BARGAIN BRED RACING SERIES & BREEDING CORNER

Johannesburg - is by Hennessy. His dam sire is Ogygian and dam’s dam sire is Mr. Prospector. Johannesburg is an interesting study. He was awesome at two going seven for seven with four grade I victories including the Breeder’s Cup Juvenile. As a three-year old he only had three starts. His best finish was a second in his first start off a long layoff. He did attempt the derby off that one prep race and in my opinion it ruined him. Here are the notes on his derby run. “JOHANNESBURG, well placed along the inside from the start, raced in hand to the second turn while within striking distance saving ground, continued inside into the stretch but came up empty when asked” He finished eighth.

He may have peaked as a two year old and just could not or did not improve as a three year old. I’m of the belief he was not prepared to run the grueling ten furlongs of the derby and the attempt just sapped the life right out of him. If I remember correctly in his last start he went off a heavy favorite and finished way back in the field and that prompted a steward’s inquiry.

His pedigree is pretty solid. Northern Dancer will be in the fifth generation of his progeny so if you use a grandson of Northern Dancer as dam sire it will create 4X5 inbreeding to Northern Dancer. Mr. Prospector will be in the fourth generation of his progeny so using a grandson of Mr. Prospector as dam sire would create 4X4 inbreeding to Mr. Prospector. I think Northern Dancer line sires will work best with Johannesburg. Other lines to consider would be the Roberto, Ribot, In Reality, or Halo. Historically Storm Cat has crossed well with Seattle Slew and Alydar. Both would be excellent choices.

Johannesburg has produced six stakes winners three of which are graded stakes winners. He has produced well on both surfaces but all his graded winners to this point are turf runners. #57181 Rhino Safari just finished second in the 1000 Guineas (Drone X Mill Reef). #85029 After The Prize finished third in the Breeder’s Bowl Turf Juvenile last year (Chief’s Crown X Fleet Nasrullah). Two of his three graded winners were bred with grandsons of Northern Dancer (Chiefs Crown and Royal Academy). Here are a couple of interesting notes. Rahy has been used a couple of times as dam sire and in each case the offspring are better on dirt. Royal Academy has been used a couple of times as well and each offspring has been pretty good.

His two year olds look pretty solid. He has three runners that have 70 plus speed figures on turf. He has another nine runners that have run a 60 plus speed figure. His two year olds are pretty well bred so far so he should continue to produce well.