Serasana headlines brilliant day for Griffiths and de Kock
Exciting filly Serasana (Snitzel) made it a perfect two stakes-winners from two runners bought by the Robbie Griffiths and Mathew de Kock stable for a powerhouse group of South African owners by comfortably taking the Sandown Guineas (Gr 2, 1600m) at Caulfield yesterday.
A $400,000 purchase at last year’s Inglis Easter sale, Serasana is part of the first band of horses raced by owners whom expat South African Mathew de Kock has brought into the fold in his training partnership with Griffiths at Cranbourne, formed in 2020.
She carries the famed cornflour blue silks of South Africa’s Drakenstein Stud, the renowned breeding and racing establishment near Cape Town owned by Gaynor Rupert.
And also owning a stake in the three-year-old – aside from breeders Kia Ora Stud – are de Kock’s champion Johannesburg-based trainer father Mike, and mammoth South African businessman and breeder Larry Nestadt.
The Drakenstein silks are also carried by stablemate Let’sbefrankbaby (Frankel), also part-owned by Nestadt along with Gary Barber, a South African who’s a major name in Hollywood, having been chairman and CEO of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and a co-founder of Spyglass Entertainment.
Another $400,000 Inglis Easter purchase, in 2021, Let’sbefrankbaby scored the first stakes win for the trans-Indian Ocean collective in the SA Fillies Classic (Gr 3, 2500m) at Morphettville in May.
Drakenstein also owns another three-year-old filly with Griffiths and de Kock, in Never Let Me Go (Nay Nay Never), who’s had two unplaced runs. But since she was bred by Drakenstein and given to the stable, it means the only two runners bought for the blue blooded ownership by Griffiths and de Kock have already swelled their value as broodmares by becoming stakes-winners.
“It’s not a bad strike rate I guess,” a smiling de Kock told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday.
De Kock said his father, Nestadt and Drakenstein’s racing manager Kevin Sommerville were watching from South Africa at 6.40am local time yesterday to see Seresana, who had some late support at $13, score her powerful two and a half length win over $2.80 favourite Arkansaw Kid (Harry Angel), with Vivy Air (Hellbent) a further half length back recording her second Group 2 placing in three starts.
Mike de Kock was in Cape Town, where nine hours later he saddled Drakenstein’s runner Silver Sanctuary (Silvano) to finish a narrow second in the Cape Fillies Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) at Kenilworth, beaten a nose by Beach Bomb (Lancaster Bomber), who is also owned by Drakenstein Stud.
Son Mathew said Serasana had originally been earmarked for Caulfield’s equivalent, the Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) on November 18, following an initial campaign last summer comprising a debut win over 1000 metres and a Group 3 fourth, both at Sandown.
But a setback early in the spring forced a six week gap between runs and meant she had to be kept back to instead take on male rivals yesterday. This she did with great aplomb, pushing from the widest gate of 11 to race outside the leader, coasting as the pace eased down the railway side, and kicking clear to have the race sewn up early in the straight.
“She bruised her foot earlier in the campaign,” de Kock said. “We were on a tight schedule already, so that meant we weren’t going to make the Thousand Guineas. But it’s worked out very well anyway.”
Given she’s had a light campaign of only four, spaced-out runs, the autumn promises more black type for the well-bred filly, whose dam Twilight Royale (Testa Rossa) also scored a Group 2 win against males in the 2013 VRC Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m), along with two Restricted Listed victories.
But aside from her light spring workload, jockey John Allen’s post-race summary opened more doors for Serasana.
“We’ve always thought a mile would be her go, but John hopped off and said she’d go 2000 metres,” de Kock said. “It’ll be great if she does. It opens up a few more possibilities.
“She’s going to make a lovely horse when she’s older because she’s still quite immature.
“She’s had a very spaced-out campaign. She could run in two weeks’ time if we wanted to – she’s just coming into great form. But we’ll just let the dust settle, sit down and map out a new program.”
Allen rode Serasana for the first time in her previous start, off her six-week break, when she led and was collared late in finishing fourth of seven in a midweek benchmark 64 over 1400 metres at Sandown. He said he was “pleasantly surprised” by how well she performed yesterday.
“She gave me a nice feel last start but I probably didn’t see a performance like that coming,” the jockey told Racing.com. “But she really benefited from the run and the [soft 7] conditions, and improved to step up to the mile as well.
“She was very strong. She jumped well. There was a bit of pressure early, so I just took my time to get there, but once we got outside the lead she just relaxed nicely, got into a good rhythm and I was always travelling like the winner.”
Allen could see Arkansaw Kid making ground out wide in the straight, but said he wasn’t worried.
“I could see there was something coming to my outside. I wasn’t sure who it was, but when I kicked my horse up she really responded,” he said. “She never peaked on her run. She really ran through the line, so it was a good performance.”
The Sandown Guineas triumph brought up a race-to-race Group double for Griffths and de Kock, following the win by King Magnus (Magnus) in the Kevin Heffernan Stakes (Gr 3, 1400m).
Serasana is the fifth foal of Twilight Royale, whose colt third foal Montenegro (I Am Invincible) was the second-top lot at the Inglis Easter sale in 2020, bought by Coolmore’s Tom Magnier for $1.4 million. He has since been sold, making $75,000 on the Inglis January Sale in 2022. Now a five-year-old gelding, he’s won three times, all on the Pakenham synthetic, from 16 starts.
His year-younger sister Afterlight, a $580,000 Easter buy for Chris Waller, has won three from 12, two in Sydney city class. A third sibling, Irama, retained by Kia Ora along with Tony Fung Investments, is awaiting his first start with Waller.
Twilight Royale has a yearling filly by Farnan (Not A Single Doubt), and a filly foal by Exceed And Excel (Danehill).
In winning yesterday’s Group 2, Seresana became the 138th stakes individual stakes winner for four-time champion sire Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice), and his 127th in Australia.
De Kock said Let’sbefrankbaby had missed the spring after going lame, but was back in light work aiming for the autumn.