‘These are the races that count’: Ole Kirk gets his first Group 1 winner

Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything

On Saturday, Ole Dancer (Ole Kirk) became the first Group 1 winner for her second season sire and in doing so emulated her sire in winning a Guineas.

Ole Kirk, a stakes winner on debut at two, he improved at three to win the G1 Golden Rose and G1 Caulfield Guineas. In a reasonable parallel, Ole Dancer also won on debut at two, in the Magic Millions SA 2YO Classic, before adding another city win to be unbeaten in her juvenile season. And now she’s a Guineas winner just like her old man.

“Pretty spectacular. I think the consensus from everyone who has been following the horse and the wider industry was that his stock were going to only get better at three. To come out and get a 3-year-old Group 1 winner in the spring, and one of the top tier Group 1s at that, is just what we hoping for and to see it actually take shape and happen is spectacular,” said Vinery Stud’s Harry Roach.

“These are the races that count. That’s the bottom line. These races count and they make stallions.

“These (spring Group 1s) are the races that people remember and will help keep shaping Ole Kirk’s career. It would’ve been interesting if Regal Award had got his spot in the Caulfield Guineas, given how dominant he was during the week, but he’s just another nice 3-year-old by Ole Kirk who is putting his hand up and is consistent with what we’ve said about them returning this spring. He’s going to line up in the Carbine Club on Derby Day which he should be hard to beat.” Regal Award missed a start in the G1 Caulfield Guineas but came out and won on the following Wednesday to take his record to two wins from five starts.

“We’ve always felt this improvement at three would be the case and nice to see it take shape and culminate to see good horses performing in top races this spring.”

A top notch result for North Bloodstock

Not only did Neil Werrett breed Ole Dancer, but he also raced her sire and owns her dam, having had the family for several generations. Werrett put Ole Dancer through the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale through North Bloodstock’s draft, giving the farm a Group 1 winner from their first draft of yearlings under this banner. The same draft as Ole Dancer also includes Group 3 winner King Of Pop (Farnan).

“We haven’t been running all that long so it’s a super result for us,” said North Bloodstock’s Mick Malone.

“It was amazing really. They are hard to get but when you do, you’ve got to enjoy it. Bloody great. We’ve had a pretty good year, having also bought Cool Archie for this group of owners, or almost. Neil isn’t in him unfortunately.”

On selling Ole Dancer to a group of mates

Neil Werrett’s name is all over the pedigree of Ole Dancer beginning with her sire Ole Kirk. Ole Kirk was sold by Gilgai Farm for $675,000 to International Thoroughbred Solutions at the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale and was raced by Werrett Bloodstock and partners.

The son of Written Tycoon is from the family of unbeaten Champion mare Black Caviar (Bel Esprit), so there was already an association there with the family as Neil Werrett also raced Black Caviar.

Werrett sent his mare Dancers (Husson {Arg}) to Ole Kirk for his first season and the resulting foal was Ole Dancer who went to the sales with North Bloodstock.

“I put a team of the guys together (to buy her back),” said Malone.

“She was just a beautiful filly and Moods loved her. We’d had a bit of an association with Moody before with the two prior out of the mare, but Pete comes over and he goes, What do you think? I said I just love her mate, she’s just beautiful. He was the same, and he said, Why do you keep putting these ones in the sale? Why not do it before we get to the sale? I said, We’ll put a team together. Max (Whitby) will come in and Colin (Madden) will come in and Neil will keep a share and that’ll be it.”

When asked if the eventual sale price of $350,000 pushed the group a bit, Malone laughed. “You think you’ll buy her back for not a lot of money! We told Moods to go to a certain point and he went probably a bit more than he was supposed to.” None of that matters now that she’s a Group 1-winning filly who has already earned over $1.1 million in her five career starts.

“She’s very valuable when you think about it.”

The form around Ole Dancer stands out

Ole Dancer had to beat a Group 1 winner to add her own Group 1 to her resume with the race favourite and G1 Flight Stakes winner Apocalyptic (Extreme Choice) leading into the straight. Apocalyptic and Ole Dancer went ‘toe to toe’ all the way down the straight in a tough battle with Ole Dancer putting her head in front on the line.

“I think that holds all the more merit, given that Apocalyptic is already a Group 1 winner in Sydney and was the best 3-year-old filly coming out of Sydney. Ole Dancer is lightly raced and has beaten her at just her fifth start which is a fair effort in itself,” said Roach.

“It suggests there’s a lot more to come as well. The win puts her at the top of the pecking order of one of the best 3-year-old fillies in the country.

“It was a special moment. We had the suite busy for Everest Day and it was nice to have Neil Werrett and Colin and Janine Madden along with a big group of Vinery management in the box and some very close clients to celebrate the win together. With Neil, Colin, and Janine having raced Ole (Kirk) and having bred this filly too.

“I was having a discussion with Neil after the win and the significance of that certainly wasn’t lost on him. Just appreciating what a phenomenal result it was for the breeder, the stallion, and the farm and all involved. Our phones were blowing up with a lot of well-wishers, and that tells you the significance of the win.

