By David Thiselton
The exciting Sean Tarry-trained Captain Al filly Carry On Alice will attempt to win her second career Gr 1 race, the Tsogo Sun Medallion, at Scottsville this weekend, but it is only through the tender care of the Klawervlei Stud staff that she was ever conceived at all. Fate also played an amazing hand in the purchase of a share in her by the UK-based couple Dr John and Dr Jill Warner, who will be at the Pietermaritzburg racecourse on Saturday to see her in action.
Carry On Alice is the only Gr 1-winning two-year-old in the country at present, having taken on males in the Gr 1 SA Nursery and gave them a galloping lesson.
In that race, her third start, she beat the highly regarded odds-on-favourite from the Mike de Kock yard, the Australian-bred More Than Ready colt Banaadeer, by 2,5 lengths after showing a high cruising speed and a fantastic turn of foot under S’Manga Khumalo.
On top of her athletic prowess, the long-striding filly has the perfect racing temperament, being a “docile” type who reserves every ounce of energy until the off.
Her time over the Turffontein 1 160m course was quicker than that of the equally exciting De Kock-trained Australian-bred Redoute’s Choice filly Majmu, who won the Gr 2 SA Fillies Nursery by 8,75 lengths.
Carry On Alice is the daughter of Carry On Katie, a Charles Laird-trained and Markus Jooste-owned Western Winter filly who won a Gr 2 over 1 400m as a two-year-old and finished her career with a further eight top three stakes race finishes.
Carry On Katie later touched the hearts of the Klawervlei staff, who will always remember her bravery.
Stud part-owner John Koster recalled “She was a great filly and finished second to Dancer’s Daughter in the Gr 1 Paddock Stakes. She was a nice, big, tall and scopey mare who fitted Captain Al so well.
However, foaling down always took so much out of her. She used to throw these monster foals and maybe her canals (birth) were just too narrow.
“When she gave birth to her first foal she injured her pelvis and couldn’t get back up for a day or two. We nursed her back to health and the following year she conceived Carry On Alice.”
After that relatively smooth birth, she was sent to Seventh Rock. Once again the foal was huge and there were complications foaling down.
Koster continued, “She couldn’t get up afterwards, so we borrowed a sling to try and save her. We would lift her up with the sling every day to try and get the strength back into her legs. She was so brave.
“But there must have just been too much damage to the nerves. The weight was melting off her and the sling began hurting her. She was turning sour and we had to call it a day.”
Unfortunately the Seventh Rock foal did not survive the problematic birth either. Koster said, “Thank goodness Carry On Katie’s last foal was a filly so that her legacy can be continued.”
Meanwhile, Richard Nurse, a friend of Koster's whom he described as a talented fly-half in his rugby playing days, had been organising a tour of 40 people from abroad to coincide with the 2013 J&B Met.
The itinerary included a trip to Klawervlei Stud and to the Cape Premier Yearling Sale.
Koster recalled, “The administrators then decided to move the Met to a week later and everybody on the tour cancelled except for four people, including the Warners.”
The Warners are both medical doctors and John received an OBE last year for his services to food allergy research. The couple share a passion for horseracing.
Koster continued, “When the Warners came to visit our farm, Jill told me that the horse she loved out of the whole catalogue was Carry On Alice and asked whether she could buy a share.”
A few days later John Warner signed for Carry On Alice at the Sale, having gone to R475 000 to secure her. Koster also liked the filly too much to let her go and a syndicate consisting of the Warners, Chris van Niekerk and Klawervlei Stud was put together.
Koster continued: “It just seems too good to be true that the one filly out of the whole draft Jill loved has turned out to be such a good horse and a Gr 1 winner.”
The Warners will be flying out during the week. The adrenalin will surely be rushing on Saturday afternoon as their dream filly attempts to write another chapter of what could turn out to be yet another racing fairy tale in a season that has contained many such heart-warming stories.
Carry On Katie will also not be forgotten if the trophy is lifted and the entire staff at Klawervlei Stud will be behind her potentially brilliant daughter.
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