Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Connections have called time on the career of G1 Champagne Stakes winner Nepotism (Brutal {NZ}), and now seek to find the colt a home at stud. The hopes are that he can follow in the footsteps of close relations All Too Hard and Ole Kirk, and become another fruitful branch of breeder Gilgai Farm’s greatest family.
Genuine juvenile ability
Trained by Michael, Wayne, and John Hawkes just like his aforementioned close relations, the event chosen for Nepotism’s raceday debut was the G2 Todman Stakes where he finished third to Tentyris (Street Boss {USA}), now a dual Group 1 winner, and the more experienced Wodeton (Wootton Bassett {GB}) - a “massive debut” in the eyes of jockey Tyler Schiller.
Set for the G3 TL Baillieu, Nepotism came into his own to score in the 1400-metre race, beating subsequent standout 3-year-old Savvy Hallie (Hellbent) by a length and a third. Co-trainer John Hawkes commented at the time that he was still learning.
Nepotism | Image courtesy of Georgia Young Photography
“He's going to be a proper colt in the future,” he said at the time, and Nepotism proved him right with victory in the G1 Champagne Stakes at just his third start. In doing so, he became the first Group 1 winner for his sire Brutal (NZ), whose oldest crop is four.
“He always showed something as a young horse,” Hawkes said. “He nearly won the Todman, to start with. Not many horses get to Group 1 level as a 2-year-old, but he got there and he was able to win.
"Not many horses get to Group 1 level as a 2-year-old, but he (Nepotism) got there and he was able to win." - John Hawkes
“He is a different style of horse to Ole Kirk and All Too Hard - all three of them were very different horses, but that is why it is such a great family. The branches just keep popping up all the time. It doesn’t get much better than that.”
“He’s a great colt, it was a really tough effort today,” said Schiller upon dismounting after the Champagne, where Nepotism saw off the likes of millionaire Within The Law (Lucky Vega {Ire}), multiple stakes winner Spicy Lu (Tagaloa), and multiple Group performer Tupakara (Trapeze Artist).
Wayne Hawkes, Neil Werrett and Tyler Schiller at the G1 Champagne Stakes | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“He’s a great colt and he picked up when I needed him to,” Schiller elaborated. “He’s got a great will to win and a great tenacity. To get him to this trip so quickly, and through a couple of hot form races, he’s a great colt and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for him.”
"He’s (Nepotism) got a great will to win and a great tenacity." - Tyler Schiller
That day, Nepotism carried the green and yellow colours of Neil Werrett, who is best known for his ownership of the great Black Caviar (Bel Esprit), but he has also had ownership in All Too Hard and Ole Kirk during both stages of their careers.
“He has been a great horse for us winning the Champagne,” Werrett said. “Sometimes the plans you make in racing come off - most of the time they don’t, so it’s very special when they do.”
"Sometimes the plans you make in racing come off - most of the time they don’t, so it’s very special when they do." - Neil Werrett
The Champagne has featured on the resumes of some of Australia’s most exciting young stallions in recent years, such as Broadsiding and Castelvecchio, and Hawkes believes that Nepotism could be the next addition to an honour roll that also includes Pierro and Dance Hero (Danzero).
“The 2-year-olds who can reach the highest level are generally the ones who make it as stallions, because they’re performing when they are young,” he said. “It is just unfortunate that he wasn’t able to continue on this season.”
A career cut down by injury
Nepotism had his reasons. Hawkes was quick to point out that the colt’s 3-year-old spring suffered from the discovery of bone chips in the colt’s knees, which were removed after his run in the G1 Cox Plate. Out in open company for the first time, the colt loomed up as second in the running at the 400-metre mark before ultimately finishing seventh behind Via Sistina (Ire) (Fastnet Rock).
“He ran terrifically in the Cox Plate, but he was sore afterwards and we found the chips,” Hawkes said. “That was why he didn’t finish off in the way that we expected. We operated on them, but unfortunately he didn’t respond well to the treatment and that is why he has raced below par since. It isn’t that he didn’t train on, but that his joints were worrying him, so he wouldn’t let go.
John Hawkes | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“When you remove chips, you never really know how they will come back, but he was a high quality 2-year-old before, there is no doubt about that. We have been lucky enough to be involved in making some stallions and we certainly think he could be the next one.”
"We have been lucky enough to be involved in making some stallions and we certainly think he (Nepotism) could be the next one." - John Hawkes
“He wasn’t disgraced in the Cox Plate,” Werrett said. “I personally believe that the chips are the reason he didn’t come up in the spring. He was performing well at home and trialling brilliantly after they were removed, but raceday pressure was too great. We didn’t want him to be in pain.”
It was an easy decision for connections to close one chapter of Nepotism’s career and look forward to the next.
