Kia Ora calls time on Golden Slipper winner Farnan
Valuable Not A Single Doubt colt heading to the Hunter Valley ahead of stallion duties
Reigning Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner and last season’s champion two-year-old Farnan (Not A Single Doubt) has been retired to Kia Ora Stud after an array of setbacks which yesterday resulted in a decision to end his proposed farewell campaign before it had even begun.
Kia Ora made a major statement last August by acquiring Farnan, arguably the country’s most valuable colt, by entering into a deal with Aquis Farm and Phoenix Thoroughbreds as the renowned Hunter Valley farm set about re-entering the stallion business after a long absence.
Almost 12 months to the day since Farnan’s Slipper triumph, stud manager Shane Wright confirmed the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained colt would arrive from the trainers’ Randwick stables to Kia Ora’s Scone property in the coming days to let down ahead of the 2021 breeding season, which begins on September 1.
“He was the dominant two-year-old of his generation, he won the Golden Slipper and it’s an extremely good sire-making race in Australia,” Wright told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday when citing the deeds of previous Slipper winners and champion juveniles Pierro (Lonhro) and, more recently, Capitalist (Written Tycoon).
“He definitely brought that form back as a three-year-old with everything he did at home and his trials proved that.
“He had incredible cruising speed and a turn of foot off that, which is what good sires in Australia have.”
Farnan won his first start by four and three-quarter lengths at Canberra in November of his two-year-old season before taking out the Magic Millions Wyong 2YO Classic (RL, 1100m) the following month.
He was beaten in the Magic Millions 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m) at the Gold Coast in January, but returned to Sydney to win the Silver Slipper Stakes (Gr 2, 1100m), the Todman Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) and, of course, the Golden Slipper. He was subsequently crowned champion two-year-old.
When returning as a three-year-old he was unplaced in the Run To The Rose (Gr 2, 1200m) and the Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m), his only two runs in a stop-start spring, while he had won two barrier trials this preparation before again being struck down by injuries.
“Niggling problems have interrupted our progress towards his big autumn targets, which were the Group 1 Galaxy and T J Smith, with a possible tilt at a Royal Ascot campaign,” Bott said.
“Unfortunately, we have now run out of time. Farnan’s record as a two-year-old speaks for itself and his work at home and at the trials this preparation shows that he has retained all of his superior speed as a three-year-old.
“Gai and I are certain he will be a huge success at stud and we look forward to supporting his progeny in due course.”
Bred by Phoenix Thoroughbreds, who retained a share in him when sold at the 2019 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale by Vinery Stud to Aquis Farm for $550,000, Farnan is out of the Group-winning, Magic Millions 3YO Trophy (RL, 1400m) runner-up Tallow (Street Cry).
Bought by David Lucas on behalf of Phoenix for $250,000 at the 2017 Magic Millions Gold Coast National Broodmare Sale when in foal to Not A Single Doubt (Redoute’s Choice), the resulting foal producing Farnan, Tallow has had three foals to race and all are winners, including the Slipper winner’s three-quarter brother, dual Listed winner Sandbar (Snitzel).
“He’s by Not A Single Doubt and through Extreme Choice, off limited numbers, he has proven that the Not A Single Doubt sire line is a pretty dominant line and he’s out of a Street Cry mare,” he said.
“He is the most beautiful type. He has excellent conformation, a beautiful presence about him and has a great head. He’s a stallion who, when you see him in the flesh, has the ‘wow’ factor.”
The BK Racing and Breeding-owned Sandar was also recently retired with connections hoping to find a home at stud for the Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) entire, a fact which further underlines the potency of Farnan’s pedigree.
Aquis Farm and Phoenix Thoroughbreds remain partners in Farnan and Wright says a round-table discussion about the colt’s service fee would be had at the upcoming Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.
Injury cuts Russian Camelot’s career short
Meanwhile, Queensland studmaster Dan Fletcher believes Russian Camelot (Camelot) can be the stallion Australia needs to provide breeders with a legitimate alternative to the almost obsessive need for early two-year-old speed.
An emotional Fletcher was last night reflecting on the devastating news that dual Group 1 winner Russian Camelot, a horse the Telemon Thoroughbreds principal part-owns, had yesterday been retired after the shock discovery by trainer Danny O’Brien that the northern hemisphere-bred entire had suffered a serious tendon injury.
It is likely the Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m) placegetter Russian Camelot – the winner of last year’s South Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) and the Underwood Stakes (Gr 1, 1800m) – sustained the injury in Saturday’s All-Star Mile (1600m) at Moonee Valley, when finishing second in the lucrative race to Mugatoo (Henrythenavigator).
Fletcher revealed a phone call from O’Brien early yesterday ended with silence, as it had with most conversations the trainer had with Russian Camelot’s ownership group, as they tried to come to terms with the fact their star horse would not race again.
“When we retired Sunlight, I did go through the same sort of feelings, but I looked at her and thought, ‘she’s done everything that she could possibly do and deserves to be protected and retired’ whereas this horse was just untapped,” Fletcher told ANZ Bloodstock News last night.
