Owner of the Month – February – Bradley Ralph

The exciting start of the Triple Tiara has seen some of the country’s best and most promising horses for this season fight it out in the first leg, which was run on the 1st of February. Spumante Dolce won a gutsy race amongst some of the top-rated horses and was ultimately victorious in the Grade 2 Wilgerbosdrift Gauteng Fillies Guineas. This was indeed a special win for the partnership of Mary Slack and Bradley Ralph. The Racehorse Owners Association is thrilled to feature Bradley as our February Owner of the Month.

Bradley is described as one of the most enthusiastic figures in horseracing by Mike de Kock in his post-race interview of the Gauteng Fillies Guineas. His passion for the sport dates back to his childhood in Durban, where, at six years old, he placed a “2 each way” bet on all of the horses trained by Terrence Millard in The July. This early fascination grew into a lifelong commitment to the industry, leading him to become an owner for the past 25 years and a breeder for 11 years. His journey into racehorse ownership began in 1998 when he acquired a 10% share in a leased horse with retired trainer Alistair Gordon. Alistair played a pivotal role in introducing Bradley to racing and helped him build a strong network within the industry.

Whilst the thoroughbred industry is one of his biggest passions, Bradley has built a successful career in the banking sector, where he has worked for 27 years across various banks. His dedication to horseracing has been evident throughout the years, as he has served on The Thoroughbred Horse Racing Trust since 2018. This role led to his position as a non-executive director and then Chairman of Kenilworth Racing until its sale to Hollywoodbets in 2022. Additionally, he is the current Chairman of the Thoroughbred Breeders Association Council.

Bradley currently owns shares in 10 horses, comprising of one gelding and nine fillies, with a clear focus on breeding prospects. His emphasis on fillies aligns with his goal of contributing to the broodmare population, supporting the sustainability of the industry. He explains that if the pedigree is good enough, then their racing career is a bonus and if the pedigree is not as great, they would need to prove themselves on the racetrack. Their broodmare career would then start at Ndoro Stud in Wellington where his breeding stock is housed in partnership with Marc Greene. Bradley’s thrill of racing comes from the exhilaration of seeing a winner cross the finish line, especially if he has bred the horse.

His horses in training at present are stabled with various trainers and in different regions. Mike and Mathew de Kock, Paul Matchett, Alec Laird and Mark Khan condition his horses up on the Highveld. Yogas Govender and Stuart Ferrie are in KwaZulu-Natal, and Gavin Smith and Alan Greeff train his horses in the Eastern Cape.

There were a few favorite racing memories he recalled. Flag Me Down was Bradley’s first winner at Greyville Racecourse in 1999 and will always be a positive memory for him. He also mentioned the feature race winners that were special in his journey. These include Louisiana, the daughter of Ideal World who won the Scarlet Lady Listed Stakes in KwaZulu-Natal in 2017. Caya Coco provided a special win as the Ndoro homebred Querari filly won the Grade 2 Tibuchana Stakes in 2021. More recent achievements include part-owning the 2023 Eastern Cape Champion 3-year-old filly, Ekoria, and the latest being the spectacular win by Spumante Dolce.

We asked Bradley to describe the feeling of seeing this filly win the Gauteng Fillies Guineas, he said: “It was euphoric! For a young filly having just her 3rd start in a Grade 2 against multiple Grade 1 winners, to have fought them off like she did was amazing but that talks to the training feat of Mike and Mathew de Kock. And I have to thank Mary Slack for letting me race Spumante Dolce in partnership with her. She is from the magnificent broodmare Espumanti, who is one of the darlings at Wilgerbosdrift, and was bought by Jehan Malherbe and the team at the 2011 Tattersalls October Yearling sale”.

Horseracing in South Africa has undergone various changes and faced many challenges over the last few years, we asked Bradley what he thinks the industry needs to strive to greater heights. He explained that the sport is a “self-sustaining” ecosystem that only has itself and its stakeholders to keep it going with limited support from the Government when compared to other countries such as Ireland, England and Australia. He adds that the next phase of horseracing is to create unity and cohesiveness to drive growth of the industry at large, and this has to happen across the breeding and racing sectors, as they are interdependent on one another. This intent can often be hindered by self-destruction and ego, which if set aside, could result in the growth and sustainability of the sport. He emphasized that horseracing is a culture, and it needs to be made accessible to a diverse range of new participants.

As a member of the ROA for nine years, Bradley expresses that the function of the Association is needed to focus on the retention, stimulation and growth of the owner base, having owners’ interests at heart and creating new experiences to make racing a regular calendar event. He adds that going forward, change is needed in this space and he has experienced the start of the ROA’s collaboration with 4Racing which lends to some exciting developments in the near future.

We thank Bradley for his continued support and dedication to the thoroughbred industry and wish him many more successes in the future.