‘Powerhouse’ Feather Boa dancing Stateside

America’s top jockey Irad Ortiz Jr predicted much bigger things for Feather Boa after she’d carried him to a fast-finishing third place in her debut run in the US at the weekend.

The South African-bred filly was part of the much-heralded consignment of 11 local thoroughbreds shipped to the US in March – the first such shipment in many years.

Trainer Todd Pletcher – also a titan of US racing – was equally impressed with Feather Boa’s showing in a 1200m sprint at Aqueduct racecourse in New York, calling her “a powerhouse of a filly”.

Observers were unanimous that the four-year-old, campaigned as a miler in South Africa, would have won easily had the contest been a mere 100m further.

SA bloodstock

Feather Boa was known as a “hard-luck” horse of South African racing when she was trained on the Highveld by Stuart Pettigrew. She won four of her 17 starts and was runner-up nine times – often missing out by a whisker to top-rated opponents. She never finished out of the prize money.

Bred by champion breeders Wilgerbosdrift & Mauritzfontein, Feather Boa is by the imported American stallion Flower Alley – who, coincidentally, raced out of the Pletcher stable.

She was bought for racing and breeding in the US by Team Valor, the syndicate started by Barry Irwin – a long-time believer in the quality of South African bloodstock.

The filly is the third of the 11 exported horses to race in the US. Filly Beach Bomb ran second on her debut for Graham Motion in New Jersey, before sprinter Isivungvungi won for the same trainer in Virginia three weeks ago.

Both those horses are still running in the colours of their South African owners – Drakenstein Stud and Hollywood Syndicate respectively – and both are being targeted at the prestigious Breeders’ Cup meeting in California in November.