Lancaster Bomber bang on target at Cape Town Met

Cape Town Met day at the weekend had a lot of winners – and at times unruly throngs of them on the winners’ rostrum had normally cheerful TV presenter Vicky Minott fussing like a sergeant major trying to herd cats.

But one of the most important winners was not part of the crowd. He lay in his grave, far away.

Trainer Justin Snaith was the day’s victor ludorum, of course, with his six winners. Owners Nick Jonsson and the Bloch family were multiple victors, as were breeders Drakenstein Stud and Maine Chance Farms. Jockeys Gavin Lerena, Aldo Domeyer and Craig Zackey each claimed a brace.

Largely unheralded in the heat of the moment was the stallion Lancaster Bomber, whose name was inscribed on two of the three Grade 1 races at the meeting.

His four-year-old daughter won the prestigious Majorca Stakes and his three-year-old son Eight On Eighteen made history by becoming the first three-year-old in 25 years to prevail in the WSB Cape Town Met, the Mother City’s biggest race.

What made this most remarkable was the fact that Lancaster Bomber only produced two crops of offspring in his stud career. He died very young, aged seven, of a heart attack in his paddock at Drakenstein in July 2021.

Gone too soon

Drakenstein is blessed with a number of top-class stallions, but proprietor Gaynor Rupert will be specially missing this royally pedigreed import from Ireland. She described the big fellow as “the future” of her magnificent enterprise before he was cruelly snatched away.

Lancaster Bomber’s first moment in the limelight came in late 2023 when his filly Beach Bomb and his colt Snow Pilot won the Cape Fillies Guineas and the Cape Guineas, within weeks of each other – a feat breeding fundis couldn’t recall any stallion having achieved.

Beach Bomb has since been exported to the US and ran commendably at the Breeders’ Cup in November 2024. Snow Pilot is still winning races in Cape Town and was a runner-up on the undercard on Saturday.

Glen Kotzen-trained Rascova has now added a Grade 1 trophy to her two Grade 2 gongs, while Eight On Eighteen – who came into the Met off just two wins in six starts – has the racing world before him.

More promising offspring

Other well-rated Lancaster Bombers in training include Red Bomber, Guy Gibson and One Fell Swoop.

Guy Gibson is named after the World War 2 flying ace who led the famous “Bouncing Bomb” raid on dams in the German Ruhr Valley, which was carried out by 19 RAF Lancaster Bombers.

Lancaster Bomber the horse was born in the US in 2014, the son of top sire War Front, himself a son of the great Danzig, in turn a son of the legend Northern Dancer. His mother, Sun Shower, a daughter of Indian Ridge, also produced European champion Excelebration.

Racing out of the Ireland yard of the world’s foremost trainer, Aiden O’Brien, Lancaster Bomber was runner-up in five Group 1s, third in another and fourth in two more before finally tasting top-flight victory in the Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh in Ireland. He was retired from the track at four and shipped to Drakenstein in the Western Cape winelands.

RIP Lancaster Bomber.