Pivotal is making his mark as a sire of sires in Australia and his Group 1 winning son Noordhoek Flyer will promote the sireline in South Africa.

Noordhoek Flyer (4h Pivotal – Serra Negra by Kris) has been retired to stand at Gary Player Stud which spans more than 10,000 acres on the banks of the Orange River in Cape Province.  He joins Wolfhound (Nureyev) and Manshood (Mr Prospector) at the Colesburg nursery.

Champion golfer Gary Player acquired the farm from the Ellis family in 1974.

Noordhoek Flyer possessed a tremendous turn of foot and he used that acceleration to blitz the G2 KRA Guineas at Greyville when the beaten division included Bold Silvano, Ancestral Fore and Irish Flame.  He followed up with a G1 victory in the Cape Guineas defeating Australian bred Galileo’s Galaxy (Galileo).

Pivotal was a G2 winner of the 1996 King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot and the G1 Nunthorpe Stakes at York before retiring to Cheveley Park in Newmarket.  He started stud life at a 6,000 pounds fee alongside his own sire Polar Falcon and his services are now worth 65,000 pounds.

He sired 2009 English Oaks winner Sariska and his son Kyllachy sired Sole Power to score a 100-1 upset in the 2010 Nunthorpe Stakes.  Three months later his NZ based son Captain Rio sired G1 Victorian Oaks winner Brazilian Pulse.  

Coolmore shuttler Excellent Art is a son of Pivotal and his first yearlings starred at the 2011 NZ Bloodstock Premier Sale.  He was a G1 winner of the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot and his Karaka youngsters averaged $155,000.

Noordhoek Flyer was trained by Dean Kannemeyer and, like so many great stallions, was at his finest over a mile.  His dam Serra Negra is by Kris and he is also the broodmare sire of Invincible Spirit.  She hails from the family of champion sire Volksraad.