Wilgerbosdrift’s G1 winning stallion Flower Alley made a bright start with his first South African two-year-olds last season, and the son of Distorted Humor was responsible for another bright looking prospect when his daughter Hawthorn broke her maiden in impressive fashion at Turffontein on Tuesday.
Bred by Wilgerbosdrift & Mauritzfontein, the three-year-old Mike de Kock trained filly came from nowhere in Tuesday’s 1600m maiden to get up close home and win by a short neck –going away.
Ridden to victory by Callan Murray, Hawthorn is out of the Tiger Ridge mare Emerald Lake.
Hawthorn joins the likes of the unbeaten pair of Alibi Guy and Rille, stakes placed Parterre, as well as G1 contender Keep Smiling, as smart early winners to have emerged from Flower Alley’s first local crop.
Flower Alley’s son Rock Aloe made an eye catching debut when finishing a close up third over 1200m on Friday, and that gelding should not be long in getting out of the maidens.
Winner of the 2005 G1 Travers Stakes (a race also won by such breed shaping sires as Alydar, Forty Niner (Flower Alley’s grandsire), Medaglia D’Oro and Native Dancer), and an earner of in excess of $2 000 000, Flower Alley is currently the sire of more than 40 black type performers including Kentucky Derby/Preakness Stakes winning champion I’ll Have Another.