OFF THE RECORD #35

Barend Botes and his ‘Silver Bullet’ Software
The success story of Quid Pro Quo

Above: Quid Pro Quo

Fashionable pedigrees, associated with top sires and renowned broodmares, are not always the cornerstones of success in thoroughbred breeding. The offspring of unpopular or lesser-known sires and broodmares often produce stunning results, evident again last Saturday when two-year-old Quid Pro Quo added the Grade 2 Zulu Kingdom Explorer Golden Slipper to her Grade 1 Allan Robertson Championship trophy.

Quid Pro Quo is a filly by Lance out of Delightfull Diva, a pedigree that was never going to get as much as a glance from bloodstock gurus. Lance won two races, a Maiden Plate and the Listed Secretariat Stakes before he was retired due to injury. He’s covered just a handful of mares in his seven years at stud, and only seven foals have made it to the track. Delightfull Diva won five races up to lower handicap level. Her sire, The Sheik, has only twice made the list of top 100 broodmare sires in South Africa in the last six racing seasons.

Quid Pro Quo was predictably overlooked at the 2023 KZN Yearling Sale, and bought back by her owner Gerald Kalil for R60,000. She was sent into training with Barend Botes, who also trained Delightfull Diva and, with his own avid interest in pedigrees, had advised Kalil that the mare would be well-mated with Lance.

Botes told: “We wanted to send Delightfull Diva from her base in KwaZulu-Natal to a Jet Master stallion and Lance, then at Summerhill Equestrian in Mooi River, was the only qualifying sire in the region. We didn’t want to incur extra costs to send her to a Cape breeder. We considered that Lance’s trainer Sean Tarry believed he was destined for the top before his untimely injury, that he beat subsequent Triple Crown winner Louis The King in a common canter and that his half-brother Liege won the Summer Cup.”

The skeptics reading this will choke on their morning croissants, but Botes firmly believes he has found the ‘Silver Bullet’ for pedigree nicks in a software programme he has systematically developed over the last 15 years. He has the data to prove it, and his door is open to anybody who wants to put his system to the test.

Botes revealed: “I am a reserved person and tend to stay within my comfort zone. I’d rather be at home with those close to me than surrounded by crowds. When the mornings at track are complete, I tend to spend the day in my office behind my triple screen setup, manually capturing data into my programme. My typing skills are questionable at best, but I have worked on this nearly every day for the last 15 years and believe I am onto something good.”

“I’ve studied the available material on matings extensively. I have utilised software like Tesio and G1 Goldmine among others. At a point, I attended every online seminar and particularly enjoyed those hosted by Dr Byron Rogers who co-developed the leading pedigree programme, TrueNicks. He is a pioneer in genetic and phenotypic research with a data-driven base and has shaped my own approach to the data I utilise.”

Botes has named his software ‘Pedigree Perfect’, and describes it as a state-of-the-art system that includes all the required stallion statistics, and has a strong emphasis on broodmare sires. It is colour-coded for effectivity and provides concise analytical summaries on suggested matings.

He was assisted in the software development by a young IT specialist Japie Knouwds, originally from Three Rivers in Vereeniging. “This young man is brilliant at what he does. He is so good that he was employed by a high-profile company in Seattle during the Covid years. He has his Green Card now and has moved to Texas. We communicate online and he still helps me to tweak the software when needed.”

Botes said the mating that produced Quid Pro Quo was certainly not a once-off stroke of luck. “Before her, I was the underbidder on more than one champion. Grade 1 winners like Kommetdieding, Under Your Spell and Without Question were all horses I had identified utilising my software. I did not have the buying power to acquire them, but I trust that my success with Quid Pro Quo and the knowledge that her breeding was largely based on my software might attract some potential owners and buyers in the near future.

“I have often found myself outbid by John Freeman. Considering the success of the horses he acquires for many big buyers, I have respect for his selections. I can only assume he uses similar criteria as I do, in his choices. I have never been one to ask people for horses and while my list of good picks gets longer, I am not yet training nearly as many of them as I would like.

“One colt I managed to secure via the Hollywood Syndicate back in 2020 was Moya Waya Liga, who is by Rafeef out of a Galileo mare. This is a pedigree cross my system identified as potentially potent long before it was proven with the likes of Aragosta and Mrs Browning. And yes, spotting a good mating also requires that the foal has good legs, good conformation. There is a process of elimination when it comes to physical specimens.

“In time, I would love to be more involved in breeding, both from an advisory stance and possibly with a select few mares myself. Mine goes to deeper levels of analysis than any other programme available on the market. As long as it is updated it will always work, because one plus one is always two. Going deeper into pedigrees has made the Japanese so successful as thoroughbred breeders. They are better than the breeders in Ireland today.”

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Gerald Kalil started racing in the early 1980s and has been awarded life-time membership of the National Horseracing Authority for his lengthy patronage. His previously owned stakes winners include Monastery, Delaware Park and Pearl Of Asia.

Kalil and his brothers Nero, Peter and Joseph started Hot Pot Paints in the town of Springs in 1976 but the brothers have sadly all passed away and his wife, Karen, assists in the running of this most successful paint industry leader today. She’s a devoted racing fan too.

Kalil said: “Karen came up with the name Quid Pro Quo. It’s the Latin phrase which means, ‘something for something’, where there is value given from both sides. The genetic value imparted from both sides of the mating of Lance and Delightfull Diva is now evident, and this filly has given us so much joy already.”

Kalil said that Delightfull Diva had to be euthanised last year as she was suffering from cancer. Quid Pro Quo’s full sister, Dee Dee’s Delight, fetched R340,000 at the KZN Yearling Sale last week, a pre July Day bargain buy for Sterling Miller’s Pound Bloodstock. Delightfull Diva’s daughter Daring Act (King Of Kings) is still active at stud, she was Listed placed four times.

Kalil, known as one of the game’s gentlemen owners, said the original plan was for Quid Pro Quo to be based in Gauteng. “We wanted to see her more often, but when Barend moved from the Vaal to Summerveld she returned to her province of birth.” He stays with his chosen trainers and said: “Racing is a cycle, there are good and bad times. I believe in sticking together through thick and thin. When the wave is high, we ride it together!”

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Lance moved from Summerhill to Leon Lotz’s Heuningfontein Stud in the Karoo two years ago. Lotz said: “His owner, Chris van Niekerk, agreed to send him to me after I’d asked for a long time. I’ve always wanted Lance here on my farm. I sent a mare to him every year when he was based at Summerhill.

“Lance is a big, strong and imposing stallion. He took my breath away when he arrived. I’ve worked with Forest King and a few other stallions, this one is outstanding. He was full of beans when he arrived, quite a handful. I started leaving his stable door open, so that he can go out and walk around when he wants to. This has helped to settle him down.”

Lotz said that Quid Pro Quo has been the expected game changer for her sire. “Even before she raced, Gerald Kalil phoned to tell me she’d win the Alan Robertson. She gives us a thrill every time she runs. After her July day success, Lance has had a good number of mare bookings from my friends in the Karoo like Schalkie van der Walt and Clive Barnard, also from breeders in KZN and even one from the Cape.”