Oracy - like father like son
David Thiselton
The two most valuable thoroughbreds in training in South Africa at the moment are likely the Vodacom Durban July winner, Big City Life, and the current Summer Cup favourite, Oracy, who like the champion Pocket Power are both magnificent performers on the turf but unlike him are both entires with promising stud careers ahead of them.
Oracy, now unbeaten in five starts, won the Grade 2 Dingaans as a three-year-old at last year’s Summer Cup meeting in just his second racecourse appearance despite running very green in that he didn’t appear to want to let himself down and had to be hard-ridden by Christophe Soumillon.
An Australian breeder in the country at the time watched and commented, “He’s a typical Zabeel.” Oracy’s sire is the record-breaking New Zealand sire, Zabeel, who became the first stallion in the world to have 12 Group 1 winners from his first four crops. Zabeel’s greatness owes a lot to his sire, the legendary Sir Tristram.His dam, Lady Giselle, a twin by Nureyev, was so puny that Sir Tristram refused to accept her the first time she was sent to him and it was a year later that the intended mating took place. Zabeel’s progeny typically only fill out when they are four-years-old. However, they are known to be tough and with a tremendous will to win.
As three-year-olds that desire to win transcends the fact that they are only half made up. Oracy’s win in the Dingaans and later in the Grade 2 Gauteng Guineas were two cases in point.
His immaturity was particularly evident in the Guineas, which took place in late February, three months after the Dingaans.
It also showed just how big his heart is. Anton Marcus drove him into the lead half-way down the straight, but he then hung right out to the outside rail.
Three horses came at him and overtook him in the final stages, but he gave his all to the line and, although it seemed impossible that he had won on the original viewing of the race, the photo-finish showed that he had just got his nose up. Oracy recently made his comeback after an eight month break and Anton Marcus felt that he could not win considering his homework. However, he stormed clear to beat a top class field. The will to win was displayed again as he defied his homework, but more importantly it showed that he has filled out and matured and can now do it naturally. His conditioner Charles Laird is not only the current champion trainer, but is also a former handicapper, and has shown his expertise in preparing a horse for the big races from a long way out before.
His preparation of Hunting Tower to win the July in 2007 was a good example.
Giving Oracy a break at a time when first the Gauteng Triple Crown seemed at his mercy and secondly as the Kwazulu-Natal Champions season beckoned, might turn out to be his latest master stroke. The potential this horse has considering what he achieved when so immature is mouthwatering and the fact that he is a Zabeel adds more to the mix. The “big three” races in South Africa are the July, the Summer Cup and the J&B Met. Laird’s chief patron, Markus Jooste, has been champion owner for the last two years and has tasted plenty of feature race success, but is yet to win any of these three races. Laird has won the July, but the Met and the Summer Cup are missing from his CV. His careful nurturing of Oracy will now give himself and Jooste a crack at all three of the big ones.
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