Juveniles by exciting first season sires set for Sydney trials
Kia Ora’s Farnan most represented maiden crop stallion at Randwick Kensington
Sydney takes a first look at this season’s two-year-olds in Monday’s keenly awaited official trials, with much vaunted stallions Farnan (Not A Single Doubt), Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj) and Ole Kirk (Written Tycoon) among sires with offspring taking their first bows.
Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Farnan will be the most represented first season sire at Randwick Kensington, with four runners spread through the eight 850-metre trials – the traditional spring preview to the Gimcrack Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) for fillies and the Breeders’ Plate (Gr 3, 1000m) for colts and geldings on October 5.
Much interest will focus on trial five with the appearance of Tulloch Lodge colt Farcited (Farnan), by quite some distance the Kia Ora Stud stallion’s highest priced lot from this year’s yearling sales, and his only seven-figure offspring.
The second foal and first son out of The Galaxy (Gr 1, 1100m) winner I Am Excited (Snitzel), he was bought from the Bell River Thoroughbreds’ draft at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale for $1.2 million by Team Waterhouse and Bott, Kia Ora, Farnan Partnership and Mt Hallowell Stud.
Kia Ora also shares in the ownership of heat three runner Farnished (Farnan), a $650,000 son of stakes-placed mare Comprende (I Am Invincible), who was bought from Widden Stud’s Gold Coast draft by the stud along with Waterhouse-Bott, the Farnan Partnership and Karl Brown.
Heat one includes Grand Eagle (Farnan), another colt part-owned by Kia Ora who was bought for $300,000 by George Moore Bloodstock from Valiant Stud’s draft at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale, who’s out of the stakes-producing Sauvignon (Pierro).
Farnan’s quartet is completed in heat seven by North England (Farnan), a $280,000 Inglis Classic purchase from Valiant Stud’s draft for China Horse Club, Newgate, Go Bloodstock and Trilogy.
“It’s been a long time in the waiting now, so we’ve very excited,” Kia Ora’s bloodstock and breeding manager Shane Wright told ANZ Bloodstock News. “The whole team’s put a lot of work in over the last couple of years.
“It’s just a starting point, and there’s a lot more to come obviously, but to get here and be well represented in the trials is backing for what we thought Farnan could be all along.
“To have four in the early trials, and there’s already been one or two showing their heads in Melbourne and New Zealand, they’re definitely putting their hands up early.
“Knowing the breed, they’ll be that tough, forward, precocious type and they’ll only keep improving hopefully.
“There’ll definitely be some up and going before Christmas. They’re definitely bred to be that way, and if you look at those trialling this week, they’ve all had good jump-outs, they’re all learning their craft very well, and most importantly they’ve got great temperaments, it seems.”
Wright said reports from Tulloch Lodge had suggested Farcited was a “very straightforward colt who’s done everything right”.
“We really like him,” he said. “But also keep an eye on Farnished. He’s out of a very fast mare in Comprende, he’s still a little green, but we think there’s a lot of natural talent there also.”
Four years since Kia Ora was re-established as a stallion farm, Wright said demand for their $55,000 (in GST) flagbearer Farnan remained high, after he covered books of 192, 189 and 152 mares in his first three seasons.
“If you look at his book this year, it just keeps getting stronger and stronger. Breeders have huge belief,” said Wright, adding the stallion had this month covered the dams of Group 1 winners Wild Ruler (Snitzel) and Loving Gaby (I Am Invincible), and had served Emirates Park’s dual stakes winner Najmaty (I Am Invincible).
“If you’ve got mares like that, it gives the stallion a great chance. These are mares who can breed you a champion, with a little bit of luck.
“We at Kia Ora have had huge faith in Farnan from day one. We’ve been active in all facets of the market, buying his weanlings and yearlings to add to our racing team.
“Farnan has all the credentials to be the next big sire here in Australia, and by all reports so far, trainers are very much in agreement with that statement. The feedback has been very uniform in that his stock shares his prowess as natural two-year-olds and are tough, forward, athletic types, just as he was on the racetrack.”
Farcited might have a tough opponent in heat five in Ripley (Too Darn Hot), a $625,000 Gold Coast buy for trainer Ciaron Maher and bloodstock agent David Redvers and Qatar Bloodstock, a long-time Widden associate.
