Truter and Graaff have two Gold Rush hopefuls

Ken Truter and Lammerskraal Stud’s Pieter Graaff share a Gold Rush Prospectors Ticket and theirs had value added when Graaff’s three-year-old contender Winter Greeting won a MR92 Handicap over 1400m at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth last Saturday.

The novel R7,5-million Gold Rush over 1600m is scheduled for WSB Met Day, 28 January, and Truter said: “We are getting excited and we are happy we got involved. I bumped into Pieter at the 2021 Cape Premier Yearling Sale and he said, ‘Ken, are you buying in, this sounds exciting?’ I shared his sentiments so we decided to buy a ticket together. We have Winter Greeting and Billy Spellbound as hopefuls, both nice sorts and at this stage we have to think Winter Greeting will be our runner.”

Graaff paid R300,000 for Winter Greeting, who was raised at Connemara Stud. She is a daughter of What A Winter and Eastern Greeting (Kahal), unbeaten after three starts and winning with confidence for trainer Sean Tarry.

Truter said: “Billy Spellbound is our colt. He is by William Longsword, also from a Kahal mare, Witchcraft which many will remember. We secured him for R200,000. Witchcraft was a lovely filly I raced alongside Bruce Gardner and Chris van Niekerk. She won the KZN Oaks as a three-year-old and again as a five-year-old mare when they opened the race to older fillies and mares.

“My wife Jane, and Bruce and his wife Jo, are my partners in Billy Spellbound. Sean Tarry Racing also kept a share. He enjoys his racing and runs on strongly and stays well so is well suited to the race. But it is likely that Winter Greeting will get the preference for our ticket.”