The past weekend was one to remember for some of South Africa’s first crop stallions.
Both Twice Over (pictured) and What A Winter were represented by their first graded stakes winners, while Scott Bros’ beautifully bred young stallion Crusade was represented by his fifth first crop win when Weekend Warrior won at Kenilworth on Saturday.

Twice Over (Observatory) became the first of the young sires off the mark with a Gr1 winner when his son Sand And Sea landed the Gr1 Tsogo Sun Gold Medallion at Scottsville on Saturday.
The colt, who cost R1 000 000 from last year’s Cape Premier Yearling Sale, gave trainer Dennis Drier his seventh win in the Gold Medallion.

Twice Over, who has been represented by seven first crop runners to have won or finished in the money, was an outstanding racehorse and European Champion Older Male in 2010 and Champion Older Male in Great Britain in 2009.

From the same family as US champions Banshee Breeze and Damascus, Twice Over (whose own sister Circulation ran second first time out recently) won 12 races (from 1600-2100) including the Gr1 Champion Stakes (twice), Gr1 Juddmonte International, and Gr1 Coral-Eclipse.

Triple Equus Champion What A Winter (Western Winter) was represented by his first graded winner when Dutch Philip (also What A Winter’s very first winner) landed the Gr3 Cape Of Good Hope Nursery at Kenilworth on Saturday. The colt has now won four of five starts, and won the Listed Somerset 1200 at his previous outing.

(It was a feature double for What A Winter, whose unbeaten daughter Magical Wonderland captured the Listed Kenilworth Fillies Nursery on the same day).

A four time Gr1 winner, What A Winter has now three stakes winners to his credit, with his son Fort Winter having previously landed the Listed East Cape Nursery. He has six first crop winners to his credit thus far, and another son, Warrior’s Rest, contested Saturday’s Gr1 Tsogo Sun Gold Medallion.

Gr1 Middle Park Stakes winner Crusade (Mr Greeley), whose classic winning half-sister Seventh Heaven (Galileo) recently captured the Gr2 Dunaden Jockey Club Stakes by five lengths, had his fifth winner when the Clifton Stud bred Weekend Warrior broke his maiden over 1000m by 1.25 lengths.

Other first crop winners for Crusade include Onamission, Miss Millionaire, and Butchie Boy.

Currently the leading first crop sire standing in KZN, Crusade has been represented by winners in both South Africa and Zimbabwe.