Golden Rose and Caulfield Guineas winner Ole Kirk has service fee set
Vinery Stud to stand son of Written Tycoon for $55,000 in maiden season
Vinery Stud is confident the Hunter Valley breeding operation’s future is bright as it prepares to launch top-class three-year-old colt and dual Group 1-winning Australian outcross stallion prospect Ole Kirk (Written Tycoon) for the 2021 covering season.
Sitting at the top of Vinery’s seven-stallion roster with an introductory service fee of $55,000 (all fees inc. GST), an amount which was confirmed by the stud late yesterday, Ole Kirk hails from a potent female line while also boasting a sireline which is fast becoming one of the most sought after in the southern hemisphere, leaving bloodstock manager Adam White believing the first season stallion will be on the radar of most commercial breeders.
Ole Kirk’s fee is the same as that set by Kia Ora Stud for last season’s Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Farnan (Not A Single Doubt) and less than the $66,000 fee placed on Godolphin’s champion three-year-old Bivouac (Exceed And Excel), who raced on at four and was recently retired to stand at Darley’s Hunter Valley base.
White yesterday revealed that Vinery had tested the market with Ole Kirk’s proposed service fee at the recent Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale and they received a big vote of confidence from breeders about where he fitted among his freshman peers.
“We have had that figure in our head for quite some time and it was what we thought was fair for him and we thought that’s where the other two horses (Farnan and Bivouac) would be in the market as well,” he said.
“Obviously, the three of them are really well credentialled horses. They were great racehorses with great pedigrees, so we felt that for sometime that was where he was ($55,000).
“Talking to a few breeders at the recent Easter sale, we told them what we were thinking and they were comfortable with it.”
Trained by Michael, Wayne and John Hawkes, Ole Kirk won the Talindert Stakes (Listed, 1100m) at his first start, followed by unlucky third in the VRC Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) and fourth-placed finish in the ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m), while he rounded out his four-start juvenile campaign by running third in the ATC Champagne Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m).
He returned at three to finish runner-up to speedster Anders (Not A Single Doubt) in the Rosebud Handicap (Listed, 1100m) and Rothfire (Rothesay) in the Run To The Rose (Gr 2, 1200m) before asserting his dominance when it mattered, taking out the Golden Rose Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) and the Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) two weeks alter.
It was that campaign which led to studs from NSW and Victoria, principally Rosemont Stud, making substantial offers to buy the colt and it was eventually Vinery Stud who won out.
Ole Kirk was retired after a three-start autumn campaign which culminated in the Australian Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m), finishing with a record of three wins from 11 starts and $2.15 million in prize-money.
“I think he’ll get his fair share of two-year-olds. He was forward enough to win a stakes race as a two-year-old down the straight (at Flemington), which is what All Too Hard did when he was a two-year-old as well, and he’s a neater sort of horse,” White said.
“He is around 15.3 and-a-half (hands) and he’s still got a bit of growing and maturing to do yet as he’s still only three.
“He was a $675,000 yearling, too, so you can see the quality in him. He’s got a lovely attractive head, he’s really well balanced and I think, physically, he’s going to complement a lot of mares.”
Bred by Gilgai Farm’s Rick Jamieson, who retained a share in the colt during his racing career and now at stud, Ole Kirk is out of the unraced Naturale (Bel Esprit), a sister to unbeaten mare Black Caviar and a half-sister to champion three-year-old All Too Hard (Casino Prince), also a mainstay of the Vinery Stud stallion roster.
He was purchased by Mark Player’s International Thoroughbred Solutions at the 2019 Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale on behalf of managing owner Neil Werrett, a shareholder in Vinery Stud, where he fetched the $675,000 figure.
“You only have to flick through a broodmare catalogue to see how many mares have got a double cross of Danehill in their pedigree, so having that outcross at that level is quite an advantage,” White said.
“Being a son of Written Tycoon, who has had the most incredible season, I think is another element that has its advantages and as a package he has a lot going for him.”
Vinery’s heavy-lifter for the past few seasons, All Too Hard (Casino Prince), the sire of this season’s Surround Stakes- (Gr 1, 1400m) winning filly Forbidden Love, Memsie Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) winner Behemoth and fellow Group 1-winning gelding Alligator Blood, has earned a fee increase to $33,000, up from $27,500 in 2020.
“He’s had a terrific 2021, All Too Hard, and I think a lot of breeders recognised what great value he was last season, hence the reason he covered 180 mares, so we definitely felt he had a year where he warranted going up a fraction,” White said.
“We didn’t want to bump him up too much and we still think he’s a great value stallion for breeders out there who they can use with a bit of confidence.
