Europe's loss is proving South Africa's gain in the case of Twice Over

Racing fans blissfully ignorant of the peculiarities and prejudices of fashion in the bloodstock world must have been mystified when Twice Over was dispatched straight to South Africa to stand as a stallion in 2013.

Why, after all, would British and Irish breeders not want to attempt to produce horses in the mould of Khalid Abdullah's admirable homebred, who was unbeaten at two and maintained a high level of form over six consecutive seasons? When the durability of the modern thoroughbred is so often called into question, it seems all the more perverse that his blood was not given the chance to reinforce the soundness of European stock.

Furthermore, Twice Over's form was above reproach, scoring in back-to-back renewals of the Champion Stakes, denying Midday in a memorable Juddmonte International, winning the Coral-Eclipse and even taking the scalp of Raven's Pass in the Craven Stakes at the start of his three-year-old campaign.

Being a graduate of the Juddmonte breeding programme he also has an estimable pedigree. He is out of Lingfield Oaks Trial winner Double Crossed, a half-sister to the dams of this season's classy three-year-old Crossed Baton and the Group 1-winning half-sisters Passage Of Time and Timepiece. Passage Of Time is the dam of useful miler to ten-furlong performer Time Test.

Of course, selling Twice Over was a decision that would not have been taken lightly by Juddmonte and it must be remembered that in 2013, the year after the horse was retired, the organisation launched the stallion careers of Frankel and Bated Breath, while two older recruits, Dansili and Oasis Dream, were at the peak of their popularity.

And it is probable that being by Observatory, a fair sire but not exactly the height of fashion, would have held back Twice Over's commercial appeal to the domestic market.

Whereas Twice Over's stallion claims in Europe are open to debate, in South Africa he might well have been considered a rare gift for local breeders as one of the highest rated runners in Britain or Ireland to head straight to stud there. The South African stallion ranks may boast Canford Cliffs and Duke Of Marmalade, who hold better peak Racing Post Ratings, but they began their second careers in Ireland and travelled south due to diminishing support.

Twice Over is duly taking South Africa by storm with his young progeny. His first crop of 77 foals, now aged three in the southern hemisphere, has yielded two Group 1 winners – Sand And Sea in the Gold Medallion at Scottsville at two last year and, most notably, Do It Again in one of the country's most prestigious races, the Durban July, this month.

Those three-year-olds also include Doublemint, an easy winner of the Group 3 Winter Derby at Kenilworth on Saturday, and the stakes-placed trio Draugluin, Run Red and Twice As Smart.

Seven winners have emerged from a second crop of 75 foals, currently two-year-olds, including the Listed-placed On The Double.

Both Do It Again, who had previously finished second in the Cape Derby and fourth in the Daily News 2,000, and Sand And Sea are part-owned by Bernard Kantor, the co-founder of Derby sponsor Investec who was instrumental in securing Twice Over to stand at Klawervlei Stud in the Western Cape.

Klawervlei principal John Koster recalls the deal that brought Twice Over to South Africa.

“Anthony Stroud called his client and good friend Bernard Kantor and asked whether he would consider buying Twice Over for stud duty,” he says. “Bernard straight away said go for it.”

Twice Over in his racecourse pompCredit: Mark Cranham

Reflecting on Twice Over's qualities that have entitled him to excel, Koster adds: “He was a top-class racehorse with the most wonderful temperament. The ability to pass on these genes and the backing of a very supporting syndicate have been key to his auspicious start at stud.”

Pressed on how auspicious Twice Over's start has been, Koster reaches for the ultimate compliment: “He has certainly had the best start of any stallion we've had. In a South African context, only Fort Wood rivals his start in the past 20 years.”

Fort Wood, the Grand Prix de Paris-winning son of Sadler's Wells and blue hen Fall Aspen, supplied South African triple crown hero and horse of the year Horse Chestnut and fellow Group 1 winners Dog Wood and Fort Defiance in his first crop.

Twice Over has a long way to go to match the achievements of Fort Wood, a multiple champion sire in South Africa and source of 15 Group 1 winners, but he certainly has momentum behind him and his present success should breed more success.

He covered increased books of 134 mares in 2016 and 113 in 2017, and has gained the widespread admiration of South African breeders, with the local press billing him as “one of the brightest stars in the stallion ranks”.

In truth, had Twice Over retired to stud in Europe in the same year as Frankel and Bated Breath – as well as the likes of Excelebration and Nathaniel – and one season before Camelot, Dawn Approach, Declaration Of War and Intello covered their first mares, he would likely have struggled for patronage and might not have risen to stardom in such a way.

It might just be that Britain and Ireland's loss was Twice Over and South African breeders' gain.

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