Vinery keeps status quo with Ole Kirk, Exceedance and All Too Hard

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The foundation is set for an exciting future at Vinery Stud with management putting their faith in young stallions Ole Kirk (Written Tycoon) and Exceedance (Exce ed And Excel) to lead the charge for the Hunter Valley farm.

Vinery Stud last night announced its 2023 service fees for a six-strong line-up of stallions with Golden Rose (Gr 1, 1400m) and Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Ole Kirk ($55,000, all fees inc GST) and Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Exceedance ($33,000) sitting at the top of the roster.

All Too Hard (Casino Prince) ($38,500) and Star Turn (Star Witness) ($27,500) have also maintained their service fees from last year while Headwater (Exceed And Excel), the sire of recent Manihi Classic (Listed, 1100m) winner Little Miss Kubi and 13 other stakes performers, will stand for a slightly reduced $13,200. The consistent Casino Prince (Flying Spur) will stand for $5,500.

Ole Kirk’s first foals will be seen at the upcoming weanling sales, with 15 catalogued for the Inglis Australian Sale early next month and another 12 set to go under the hammer at the Magic Millions National Sale a few weeks later.

“We have the proven stallions who are doing a great job and having two new guys getting out there. We don’t chase a lot of stallions, but we settle on the ones we really believe in and we give them every opportunity. Exceedance and Ole Kirk have had a great opportunity,” Vinery general manager Peter Orton told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday.

“I know all studmasters say they’re great foals, but the Ole Kirks are a bit special and I am really looking forward to people being able to see them.”

Exceedance’s first crop yearlings averaged more than $131,000 at the sales this year, reaching a top price of $380,000, with his progeny entering the stables of Team Hawkes, Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, Danny O’Brien, Peter Moody, Robbie Griffiths and Mathew de Kock, Te Akau Racing in New Zealand and Chris Waller, among others.

All Too Hard, whose banner horse Alligator Blood claimed four Group 1s in the past 12 months and Wellington landed the Hong Kong Sprint (Gr 1, 1200m) at Sha Tin last December, continues to be the mainstay of the Vinery roster.

“He holds his place in the market really well commercially and anyone who breeds to him and races one by him, they can expect a lot as he delivers a lot,” Orton said. 

“He can get plenty of winners and his winners-to-runners is really good and he’s got that ability to get the odd champion as well.

“There’s a lot of variety in what he can do and he’s doing a good job in Hong Kong, Singapore and Macau and that’s important to our market.” 

Orton is confident the best is also ahead of Star Turn, the sire of Group 1 winner Startantes, six other stakes winners and eight stakes-placed horses. 

“He is such a good stallion in that he upgrades his mares all the time and he’s also doing it across a very broad base,” he said.

“There was talk of him going up, but the way the economy is, he just stays at his fee and gets his good quality mares and he’ll do a good job of it.”

Because of the competition in the fee range where Headwater sits, Orton reasoned Vinery made the call to pull his price back a peg from $16,500 last year.

“There’s a lot of competition and everyone jumps on the bandwagon of unproven first season sires, but we have got to protect the produce records of our mares and Headwater is a stallion who constantly gets runners and winners from nearly all his stock,” Orton said.

“He also has his fair share of stakes winners.”

Orton believes Vinery is well-placed to weather any potential downturn in the market in the next year or two, if indeed that eventuates.

“We’re possibly looking at a couple of years where [the market] may slow down a bit, but we’ve had a very good market for the past two years – and it’s still very good,” he said.

“We don’t have a new stallion to bang the drum about, but the business is going very well. The farm’s performing well, the yearlings at Easter and Magic Millions averaged well, so we’ve got the right structure and the basics will operate as well as they ever have.”

Press Statement (Hinchinbrook) will stand at Novara Park in New Zealand after seven seasons at Vinery Stud. 

 

Vinery stallion roster

2023 2022

Ole Kirk (Written Tycoon) $55,000 unchanged

All Too Hard (Casino Prince) $38,500 unchanged

Exceedance (Exceed And Excel) $33,000 unchanged

Star Turn (Star Witness) $27,500 unchanged

Headwater (Exceed And Excel) $13,200 $16,500

Casino Prince (Flying Spur) $5,500 unchanged

*all fees inclusive of GST