New Jersey.

Racing in the well-known blue and white silks of Gaynor Rupert’s Drakenstein Stud, Beach Bomb (9-2) was positioned midway in the six-horse field for most of the 1700m trip, with Maman Joon loitering at the rear.

In the run-in, Maman Joon powered past all her rivals to win comfortably. Beach Bomb and rider Jairo Rendon were caught a little flatfooted by the winner’s finishing surge but picked it up to finish strongly.

Horses abroad

Beach Bomb, by American stallion Lancaster Bomber out of the much-loved South African race mare Beach Beauty, was trained in South Africa by Candice Bass-Robinson. She won the 1800m Cartier Paddock Stakes in January to automatically qualify for the Breeders’ Cup, the US’s premier race meeting dubbed a “world championship”, which will be held at Del Mar in California in early November.

The filly was part of a consignment of 11 local thoroughbreds flown to the US to further their racing careers and to stand at stud. The group of mostly female horses also included Equus Horse of the Year Princess Calla and highly-rated fillies Bless My Stars and Make it Snappy – along with champion sprinter Isivunguvungu.

Graham Motion, a prominent Maryland-based trainer, took charge of both Beach Bomb and Isivunguvungu when the South African horses emerged from two months of quarantine in the US.

Isivunguvungu’s first run in the States will be this Saturday – in the $150,000 Da Hoss Stakes over 1100m at Colonial Downs in the state of Virginia.

Beach Bomb, Isivunguvungu and Princess Calla already feature prominently on the Breeders’ Cup website as early entries and international raiders for the two-day meeting on Friday and Saturday 1 and 2 November.

Motion told Bloodhorse website that the South African had adapted well to their new surroundings.

“Because they’d been quarantined for two months and barely got out of their stalls in those two months, we had to be careful not to rush them when they went back into training. They were literally starting from scratch,” he explained. “They seem to have adjusted to everything very well. They don’t seem to struggle with the track and the way we train over here.”

Breeders’ Cup

Of Isivunguvungu, a six-year-old gelded son of What A Winter, Motion commented: “He’s a really cool horse … very straightforward … so far he’s done it all easily.”

Motion said the Da Hoss Stakes on Saturday “looks like a good spot” for Isivunguvungu, who is ultimately eyeing the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf.

“I like the Da Hoss; it’s 5½ furlongs. It’s what he’s going to have to do at Del Mar, and I think he’ll be just about ready by then.”

In the interview, Motion said he’d like to run the South African horses in September and then go straight to the Breeders’ Cup.

“It’s possible they could run again in October but, in a perfect world, I’d like them to run once and then go to the Breeders’ Cup.”