What price Beach Beauty ?

An amazingly consistent mare, just take her look at her race record. Basically never out of the money.

Im in Garrick's corner here..nothing else to prove...

Garrick Wrote:

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> I really see no reason why they should continue
> racing her. She is topclass but falls short of
> being an Ipi Tombi or Igugu. There really is
> nothing more for her to prove at her level and,
> based on known form, she is no future July, Met or
> Summer Cup winner.
>
> Why not let her down until she goes to stud later
> in the year?

No sure that I agree with you, Garrick. She is showing no signs that she is no longer enjoying her racing and until she does she might as well take her chances against opposition which seems quite moderate at the present time.

She is not bred in the absolute purple, on her dam's side, though she traces back to some very solid Armitage stock, with Home Guard in her tail female line. Her fourth dam, Free Pass, finished 3rd in the SA Oaks, her third dam, Leisure, was second in the J & B Reserve Stayers, and Sun Coast, her own dam, won three minor races, all over 1400 metres.

Looking at her pedigree, which features the likes of top staying sire, Hobnob, and such a stout female line beyond Sun Coast, it's surprising that she doesn't go at least 2000 metres. However, her damsire, Capture Him, was by Mr Prospector, and doesn't seem to have stayed much further than a mile, though he did get within a length and a half of Sadler's Wells, when finishing 4th in the Irish 2000 Guineas. So her pedigree is not too shabby, and will have been greatly enhanced by the fact that she was sired by Dynasty, but it's not littered with famous females.

She's also not a strapping mare, though perfectly made, so one wonders what value the market will put on her. For the sake of Minou Armitage, who now owns her, after Trevor's passing, I hope she commands a fortune, but right now she has no peers amongst the females and she's certainly good for another Garden Province, which would make it five Gr1 wins and put her into the kind of league which might warrant inclusion in the Legends of the Turf series, even though she's no Kings Pact, Renounce, Empress Club, Star Effort or even Olympic Duel.

No doubt the lessors, the Shanks Syndicate, of which the Armitages are a part, will be keen to exploit her talent to the full, and to accumulate as many Gr1 wins as possible, to further improve her stud value. Moreover, as Dennis Drier has said, he has never taken her up to the Highveld, and she's had a total of 27 starts, all of them in KZN or the Western Cape. I am sure that they will retire her gracefully whenever she shows that she's had enough, but she's a filly who simply loves racing and who still seems to have a few wins left in her, particularly in WFA races against her own sex, of which, it has to be conceded, there are not that many, unfortunately.

David Thiselton
Darling of the South African turf Beach Beauty will join the select band of broodmares at Johann and Gaynor Rupert’s Drakenstein Stud at the conclusion of her racing career.
However, until that moment arrives she will continue to race in the colours of The Shanks Syndicate and be trained by Summerveld’s Dennis Drier. The pending sale will also be subject to normal veterinary conditions.
The evergreen six-year-old Dynasty mare won Saturday’s Gr1 Klawervlei Majorca Stakes over 1600m at Kenilworth in spectacular fashion under regular pilot Sean Cormack and thereby increased her career Gr1 tally to four.
It was symptomatic of her class and courage that after being used up early to overcome a wide draw she was still able to find the necessary extra in the latter stages to repel an outstanding field of fillies and mares.
This was the third successive major race meeting in which the diminutive heroine had converted banker status and on each of those occasions she has done it in a Grade 1 from a wide barrier position.
Furthermore, her fantastic gate speed and early pace enables her to do it from a handy position, while her devastating turn of foot allows the rider the option of coming from a long way back if necessary.
Beach Beauty, one of the country’s most consistent horses in training, is undefeated against females since losing to four-time Gr1 winner Princess Victoria over the too sharp 1200m of the Gr3 Poinsettia Stakes at Clairwood in April 2012.
In her career she has contested nine Grade 1s for four wins, three seconds and a third. Her 15 career victories in a mere 27 starts also include five Gr2s and a Gr3.
Hammie’s Hooker finished closest to her for the third time on Saturday and her trainer Mike Bass confided in Drier on Saturday evening that he now knew how the victims of his great three-times Equus Horse Of The Year Pocket Power had felt for all those years. Significant words indeed.
The Shanks Syndicate lease her and have always been aware that she would be retired to stud at the end of this season. Minou and Sylvie Armitage, widow and daughter respectively of Beach Beauty’s owner and breeder Trevor, turned down a bigger offer from Australia as they did not want to see their beloved mare leaving the country.
Likewise, Gaynor Rupert’s racing manager Kevin Sommerville revealed that part of the reason for their interest was in order to ensure that the superstar mare would not be lost by South African breeding.
The Shanks syndicate was formed to honour the late Mark Armitage, son of Trevor and Minou, and to remember the fun times the members had enjoyed with him on the racecourse. “It has never been about the money,” repeated the syndicate’s nominee Warren Kidd on Saturday after being asked whether Dubai and other destinations had ever been considered.
Vodacom Durban July day is particularly meaningful to the syndicate members as they shared some memorable moments with Mark at their annual picnic site. Hence a likely swansong for Beach Beauty in this year’s July will put the cap on one of South Africa’s most moving racing stories.
The fairytale began with the formation of the ten-person syndicate, which includes Mark’s widow Ruth, his mother Minou and sister Sylvie, as well as his best man Warren Kidd.
The syndicate is completed by Warren’s wife Laura and other of Mark’s closest friends, including former Gold Circle Chairman John Bescoby, his wife Janette and daughter Danny, and also Anthony and Barbara Erswell.
The syndicate acquired its name from Mark’s nickname at university and their silks mirror the plumage of a colourful bird called the Nerina Trogon.
Mark was a keen bird watcher and the Nerina Trogon was the most rewarding spotting he had ever made, as it is notoriously elusive. "I'd never seen anyone so excited about anything, let alone a bird," recalled Warren.
Drier recalled the first time he clapped eyes on the tiny Dynasty filly on the Armitage farm near Volksrust in northern KZN.
“She had very true conformation, everything was in the right place. She had beautiful length of rein, a beautiful big, bold eye and a nice rounded bum. I thought she was a bit on the small side, but at that stage I didn’t realise the size of her heart.”
Armitage used to allow his horses to roam around the farm among the cattle and this could be another reason for Beach Beauty’s impeccable soundness and amazing toughness. Beach Beauty was named by Kate Armitage, the oldest of Mark and Ruth’s three daughters.
She came into Drier’s yard quite late and he knew she was good from the beginning. “She was a little natural with an unbelievable action.” Drier also spoke of her fantastic temperament, adding, “She does not have a mean hair on her body.”
In fact Laura Kidd remembers initially viewing Beach Beauty as not much more than a sweet little horse, who was a joy to visit on a family day out. However, Warren quickly realised her potential when she produced an electrifying burst of speed in the latter stages of her debut over 1450m at Clairwood to win by three lengths.
The rest is history and on Saturday the syndicate knew it would be their day again when their waitress for the day introduced herself as “Beauty.”
Sean Cormack has forged a fantastic bond with Beach Beauty and must take a lot of credit for her success.
Her over racing tendencies that cost her dearly in the farcically slow run Paddock Stakes of two years ago as well as in the subsequent J&B Met are now a distant memory thanks to Cormack’s sublime skill in settling and placing a horse.
Training her has been made easy for Drier by the syndicate’s togetherness and easy going natures. The masterful trainer summed it up, “One of the keys to her success is that we have never had to do the ‘Roof Of Africa’ with her.”

