Wilgerbosdrift’s highly promising young stallion Fire Away had a weekend to remember this past week. Not only did Fire Away’s first crop daughter Luna Halo claim Friday’s Breeders Guineas Plate, but the Wilgerbosdrift resident also had an eye-catching double at Turffontein on Sunday.
Fire Away came up with a fourth first-crop stakes winner when his three-year-old daughter Explosive Bond ran out a convincing winner of the Listed TAB Spook Express Stakes (2400m) on Sunday.
Trained by Paul Matchett, three-year-old Explosive Bond was given a clever ride by Philasande Mxoli, who slipped the field someway out and kept finding more in the closing stages to register a one-and-a-half-length triumph.
Bred by Ascot Stud (Pty) Ltd, Explosive Bond has now won three of 13 starts, with the filly having won her last two races in a row.
Explosive Bond, who is out of the Trippi mare Liwa, was an R50 000 buy from the 2022 KZN Yearling Sale.
Her sire Fire Away is also the sire of promising two-year-old Tintamarre, who ran out an impressive of the Gauteng Guineas Day 3 February Maiden Juvenile Plate (1160m) on Sunday.
Not disgraced on debut, when finishing four lengths off the winner, the Alec Laird trained colt showed good improvement on Sunday, with Tintamarre running out a convincing three length winner of Sunday’s heat.
Bred by Wilgerbosdrift & Mauritzfontein, Tintamarre is out of the Tiger Ridge mare Oyster Pond.
The colt was an R450 000 buy from the 2023 National Yearling Sale.
Fire Away, whose eye-catching first crop also includes such graded stakes winners as Egyptian Mau and My Golly Molly, has three lots on offer at the 2024 Cape Yearling Sale.