Hawkes’ using Sires as building block for talented Ole Kirk
Team Hawkes is closely mirroring the interstate platform used eight years ago for top-class sprinter-miler All Too Hard (Casino Prince) as the family run stable attempts to go one better in Saturday’s $500,000 Inglis Sires (registered as ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes) (Gr 1, 1400m) with the stallion’s close relation Ole Kirk (Written Tycoon).
The first foal out of champion mare Black Caviar’s (Bel Esprit) sister, the unraced Naturale, Ole Kirk surprised his owners by taking out the Talindert Stakes (Listed, 1100m) at his first start at Flemington in February, the same race Michael, Wayne and John Hawkes identified as the ideal starting point for their former four-time Group 1–winning colt All Too Hard.
The Vinery Stud-based stallion All Too Hard, who is a half-brother to Black Caviar and Naturale, won his first three starts – Flemington’s VRC Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) and the Pago Pago Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) in Sydney followed on from his debut success – before Pierro (Lonhro) had his measure in the Inglis Sires.
Raced by a syndicate headed by Neil Werrett, who also part-owns the unbeaten Black Caviar, Ole Kirk did not quite match All Too Hard in the VRC Sires, finishing a luckless third.
The son of Written Tycoon (Iglesia) was also not given the chance to tackle the Pago Pago Stakes, the Hawkes’ instead using a barrier trial at Randwick last week as the colt’s lead-up to the Inglis Sires.
If he is to go one better than All Too Hard, it would certainly assure himself of a place on a stallion roster in the years to come.
Brett Bradley, himself the breeder of this season’s The Everest (1200m)-winning colt Yes Yes Yes (Rubick), works alongside Werrett at the Galileo Funds business and he and wife Andrea also bought into Ole Kirk as a yearling after he brought $675,000 at the 2019 Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale.
“He surprised us a little bit first-up because his jump–outs down in Victoria were solid enough, but he wasn’t blowing the other horses away,” Bradley said this week while in self-isolation at his Wagga home in regional NSW after returning from an international work trip.
“But the Hawkes team were very bullish about him even though he wasn’t tearing up the track in the jump–outs as he was doing everything right at home. That is why John was pretty keen to get him in that Listed race first-up because he knew that he had ability.”
Connections resisted the temptation to send the colt immediately to Sydney after his Talindert performance in a typically patient approach from Team Hawkes.
“The plan was to stay down in Melbourne and go to the Sires down there, which is what they did with All Too Hard, and he should have won that race if you watch the replay,” he said.
“It was pretty hard to watch but he ran third and at least he showed that it wasn’t just a one-off (in the Talindert).”
Last week’s Randwick barrier trial victory over 1050 metres reinforced the opinion that connections have of Ole Kirk, who will be ridden by Tommy Berry on Saturday from barrier three.
“(The Hawkes’) obviously have the reputation of taking their time and not just throwing a horse in a race because it is bred well or it is a popular race,” Bradley said.
“They only race when they think they are right and they think they are a legitimate chance of winning. For him to come up to Sydney and do everything right and be right to go on Saturday is exciting. You can have confidence that the horse is right to run.”
For obvious reasons, Werrett was always going to be attracted to the pedigree of the Gilgai Farm-bred Ole Kirk and Bradley revealed that the prominent owner had a number of people inspect the horse on his behalf at last year’s Victorian yearling sale.
It was then left to Mark Player’s International Thoroughbred Solutions to handle the bidding and it took $675,000 to land the colt. Bradley bought into the colt soon after.
“Neil had his eye on the horse for quite a long time because the dam is a full-sister to Black Caviar,” Bradley recalled.
“He wanted to have a look at him and he had a few people look at him and then he had the Hawkes’ go down and inspect him as well and they gave Neil the green light.
“Rick Jamieson, who was the breeder and has got the mare, stayed in and said he would at the sale, so we knew that he had confidence in the horse.
“The Hawkes’ loved him and that gave Neil the confidence to bid and we came in after Neil secured the horse.”
Bradley enjoying Yes Yes Yes ride
Meanwhile, Bradley is contemplating what to do this year with his small band of broodmares – the best being Sin Sin Sin (Fantastic Light) who is the dam of the soon-to-be Coolmore Stud-based first season sire Yes Yes Yes.
“It has been a lot of fun (seeing Yes Yes Yes win The Everest) and you have to enjoy it when you get these horses because it is pretty rare to get winners, let alone a good horse who wins big races,” he said.
“You never take it for granted and just enjoy it while you can and hopefully something else good comes along.”
While not in the ownership of Yes Yes Yes, who was retired earlier this year, Bradley intends on sending a mare to the stallion later this year.
“But I don’t think I’ve got the right mare at the moment. I’ve got a few mares up in the Hunter Valley and as soon as they announced that he was retired and was going to stud, I went through my mares and matched them up to see who I could send, but none of the ones I have are standouts to go to him,” he said.
“I guess that is a good excuse to go and find one and I definitely would like to send one to him, so I will certainly be on the lookout for a mare. I’d like to go first season as well – go to him early and see what happens.”
Sin Sin Sin’s yearling colt by Sebring (More Than Ready) was bought by Melbourne trainer Lloyd Kennewell and Group 1 Bloodstock’s Mathew Becker at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in January for $700,000.
After failing to get in foal in 2018, Sin Sin Sin is currently carrying a foal to Zoustar (Northern Meteor).
“If the Zoustar is a filly, it will be a tough decision because I would probably like to sell the Zoustar just from a business perspective and what I would like to have is a full-sister to Yes Yes Yes by sending her back to Rubick,” he said.
“If you end up with a Rubick filly, you’d probably keep her and race her and then have her to breed from.
“That is the strategy, but as we all know, you never know what is going to happen.”
Whether a return date for Sin Sin Sin with Rubick happens this year or not remains to be seen.
“She is getting a bit older, so whether we go to another higher profile and proven stallion again this year or not, I just haven’t decided yet,” he said.
“Rubick is still improving all the time. He has winners pretty much every week and he is making a name for himself, so he is an option, but we will see what happens with this Zoustar foal and whether we look at him again or one of the big-name, proven stallions.”