She would have my money in the July. Pity the connections wont take the chance. She has proved everything already against the fillies.

Frodo Wrote:

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> I think she is being leased (open to correction) -
> if so, it will depend on the contract, but she
> still seems to enjoy her racing, so no reason to
> not have another crack at the KZN season and the
> Garden Province - and yes, hats off to Dennis
> Drier keeping he on the boil,(tu)
>
> However, although she is fantastic mare, she has
> not been able to beat the colts (as Igugu did) so
> Horse of the Year may just be pushing it a bit :S


Definitely being leased
To Garrick, in my opinion Beach Beauty is as good as Igugu and Ipi Tombi, but just cannot do the 2200

Worth every accolade. She is a superhorse(hero)

Ships Gossip Wrote:

---

> Frodo Wrote:
>

---

>

---

> > I think she is being leased (open to correction)
> -
> > if so, it will depend on the contract, but she
> > still seems to enjoy her racing, so no reason
> to
> > not have another crack at the KZN season and
> the
> > Garden Province - and yes, hats off to Dennis
> > Drier keeping he on the boil,(tu)
> >
> > However, although she is fantastic mare, she
> has
> > not been able to beat the colts (as Igugu did)
> so
> > Horse of the Year may just be pushing it a bit
> :S
>
>
> Definitely being leased
> To Garrick, in my opinion Beach Beauty is as good
> as Igugu and Ipi Tombi, but just cannot do the
> 2200


Imo, (and not looking to start an argement) although she is a top mare, she is not as good as Igugu or Ipi Tombe; she was beaten the other day by King of Pain and Ice Machine over 1600 :S

So definitely the right decision to aim he at the Garden Province - even a poor draw might not be the end of the world as she has shown last year (tu)

toontony Wrote:

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> She would have my money in the July. Pity the
> connections wont take the chance. She has proved
> everything already against the fillies.

The intended swansong at this stage is the July.

Tipster Wrote:

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> toontony Wrote:
>

---

>

---

> > She would have my money in the July. Pity the
> > connections wont take the chance. She has
> proved
> > everything already against the fillies.
>
> The intended swansong at this stage is the July.


In my very humble opinion that would be a mistake

Now u are talking and the reason I opened the thread, who do we have to beat her?
I would guess she would be fav for the July, her style of running, her great turn off foot over the Greyville straight

PLEASE , just for the fans.........

Look forward to coming back to your box John to have another wee dram -D

To be horse of the year a filly doesn't necessarily need to beat the boys but to claim the most number of Gr1 wins whether only against the girls or not. A two or three old can also be horse of the year, just get those Gr1's for the season.