Flower Alley’s outstanding daughter Princess Calla, a leading Equus Award contender, was honoured at the 2023 KZN Racing Awards Dinner, which took place at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Friday.
The mighty mare was crowned Champion Horse Of The Season, with Princess Calla claiming a hatrick of G1 victories in KwaZulu-Natal last season.
Trained by Sean Tarry, Princess Calla kicked off her KZN campaign with a near three and a quarter length defeat of dual G1 winner Desert Miracle in the G1 South African Fillies Sprint, and confirmed that form when again beating Desert Miracle into second when victorious in the 2013 G1 Ridgemont Garden Province Stakes.
In claiming the Garden Province Stakes Princess Calla made amends for her defeat in the same race back in 2021 when she finished second to Zarina.
Bred by Maine Chance Farms, the brilliant mare ended her 2022-2023 campaign on a great note when downing some top-class males to win the G1 The HKJC Champions Cup at Hollywoodbets Greyville. In landing the Champions Cup, Princess Calla accounted for six G1 winners including G1 Splashout Cape Derby/G1 Daily News 2000 hero See It Again, champion Safe Passage, G1 H F Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut Stakes victor Trip Of Fortune, and 2023 G1 L’Ormarins King’s Plate winner Al Muthana.
Princess Calla ended her season having won six graded races during 2022-2023, with the mare having 11 of 23 starts in total for earnings of R4 584 725.
Her G1 Travers Stakes winning sire Flower Alley has four lots on offer at the 2023 August Two Year Old Sale including a full-brother (Lot 273) to last season’s dual Oaks winner None Other.