Pembrey the prelude to a breeding bonanza for Kia Ora
Image: Pembrey (Credit: Sportpix)
With exciting filly Pembrey (Prague) set to carry Kia Ora’s colours in Saturday’s Silver Shadow Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) and more than 100 mares about to deliver some stars of the future, it’s a busy time of year for the farm’s general manager Shane Wright – but the Irishman wouldn’t have it any other way.
A sticky draw has hampered Pembrey’s prospects of adding a second stakes win to her racing resumé, particularly as she prefers to lead from the front, but with the man they call ‘J-Mac’ reuniting their partnership, Kia Ora’s homebred filly is in reassuringly safe hands.
Given that the Hunter Valley stallion parades will be in full swing, most notably on Saturday morning when their next-door neighbour Vinery Stud throws open its doors, Wright will instead leave trackside duties at Randwick in the capable hands of the famed farm’s racing manager Luke Wilkinson.
Vinery’s elite roster has been significantly bolstered this season with the addition of new kid on the block Tropicus (Too Darn Hot), who now faces the daunting task of emulating the seismic achievements at stud of his fellow Oakleigh Plate (Gr 1, 1100m) winners Snippets (Lunchtime), Fastnet Rock (Danehill), Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) and Starspangledbanner (Choisir) – to name but four revered bulls.
Over the coming weeks, 40 members of Kia Ora’s 115-strong broodmare band – including Pembrey’s dam Se Sauver (Bel Esprit) – will make the four-minute journey along Segenhoe Road for a first date with Tropicus, whose enviable bloodlines and premium performances prompted a flurry of bookings as soon as the inevitable announcement came that he would be retired to stud.
The ‘no vacancies’ sign has now been erected outside Vinery, although any broodmare owners with a spare $77,000 in their bank accounts might be able to access Farnan (Not A Single Doubt), with limited opportunities still available for the prolific stallion who is beginning to demonstrate the same prowess in the breeding barn as he showed on the racetrack.
At $27,500 (inc GST), Tropicus’ introductory service fee is precisely half that commanded by the 2020 Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) hero when he was initially retired to stud, but Wright is steadfast in his belief that the five-year-old – whose stakes-placed dam Extensible (Exceed And Excel) was also bred by Kia Ora – has all the attributes required to follow closely in Farnan’s footsteps.
“He’s got the farm’s brand on him and, as we’ve seen with Too Darn Hot and his progeny, it’s a sire line that’s going from strength to strength in Australia so he’s extremely well credentialled to be a success as a stallion,” Wright told ANZ News.
“We’re very keen to get behind him in his first season at stud, so we’ll be sending around 40 mares to him – including 20 stakes winners. The other 20 are mostly either stakes placed or their dams are black type producers, so we’re supporting him very strongly because we really believe in him.
“I think he should be quite easy to breed to, with the Too Darn Hot sire line and his mare by Exceed And Excel there’s plenty of Aussie appeal in there. His pedigree is one thing but he’s also a beautiful specimen. He’s got plenty of Exceed And Excel about him and he’s a good size [16.1 hands], but he’s also got that natural strength about him.
“If you’ve got a big mare he’ll inject some quality into her, but he’s also the perfect match for those small, sharp mares which is why we’ve chosen to send him a variety of our mares. They include Jennifer Eccles, who was a Group 1 winner and a headline mare in New Zealand. Her first foal [Farnicle] has two stakes placings, and her second foal Fovea won her first trial on Tuesday morning by seven lengths.
“For obvious reasons we have a lot of time for her, she’s currently in foal to Farnan again but we thought Tropicus deserved a mare of her calibre in his first season. Others include Mooneista, who won two stakes races [for Joseph O’Brien] and ran fourth behind Nature Strip at Royal Ascot.
“Kimochi’s dam Summer Fun will also be served by Tropicus, as well as two of the farm’s matriarchs in Gypsy Robin, who is the dam of Wild Ruler, and Breeders Cup’ winner More Than Real, who is Lady of Camelot’s granddam. The list goes on so he’ll be spoilt for choice, but we’re willing to put a lot of faith in him because we know how good he was as a racehorse and we have high hopes for him as a stallion.”
Farnan, who began his active service at Kia Ora before heading down to the road to Vinery following the amalgamation of the two stallion rosters earlier this year, will also be ably supported by up to 30 of the farm’s mares.
They include Kia Ora’s $625,000 Inglis Chairman’s purchase Ippodamia’s Girl (Stormy Atlantic), a stakes winner in her native America; Group 2 victor Sassy Boom (Spirit Of Boom); and Group 1-placed mare Ellicazoom (Testa Rossa), whose second foal Celerity (Exceed And Excel) won this year’s Manihi Classic (Listed, 1100m) for Godolphin.
Given that the best is almost certainly yet to come for Farnan, with his speedy son Ninja appearing a Group 1 winner in waiting and the quality of his mares set to increase year on year given his feats to date in his embryonic career, a changing of the guard may well be afoot in Australia’s stallion ranks.
But while Kia Ora has a vested interest in both Farnan and Tropicus, as well as fellow Vinery resident Captivant (Capitalist), Wright is quick to point out that the farm is willing and able to explore opportunities outside the Hunter Valley bubble.
“Obviously with the restructure and Kia Ora’s significant investment in Vinery, naturally we see it as a great opportunity to access such a powerful roster including Ole Kirk, who like Farnan will be a very important stallion for the entire industry moving forward,” Wright told ANZ News.
“With Barramul also sending many of their better mares there I wouldn’t think there is a stallion roster in the country which will receive greater support, but we’re by no means only tied to Vinery. We’re fortunate to support other young stallions we have some shares in, including the likes of Return To Conquer and Sword Of State.
“We co-bred Return To Conquer so we’re very excited to see what he can do in his first season at Waikato, and we’ll be sending him a couple of mares we think will really suit him. The same applies to Sword Of State, who is doing great things at Cambridge Stud. We have a long-standing relationship with the Lindsay family, and we’re excited to send the dam of Warwoven [Needle And Thread] to Sword Of State this year.
“Warwoven was an outstanding two-year-old colt and he looks to have come back even better as a three-year-old, judging by his trial win over Guest House last week. So hopefully the dam can deliver another star performer for us next year.”