Like most of the progeny of The Buzzard, and dare I say it, the sire himself, Katanga is another racehorse that has been largely forgotten by history. We have found a wonderful piece of racing writing by a great Brisbane journalist in Bill Ahern who wrote for the long since defunct Brisbane Telegraph in the golden age of newspapers. It is a great piece of writing and tells a great story behind a top line racehorse.
Katanga was to win the following races that were called Principal races at the time. Many would now be considered Group 1 races. He was to win a total of 22 races from 88 starts and £17,064 in stakes.
Katanga was to go to stud at Angle Stud at Dubbo where he had limited success. He did produce a Randwick winner in Golden Tan before being transferred on loan to the Barnes family at Canning Downs Stud on the Darling Downs in Queensland following the death of his owner, Mr CH Hicks. Surprisingly his influence was one of the most remarkable of all and came through his daughter Dolled Up. When mated with the Canning Downs stallion, Dalray, she produced one of the most popular local gallopers of the 1960’s and 70’s in Tails who was to almost rival legendary Gunsynd
