One of the most exciting equine athletes of his generation, and only the fourth horse in history to win the South African Triple Crown, former Mike de Kock champion Malmoos will join the exciting Ridgemont Highlands stallion roster in advance of the new season.
With parallels to Horse Chestnut’s facile victory in the Grade 1 South African Derby more than two decades earlier, Malmoos galloped his way into South African turf history on 3 April 2021 as he registered his seventh victory from his first eight career starts, taking his earnings to over R3,5 million on that memorable Turffontein afternoon.
In the course of that emphatic victory, Malmoos effectively signed his paddock passport as he enjoys the distinction of being the last Grade 1 winning colt sired by former champion sire, Captain Al.
“He’s the real deal. He has the looks, the pedigree and thankfully he will go to stud in South Africa,” said multiple champion trainer Mike de Kock.
The now Hong Kong-based SA Champion apprentice Luke Ferraris became the youngest jockey in history to win the SA Triple Crown.
“Malmoos changed my life. I had a lot of butterflies before the race, but they disappeared once the gates opened. But once he started going through his gears the butterflies came back again. He gave me goosebumps,” added Ferraris.
An athlete in every respect, the handsome Malmoos was the second top lot sold at R4,4 million off the 2019 Emperors Palace National Yearling Sale.
Racing in the internationally recognised silks of the late Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum, Malmoos possessed the eclectic hallmark of natural speed and stamina, winning seven races from 1200m to 2450m, including two Grade 1 races, a Grade 2 and a Grade 3.
In his brief but distinguished career spanning fifteen months with twelve runs, Malmoos earned a rating of 125.
A son of the late South African multiple champion sire Captain Al, the regally pedigreed Malmoos is bred on the same Captain Al/Fort Wood cross as Grade 1 winners Captain America and William Longsword.
He is out of the Spook Express Handicap winner Justthewayyouare, a half-sister to Varsfontein sire Master Of My Fate.
In confirming the great news for the Western Cape thoroughbred breeding community, Ridgemont Highlands’s Craig Kieswetter said that the beautifully bred Malmoos would dovetail perfectly with the champion farm’s existing stallion band of multiple Group 1 winning international stakes producer Canford Cliffs, South African Champion Freshman Sire Rafeef, and Grade 1 winning Singspiel sire, Potala Palace.
“Malmoos ticks all the boxes of blue blood, physical conformation and elite level race performance, and it goes without saying that we are very excited and he will be visited by our top mares from day one! I must also extend sincere thanks to Sheikha Hissa Hamdan Al Maktoum and the Shadwell team for facilitating what will inevitably be an exciting and popular addition to the thoroughbred breeding industry in South Africa,” concluded Craig Kieswetter.
