The underrated sire Mambo In Seattle has relocated from Moutonshoek Stud to the KZN Midlands where he will stand at Peter and Jenny Blyth’s Clifton Stud.

The syndicate members are still the same and he will stand for R10,000 a live foal.

The Kingmambo sire has produced a number of stakes horses but the statistic which caught Peter Blyth’s eye above all before accepting him was his good winners to runners record.

In his first season his 28 male runners returned 22 winners and in his second season his 32 female runners returned 21 winners.

Mambo In Seattle, whose dam is a half-sister to the great AP Indy, is suited to South African-bred mares as his second and third dams are the blue hen mares Weekend Surprise and Lassie Dear respectively. These two mares have had a great influence on the South African thoroughbred breed.

Lassie Dear is the dam of Al Mufti, who was SA Champion Sire, SA Champion Broodmare Sire and also sired the SA Champion Sire Captain Al as well as the Grade 1 producing sire Victory Moon.

Weekend Surprise is the dam of the late Wilgerbosdrift stallion Tiger Ridge (Storm Cat), who has had a lot of success in South Africa, including producing Triple Tiara heroine Cherry On The Top.

Weekend Surprise’s greatest progeny was AP Indy, who was the US Champion three-year-old colt in 1992, the US Horse Of The Year in 1993, the leading sire in North America in both 2003 and 2006 and the leading broodmare sire in North America in 2015.

Current AP Indy stallions standing in South Africa include the successful sire Judpot, who has produced three individual Grade 1 winners, KZN sire Just As Well and Marchfield. Furthermore, Jay Peg’s sire Camden Park was by AP Indy.

Mambo In Seattle is bred on the same lines as the prominent USA stallion Lemon Drop Kid. Both stallions are by Kingmambo, both of their dams are by Seattle Slew and Lemon Drop Kid’s second dam is Lassie Dear, who is the third dam of Mambo In Seattle.

All in all, Mambo In Seattle provides a good opportunity in SA for fans of line breeding.
As a racehorse his finest moment happened when he came second by a nose in the Group 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga to Colonel John despite running six wide. The Travers Stakes is the third-ranked race for American three-year-olds according to international classifications behind only the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes.
Mambo In Seattle also won a Listed race over 1800m at three.

His best progeny to date is Same Jurisdiction, a twice Grade 1 winner who went on to place in a Group 3 in the U.K.

He has also produced stake performers like Majestic Mambo, runner up in this year’s Grade 1 Daily News 2000 and fourth in the Vodacom Durban July; Saratoga Dancer, who has a number of Graded places to his name and finished fifth in the July; and stakes winners Mambo Mime, Smart Mart, Fortune Fella, Night In Seattle and Mambonick.

Mambo In Seattle finished 14th on the National Sire log of the season just past.

Blyth said he had settled in well since arriving in Mooi River a month ago. “He is fine, is doing well and is as relaxed as anything.”

He said the handsome bay, who was born in 2005, had a lovely temperament and was easy to work with.

Clifton Stud produced the like of Horse Of The Year Classic Flag when based in Mpumalanga. Since relocating to Mooi River there have been a number of black type winners born and raised at Clifton Stud, including Kangaroo Jack, who won two Grade 2’s and a Grade 3 from 1200-1450m, Bezanova, who won the Grade 2 Charity Mile, the Grade 2 Victory Moon and the KZN Breeders Million Mile and finished third in the Grade 1 Rising Sun Gold Challenge, as well as Covered In Snow, Whatalady and Midnight Serenade. Cutting Edge, born and raised at Clifton, won the KZN Yearling Sale Million.

Horses born and raised at Clifton won 44 races last season, 56 the previous season and 58 the season before that.

Blyth has a policy of letting foals loose with their dams five days after foaling and they are then only brought in again for sales preparation. This ensures they are brought up tough.

Mambo In Seattle joins promising young sire Crusade at Clifton. The latter was relocated from Scott Brothers after their recent dispersal sale.

Blyth has taken care of a class stallion before, Allied Flag, who was the sire of Classic Flag but unfortunately passed away prematurely.

Mambo In Seattle and Crusade are in good hands and should both receive good support.

By David Thiselton