Canford Cliffs Making Waves as Sire in South Africa

It is somehow already 13 years since the most arresting performance of Canford Cliffs (IRE)' racing career, when he barely broke a sweat in winning the Coventry Stakes (G2) by six lengths. Almost 11 years have passed since his final outing against Frankel (GB) in the 'Duel on the Downs' at Goodwood, after which he spent six seasons at Coolmore Stud in Ireland. Nevertheless, there seems to be a strong feeling in South Africa that the best is yet to come now he has returned to the status of a young buck at the Kieswetter family's Ridgemont Highlands. Among the top-selling sires at the recent Cape Premier Yearling Sale, he has already made an early impression in the nascent calendar of juvenile races. "It's very exciting for us. He holds a very dear place with the family as he also represents when we took over the farm. He was our first serious interest in bringing international bloodlines into the country, which is something we've tried to continue to do," explained Craig Kieswetter, the former England international cricketer who is now deeply involved at the Western Cape stud. "He's got his first South African-bred crop running and he's started extremely well. A colt of his, Cliff Top (SAF), won the first juvenile stakes race and he's currently leading the freshman sire log here, so now we just want him to continue banging out those winners. "Cliff Top won very well over 1,000 meters and had traveled down from Port Elizabeth to run on the Met Day, a huge meeting at Kenilworth. Canford Cliffs was really an out-and-out miler but what we've found with his progeny is that they certainly have speed but definitely appreciate 1,200 meters; the 1,000 meter can be a touch on the sharp side. "As foals we're ecstatically delighted with what he throws and all the reports I'm getting from the trainers that have his horses in their stables is they are fantastic movers and step up and do exactly what is asked of them." The Kieswetter family, assisted by Craig Carey, took on the farm at Robertson from the Beck family in 2017 and, not long afterward, acquired Canford Cliffs from Coolmore following a discussion with their close friends Peter and Ross Doyle. The son of Tagula (IRE), who won the Abu Dhabi Irish Two Thousand Guineas (G1) among five group 1s, was bought by those same agents as a yearling. "We'd have been silly to turn down a horse of that capability as a racehorse, and as a stallion, he's sired winners in more than 30 different countries around the world and his progeny have earned more than 330 million rand (more than US$21.8 million)," Kieswetter said. "To be a freshman sire in South Africa with the stats behind him that he has is quite remarkable." Canford Cliffs has joined a four-strong roster alongside champion sprinter Rafeef (AUS), Potala Palace (SAF), whose high-achieving son Katak (SAF) has headed to Singapore in search of greater riches, and new arrival Malmoos (SAF), who was only the fourth horse in history to win the South African Triple Crown, for Shadwell and Mike de Kock last year. Kieswetter described Canford Cliffs as "an absolute gentleman" but reports that he has one particular eccentricity. "The courier company loves me as I've got a continual shipment of Polo mints that come in for him," he said. "I tried to give him the South African version but he's quite stuck in his ways, so I've had to bring the UK ones down for him. He's 15, so he's not a spring chicken, but he's not ancient yet either. He's sort of the gentle older soul around the stallion barn." Kieswetter added: "Looking back through the history of this farm there's been a very strong stallion presence, from Persian Wonder, Badger Land, Elevation, and Jallad to Dynasty, who was a complete farm champion and incredible for the whole industry. "Since we took over we've been very proactive in upgrading our broodmare band and making massive inroads in bringing our farm back in terms of stallion power. Rafeef is very much a sprinting sire, Canford Cliffs a sprinter-miler, and Malmoos would look to be more your classic 2,000-meter type of sire. I think we've got a nice balance."