Kia Ora Finding Success With American Lines

By Kelsey Riley
Kia Ora Stud, situated in Australia's Hunter Valley, has been selling yearlings at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale since 1917, and the farm's relationship with Inglis has been both storied and prolific; recent Kia Ora graduates of Inglis sales include South African champion and multiple Grade 1 winner Igugu (Aus) (Galileo {Ire}) and Zululand (Aus) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}), winner of the G2 VRC Sires' Produce S.

Such a long history of presenting yearlings for sale naturally requires regular refreshing of one's breeding stock, and one recent tactic employed by Kia Ora has been the purchase of American mares to diversify its bloodlines. In 2009, Kia Ora purchased GI Spinaway S. winner Mani Bhavan (Storm Boot) for $650,000 and Grade II winner Dream Play (Hennessy) for $460,000 at Fasig-Tipton's November Sale, and the team returned to that sale two years later to scoop up GII Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner More Than Real (More Than Ready) for $675,000 and stakes winner Decelerator (Dehere) for $300,000. Kia Ora also purchased Grade III winner Heart Ashley (Lion Heart) for $500,000, as well as triple Irish Group 3 winner Carribean Sunset (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) for $1 million, at Keeneland November in 2010. 

All of these mares were purchased as fillies off the track and shipped to Australia to start their broodmare careers, and Kia Ora has already begun reaping the rewards. At the 2013 Easter sale, Zululand, the first foal out of Dream Play, sold for A$1.5 million, while a Fastnet Rock filly out of Mani Bhavan made $1.55 million. At last year's Easter sale, Spendthrift Farm purchased a Fastnet Rock filly out of Heart Ashley for A$400,000; a Fastnet Rock filly out of Ashley's Kitty, a half-sister to Heart Ashley, sold for A$200,000; a More Than Ready filly out of Caribbean Sunset made A$95,000; and Dream Play's Fastnet Rock colt fetched A$500,000. 

Of the reasons for importing American blood, Kia Ora Estates Manager Stuart Doughty explained, “We're very isolated in Australia, and one thing I think Australians have done very well is constantly improve their broodmares bands. The U.S. offers some spectacular pedigrees and bloodlines that we don't have access to down here, so I think it's important to have a good balance of not only Australian mares but also other pedigrees we don't have access to.”

Kia Ora had enjoyed success with American lines previously, having bred Group 1-winning sprinter and champion sire Exceed and Excel (Aus), who is out of the Lomond mare Patrona.

“I think American mares offer a bit more speed than the European mares, which certainly suits the way we race down here in Australia,” Doughty added. “We bred Exceed and Excel off this farm–he's out of an American mare and he's gone on to be a champion stallion. I think the speed element certainly compliments our industry.”

Doughty noted that Kia Ora was able to capitalize on the auction market being in a downturn when purchasing the above mentioned American mares, and he said that although the team returned to last year's November breeding stock sales in the Kentucky, they were unsuccessful in the strong market.

At this week's Easter sales, Kia Ora will offer yearlings out of three of its American-bred mares as part of its 10-horse draft. The first to go through the ring will be a Fastnet Rock colt out Mani Bhavan (lot 37), a full-brother to last year's A$1.55 million filly.

“He's a beautiful, big, strong colt with plenty of length and substance,” Doughty said. 

In addition to being a top-class racehorse herself, Mani Bhavan has the added appeal of having a stallion in her pedigree–champion U.S. sire Speightstown (Gone West) appears under the third dam. In addition, Fastnet Rock has already sired Group 1 winners Foxwedge (Aus) and Irish Lights (Aus) from Storm Cat-line mares.

Doughty noted that Mani Bhavan has another weanling filly by Fastnet Rock, and is in foal to Medaglia d'Oro.

Kia Ora will offer the first foals out of More Than Real and Decelerator. More Than Real's Fastnet Rock filly will go through the ring as lot 65. Doughty explained that More Than Real's pedigree is one that is well-proven Down Under.

“As we know More Than Ready has been a very successful stallion down here in Australia,” he said. “The other great thing about buying mares from America is that they're an outcross to the Danehill blood down here in Australia.”

Of the filly, Doughty added, “She's a terrific first foal–she's got a beautiful head, a great body and a great walk, and she's bred on a proven cross–Fastnet Rock has already produced a Group 1 winner from a More Than Ready mare [New Zealand 2000 Guineas winner Atlante]. As a first foal she's everything you'd want.”

More Than Real has a weanling filly by Fastnet Rock, and is back in foal to that champion sire.

Decelerator is by another shuttler that worked well in Australia in Dehere, the damsire of three Australian Group 1 winners. Her Fastnet Rock colt is lot 361, and Decelerator has a Fastnet Rock weanling filly to come and is in foal to Exceed and Excel.

“He's also a first foal–terrific, strong, powerful and looks an early type,” Doughty noted. “Once again, she's a Dehere mare, which have had good success down here in Australia.”

Doughty said that the rapidly rising global scale of the Easter sale makes it possible to offer yearlings with such pedigrees.

“Two years ago at the Easter sale, 22% of horses were bought my foreigners,” he said. “Last year, it was 40%. So, our premier sale is very much a worldwide event now. Ten years ago, if you had mares like More Than Real and Decelerator people would think it was a bit obscure. The industry is so much smaller now on a global scale that a good horse is a good horse anywhere.”

Doughty said that, with Kia Ora being a largely commercial operation of about 50 mares, the progeny of its American mares would likely continue to offered on the market going forward, but it's possible some of them could race for the operation.

“We take it as we go,” he explained. “We generally do sell most things, however we've kept a few and the farm is always keen to stay in on a horse if we like it, so we just take it as it comes.”

The bloodstock is not the only area of Kia Ora that has been built up recently. The stud was purchased by Malaysian-born media mogul Tatparanandam Ananda Krishnan in 2000, and after being scaled back by its former owners in the late 1990s, is being built back up into a world-class operation. The upgraded facilities include a new irrigation system that covers 500 acres of land, and the results of the work put into the stud are already speaking for themselves: Kia Ora has been amongst the top five vendors at the Easter sale the last two years.

“In the last 15 years the farm has been brought back up to a world standard, and would be one of the more aesthetically pleasing farms in Australia,” Doughty said. “It has a long history and has had quite a few owners up until 2000, when the current owner purchased it, and a lot of time and effort has been spent on getting it back to what it once was–not only infrastructure but also the quality of horse.”

With such quality lots on offer at the Easter sales this week, it is possible Kia Ora will write another memorable chapter into its history.