The scenic Heversham Park Farm is home to two iconic stallions, Moofeed (AUS) and wings Of Desire (IRE). 'The Farm' as it’s affectionately called, raises all bloodstock on water supplied from a natural spring. Fred Brons, the Netherlands-born Heversham Park stallion director chats to The Impact about their draft for the 2019 Emperors Palace Ready To Run Sale
Although Brons arrived in South Africa from the Netherlands at the age of three, it was a ‘horse mad’ girlfriend and a grey mare called Misty that stoked his interest in thoroughbreds that would eventually lead to the gates of Heversham Park Farm.
Q: Please tell us about your highlight lots from your draft? (What is special about your highlight lots in terms of pedigree, physical appearance, Type and performance if any?)
A: One of the criteria of our yearlings or 2yo’s are that we do not “pump” them up to be show horses. We remain to what we believe is with the normal look. Thus, they may not look at the ‘part’, but more than one trainer already told us that they are keen on our horses as they immediately start filling out once they get into training. They experience the ‘show’ horses to first loose condition, or that show looks, and then pick up to a racing condition.
About a few of the individuals;
- Lot 22: Maple Street (Visionaire X Cantiga De Luar) Maple Street was inherited with the mare in foal. Was a very good match with a Sire Index of 0,936, star rating (an SI of 1,000 is a perfect pedigree mating)
- Lot 41: Penelope (Black Minnaloushe X Fenella) Another inherited foal from a mare who has already produced a Black Type progeny
- Lot 51: Resolute (Flying The Flag X Glorious Fair)The stallion was the attraction, but despite a **-star Rating, there is a lot of hope for this stallion
- Lot 64: Sierradeltasierra (Where's That Tiger X Indigo Princess) Another inherited the foal, but we have a Where’s That Tiger out of an El Prado (Sadler’s Wells) mare with a Broodmare Sire Index [BSI] Rating of 1,000 and has already broken his maiden with effective only two starts.
- Lot 67: Danceindamoonlight(Coup De Grace X Ivanka) A mating determined on the farm with an SI of 1,000. If Coup De Grace ‘fires’, this will be one of his top performers.
- Lot 110: Refinery (Noble Tune X Refined Gold) Considering that Unbridled’s Song is one of the most popular Lines in modern Thoroughbred pedigrees. If Noble Tunecan still gets the RIGHT mares he should be a stallion to be reckoned with. In the US this blood is super hot!
- Lot 119: 17Savanna Sunrise (Eightfold Path X Savanna Sunrise) Another inherited foal with a very strong and deep pedigree. He could be the bargain that was unexpected.
Some of the drafts came with the mares that we bought, hence do they, not all conform to the T-BAS, but that does not inferior as other breeders use alternative systems to pinpoint their foals.
Q: How do you plan matings? How many horses do you foal in a year on your farm?
A: The secret to our formula is in the new pedigree analysis system that I personally developed over the past 20+years and am now effectively applying the system. The system is called-BAS and is based on statistical analysis but designed by taking various permutations into consideration and develop formulas around them. As well know, the best way to breed is to ‘breed the best with the best and hope for the best’. Considering that probably only 5% of the horses fall in the category of ‘the best’, what is left for the bulk of the Bloodstock? The T-BAS has been developed to use all Bloodstock combinations and get a pattern that could draw in and IMPROVE the Bloodstock.
What we intend with this is to take a ‘weak’ pedigree mare, for example, and match with the right stallion to a mix that was successful as a GROUP study rather than an individual combination. It may not give one a Champion in the first generation, but one can now build to this. I wish to take an example of amare I took over from an associate. She had 3 foals by the time I took control of her. All three failed, either to get to the track or make it on the track. With the T-BAS I recently have two fillies on the track. The oldest had a bit of a birth handicap and we could only start training her at 3 and is now showing potential at 4yo. To date, she produced a 3rd, 2 x 4thand a 5thposition, but she shows more potential and hopingly will become an asset for study purposes. The other has had 5 starts to date and has run 3 x 2ndandtwice 3rd. Not yet Black Type, but by far improved over their three siblings. The main criteria are that we have improved the Bloodstock. Phase 1 was achieved.
Earlier years we sent the mares out at a big expense to target the right combinations and some of the horses bred to this formula includeHerodotus, Black Type-placed; Battle Of Alesia, high rating after first win and MadamePatrice, 5 places from 5 starts. It may not look like much but all coming from the first batch of foals, we are pretty excited.
Now that we added stallions to the farm, we are fully aware that we would not be able to rely on the market to provide sufficient numbers and the right quality of mares for the boys. Simple reasons, we are an unknown entity and we are based in Gauteng. We, therefore, focussed on Mare Sales and targeted mares that specifically are suitable and match our stallions. Others may say that we just went for cheap mares, but our target and need were not the same as other buyers and those mares would most probably not suit their own sires anyway, but to us, it was a hit. The big thing is that we now have to wait for the proof a to the first foals are only hitting the ground now.
Q: Can you please tell us about the stallions you stand and your mare’s lines?
A: This year we only stood two stallions, WINGS OF DESIRE (Pivotal) and MOOFEED (Duke Of Marmalade)
If I assume right, you would mean the mare lines that we need to focus on to rise above the norm.
I have added to the top two years of Bloodline requirements for our stallions, i.e.the yellow and the more mares we can cover in these categories, the better our chances would be to achieve success. Not eliminating conformation and temperament of course.
Q: How did you get into the industry? Please tell us more about the history of Heversham Park Farm? And how is Heversham Park Farm planning to develop in the next decade?
A: My passion came from about the age of 8 or 9 years with an interest in racing, but it was all just a paper exercise. Bought my first riding horse at 21 and bred my first foal at 33 and raced the first horse around 40 years of age.
Started developing the T-BAS round about 1978 when I had to indulge in a National Sales catalogue. Asked the knowing what to buy and the names of Persian Wonder and New South Wales topped the list. Those days they sold for R60 000 to R80 000, well out of my reach and had to find another way to identify a top horse.
Was seeking partners to breed and race with me, but the turnaround cycle frustrated the team(s) and never got to the fruit-bearing stage, but our first racer was bought at a Horses In TrainingSale and was placed a few times, but we believed the Blood mix was such that we can gain fruit. This horse, FACING NORTH, won six times for us. That was the early days of the T-BAS.
Adv Nigel Riley, after a visit to HevershamPark Farm, identified that his knowledge of pedigree mix was lacking and mine was extensive. This was approximately 4 years ago now since we started to combine our resources. Nigel was a trainer in his early years and had extensive horse knowledge, but it was his interest in law where is now a champ. He acquired the farm from Fred Grabbie by fluke and always had a few horses on the farm. After we combined resources the farm is now growing into a noticeable Stud. This did not come with all given.
The farm started with stallions that were not really commercial, i.e. Lavery (Royal Academy), Almushtarak (FairyKing) and what could have been a great stallion if the support and technicalities were available at the early stage with a stallion called SCRIPTURE (Hennessy), full brother of WISE DAN, world champion racehorse in his days. When we got together we firstly acquired Harry Hall (Pivotal) and Lord of the Land (Shamardal), full brother of LOPE DE VEGA, a champion stallion in Europe. Both died before the season came into the swing and Great Britain(Green Desert), died at the end of his first season at Heversham.
Where will be going in the future? If we did our jobs correctly, we are going to have two stallions that will be producing champions. Once that happens we will expand to our own and market needs.
Nigel is also focusing on international Bloodstock and it may just have it that that market will be expanded on in the future. WE have to race internationally!
Published in The Impact 21 Issue, 2 Vol
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