PHUMELELA have announced that Mary Slack’s Wilgerbosdrift Stud have renewed their Triple Tiara sponsorship for another three years.

The Triple Tiara this year consisted of alternate first legs, the R1-million Gr 1 Avontuur Estate Cape Fillies Guineas at Kenilworth (won by Majmu) and the R500,000 Gr 2 Wilgerbosdrift Gauteng Fillies Guineas on the Turffontein Standside track (won by Siren’s Call) .

The second leg was the Gr 1 R1-million Wilgerbosdrift SA Fillies Classic over 1800m (won by Siren’s Call) and the third leg will be the Gr 1 R1-million Wilgerbosdrift SA Oaks over 2450m. Both of the last two legs are run at Turffontein on Saturday, 25 April. There is a R1-million bonus for any horse that wins all three legs.

Mary Slack, rewarding excellence.

The series was given a massive boost when the great Mike de Kock-trained Igugu became the first horse to win all three legs in 2011. The Ormond Ferraris-trained Cherry On The Top also brought huge excitement to Turffontein and the racing fraternity around the country when emulating Igugu in 2013 and her owner and breeder, Mrs Bridget Oppenheimer, was on course to cheer her on.Fittingly, “Mrs O” became the first person to own both a Triple Crown winner (Horse Chestnut) and a Triple Tiara winner and her Mauritzfontein Stud bred both of them too.

Currently the Sean Tarry-trained filly Siren’s Call is the talk of the racing community as she stands on the cusp of joining Igugu and Cherry On The Top as a winner of the Triple Tiara.

Clyde Basel, Phumelela’s Marketing and Sales Executive, was elated by Mrs Slack’s decision to continue the sponsorship. He said, “Phumelela is super excited to have Wilgerbosdrift on board for another three years. We are delighted that Mary and her team agree with the value that our racing platforms have to offer and we hope to continue to assist in achieving their objectives during the journey of this fabulous sponsorship!”

Mary Slack said, “I feel that the role of fillies and mares in the breeding of champions has always been underestimated, and I believe that the Triple Tiara will both reward excellence and emphasise their importance to the success of our breeding industry.”Mary Slack’s chief trainer Mike de Kock once summed up her importance to the sport by saying, “Mary Slack is a doyenne of South African breeding, a die-hard supporter  of horseracing and thoroughbred breeding and someone with nothing but the interests of the sport at heart. Mary is in most ways a racing purist, who understands and deeply appreciates the nobility of the sport and still enjoys its traditional aspects.”

Wilgerbosdrift Stud have risen rapidly to become one of the leading stud farms in the country and ended last season in seventh place on the National log.