“He got one crack at them in a fair fight and I genuinely felt that he had the world at his feet. He just didn’t get the opportunity to show what he can do as a horse, not a colt.
“Tragedy’s a strong word, but it is very disappointing for the horse, really, just from the sporting aspect. The way he’d furnished and developed was just so exciting and everything physically you’d expect.
“It was on display in the All-Star Mile, it was just a matter of what was to come next.”
Negotiations for a stud deal will now ramp up as connections attempt to secure the long-term future of the lightly raced son of Camelot (Montjeu), March 29-born colt sourced for 120,000gns (Approx. AU$215,000) by UK agent Jeremy Brummitt at the 2018 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.
Camelot shuttled to Coolmore in the Hunter Valley for one season in 2014, covering 104 mares at a $22,000 service fee.
“He made a big impression in his brief racing career and I am really hopeful that he will make a lasting impression in his stud career and I really think he can become a pivotal horse for the Australian breeding scene,” he said.
“The way I look at him, he’s probably the prime example of what is wrong with our breeding industry at the moment. We had to send our money overseas to find him, so hopefully he can be the horse, having done that (on the track), who is the game-changer.
“We need to buy the right mares to support him, so he can produce locally the horses we need to contest those middle-distance races because that’s where 50 per cent of our prize-money is and probably where ten per cent of our yearlings are targeted.
“I hope he’s one of the contributors to changing that.”
New Zealand stud farms had expressed their interest in taking on Russian Camelot but Australian studs are also circling and Fletcher said principal owner John Wheeler will have the final say in where Russian Camelot’s future lay, while he ruled out Telemon taking on the horse for their roster.
“My mentality is that he is a horse who needs to have the right sort of mares and mare population behind him and I don’t have the numbers or the right sort of mares to do justice to him (at Telemon). All I am interested in is seeing him become what he is entitled to be,” Fletcher said.
“Selfishly, I’d love for that to be somewhere in the Hunter because we’d be looking to really push him and get behind him, but if he’s elsewhere that becomes a bit more difficult, so that’s just a selfish, personal answer.
“At the end of the day it has to be the right commercial decision for the ownership group and John because he’s the primary owner.
“It will be interesting to see how all that comes to light. I would expect there’d be interest from New Zealand, he’d be perfect for that jurisdiction, and there’d be other places I gather will be around (and making a play for him).”
Rehabilitation was an unrealistic proposition, according to Fletcher, given Russian Camelot is a rising five-year-old entire (by southern hemisphere time).
“He would need at least 12 months rehab based on the vet reports and John, who is the major part-owner, has never been shy of testing the horse,” Fletcher said.
“That’s the thing about Russian Camelot: he’s danced every dance and John’s someone who, if at all possible, would want to see him tested and competing.
“If rehab was a viable option, I am sure it would have been deeply considered, but the probability of giving him 12 months off and then getting back under the circumstances was pretty remote.
“The fact of the matter is, he’s a very valuable, appealing stallion prospect, so I think we made the only sensible decision you could make.”
Russian Camelot was being aimed at the $4 million Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) and possibly the Doncaster Handicap (Gr 1, 1600m) during the Sydney autumn carnival before yesterday’s developments.
“It’s a shame his career ends prematurely, as I felt his best racing was ahead of him up in Sydney this autumn and in to next spring and beyond, however, I have no doubt he will have a significant impact on our industry for years to come through his stud career,” trainer O’Brien said in a statement.
“From the moment we bought him at the Tattersalls Sale in Newmarket, he has been a standout colt.
“Although we only saw him race 11 times, he made a significant impact on the Australian racing scene winning a Derby and at weight-for-age in the spring, as a northern hemisphere three-year-old.
“He is a horse that just turned up in any weather and under any conditions, gave his all and never let anyone down. He was just an outstanding racehorse.”
Russian Camelot, the winner of last year’s South Australian Derby and the Underwood Stakes in the spring, he won four of his 11 starts and earned connections $2.35 million in prize-money.
Russian Camelot is one of three winners for the unraced mare Lady Babooshka (Cape Cross), a three-quarter sister to Group 2 winner Alkaadhem (Breen Desert) and a half-sister to the stakes-placed Raising Sand (Oasis Dream). Her 2018 foal, the Sylvester Kirk-trained Russian Camilla (Camelot), won on debut at Kempton Park in November last year.
Last season’s Inglis Sires’ Produce (Gr 1, 1400m) and Champagne Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) winner King’s Legacy (Redoute’s Choice) was also recently retired to stand at Coolmore, as was Vinery Stud’s Golden Rose Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) and Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Ole Kirk (Written Tycoon).
Rosemont Stud has also secured Group-winning two-year-old Hanseatic (Street Boss) to stand at its property near Geelong in Victoria. Bivouac (Exceed And Excel) (Darley) and Anders (Not A Single Doubt) (Widden Stud) are also on the verge of racetrack retirement to stand at stud.