Behind-the-scenes breeders: Debbie Kepitis

Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything

In thoroughbred terms, Debbie Kepitis would have a pedigree page to rival any in the stud book.

As the daughter of poultry tycoon Bob Ingham, who together with his brother Jack bred and raced stars such as Octagonal (NZ), Lonhro and Sweet Embrace (Todman) in the renowned all-cerise silks of Ingham Racing, Kepitis and her family have a rich history when it comes to breeding racehorses, one that spans decades and involves a Golden Slipper or eight.

Gallery: Stars raced in the cerise silks of Ingham Racing, images courtesy of Sportpix

Her earliest memories of racing pre-date the creation of Woodlands Stud, but while her dad and Uncle Jack set about building one of the finest thoroughbred nurseries in the world, Kepitis was slowly being introduced to the world of breeding, and it’s fair to say she hasn’t looked back since.

“Dad and Uncle Jack were given a horse from their dad and so their interest was sparked in that way,” Kepitis recalled.

“They did a bit of breeding themselves and used commercial farms at that stage. I know that their interest was hugely sparked in the 1980s and that’s when they got together and purchased Woodlands Stud up in the Hunter.

“They developed that into a huge undertaking and that’s where myself and my siblings as older children - we were married and had kids by then - were introduced to all of that, and it was great fun.

“We’d been part of the racing and enjoyed all of that, but to then go along to Woodlands and see such an amazing set up - learning the intricacies of having stallions and mares, the fun that can be had and the time that it takes - that was really the start of that appetite whetting.

“My kids were only young at that stage. Lara was there as an 18-month-old in paddocks with broodmares. That created a love of the animal, which has become deeper and deeper as time has gone on.”

Despite having built such a powerful and enviable breeding empire, Kepitis doesn’t recall any undue pressure on her and her siblings to follow in the hugely successful footsteps of their dad and uncle. Her knowledge and love of racing and breeding was cultivated far more organically than that.

From reading the odd breeding book lying around the house and asking the odd question around the kitchen table of an evening, Kepitis undoubtedly learnt a thing or two from her dad and Uncle Jack, but not in the way that some might assume.

“There was nothing specific in the sense that they sat down and said, ‘This is how it all happens’, a lot of it was by osmosis,” Kepitis recalled. “They involved you in little bits and pieces and you heard stories about when they went to the stud, what it entailed.

“Don’t get me wrong, none of us ever got our hands dirty. We never stepped in on the stud and we never shoveled horse manure. The majority of what we did together was at the races, so we learnt the other bits and pieces through seeing the animals and the staff that they had.

“Dad and Jack had amazing staff, they did all the handling and get all the credit, but they were so open to letting us know how things were done. Everybody was more than happy to answer a question if we asked it, and we got a grassroots answer, which is exactly what you want - you don’t want anything glossed over.

“So it wasn’t fostered. There was no ‘come along, join in’, it was more ‘we’re doing this if you’re interested’. It was never forced upon us and, surprisingly enough for two brothers and a sister, we all enjoyed it, albeit to different degrees.”

Purple patch

Much to Kepitis’ delight, her children have also developed a love for the racing and breeding industries organically, without having anything forced upon them.

Whilst Ingham Racing is run in conjunction with her siblings, Kepitis runs Woppitt Bloodstock together with her husband and daughters, and the latter is developing into an increasingly commercial venture to complement the breed-to-race Ingham operation.

By her own admission, however, most of Kepitis’ breeding interests have involved the heart, in which the mighty Lonhro still holds a special place.

Thankfully for Kepitis, the legacy of the now-retired champion racehorse and sire looks set to live on through his exciting son Lindermann, who became the first Group 1 winner to be bred under the Woppitt Bloodstock banner, just 48 hours following the announcement by Darley that his sire Lonhro would be retired from stallion duties, when battling to victory in the G1 Rosehill Guineas in March, a victory in which he displayed all the fighting qualities that were a hallmark of his sire’s career on the track.

Second only to the sight of foals in the paddock, seeing the progeny of her former racehorses turned stallions and broodmares is one of the things Kepitis loves most about breeding, and the last year has been particularly fruitful on that front.

“There has been nothing more exciting in the past 12 months than to have been a part of Fangirl, who was bred through Ingham Racing, and Lindermann, who we bred as Woppitt Bloodstock,” she said.

