‘These sorts of results show what we’re trying to produce’
Weekend winners provide a timely boost for Kia Ora as busy sales period looms
With the all–important Magic Millions sale and carnival fast approaching, Kia Ora Stud could not have asked for a better string of results on Saturday to showcase all facets of their business and the farm’s manager Shane Wright is optimistic the operation is set for another big week on the Gold Coast.
Leading the way on the weekend was the farm’s upwardly mobile Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Farnan (Not A Single Doubt).
The stallion’s good day was kicked off by Knightsbridge who rocketed into contention for the Magic Millions 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m) with a stylish maiden victory at Randwick. Shortly after, across the border in Queensland, another of his sons, the Michael Freedman-trained Ninja, ensured a potentially big afternoon for Farnan at the lucrative raceday a week on Saturday when he advertised his credentials for the Magic Millions 3YO Guineas (RL, 1400m) with an explosive performance in the Vo Rogue Plate (Gr 3, 1300m) at Eagle Farm.
The timing of the triumphs was not lost on Wright.
He told ANZ News: “Timing is always important and Farnan had a very good weekend. He’s been building into it over the last few weeks so it was good to see it come together.
“As we all know well, the industry is a very fickle place and you can have two quiet weeks and it doesn’t take much for people to say ‘your horse needs a horse’. I’ve been through it with I Am Invincible when I was at Yarraman, but it’s better off for horses not to be pushed early and coming out and having a big Magics carnival and then kicking on from there.
“As we all know ‘form is temporary and class is permanent’ and I think the very best stallions definitely go by that mantra. With some of the big racing coming up now, to see Knightsbridge come up and show what everyone knew he was able to do, he looks like he could be a good chance in the two-year-old race up there.
“Ninja was just exceptional, you don’t find many horses that can win like that at Eagle Farm when they are a bit behind the kick and caught wide and have to come wide around that turn, not many can do that and he looks like he has stepped up to the next level this prep.”
The son of Not A Single Doubt (Redoute’s Choice) closed out his debut season with runners last term with the highest number of winners in 14, one more than his nearest rival, Ole Kirk (Written Tycoon), who was crowned champion first-season by earnings, with Farnan finishing third by that metric. He signed off the 2024/25 season with five stakes performers, more than any other stallion, and the cohort were spearheaded by three Group winners: King Of Pop, North England and Recuperato.
This season he has added 21 new winners to his tally, 18 coming in Australia, and Knightsbridge became number two from his second crop, joining New Zealand-based winner Magill, who broke his maiden at Tauherenikau on January 2.
Meanwhile, Saturday’s win was Ninja’s third from five starts following a close third in the Pierata Plate (1200m) at Doomben on December 6. That run came after a spring spell, with the gelding having previously shown promise through the winter, placing on debut as a late two-year-old in July before winning twice in his first three starts, on August 1 and 16.
Wright said watching Farnan’s first crop come out firing as three-year-olds has given the farm immense satisfaction and Ninja’s performance only underpinned the sort of talented performers the stallion is capable of producing.
“Last season, both Ole Kirk and Farnan showed that they are both two exciting young stallions coming through the ranks and the industry needs that and to have both those two young boys there, especially with our interest in Vinery, it was particularly good to watch,” he said.
“Farnan had a lot of winners last year and some very nice horses and he was the equal most represented horse in the Golden Slipper, which was what we were aiming to do. Then to see some of those nice horses come back as three-year-olds and the two-year-olds coming through – he’s in a very, very good place.”
Even when a stallion has enjoyed a good debut season with runners, there is still the question of whether they will train on in the following year and the answer to that can make or break a stallion’s reputation. Wright is understandably relieved that Farnan has more or less picked up where he left off last year.
“You couldn’t have asked for any more from Ninja and when you have a stallion that you know you can get nice two-year-olds year in year out, but when they come back as three-year-olds, that’s very important,” he said.
“If you look at the Magic Millions calendar he’s got a lot of three-year-olds including King Of Pop, Nashville Jack and North England all entered in big races, which is very satisfying. They were given the time and they are back and looking at the form now, I expect them to be all pretty competitive up there in two weeks’ time.”
Both Ninja and Knightsbridge were sourced at the Magic Millions January sale, the former for $380,000, while the latter sold for $750,000 to James Harron and Tony Fung’s powerful colt partnership.
The pair were two of 20 Farnan yearlings to sell on the Gold Coast 12 months ago for total receipts of $5,535,000 and an average of $276,750, way above the $55,000 (inc GST) he stood for in his year in the breeding shed.
He will be well-represented on the Gold Coast this year with 24 of his yearlings set to come under the hammer and four of those will be offered by Kia Ora.
The quartet includes a colt out of Summer Fun, an unraced mare by I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit), who Kia Ora purchased for $80,000 at the Inglis Broodmare Sale in 2022, two years before her daughter Kimochi (Brave Smash) added serious allure to the pedigree with her defeat of the boys in the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) at Caulfield.
The colt will be offered as Lot 873 during frenetic ‘Super Session’ on January 16.
