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April 26, 2007


FIELD EVENT BREAKS MAIDEN IN DEBUT AT CLAIRWOOD IN SOUTH AFRICA,
WESTERN WINTER COLT BREAKS CLASS RECORD GOING 6 FURLONGS,
CHESTNUT WAS AMONG HIGH-PRICED LOTS AT NATIONAL YEARLING SALE



Record-setting debut winner Field Event has
impressed the racing community in South Africa
Field Event lived up to advanced notices on Wednesday by overcoming his initial greenness to split horses in deep stretch and go on to a half-length victory at Clairwood race course in Durban.

The son of Western Winter (Gone West) opened at odds of 4 to 5, but drifted in the closing stages of the betting to start the 11 to 10 choice in the face of heavy action on the debuting colt Festive.

With a quarter-mile remaining in the 6-furlong grass race, Jeff Lloyd was beside Festive, found a split, sent the colt through it and to the inside, and Field Event lengthened his stride dramatically to pass and pull away from the runner-up Modern Odyssey. The place colt had been second in both of his starts and was the 5 to 1 third choice.

Field Event clocked 1:09.92, shaving .06 seconds from the class record for a juvenile maiden colt at the “garden race course.” Average winning time in the class and trip is 1:11.94.

Neil Bruss, who is developing the colt for a partnership between Team Valor and Anant and Vanashree Singh, marveled at the length of stride exhibited by the Maine Chance-bred colt. “At the end he looked like he was taking one for every two of the others,” said the Durban-based trainer.

It was a good few days for the partnership of The Singhs and Team Valor, as on Sunday Bruss sent out the pair’s juvenile filly Stately to shock the Grade 3 Strelitzia Stakes at odds of 40 to 1.

Field Event, like Stately, was bought last May at the National Yearling Sale in South Africa by Barry Irwin for Team Valor partnerships. The colt realized a final bid of 1.6 million ZAR, which is roughly the equivalent of $265,000.

“He is far and away the most expensive yearling we have ever bought in South Africa,” said Irwin. “Most of our purchases are less than $100,000 in South Africa. Stately, for example, cost only $16,700 and Little Miss Magic, who won the Grade 1 Empress Club Stakes earlier this season, cost $58,000.