“Finding that proven horse, anywhere from $25,000 to $40,000 is not easy, so we were quite keen to have him in that bracket and attract to him another good book of mares.
“He’s always covered great books of mares and we wanted that support to keep coming.”
Exceedance (Exceed And Excel), who covered 142 mares in his first season at a fee of $38,500, has had his service fee reduced to $33,000 this year as Vinery bids to attract a quality book of mares in his second season.
“In that $25,000, and even up to the $50,000 bracket, is quite a competitive market and there’s a lot of young stallions in there who have either retired the same year as Exceedance did or are having their yearlings sold this year,” the respected Vinery bloodstock manager said.
“So, we just wanted to keep that book coming through for him for his second season and follow it up again next season.”
Another son of Exceed And Excel (Danehill) on the Vinery Stud roster, Headwater, whose eldest progeny are three-year-olds, gave a reminder of his sire prowess last Saturday when his juvenile daughter Jamaea won the $1 million Percy Sykes Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) at Randwick. His fee has been increased slightly to $16,500, the same fee as barnmate Star Turn (Star Witness) will remain at in 2021.
Star Turn is equal second by winners (seven) on the first season sire table behind Capitalist (Written Tycoon), who has sired eight individual two-year-old winners in Australia, while he is sixth by earnings.
Among his first crop performers is the stakes-placed winner Pegasi, who finished third in the $2 million Inglis Millennium (RL, 1200m), and the ATC Breeders’ Plate (Gr 3, 1000m) placegetter Astrologer.
“Star Turn’s got three very promising horses in fillies Startantes, Miss Hipstar and Stellar Magic, who won on Saturday, all going to the Brisbane carnival with great form and Astrologer is resuming (at Canterbury today),” White said.
“So, Star Turn’s got a bit to come in the winter and he got a great book last year, covering 170 mares, so we’ve decided to keep his fee at $16,500 and ensure that he gets another quality book for this season.”
On Headwater, White said: “He’s a horse that we took back a fraction last season when fees were announced, mainly because we weren’t really sure what effect Covid was going to have on the industry, but he was our first horse booked out because of the job he was doing and it certainly hasn’t slowed down.
“We were quite keen to put him back to his original fee … and the filly Jamaea winning on Saturday was terrific for him. It elevates him to the top of the second season sires title for this current season, which is fantastic, and we know there’s a few more two-year-olds coming through for him.”
Press Statement (Hinchinbrook) ($13,750) and Casino Prince (Flying Spur) ($5,500) round out the Vinery Stud stallion roster.
“I think Press Statement is a stallion who is still showing great promise. He’s still churning out good winners, he’s got a stakes winner in Equation and he’s got Daily Bugle running in the Group 1 Champagne on Saturday,” said White.
“I feel he’s possibly following in the footsteps of a stallion like All Too Hard, really. It did take All Too Hard time to gather momentum and Press Statement is a horse, although he was a Group 1-winning two-year-old, whose progeny are probably later two-year-olds.
“It wouldn’t surprise me in 12 months’ time if we see him following in the All Too Hard category.
“He’s always had good numbers under his belt, so I think this season he represents a terrific opportunity for breeders if they can recognise that and capitalise on a very competitive fee and reap the rewards.”
Confirmation of Vinery Stud’s stallion roster and service fees comes on the back of arguably the farm’s best yearling sale at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.
Over the two-day sale, Vinery sold an Exceed And Excel (Danehill) colt for $2.1 million – the highest-priced yearling ever sold by the farm – while also selling three other lots for more than a million dollars and an I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) colt for $950,000.
“The Easter sale was a tremendous sale for us … and the farm’s got so much momentum at the moment and, not only that, we’re still churning out good quality winners, having bred and sold the winners of the Magic Millions (2YO Classic) (Exhilarates), the Golden Slipper (Farnan) and a Blue Diamond (Artorius) over the past three years,” White reflected.
“We’ve still got a relatively young stallion roster, but we have a good established stallion in All Too Hard now and a few young horses like Star Turn and Headwater coming through and now a new one in Ole Kirk, it’s exciting times.
“The whole team’s been over the moon.”
Vinery Stud fees
2021 2020
Ole Kirk (Written Tycoon) $55,000 new
All Too Hard (Casino Prince) $33,000 $27,500
Exceedance (Exceed And Excel) $33,000 $38,500
Headwater (Exceed And Excel) $16,500 $13,750
Star Turn (Star Witness) $16,500 unchanged
Press Statement (Hinchinbrook) $13,750 unchanged
Casino Prince (Flying Spur) $5,500 unchanged
*all fees inclusive of GST and payment on live foal terms