Colin Cohen, one of South Africa's best loved and most respected
horsemen, passed away on Sunday after losing his battle against
illness.
Below are a tribute from John Freeman and an interview conducted
by Charles Faull back in 1996.
"Colin
was always a very sincere gentleman who never let me down. I
did happy business with Colin and Lorraine for over 30 years
and in all of that time we never had a cross word or a reason
to moan at each other. Colin was of the old school where friendships
really count. When I needed help, Colin was there. When Cheryl,
Roy and I started our own business all those years ago - Colin
and Lorraine made us feel appreciated. We never lost that sense
of being. I can still see the two of them arriving at the sales
- Lorraine always with that beautiful smile on her face and
Colin mulling over the process. Always a pleasure to greet.
I sincerely regret that I never spent more time with him when
we saw each other at the races just a few weeks ago - just a
brief exchange of "how are you". But then Colin never
said he had a problem even if he did. All the while I hear that
he was undergoing treatment. Another lesson learned the hard
way: One should always make the effort to chat to friends -
you never know when you may not have the chance again.
Lorraine and family - my deepest sympathies. I wish you all
a long life."
John Freeman
INTERVIEW WITH COLIN AND LIONEL COHEN in 1996
"Class, while difficult to define, is readily recognizable
- in a premier grand cru, in a third-and-long situation, in
a single strand of pearls, in a horse race. To contend that
one easily can recognize an intangible makes no sense, of course,
but then much of the lilt in life - romance, religion, racing
- is derived from confidence belief in approval.
"Be that as it may, class is what the Thoroughbred breeder
seeks. More than often, he finds the ordinary, for that is the
way of things; yet the quest, through selective breeding, continues
for that rare element - class"
As Elliodor's son Super Quality knifed his way through traffic
from last position to win the 1996 Cape Derby in exciting fashion,
he became the twentieth Gr I stakeswinner and was registering
the 29th Gr I stakes victory for Colin and Lionel Cohen's Odessa
Stud - all this since father Loskey and started the stud proper
in 1955. To place these statistics in perspective, consider
the following: From the 1995 to 1992 foal crops, South Africa
had bred a total of 105,473 foals. To date 557 of these have
won Gr I stakes i.e. 0,53%. Odessa's 20 Gr I stakes-winners
in this 38 year period represents a remarkable 3,6% of all Gr
I SW's bred.
Odessa's full record establishes the Cohens as a dominant force
in South African breeding, and insures Odessa's induction in
the South African Hall Of Fame.
The following is a very brief history of Odessa and their breeding
policies as related to the writer by Colin and Lionel in the
week after Super Quality's meticulous performance in the Cape
Derby.
Colin: "It was at the start of the war that my dad Loskey
decided to expand his fruit farming activities by purchasing
Odessa which boarded on his existing operation. He purchased
a small number of mares and the English stallion Shortridge
(GB), a winner of the Gold Cup in this country, and started
breeding racehorses. Amongst Shortridge's winners were some
top-class handicappers including Short Light (16 wins), Roseridge
(11 wins), Persian Lad (10 wins), Bay Ridge (6 wins), Shortleigh
(9 wins), Willow Ridge (7 wins) and others. Spurred on by this
success he bought the Irish horse High Signal (by Montrose),
who also met with some success.
"The first major turning point in the history of Odessa
come when my father went to England in 1954 and bought Sund
Compass for 3 000 pounds at an auction. The horse had raced
sound from 2 to 5 years winning 6 races from 5 furlongs to 11/2
miles (his bet distance). He was small (15,3 hands), light-framed
chestnut with good legs and loads of quality. He was a terrific
stallion who bred no fewer than 12 graded stakes winners for
Odessa alone, and was a great broodmare sire.
"It was in 1955, when his first foals were born, that I
took over the running of the stud. The great Sun Lass was born
at Odessa that year.
"At this time we only ran about 15 mares, a number which
I increased slowly to almost 50. They were mostly homebred fillies,
but once I decided to buy into Dancing Champ in 1983, we decided
to buy in some top mares. With Lionel at the helm we have increased
our band to 65 mares."\ "Another landmark acquisition
for Odessa was Prince Tor (GB), a beautiful little horse (15,11/2
hand) which we acquired from Abe Bloomberg on a foal swap basis.
Like Sun Compass. he was a quiet, lovely natured horse with
a magnificent head. He had terrific quarters and a great action
and what a sire! He bred us 6 graded SW's including champions
like Prairie Prince, Free Enterprise, Foreign Prince and Foreign
Ambassador.
"We had other successful stallions during the sixties and
seventies True Cavalier (GB) for one year, Filippepi (GB) for
a few seasons, and the very handsome Double First who left some
good broodmares.
"The greatest moment for Odessa of course was the arrival
of Model Man in 1982. We had bred his grandam (by True Cavalier)
and dam by (Filippepi), and because of his great success, we
bought 10 shares in his sire Elliodor (FR).
"Elliodor has been good to us - 8 graded stakes-winners
so far - and Model Man is a top-class stallion. Lionel wasted
no time in syndicating him to stand with us as he liked the
close inbreeding to Fairway in both his sire and his dam.
As regards the Cohen's basic breeding philosophy Lionel is quick
to point out "Both my father and I rely heavily on visual
impressions and gut feeling when doing our matings. We like
to balance physical type and temperament (phenotype), being
careful not to become too incestuous with pedigree (genotype).
So far we have been most successful in trusting our inner impressions
in choosing the right stallion for the right mare, or vice versa.
It is important to met to breed for physical quality and balance."
Colin interjects: "I agree totally with Lionel on the practicalities
of mating for balance, but also like to follow nicks once they
become apparent. Sun Compass on Jubie mares was unbelievably
successful."
Lionel's record of 22 graded SW's since 1986 including 10 Gr
I SW's is a feat of which every breeder would be justly proud.
The fundamental components of the family's success have been
sheer hard work, shrewd horsemanship and great success in choice
of stallions.