‘We’ve been inundated with applications’ – Ole Kirk rewarded with fee rise to $99,000
Ole Kirk (Written Tycoon) has had his stellar first season of runners recognised at Vinery Stud, with high demand leading to a service fee boost from $55,000 (all fees inc. GST) to $99,000 this spring.
The dual Group 1 winner has launched in ballistic style, leading the Australian first season sires’ table in all categories and sitting second on the two-year-old standings behind only the great Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice).
Ole Kirk set the standard for what was to come when his son King Kirk won the first juvenile stakes race of the season in the Breeders’ Plate (Gr 3, 1000m), before sadly dying without the chance to race again.
The rising eight-year-old’s daughter O’ Ole ran second one race later in the Gimcrack Stakes (Gr 3, 1000m) but hit the highs in January by taking the $3 million Magic Millions 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m) at the Gold Coast in January.
That success has helped Ole Kirk to the top of the first season sires’ table by earnings. He also has the most winners in those standings with ten – two more than nearest rival Farnan (Not A Single Doubt). He and Farnan have three individual stakes winners each, while Ole Kirk has one more stakes win than his rival, with four.
Danehill-free and one of only a handful of Written Tycoon (Iglesia) sons standing in Australia, Ole Kirk was sure to be “extremely popular” at his new figure Vinery’s general manager Peter Orton told ANZ Bloodstock News.
His was the only increase announced by Vinery in a 2025 fee structure which – noting tough economic times for breeders – featured several reductions, including All Too Hard (Casino Prince) dropping from $38,500 to $27,500.
“It’s amazing what Ole Kirk has done,” Orton said. “He’s come out and got the first two-year-old stakes winner of the season, and the Magic Millions winner, and another stakes winner.
“You couldn’t ask for more really. He’s doing things that good stallions do. And when you think of what Ole Kirk did as a later two-year-old and three-year-old, the best is yet to come.
“He offers outcross potential and the depth of pedigree you look for in a stallion. There’s not many Written Tycoons at stud, and there’s no Danehill in his pedigree.
“We feel the market supports his new fee. We’ve been inundated with applications for Ole Kirk.”
Standing his first four seasons at $55,000, Ole Kirk covered a career-high 172 mares last year, up from 146 in his third spring at stud.
And with only 17 runners so far from his first crop of 114 foals, Vinery expects his results to only surge higher in the coming months.
Conversely, the Hunter Valley stud has dropped the fees for three members of its stallion band. That will now comprise six sires with the retirement of the 21-year-old Casino Prince (Flying Spur), after a career of 24 stakes winners from 662 runners, amid 459 winners, with two Group 1 victors in All Too Hard and Escado.
All Too Hard himself drops to $27,500. That’s despite him currently sitting ninth on the general sires’ table – equal with his career-best finish in 2021-22 – which has him poised for his fourth top 10 finish in five years.
Stefi Magnetica became his fifth elite winner in last season’s Stradbroke Handicap (Gr 1, 1400m), and doubled her tally in this year’s Doncaster Mile (Gr 1, 1600m).
The 15-year-old All Too Hard has four Australian stakes winners this term, up from three last season and one in 2022-23.
His yearling price average has leapt to $106,000 this year, from $70,000 last year, with both of those crops born off a $38,500 service fee.
Yet All Too Hard has covered books of 115 and 117 mares in the past two springs, down from 145 in 2022 and a career peak of 191 in Covid-hit 2020, and has had only 32 yearlings sold this year, compared with 56 in 2024.
Those sorts of numbers have prompted this year’s fee drop.
“He continues to be in the top ten, he’s a good stallion, he really gets winners every week, day in and day out,” Orton said. “He’s a good horse for Hong Kong, people like him for ready to run sales, and he’s doing a great job.
“But it’s frustrating in the sense he doesn’t get more mares than he gets.
“But that’s where the market’s at at the moment. We try to meet the market wherever we can, and we acknowledge that things are tough for a lot of people at the moment.
“Ole Kirk goes up because we’ve had a lot of applications for him, but all our other stallions have stayed the same or gone down.”
Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Exceedance (Exceed And Excel) remains on $33,000 for his sixth stud season, the same as his past four.
With two crops racing, the rising nine-year-old has four stakes winners up to Group 3 level from 69 runners in Australia, at 5.8 per cent, and sits 12th on this term’s second season sires’ table, with 21 winners from 68 runners headed by Swiftfalcon.
“Exceedance is doing a great job,” Orton said. “He got stakes winners in his first crop, and he’s progressed well. He’s the best son of Exceed And Excel out there.”
Among the seven other sons of Exceed And Excel at stud in Australia, Vinery’s Headwater comes in for a fee drop, from $9,900 to $6,600, which Orton said would make him “ideal” for breed-to-race breeders, or those on a budget.
The rising 13-year-old has 232 winners from 386 runners at 60 per cent, including eight stakes victors headed by dual Group 2 winner Jamaea. He’s on track for his best season yet, with 74 winners from 187 runners, after a career-high 87 last term.
Star Turn (Star Witness) also comes in for a fee reduction, from $27,500 to $16,500.
With five crops racing, the 11-year-old has 161 winners from 241 starters at 67 percent, with 10 stakes victors headed by his one elite success, Tatts Tiara (Gr 1, 1400m) heroine Startantes.
“He’s done a great job, he’s doing well in Hong Kong, and he offers breeders great versatility,” Orton said of Star Turn, who has a black type success among nine winners from 13 runners in Hong Kong.
“He’s shown that he can throw a top horse, so we think he’s great for breeders who might be on a budget.”
Dual Group 3 winner Hawaii Five Oh (I Am Invincible), who covered 173 mares in his first stud season last year, remains unchanged at $16,500.
“He’s a stallion we’ve got great faith in, and he was very well supported in his first season,” Orton said.
All of Vinery’s stallions stand under payment on live foal terms.
EXCEEDANCE $33,000 unchanged
ALL TOO HARD $27,500 $38,500
HAWAII FIVE OH $16,500 unchanged
STAR TURN $16,500 $27,500
HEADWATER $6,600 $9,900