“Ole Kirk is going to cover his best book of mares quality wise, he’s in great shape, looks fantastic and full steam ahead. It’s such a rare thing to do and we acknowledge and appreciate the calibre of stallion he’s turning into. He’s still on an upward trajectory which is the most exciting part about it all. We’ve got some excellent partners in the horse who’ve been so supportive from day one, and it’s nice to see them start to reap the rewards and enjoy his success too.”

Ole Dancer very nearly didn’t exist

Sometimes nature doesn’t cooperate, and such was the case with Ole Dancer’s second dam, unraced mare Viennese Lass (Redoute’s Choice). “One of my first associations with Neil Werrett was when I bought him the mare Wiener, who is the grand dam of Dancers. I bought her in foal to Redoute’s Choice and the first foal made $900,000, and I think we’d paid a million or so for the mare,” said Malone.

Wiener (More Than Ready {USA}), who ran third on debut in the Listed Gimcrack Stakes and placed once more in five starts, was sold by Yarraman Park Stud for $350,000 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale. When she retired from racing, she went through the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale where she was purchased by Werrett for $1.25 million.

Why was a stakes placed juvenile who didn’t train on so expensive as a broodmare? Simple. Wiener is a sister to Champion Sire Snitzel and Listed winner Viennese, as well as a half-sister to Group 3 winner and sire Hinchinbrook.

Wiener’s first foal, Ringstrasse (Redoute’s Choice), was bought by Darley for $900,000 at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale through Kitchwin Hills draft and was a winner on debut at two.

“Wiener went back to Redoute’s, but the very next foal was born with a limb deformed. I’ve never seen anything like it. The cannon bone was like a banana from knee to fetlock and it pushed the knee completely out.

“It was just a deformity, like the foal had been laying in the wrong spot or whatever had happened. Redoute’s stood for $330,000 back then, it was a big outlay to get a pregnancy. Sam Fairgray was working at Arrowfield then and he saw the leg and was as disappointed as I was, suggesting straight away a free return would apply. He was being humane (for the filly) and he offered a free return to do the right thing for Neil.

“I spoke to Neil about it and Neil said, Surely we can try and do something. He took the (risky) option of the foal surviving. Claire Ellson (now Brown) was our vet at the time, and she got a brace from America, they sent it over, and it held the leg in all different places all the way from the pastern to above the knee. The knee would bend forward normally, but it had this circular motion to it. Then the brace was tightened up every day and then every week (to slowly and humanely correct the deformity), and we ended up with an amazing result.” The result, unraced mare Viennese Lass.

“Claire was the one who looked it up and figured out how to fix the leg. The mare went on to have several foals, including Dancers and she lived for a good long time. I said to Neil today, If you’d taken that free return back then, you wouldn’t own Dancers and you wouldn't own this Thousand Guineas winning filly.”

A successful breeding career

Wiener produced 10 winners from as many to race, with her best runner, Group 1 winner Rediener (Redoute’s Choice) coming with her third last foal. She also produced Listed winner Rathlin (Fastnet Rock) and the stakes placed pair of Redoutable Heart (Redoute’s Choice) and Za Zi Ba (All Too Hard).

Viennese Lass defied all odds to survive, thanks to Werrett's commitment to giving her the best veterinary care, and went to produce six foals, who all raced and who were all winners including stakes placed Viennese Star (I Am Invincible). Her third foal, Dancers, was sold at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale for $230,000 to Jadeskye Racing and Gerald Ryan Racing.

“When we sold Dancers, Gerald Ryan bought her as a yearling, and then (after she raced) Neil bought Dancers back because he loved her so much. And here we are. And today Dancers is going on the truck to visit Ole Kirk,” said Malone.

Different types but both gorgeous

Trained by Brad Widdup, Dancers won on debut as a spring 3-year-old, adding a second win at her fourth start. She placed in the city as an autumn 3-year-old and her trainer thought enough of her to run her in the G3 Kembla Grange Classic, where she finished fifth, and in the G1 Vinery Stud Stakes where she finished second last at the end of her campaign.

“Dancers is a good a type as you’ll ever see,” said Malone. “She’s not overly big, but you’d look at her and say, she’s a lovely big mare, very much in that Husson look. She was an expensive yearling too.

“Ole Dancer is more neat and refined, and there’s not a lot of her. Moods says to me all the time, She’s a prep away. He’s been saying that her whole life. She’s so gallant and so bonny and tries so hard. She’s not big, which proves again that you don’t need big horses, they just need to be athletic.

“She’s not much like her dam. She does stand over a lot of ground, she’s not short of length, and she’s tall enough but she’s not a big gross filly. All that is coming and she’ll get better with time. She’s done an amazing job.”

While Dancers hasn’t had much luck since producing Ole Dancer – she slipped to Ole Kirk, then had a still born foal to him, and then missed – North has Ole Dancer’s two older sisters on the property for Werrett. Mambo Dancer (Rubick) won three races and Ginger ‘n’ Pink (Zoustar) won twice at Moonee Valley. Sadly Ginger ‘N’ Pink’s first foal this season was still born, while Mambo Dancer is due to foal to Ole Kirk. Both are going to Ole Kirk this season.

And why wouldn't you? He works with the family and he can now boast his first Group 1 winner.