“He’s a lovely colt,” said Wright. “He’s very straightforward and very much in the mould of a nice Farnan. He’s a decent size, strong and ready to go sort of horse.
“We’ve said it since day dot that temperament is really what sets Farnan apart from the rest. They are very tractable and trainable and trainers love to have them in their barns and this colt is no different.”
The farm will also consign a son of Farnan (Lot 786) out of New Zealand Group 3 winner Serious Satire (More Than Ready), who will also be offered during the ‘Super Session’.
“He’s a nice horse and might take a little bit longer to come to grow into,” said Wright.
Serious Satire was a $675,000 pick up for Kia Ora at the 2021 edition of the Inglis Chairman’s Sale and she delivered a good result last year when her colt by Extreme Choice, another son of Not A Single Doubt, fetched $340,000 to the bid of Mick Price Racing & Breeding, TFI, Dermot Farrington and Stallion Match.
Kia Ora’s Farnan four is completed by a ‘lovely’ colt out of Listed-placed winner Huboor (More Than Ready) (Lot 358) and a filly from Ducale (I Am Invincible), a dual-winning sister to Ken Russell Memorial Classic (Gr 3, 1200m) winner Nettuno.
Ducale was bought by Kia Ora in foal to Exceed And Excel (Danehill) for $360,000 at the 2023 Magic Millions Broodmare Sale. The operation almost broke even when the resulting filly sold to New Zealand-based trainer Tony Pike and Woburn Farm for $300,000 Inglis Easter sale last year.
Wright said he had high hopes for this year’s offering out of Ducale, describing Lot 235 as a ‘queen’.
“She has the best profile you’ll come across in a filly,” he said. “She’s a beautiful type and has as much quality as you could want in a filly. She’s very straightforward and perfectly balanced.”
Having inspected Farnan’s yearlings set to be offered by other farms, Wright is pleased with the quality shining through and believes many breeders have cottoned on quickly which mares best suit the stallion.
He explained: “I’ve seen a few Farnans at other farms, but still have a lot more to get through and we are very happy with the quality coming through. I think people really have got a handle on what to breed to the stallion to get the best result possible.
“Every year his crops have been improving in physical types and every year he’s covered over 150 mares and numbers do definitely help and he’s got that on his side.
“I think he’s suited to those similar mares we used to breed to Snitzel and Not A Single Doubt to: a nice strong, ready to go sort of mare. People want to send these big mares and with that you end up getting a big foal. He’s out of a Street Cry mare himself and type on type is always the way forward and I don’t think it’s necessary to reinvent the wheel.”
Magic Millions is the precursor for a busy sales period ahead and Wright thinks it’s an important week for studs to showcase the best of what a stallion has to offer, setting the right tone for the rest of the year.
“Magics is a key sale for a lot reasons and it’s important at the start of the sale to get a good start and get some of your earlier types out there into the market and breeders, trainers and syndicators and whoever else can see what you’ve been doing over the last two years and that can instil big confidence not only in the stallion, but the brand itself,” he said.
Kia Ora’s talents were not only on show through the exploits of Farnan on Saturday. The stud’s brand also carried to victory by the ever impressive Warwoven (Sword Of State), who shot to the head of the market for the Magic Millions 2YO Classic when proving far too strong for his rivals in the QTIS Two-Year-Old Handicap over 1200 metres at Eagle Farm.
Out of the New Zealand Group 2 winner Needle And Thread (Makfi), the son of Cambridge Stud’s talented first-season sire Sword Of State (Snitzel) was bred and raised at Kia Ora and sold at last year’s Magic Millions sale to his now trainer Bjorn Baker, Jim Clarke and an ownership group which includes Ridgmont for $380,000, making him the most expensive yearling sold by the sire in Australia in 2025.
“It sounds easy to say now, but he was the most beautiful colt,” Wright said. “I had the conversation with a lot of people on the Gold Coast last year ‘you need to come see my Sword Of State colt, he’s a standout’.
“A lot of people did and he was very popular at the sales. Well done to Jim Clarke, Bjorn Baker and the Ridgmont Team, they’re the ones that put their necks on the line and bid up.
“He was a standout from day one and again, it’s what we try to do, the way we raise them, the way they are handled – we try and give them the best start in life we possibly can and hopefully that start can reap the rewards on the racecourse, like it will hopefully do with this colt.”
With a draft of 17 yearlings headed for the Gold Coast sale, which begins a week on Tuesday, Wright said these sorts of results can only instil confidence in the buyers when Kia Ora’s offerings enter the ring.
He said: “At Kia Ora, we pride ourselves in producing racehorses, having done it for many, many years.
“If you look at our draft last year, there’s Warwoven who’s favourite for the Magic Millions 2YO Classic and also I’m Ya Huckleberry, that’s two already that have come out and put their hand up for some big races, then you take a horse like Invincible Son, he came third in the Magic Millions race in Victoria [2YO Classic] and is now on a Blue Diamond path.
“These sorts of results show what we’re trying to produce, not only with our own brand with our stallions as well, we’re trying to get the end result and it’s very important to us to deliver for anyone that supports us in the stallion barn or in the ring.”