‘I really believe in this horse’ 

Vinery predicting big things from Ole Kirk after his first runners make explosive start

Vinery Stud believe they are sitting on a volcano named Ole Kirk (Written Tycoon) after a start to siring life that has them feeling validated in what they saw in the stallion, delighted with the present and bubbling with enough excitement over the future to elicit a major call.

“I think he’s an extremely strong chance of being champion first season sire,” Vinery’s general manager Peter Orton said.

The prediction came after Ole Kirk – valued at $40 million by a recent share trade – began in explosive fashion when his runners hit the track on Saturday.

His first became a stakes winner, with King Kirk taking the Breeders’ Plate (Gr 3, 1000m). His second was black-type placed, with O’ Ole runner up in the Gimcrack Stakes (Gr 3, 1000m).

Both had won at Sydney’s first official two-year-old trials on September 23, sparking a surge in Ole Kirk interest leading to a personal-high book this spring capped at around 175 mares, following previous allocations of 170 in his initial season of 2021, then 160 and 146.

The Gilgai Farm-bred seven-year-old – who became a sensation for Team Hawkes in winning the Golden Rose (Gr 1, 14000m) and Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) back-to-back in 2020 – still stands at his starting fee of $55,000 (inc GST).

That already puts him on top of Vinery’s seven-stallion roster, but if his early indications stand up over the season – and Orton believes there is much more quality about to hit the tracks – breeders will likely expect an increase next year.

“It’s a big call to be talking about first season sires’ titles now, but I really believe in this horse,” Orton told ANZ Bloodstock News. “Just to see him tick all the boxes he’s ticking is fantastic.

“We certainly had an opinion of him, and that was backed up as we were preparing his stock for sale. And then the feedback we were getting from the breakers, the pre-trainers and trainers was exactly what we expected.

“And then to see his runners make such a great start – we couldn’t have asked for better.”

These are still early days, of course. Ole Kirk’s position atop the first season sires’ table comes after just four two-year-old races across the country, all on Saturday.

But the fact he is achieving off relatively small numbers is another factor convincing Vinery they made the right move in buying into the regally-bred entire after his powerful Caulfield Guineas triumph.

From those 170 first season covers, Ole Kirk so far has just 28 named foals. For comparison’s sake, the Australian Stud Book shows fellow first season sire Farnan has 40 from 192 covers, Snitzel 55 from 165, and Capitalist 57 from 243.

And Orton believes that like their sire, Ole Kirk’s first foals will only grow better as this season and next progress.

“Numbers are important, but the mares and the quality of the farm they come from are really important to us, and the support this horse has got and the farms that they’re on is really good. We know his stock aren’t being rushed,” Orton said.

“When you look at the horse and what he did, and look at his stock, they’re going to be back-end two-year-olds and three-year-olds. So whatever he’s doing now is a bonus right across the board. That’s the mark of a very good stallion.

“Over the next few months as the two-year-old races get going, you’ll see more and more and more.

“The horses getting ready for the Magic Millions will run in the races leading up to the Magic Millions. They’re not going to run now and then spell. So we’ve still got plenty of time to see more and more of his stock. There’s still a lot of quality in the wings, and we’ve seen just a glimpse in jump-outs and trials.

“We know there are some really good ones out there that haven’t been shown yet, so the best is yet to come. We’re in for a very good time with this horse.”

Orton flagged that Chris Waller had a “strong opinion” of Saveur (Ole Kirk), a filly bought at the Gold Coast by Star Thoroughbreds and Randwick Bloodstock for $150,000, who ran second in a Rosehill barrier trial last Friday.

Vinery were the underbidder on O’ Ole, also bred by Gilgai Farm, who was bought by Bjorn Baker and Clarke Bloodstock for $325,000 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast sale.

“We were keen to get hold of a couple of good ones. We just missed out on O’ Ole, so I’m glad she’s got into good hands with Bjorn and his team,” Orton said.

“We did buy into a few through the sales, given the chance, but we ended up putting two of his colts into our colts syndicate because they were just really good horses. They could turn into anything.”

Those as yet unnamed colts are out of Listed winner Wayupinthesky (Snitzel), and city-winner Pop Girl (Snitzel), with Vinery part-owner Neil Werrett breeding the latter and her colt.

With a five per cent share in Ole Kirk selling in July for $2 million valuing Ole Kirk at $40m, Vinery’s choice in moving in on the stallion four years ago appears to have been more than vindicated.

But apart from type and track results, the stallion’s pedigree also underscores his appeal.

Not only is he out of a sister to Gilgai’s all-time superstar Black Caviar in the unraced Naturale (Bel Esprit/Helsinge), he is entirely Danehill-free. Not only that, the ubiquitous Northern Dancer (Nearctic) makes no appearances in his first five generations, and only four times in his first eight.

The Ged Nolan-bred King Kirk, incidentally, is also Danehill-free, thanks also to his dam Oxford Angel (Nicconi). And remarkably, he only has Northern Dancer once in his first five generations.

“It’s very hard to get a proper stallion, and they’re very expensive,” Orton said. “But the one thing we do try to stick to is pedigree.

“And Ole Kirk, he was a great racehorse, but the depth of pedigree he had was amazing. And if you get good types on the ground and you follow it up with that pedigree, you’re in good shape.

“Being out of a full sister to Black Caviar doesn’t hurt, and we were certainly keen on him being an outcross. Outcross is what we got in business with, with Red Ransom and More Than Ready, so he certainly follows on from that.

“Being free of Danehill, he fits in with a lot of mares here. And being free of Northern Dancer in his first five generations is a big head start when you consider the horses that are at stud down here.”

Orton said interest in Ole Kirk had boomed after King Kirk and O’ Ole won at Randwick’s trials.

“He had a good book already coming to him, and off the back of the trials we picked up a lot of mares, so he’s pretty well filled up from that,” he said. “We’ll try to fit in what we can without overusing him.

“A lot of mares came back to him from previous seasons because he was beautifully bred, and a good racehorse.

“But breeders weren’t really ready to fully let go until he showed what he could do. We had a feeling about what he could do, and it’s good to see him follow up, because you’re often wrong.

“People were keen on him, but it just took that bit of extra confidence from the trials for them to really pin their ears back and get into him.”