“To have horses where you’ve raced their mums, then bred with their mums, come out and really stamp themselves as Group 1 winners, that’s why we breed.

“But we can also get just as excited about the gorgeous Yes Yes Yes colt that we sold at Inglis Classic who is going to go on with our brand. If he was to go on and win a Group 1 then my God, it’s the same as if you do it yourself.

“They’re very much like your children.”

Just like with children, the sense of pride one feels when breeding a talented racehorse is hard to describe according to Kepitis, who singled out recent Randwick scorer Cigar Flick (Churchill {Ire}) as both a filly of great promise and a shining example of the joy breeding racehorses can bring about.

“Take Cigar Flick for example,” she added. “One of our first yearlings in our first batch as Ingham Racing was Little Surfer Girl, and she’s produced Fangirl but also Palmateer, who has now come out and produced Cigar Flick.

“That makes you so proud. It’s like a grandchild, because you’ve raced and had interest in the mother before. You get all spinetingley about it and it’s hard to put into words. It’s very heartwarming.

“Winning a race is an adrenaline busting high, but to have then bred or had something to do with producing that horse, it truly is euphoric.”

Breeding from the best

Euphoric is the perfect word to describe the next point of discussion with Kepitis - the mighty Winx, whom she part-owned alongside Peter Tighe and Richard Treweeke.

The daughter of Street Cry (Ire) became the darling of Australian racing as she dazzled her way to an astonishing 25 Group 1 wins, re-writing the record books countless times along the way and providing her connections with memories to last a lifetime.

Kepitis describes the privilege of breeding from one of greatest racehorses the world has ever seen as “an absolute honour”, but Winx has enjoyed a much more turbulent start to motherhood than what she experienced during her near flawless racing career, losing her very first foal and missing to four-time Champion Sire Snitzel last year.

“Nothing is meant to be easy if it’s going to be good,” Kepitis said philosophically. “She had all the control under the sun at the races, but motherhood takes that little bit of control out of your hands.

“I’ve watched and been part of a fair few mares birthing, but Winx was very different. Your heart was in your mouth the whole time.

“She is just an amazing animal. The strength of her is unbelievable and I feel absolutely honoured that I can be a small part of her.

“You see her at times with all the dapples and you think ‘wow, you are still a stunning racehorse’, but she’s a paddock horse now. Even when she’s rolled in mud and covered in rain, she has a presence about her.”

Kepitis reports that Winx is doing very well and “looks absolutely magic”, while an announcement regarding who she will be mated with during the upcoming breeding season is to be made in the coming weeks.

Family feeling

Winx’s only living foal to date is a filly by Pierro, the G1 Golden Slipper hero and multiple Group 1-producing sire who stands at Coolmore Stud in the Hunter Valley.

Kepitis’ ties with Coolmore stretch far beyond that, however, with the multiple Group 1-winning owner now an established member of the powerful Coolmore colts syndicate, a venture which sees her share in the ownership of reigning Golden Slipper champion Shinzo (Snitzel) and $3 million yearling purchase Kandinsky Abstract (Zoustar), to name but a few.

In addition to that, all mares under both the Ingham Racing and Woppitt Bloodstock banners reside at Coolmore, and Kepitis could not be more effusive in her praise for the team behind the Jerrys Plains-based operation.

“When Dad had Woodlands we had an amazing relationship with Coolmore, John Magnier and his son Tom, who my brother was very good friends with,” Kepitis recalled.

“It was just a matter of synergy when we sold Woodlands and put all our Ingham horses at Coolmore, because we shared a fence.

“We got such great service at Coolmore that we decided to put all our Woppitt mares there as well. It makes it easier for us to visit and that’s what we do.

“Coolmore feels like it’s our farm, without us having to own the farm. We are so welcome there, they welcome everybody, but we feel a part of the Coolmore family.”

Family is a theme that has been ever present in Kepitis’ journey through the racing and breeding industries, so she is well qualified to offer some parting words of wisdom on the subject.

“Family is so important, but family is not simple, you have to work at it,” she added.

“Your children don’t always agree with you, but you learn that you’ve got to compromise. Brothers and sisters, boy oh boy they don’t always work well together, but there’s always a lot of respect.

“If you ultimately have a similar goal, in the end it’s easy to come up with the solutions to any problems.

“To me, family is the highest point of everything.”