Winners of Prestigious Races in South Africa (Durban July, J&B Met, etc)

In 1997 Tony Riley purchased a brown Rubiton filly at the Adelaide sales on behalf of South African owner Sandy Irvine. Out of the Australasian Oaks winner Miss Clipper, the filly, named Ruby Clipper, made her first African port of call at Harare in Zimbabwe. She was second on her debut in February 1998 over 1000m in a Maiden Plate at Borrowdale afterwhich she was moved to the Highveld yard of trainer Gary Alexander.

Ruby Clipper won her next outing over the same distance at Turffontein and what followed was a roller-coaster ride around the tracks of South Africa with nine more victories - she was ARCSA Champion Two-Year-Old Filly and Spey Bridge Champion Two-Year-Old in 1997 and Equus Champion Older female Sprinter in 1999; she broke course records at Scottsville, Turffontein and Newmarket and she held her own in the company of the sprinting greats Golden Loom and Fov's Favourite; she ran second to the brilliant Jet Master in the Mercury Sprint at four. When she was retired she was purchased by John Singelton and returned to Australia to join the broodmare band at Strawberry Hill Stud in New South Wales.

Like Ipi Tombi and Irridescence after her, Ruby Clipper was lost to South Africa and while she left a fine racing legacy in her wake, as a broodmare she seemed destined to slip into obscurity 'Down Under'. That was until the Magic Millions Sale in January 2006 where a colt by Rock Of Gibraltar out of Ruby Clipper was on the catalogue. Charles Laird, who trains for Marcus Jooste (one of South Africa's premier owners) was there and he was determined to bring the impressive near-black colt home. He went to AU$1,025,000 to secure the horse, making him the third most expensive lot.

For the record Ipi Tombe was beaten by The Pick in her last race in Zimbabwe!!!

(tu) thanks for that....

Ruby Clipper is by far the most talented horse I have ever wworked with. She was a sprinter through and through. All races won over 1000m - 1200m. She was owned by 2 gentlemen, Sandy Irvine (as mentioned above), and Zimbabwean businessman, Graham Kileff.

That "black colt" by Rock of Gibraltar, is Seventh Rock (Aus), who has not onlt shown his mettle on the racetrack, but is now throwing some very impressive foals in his first 2 crops. First lot will be on next year's yearling sales.

Ruby left an indelible mark on me, because she was such an intelligent and gentle horse. She stood at 17.0hh, plain dark bay, with not a single white hair on her, anywhere. She was strong, sound and clear winded. What a pleasure! She raced in the era of Horse Chestnut, and later Jet Master (she ran against both of them!). I was devastated when she left SA, and took a week off work. It's very hard not "falling in love" with a horse like that. The various records she set were definitely some of the highlights of my career. The most special was her 5 length win in heavy going in the 1000m Magnolia Hcp. She carried 61.5kg, and the next horse down carried 52kg (KZN's top sprinting filly of that time, David Payne's Happy Harriet). Ruby broke Harry's Charm's course record that night, at Newmarket. I don't think I will ever know another horse as good as this, personally.

....and now the name is carried forward by a very cute little dog

I got Ruby Clipper the dog (Miniature Pinscher) the week after Ruby Clipper the horse left to go to the USA for her first leg of the first leg of her VERY lengthy journey across the world. She spent some time in the New York quarrantine station, where they considered covering her with Cozzene (to Southern Hemisphere time), but decided against it. She landed first in NZ, where she was covered by Zabeel, producing a filly called Zircon. I am not sure what happened to this filly.

rubyclipper Wrote:

---

> Ruby Clipper is by far the most talented horse I
> have ever wworked with. She was a sprinter through
> and through. All races won over 1000m - 1200m. She
> was owned by 2 gentlemen, Sandy Irvine (as
> mentioned above), and Zimbabwean businessman,
> Graham Kileff.
>
> That "black colt" by Rock of Gibraltar, is Seventh
> Rock (Aus), who has not onlt shown his mettle on
> the racetrack, but is now throwing some very
> impressive foals in his first 2 crops. First lot
> will be on next year's yearling sales.
>
> Ruby left an indelible mark on me, because she was
> such an intelligent and gentle horse. She stood at
> 17.0hh, plain dark bay, with not a single white
> hair on her, anywhere. She was strong, sound and
> clear winded. What a pleasure! She raced in the
> era of Horse Chestnut, and later Jet Master (she
> ran against both of them!). I was devastated when
> she left SA, and took a week off work. It's very
> hard not "falling in love" with a horse like that.
> The various records she set were definitely some
> of the highlights of my career. The most special
> was her 5 length win in heavy going in the 1000m
> Magnolia Hcp. She carried 61.5kg, and the next
> horse down carried 52kg (KZN's top sprinting filly
> of that time, David Payne's Happy Harriet). Ruby
> broke Harry's Charm's course record that night, at
> Newmarket. I don't think I will ever know another
> horse as good as this, personally.

I fancy Seventh Rock to be a real speed stallion and do well at stud - Lovely horse

Another very sentimental racing moment for me was when Seventh Rock (Aus) won the Tommy Hotspur Handicap! Kind of a full circle for me!

Lovely thread this - reminds us all why we love racing so much (tu)

Although nowhere as illustrious as Ruby Clipper, Elvis and myself had a taste of this with Asylum Seeker; we also sold her to Aus, but she ran a couple of times in the Cape (in the Fillies Guineas if memory serves me right) before she wnet to Aus; although she belonged to someone else by then, my wife and I went down for the race - needless to say my wife was in tears when we said goodbye to 'Silly' in the ring after the race :

Ruby your namesake was sold last year at NBS Select Sale in Aus-

Lot:1033 2011 MM National Broodmare Sale Select Session
Name: Ruby Clipper
Sire: Rubiton
Dam: Miss Clipper
Vendor: Strawberry Hill Stud
Buyer: E THOROUGHBRED PTY LTD $100,000

Great thread guys txs (tu)

Asylum Seeker, champion 2yo in 2005-2006, was an exceptional juvenile. She won both the G1 Golden Slipper and G2 SA Fillies Nursery, and was only stopped by a horrendous draw in the G1 Thekwini Stakes. She was eventually exported to Australia, where she produced her first foal, a colt by Rock of Gibraltar. Asylum Seeker is currently in foal to Haradasun.

Frodo here is a Video of "Silly's" first son (By Rock of Gibraltar)

Titch Wrote:

---

> Asylum Seeker, champion 2yo in 2005-2006, was an
> exceptional juvenile. She won both the G1 Golden
> Slipper and G2 SA Fillies Nursery, and was only
> stopped by a horrendous draw in the G1 Thekwini
> Stakes. She was eventually exported to Australia,
> where she produced her first foal, a colt by Rock
> of Gibraltar. Asylum Seeker is currently in foal
> to Haradasun.
>
> Frodo here is a Video of "Silly's" first son
> (By Rock of Gibraltar)
>
>

Brilliant - thanks Titch (tu)