“He was a cracking good sort as a yearling, and a very nice colt who’s shown a bit for Ciaron, so it’ll be interesting to see how he goes,” Widden owner Antony Thompson told ANZ Bloodstock News.
Much interest will also centre on heat six for fillies, with the appearance of another from the lethal two-year-old factory of Tulloch Lodge in Rosie Rouge (I Am Invincible).
Bred by Widden and associates, she was the fourth top-lot at the Gold Coast this year, sold from the stud’s draft to a group including Waterhouse and Bott, Jes Sikura, Hill ‘N’ Dale Farm, William Johnson Bloodstock and Kestrel Thoroughbreds for $1.7 million Widden have retained a share.
“She won’t be asked to do too much. She’ll have a nice easy trial, and head to the paddock for a bit of a break,” Thompson said.
“With a real quality, high class and expensive filly like her, she’s only there because she’s put herself there, and she’s there to have a bit of a look. She’s a lovely filly with plenty of scope, and should be a filly that’ll get there in time. She’s surprised us a bit with how forward she’s been.”
That heat also features Fairway Thoroughbreds’ homebred Fairway To Heaven (Zoustar), out of the stakes-winning mare Taraayef (Lonhro), who was bought from Shadwell Stud’s dispersal of 2021 for $1.2 million by James Harron.
Fairway To Heaven is part of a strong five-horse selection at the trials for Michael Freedman.
The canny juvenile trainer combines with Harron in heat three with $1.3 million colt Valedictorian (Zoustar), a Gold Coast purchase for the bloodstock heavyweight, Harron’s Colt Partnership, out of Group 3 winner Lady Cosmology (Universal Ruler).
Harron and Freedman are also behind heat four filly Mythology (Wootton Bassett), the only representative at the trials from the much anticipated first Australian Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj).
The Coolmore star shuttler is fresh from siring the winners of both two-year-old stakes races at Leopardstown last weekend – the Champions Juvenile Stakes (Gr 2, 1m) with Green Impact (Wootton Bassett), and the Ingabelle Stakes (Listed, 1400m) with Chantez, taking his total number of juvenile stakes winners in the northern hemisphere this season to eight.
“Michael’s a big wrap for Mythology and says she goes really well,” said Coolmore’s sales and nominations manager Colm Santry.
“It’ll be great to see Wootton Bassett’s first Australian crop running. He just keeps going from strength to strength in Europe. He’s such a versatile sire. His two-year-olds are going early, but a lot of them will be out and running over seven furlongs or a mile too. He’s not a one dimensional sire. He can get you a Group 1 winner from 1000 metres to 2400 metres.”
Vinery’s Ole Kirk has three runners, in the Freedman-trained colt Aerodrome (Ole Kirk) in heat five, Waterhouse-Bott’s King Kirk (Ole Kirk) in trial three, and Bjorn Baker’s filly O’ Ole (Ole Kirk) in trial six.
“O’ Ole looks quite sharp,” said Vinery’s bloodstock manager Adam White. “She won a jump-out fairly easily last week, it sounds like she’s got a great brain on her and is very forward, so they’re very pleased with her.
“Aerodrome and King Kirk are obviously going well enough to progress to the trials, which is good to see.
“The great thing and the consistent thing we’ve been hearing is Ole Kirk’s stock have got great attitudes and are handling the work really well. He’ll have enough horses up and trialling before Christmas.
“When you consider what he did as a racehorse, winning the Talindert Stakes (Listed, 1100m) at his first start at two, and being Group 1-placed in the autumn in the Champagne Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m), you’d expect the majority of his offspring to follow suit a bit.”
Considerable interest will also rest in the first heat of the day for the appearance of the Waterhouse and Bott trained colt Tuscany (Zoustar), bought at Inglis Easter by the China Horse Club, Newgate, Go Bloodstock and Trilogy for $1.55 million from the draft of co-breeders Widden.
Tuscany is the second foal of Group 2 winner Summer Sham (Not A Single Doubt), and a brother to triple stakes winner Schwarz (Zoustar).
“He was an absolutely smashing yearling,” Thompson said. “It surprises me a bit: he was an Easter yearling, he had a heap of quality, but didn’t really look like he’d go early, but he’s lining up in the first trials, so that’s a good sign.”
Other first season sires to be represented include Darley’s Bivouac (Exceed And Excel), Widden stud’s Anders (Not A Single Doubt), and Kingstar Farm’s Time To Reign (Time For War).