“You have to be very lucky to have a horse that never experiences a setback in its career,” Werrett said. “We are just very fortunate that he demonstrated his potential in a race like the Champagne first.”
A family to build a farm on
The name Nepotism implies someone getting ahead not by their own merits but thanks to their family connections, and it would be true to say that Nepotism comes from one of Australia’s best producing families. He is the best performed offspring of Brigite (Casino Prince), an unraced full sister to Champion 3YO Colt and Group 1-producing sire All Too Hard and a half-sister to Black Caviar.
Another half-sister is Naturale (Bel Esprit), whose two foals to the track are Champion 3YO Colt and Champion First Season Sire Ole Kirk, and the Group 3 winner Gimme Par (Not A Single Doubt).
“Gilgai Farm revolves around this family,” said Kelly Skillecorn, who manages Gilgai Farm for breeder Rick Jamieson. “We have statues of Black Caviar here, and the gravestones of Helsinge, Naturale, and (Black Caviar’s $5 million half-brother) Jimmy have their own graveyard. They are really the heart of it all, this farm was built around Helsinge.”
"This farm was built around Helsinge." - Kelly Skillecorn
Nepotism’s grandam Helsinge (Desert Sun {GB}) was also unraced, but she was a daughter of Dorrington Farm’s matriarch Scandinavia (Snippets), a multiple Group winner who produced four stakes winners, including this year’s G1 Blue Diamond Stakes-winning sire Magnus. Her descendants are thick with further black type in all directions - and the most powerful vein flows through Helsinge.
“She has done an amazing job,” said Skillecorn. “We are lucky to have some granddaughters to continue on with.”
It was a family that Werrett, and by extension the Hawkes family, knew very well, and it took little persuading for Werrett to purchase Nepotism from Gilgai Farm’s Inglis Premier Yearling Sale draft for $160,000, with Mark Player’s International Thoroughbred Solutions (FBAA) signing the docket. A small price to pay for a horse who wins a Group 1 at two.
Kelly Skillecorn | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“I liked him immediately on his breeding,” said Werrett. “I had Mark Player and the Hawkeses look at him, and then I flew down from Sydney to Melbourne to look at him.
“I was very keen on another horse with the same female lines as Black Caviar and All Too Hard, and Rick Jamieson, the breeder, stayed in him as well. It’s a family that we feel very lucky to be a part of.”
"It’s a family that we feel very lucky to be a part of." - Neil Werrett
“The family are not the most beautiful horses, nor are they the most obvious, but they are just so dominant when they get to the track,” Skillecorne said. “Helsinge was just a freak of a mare with what she could produce. She was just so dominant.
“The only one I thought was going to be a superstar when we took him to the sales was Jimmy. He was just a magnificent horse, but he was cut down before he ever had the chance to show us what he could do.”
A case of genetics
Helsinge - and, in Nepotism’s case, Brigite - are only half of the genetic package, however. Jamieson’s hand in the process of producing four Group 1 winners in two generations has been the careful selection of stallions.
“Rick breeds purely based on the genetics,” Skillecorn said. “He doesn’t take other factors like commerciality or distance range or physical makeup into account. When he bred Black Caviar, Bel Esprit was not a horse to write home about, and the same could have been said about Casino Prince when he bred All Too Hard. The matches are made on the genetics only.
"Rick (Jamieson) breeds purely based on the genetics. He doesn’t take other factors into account." - Kelly Skillecorne
“For example, we have retained Ole Kirk’s half-sister Gimme Par and she has gone to Written By twice and then Private Life. We were offered $5 million for her to go to Japan. She could be going to stallions like I Am Invincible, but Rick has sent her where he thinks is the best genetic match. He has been developing and using this system for 25 years.”
The genetic match is how Jamieson landed on Brutal - another success story for the Hawkes family - for Brigite. The blood descending from Last Tycoon (Ire) already worked with the family, as evidenced by Ole Kirk being by Written Tycoon and Last Tycoon appearing as Casino Prince’s damsire.
Rick Jamieson | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“Rick is a fantastic breeder,” Werrett said. “He goes into a lot of depth when breeding. You only have to look at his Premier sales results every year and then at the horses Gilgai produces from a small broodmare band. He just continues to breed good horses, and the ones that go to stud have all been very successful.”
The hope now is that Nepotism can add to the legacy both of Gilgai Farm and of his own family by forging his career at stud. Werrett shared that they had had a few inquiries, and that Mark Player would be facilitating negotiations as to where the colt would be standing.
"I expect him to be very good value for money wherever he goes." - Neil Werrett
“I think he could suit the Hunter,” Werrett said. “The ownership are very keen to support him at stud, and we would like to secure him a home quickly. I expect him to be very good value for money wherever he goes, with the record he has on the track.”
