There can be no denying that the late Jet Master was one of the greatest thoroughbred stallions ever bred in South Africa.
Seven-time champion Sire in South Africa, Jet Master was Leading Sire of 2YOs in 2004-2005 and has headed the Leading Broodmare Sires premiership on four occasions.
Jet Master’s statistics as a stallion make for very impressive reading. Of his 658 foals to race, 512 (78%) found the winners’ enclosure at least, and 75 (11%) were stakes winners.
His ability to sire champions was also not in question, with Jet Master’s 22 individual Grade One winners including such Equus Champions as Pocket Power, J J The Jet Plane, Mythical Flight, In The Fast Lane, Past Master, and Yorker.
The charismatic son of Rakeen also left his mark on the international stage, with his son J J The Jet Plane winning all of the 2010 G1 Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Sprint, 2009 G3 Al Quoz Sprint, 2011 G2 Al Quoz Sprint and 2009 Listed Leisure Stakes.
Jet Master also sired Singapore champion Lizarre, while his globetrotting daughter River Jetez was victorious in the 2011 G2 Balanchine, and finished second in both the 2011 G1 Dubai Duty Free and 2011 G1 Singapore Airlines International Cup.
Jet Master left a lasting impression on the (now G1 World Sports Betting Cape Town) Met, with his offspring Pocket Power, River Jetez and Past Master winning the Met from 2007-2011 in a remarkable show of dominance.
South Africa’s Joint Horse Of The Year in 1999, the eight-time G1 winning Jet Master continues to make his presence felt on the South African turf. A truly exceptional broodmare sire, whose daughters have already thrown more than 50 stakes winners including champions and exciting young sires Hawwaam and Jet Dark, and fellow champions Lady In Black, Edict Of Nantes and Rainbow Bridge. The latter, one of three G1 winners produced by the Jet Master mare Halfway To Heaven, was Horse Of The Year, Equus Champion Older Male and Equus Champion Middle Distance Horse of 2020-2021.
This season, Jet Master mares have been responsible for more than 50 winners, including 2024 G3 Cape Mile winner Rascallion (out of the Jet Master mare Sofala). Jet Master is also the broodmare sire of exciting three-year-old Greaterix (like Rascallion, a son of Vercingetorix), while Fiery Pegasus (runner-up in both this season’s G2 Betway Joburg Spring F and M Challenge and G3 Betway Fillies Mile) is out of the Jet Master mare Scorched.
Jet Master’s sire sons have also made quite a splash in South Africa. This was most evident at the recent Betway Summer Cup meeting, where Jet Master sons were responsible for the winners of the G1 Betway Summer Cup, G2 Betway Dingaans and G3 New Turf Carriers Merchants.
Quid Pro Quo. Image: Candiese Lenferna
Jet Master horse Master Of My Fate, who currently heads the South African General Sires list for 2024-2025, is the sire of 2024 Summer Cup hero Atticus Finch. One of 27 stakes winners (and one of four G1 winners thus far for Master Of My Fate), Atticus Finch, also victorious in the 2023 G3 Betway Victory Moon Stakes, took his earnings to over R4.1 million with his first Grade One win.
Atticus Finch joins Sentbydestiny, Zarina and champion Tempting Fate as G1 winners sired by Master Of My Fate, whose Listed Spook Express Handicap winning half-sister Justthewayyouare ranks as the dam of South African Triple Crown winning sire Malmoos. Master Of My Fate, Atticus Finch aside, is having another good season in 2024-2025, with his flagbearers including G3 Betway Victory Moon Stakes winner Greeting My Master, Listed Laisserfaire Stakes queen Miss Marguerite and G3 Cape Mile runner-up Zapatillas.
Another son of Jet Master, Pomodoro, was South Africa’s Leading First Season Sire of 2017-2018. The sire of recent G3 New Turf Carriers Merchants winner Mount Pilatus, Pomodoro made a name for himself as the sire of Equus Champion Return Flight, 2020 G1 Cape Racing Presents The Cape Guineas winner Russian Rock and R5 000 000 million plus earner Cirillo. The latter finished either first, second or third in no fewer than 13 graded races!
Pomodoro is also the sire of Rule By Force, who ran third to Atticus Finch in the G1 Betway Summer Cup.
Skitt Skizzle, a half-brother to exported G1 winner Zeeno, was yet another son of Jet Master to make his presence felt on the South African turf. From a small number of runners, the late Skitt Skizzle came up with some classy performers including G3 Sycamore Sprint winner Tropic Sun, Castle Tankard winner True Beauty, Secretariat Stakes queen Cordillera and R800 000 plus earner Tierra Del Fuego. (Both Pomodoro and Skitt Skizzle were sired by Jet Master out of mares by Northern Guest, with this cross also producing globetrotting champion J J The Jet Plane and fellow champion In The Fast Lane).
Jet Master’s blue-blooded son, and G2 Astrapak 1900 winner, Royal Air Force, a half-brother to Met winning champion Imperious Sue, left behind graded stakes winners Goodtime Gal and Dharma, as well as G1 L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate runner-up Copper Force.
Yet another son of Jet Master to make his mark, despite having had limited opportunities, is the blue-blooded Lance. Held in high regard by his connections, Lance defeated none other than subsequent Triple Crown/Summer Cup winner Louis The King when he won the Listed Secretariat Stakes of 2013.
Despite having had few opportunities at stud, Lance has made his mark as the sire of brilliant champion, and scintillating recent G2 Betway Dingaans winner Quid Pro Quo, and he is another feather in the cap of his great sire Jet Master.
-turftalk.co.za
