Judgement of Kulani Park’s Smith rewarded after Dulcify win of Giannis
Trader celebrates interstate double with exciting son of Flying Artie to follow proven Group 1 path
Ask industry professionals, agents and studmasters alike, and the majority will agree that Rhys Smith has one of the best eyes for a horse in the business, not that the Kulani Park owner is one for self-promotion.
Over the weekend, however, the racetrack results speak for themselves. Giannis (Flying Artie), a weanling purchase, lived up to his two-year-old form with a first-up victory in the Dulcify Stakes (Listed, 1500m) at Kembla Grange and Boss Queen (Street Boss) won her first start in country Victoria yesterday.
Giannis is now expected to follow the campaign Chris Waller used successfully with his former elite stablemate The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice) three years ago by pinpointing the Golden Rose (Gr 1, 1400m) and Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) as the colt’s Group 1 spring targets.
Smith, who runs Kulani Park at Nagambie in Victoria with his wife Chloe, identified Giannis at the 2019 Magic Millions National Weanling Sale, buying him for $67,500.
“We buy a few weanlings every year and he was another that we purchased and we put him back through the Gold Coast (January) sale and I think from memory we had a reserve of $200,000 on him,” Smith told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday.
“There was a lot of interest in him, so I thought he was going to sell, but I didn’t get a bid and I had to pass him in.
“Within five minutes, I had five people come back trying to buy him off us, but at this stage we decided that we were going to keep him as we liked the horse.”
The Smiths sent the China Horse Club-bred colt, who is out of Group 3-placed mare Palace Rock (Fastnet Rock), herself a sister to stakes winners Albany Reunion and Fast Dragon, to Waller to be trained and, while the Dulcify Stakes was the horse’s first win, he showed immense talent at two.
Giannis was placed in the Pierro Plate (1100m) behind subsequent Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Stay Inside (Extreme Choice) and he was runner-up to Converge (Frankel) in the J J Atkins Plate (Gr 1, 1600m) at the end of his five-start juvenile season.
It was then that Waller turned to The Autumn Sun to help map out Giannis’ spring campaign.
“Chris has always had a high opinion of the horse and it’s just been a matter of him showing it; he showed it in Queensland at his last start and he’s improved (to win on Saturday) and now we’re hoping that he can go on with it now,” said Smith.
“I think he’s following the same path (as The Autumn Sun) and I think the (Caulfield) Guineas would be the natural option after the Golden Rose.”
To date, Smith has warded off regular inquiries about whether Giannis could be bought, but he hopes he has to make more of a commitment to those asking the question over the next few weeks if the Flying Artie (Artie Schiller) colt can deliver in one of the stallion-making three-year-old Group 1 races.
“We’ve had phone calls anyway, ever since he had his second start (in the Pierro Plate), we’ve had phone calls from Hong Kong and there’s been interest all the way through,” he said.
“At the moment, we are just going to keep going with him. It’s a good position to be in and hopefully that decision gets forced upon us shortly.
“He has a good family, there’s a lot of stakes winners, and it’s a current and very commercial family.”
As for Boss Queen, trained by Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, she justified her favouritism to take out the 3YO Fillies Maiden Plate (1200m) at Donald yesterday.
Smith again trusted his eye, overlooking the high-risk X-rays to buy her for $40,000 from breeder Anthony Roberts of Chesapeake Thoroughbreds who offered her through the draft of Rushton Park at the Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale last year.
“She was a beast of a filly. She walked past us at the sales and when she went through the ring and was passed in without a bid, I went and looked at her (properly),” Smith said.
“She had high-risk X-rays. I think she had 15 hits on X-ray which showed she had a cyst on a fetlock and everyone jumped off her, so I offered $40,000 knowing that she had high-risk X-rays and took the risk with her.
“When you breed horses, you see a lot of high-risk X-rays who go on to race well. Obviously it is different when you are buying them for people and you have got to get it right, but a lot of horses run with (perceived) problems.”
While Boss Queen caught the eye yesterday with her pouncing long-neck win, Smith is not getting carried away with the three-year-old filly just yet.
“It is not a big family, she has to do it herself to be worth something after her racing career but she was a good physical at the sales,” he said.
“She has had two jump-outs and she went quite well and I think they (stable) thought she could win and obviously the market said that as well.
“I think they will just take her through her grades and see where she ends up.”