Val De Ra: could be covered by Galileo, Sea The Stars and Frankel
PICTURE: Liesl King/ThoroughbrednewsStar sprint mare Val De Ra retired to Britain
South Africa: Brilliant sprint mare Val De Ra has been retired after being foundto have bled in last Saturday's Computaform Sprint. She will now be sent to Britain to be covered.
Trainer Dennis Drier said: "Alec Forbes felt there was something obviously amiss in the race and he eased her out of it. After it she was coughing and was very distressed.When we took her back to the stable a tell-tale trickle of blood came out of her nostril.
"She is certainly the best sprinting female this country has ever seen. She has twice travelled to different centres to beat the males in Grade 1 weight-for-age sprints and that is very difficult to do. But she did it all on sheer guts and heart."
The five-year-old won 11 of her 13 starts and is a daughter of Clive Brittain's 2004 Prix de l'Abbaye winner Var, who has become a big success as a stallion in South Africa.
Pippa Mickleburgh, manager of the Avontuur Stud which stands Var and owns and bred Val De Ra, confirmed that she will now join Horse of the Year Igugu and other Mike de Kock horses in the Kenilworth quarantine station before being sent to Mauritius for 90 days and then being flown to Britain.
She said that which stallion the mare will visit had still to be decided but earlier in the year she revealed that she had already made inquiries about Galileo, Sea The Stars, Oasis Dream and Frankel.
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