CONFORMATION

“He is just what one wants in a horse,” said Barry Irwin. “He is tall without being too tall. He will stand about 16 hands ˝ inch when fully grown. He has depth, without being over done. Horses in this consignment are all overweight, but this one is so athletic he resisted the extra poundage. His front legs are correct. He has a masculine head and an expression that tells you he is The Man.”

PEDIGREE

Click here for pedigree of Hip 84 - Greenwich Park

SIRE - Western Winter

Western Winter was a stakes winner in Florida and runner-up in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Mile at Belmont Park, a race which for years has been a good pointer for stallion success.

By Mr. Prospector’s top international son Gone West, Western Winter is regarded as the best proven sire standing in South Africa, as is reflected by his $40,000 stud fee. He was the first of the local sires to break into that price range.

Western Winter topped the National Yearling Sale in gross and average.

An all around sire, Western Winter had gotten Horse of the Year Winter Solstice, the top Derby types in Yard Arm and Grey Arrow, a Champion 2-year-old colt in Ice Cube, and the brilliantly fast fillies Bad Girl Runs and Fair Maiden.

FAMILY

Hancock Park, the dam of Greenwich Park, was a Grade 3 winner going 7 furlongs and she was Grade 1 placed over a mile. She was tough, as well, winning 4 times and placing a dozen times.

As a producer, the dam foaled 3 stakes horses, the best being the filly Park Lane, who won the Grade 2 prep for the Grade 1 Cape Fillies Guineas. She was Grade 1 placed sprinting as well.

The second dam produced two good stakes winners, most notably Clever Zoe, one of the fastest fillies of her generation in New Zealand, where at 2 she nearly beat older male is a mid-season Group 1 sprint.

Third dam My Der Plus was bred in the United States, where she own 9 races and was responsible for her son Thumbsucker, who won the Grade 2 Washington Park Handicap in Chicago and was second at Saratoga in the Grade 1 Whitney, as well as Frisk Me now, an earner of $1,727,707 who took many stakes, including the Suburban Handicap at Belmont Park.

BROODMARE SIRE - Pompeii Court

Pompeii Court was bred in Kentucky at Claiborne Farm. A winner of 13 of 34 career outings, he was a sprint stakes winner at Santa Anita and a winner of the Longacres Mile, when that was an important contest.

Sent to New Zealand, he topped the 2-year-old sire list in that country as well as Australia twice.

Pompeii Court was sired by Tell, a son of Horse of the Year Round Table and the top mare Nas-mahal, and Pompeii Court’s second dam was Paris Pike. This family dominated racing in California in the late 1960s and early 1970s, as Tell won the Hollywood Derby, Nas-mahal won the La Centinela Stakes and Paris Pike won the Hollywood Oaks, all for breeder Howard B. Keck, who won the Kentucky Derby with homebred Ferdinand.

NOTES

Greenwich Park has a pedigree top and bottom that is 100 percent American.

TRAINER

Born in England, trainer Geoff Woodruff married the daughter of Terrance Millard, considered by some to be the greatest trainer in the history of racing in South Africa. The story goes that Millard imparted considerable wisdom to Woodruff and taught him many secrets about racing on the various courses in South Africa.

Woodruff annually vies with Mike de Kock for leadership among trainers in South Africa. The horseman trains his stock at the Vaal race course outside of Johannesburg.

There appears to be no type of horse that Woodruff cannot train, as he has excelled with the gamut of types.

“There is little to choose between Mike and Geoff, but the reason we went with Geoff is he stays in South Africa all year long,” explained Barry Irwin. “This is an important horse for us and we want to take no chances.

“We also like the fact that Geoff has the serves of Mark Khan, one of the premier riders in the land. He is a brilliant tactician and very strong. He is a big plus to the organization.”

Woodruff has trained many Champion in South Africa.