Whats in a name? Meant To Be

Sometimes things are just, well, meant to be. This is fitting in every sense when it comes to the story of naming a winner, this time in the month of August.

When Meant To Be caused an upset for the punters, winning at odds of 40/1 in an Open Maiden, not everyone was caught by surprise. Not least of all leading Cape trainer Brett Crawford and his partner Gwen McGregor. After all, Meant To Be’s dam was Cuvee Brut.

The latter was a five-time winning filly for Crawford and was retired to stud after MJ Byleveld had ridden her in the Garden Province Stakes at Greyville in July 2016.

Expectations for Cuvee Brut at stud were high in an industry where nothing can be taken for granted.

Cuvee Brut was covered by Duke Of Marmalade. and produced colts in Bon Viveur (2017) and Specially Selected (2018). Then she was mated with champion sire Gimmethegreenlight and Mean To Be was the result.

Gwen McGregor, who named Meant To Be, takes up the story.

“Because the mare was trained by Brett we visited Ridgemont during foaling season hoping to see her foal down – and we got lucky! It was the 1st October 2020. I assisted with the foaling in the early hours of the morning. I wanted to name him Stars Aligned, also for obvious reasons, but that name wasn’t available so my next choice was Meant To Be. We really were so lucky to have chosen the right night to have been there.”

Meant To Be was a R425,000 yearling trained by Michelle Rix and Harold Crawford. He won his maiden in his second start, as a 40/1 outsider at Hollywoodbets Durbanville on the first day of the 2024/25 season. It’s fair to say that while Meant To Be is still lightly raced, you might not find a better-suited name all season. Meant To Be is the third produce of Cuvee Brut who has subsequently been successfully covered three times – by Canford Cliffs (twice) and Real Gone Kid.