Former July winning champion Ipi Tombe made waves at Turffontein Racecourse on Thursday, when her granddaughter Summer Afternoon made a smart winning debut.

Bred and owned by Drakenstein Stud, the 3yo daughter of Drakenstein’s champion sire Trippi (pictured) ran on smartly to win first time out over 1200m by a length and a half.

Summer Afternoon, who is trained by former champion trainer Sean Tarry Racing, was ridden to victory by last season’s Champion Jockey/Apprentice Lyle Hewitson and she started the well backed 11-10 tote favourite for Thursday’s race, which took place on the Turffontein inside track.

(Another well bred first-timer Veritas for Janse Van Vuuren Stables also caught the eye – despite being green in running and taking time to quicken, Veritas stayed on when the race was all but over to take fourth –less than four lengths off the impressive winner.)

Summer Afternoon is out of the winning mare Pin Turn, a daughter of champion broodmare sire Pivotal and former Equus Champion Ipi Tombe.

A daughter of Manshood, the Zimbabwean bred Ipi Tombe, who was sold at the annual Zimbabwe auction for the approximate sum of $30, was one of the finest racemares ever bred in Africa. She began her career in Zimbabwe, where she won, before being moved to the yard of champion trainer Mike de Kock.

Under de Kock, Ipi Tombe flourished and lost just once in five South African starts, when second in the G1 Triple Tiara 1600m when making her SA debut. She then reeled off eight wins in a bounce, with her winning spree including the 2002 G1 Vodacom Durban July, beating the likes of J&B Met winner Angus and champions Celtic Grove and El Picha.

Raced by the Sunmark Stable, WinStar Farm and Team Valor International later bought into the brilliant bay.

Exported to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Ipi Tombe proved just as lethal, with her wins including a brilliant 3.75 length win in the 2003 Jebel Hatta, before she went on to demolish a world-class field in the 2003 G1 Dubai Duty-Free.

She went to North America, but made only one start, when victorious in the 2003 G3 Locust Grove Handicap, before injury forced her retirement.

Sold at Tattersalls’s 2004 December Mare Sale for 850,000 guineas (she was the top lot sold that year), Ipi Tombe proved disappointing at stud, but, if Summer Afternoon is anything to go by, her daughters may well continue her legacy.

(This article was published today by TSA News. I would question whether Ipi Tombe, bred in Zimbabwe by Peter Moor, sold for US$30 as a yearling!)