The American bloodlines making headlines for Kia Ora Stud

While Ms Bad Behavior (Can) (Blame {USA}) has revealed herself as a true diamond unearthed at the Fasig Tipton November Sale, she is not the only successful Australian producer to be purchased during Lexington’s annual night of the stars - nor is Arrowfield Stud the only benefactor of the rich catalogue.

Kia Ora Stud have long looked to the United States’ most elite breeding stock sale to raise the bar on their broodmare band’s quality, and just this past weekend, a Fasig Tipton purchase added to a vintage year for the stud’s graduates.

G2 San Clemente Stakes victress War Heroine (USA) (Lonhro), a US$450,000 (AU$640,000) purchase in 2018, produced her first stakes winner when Caddington (Captivant) lifted in the Listed William Crockett Stakes at Flemington.

Already the dam of three winners from her three runners so far, War Heroine joins the likes of influential producers More Than Real (USA) (More Than Ready {USA}), Dream Play (USA) (Hennessy {USA}), Mani Bhavan (USA) (Storm Boot {USA}), and Decelerator (USA) (Dehere {USA}) as headline-makers Kia Ora Stud has sourced at Fasig Tipton.

Harnessing American speed

Aside from their sale provenance, another thing that War Heroine and many of her fellow expatriates at Kia Ora have in common is that they have proven their value on the track before they enter the Fasig Tipton ring, and it is these same attributes that they are now passing on to their offspring.

From the same sale as War Heroine, Kia Ora also selected G3 Royal North Stakes winner Jennifer Lynnette (Can) (Elusive Quality {USA}), who picked up four wins and a further six black-type performances over five and six furlongs before travelling down under.

She imparted this turn of foot into first Royal Tribute (Snitzel), winner of the Listed Gosford Guineas and fourth in the G2 Roman Consul Stakes. Recently, her 3-year-old Blessed Eagle (Farnan) has been turning in similar performances with two eye-catching metropolitan wins.

Listed-winning Waveline (USA) (Stravinsky {USA}) was similarly fast, winning five times out to 1400 metres, and produced Listed Canberra Guineas-placed Waimea Bay (All Too Hard) with her first runner, before going on to later produce the sharp In Flight (Flying Artie), whose ninth career win came in the autumn’s G2 Sapphire Stakes.

And since Canadian Champion 3YO Filly Inglorious (Can) (Hennessy {USA}) joined the herd after the 2013 Fasig Tipton November Sale, she has built a perfect strike rate of six runners for six winners, across three jurisdictions, led by G2 Silver Shadow Stakes placegetter Miss Canada (Exceed And Excel). That speed has been recognised in the sales ring, with her yearlings fetching prices like $900,000 and $750,000.

Good things come in twos

Kia Ora Stud’s affinity for Northern American mares is interwoven through the stud’s history, from the late Ananda Krishnan’s cobreeding of supersire Exceed And Excel from imported mare Patrona (USA) (Lomond {USA}) to the continual evolution of the family of Wild Ruler’s dam Gypsy Robin (USA) (Daaher {Can}) - and Fasig Tipton remains a recurring theme.

At the same sale in 2009, the stud purchased G1 Spinaway Stakes winner Mani Bhavan and G2 Comely Stakes winner Dream Play, both who swiftly proved the value of the investment. Mani Bhavan delivered with her very first foal, AU$1.55 million yearling Mumbai Rock (Fastnet Rock), a juvenile winner before retiring to stud herself where she has produced four stakes horses to date.

G3 Red Roses Stakes winner Mumbai Muse (Zoustar) is the highlight of the quartet, and she demanded an AU$1.8 million winning bid when selling as a broodmare prospect in 2025.

Likewise, Dream Play’s first foal by Zoustar, Zululand, commanded AU$1.5 million in the ring as a yearling and he went on to win the valuable G2 VRC Sires' Produce Stakes before running second in the G1 Champagne Stakes.

Another son, Moscow Night - Makin (Sing) (Written Tycoon), was a AU$1.1 million yearling ahead of a string of stakes performances, while Chicago Bull - Chicago Star (Sing) (Exceed And Excel) was a placegetter in the G3 Maribyrnong Plate ahead of a lucrative career across three countries.

A daughter, Starry (Exceed And Excel), was an AU$800,000 yearling who has continued the family tradition by producing G3 Gimcrack Stakes runner-up Celestial Bling (Capitalist).

Two years after the purchase of two mares who have contributed so much to Kia Ora, the stud bought another influential pair with G2 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf Stakes victress More Than Real and multiple stakes winner Decelerator. More Than Real produced her own seven-figure yearling with Pretty Elsa (Exceed And Excel) in 2019, but her influence on Australian breeding is most well known through her daughter Miss Debutante (Fastnet Rock).

A Listed winner herself, Miss Debutante is the progenitor of Champion 2YO Filly and G1 Golden Stakes winner Lady Of Camelot (Written Tycoon), plus Group winners Platinum Jubilee (Zoustar) and Queen Of The Ball (I Am Invincible) - and it remains a pedigree that keeps on giving in both hemispheres, with More Than Real's full sister becoming the second dam of an Oaks winner when Always A Runner (USA) (Gun Runner {USA}) captured the 2026 G1 Kentucky Oaks.

Decelerator’s daughter Nafaayes (Exceed And Excel) did her best work in South Africa, winning the G2 Gauteng Fillies Guineas and the G2 Ipi Tombe Challenge, and running placings in the G1 South African Fillies Classic and the G1 Empress Club Stakes, and she is not her dam’s only star.

Her half-brother Stoltz (More Than Ready {USA}) claimed nine races including the G3 HKJC National Day Cup, while half-sister Acing Shamrock (Fastnet Rock) had her name in lights last autumn when her son Hedged (Capitalist) won the G2 Australia Stakes and ran second in the G1 Oakleigh Plate to Kia Ora’s own Tropicus.

The legacy continues

When a formula proves to work time and again, it makes sense to keep returning.

In 2023, Kia Ora Stud purchased a trio of mares at the Fasig Tipton November Sale, all of whom now stand on the cusp of adding their names to the stud and sale’s illustrious honour roll. The stud signed for Haughty (USA) (Empire Maker {USA}), Bubble Rock (USA) (More Than Ready {USA}), and Star Devine (Ire) (Fastnet Rock), hoping that their winning formula will once again repeat.

Two American mares, both fast and both boasting pedigree elements that have proven successful before.

Grade 2-winning, G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf runner-up Haughty’s damsire Kingmambo (USA) weaves a special thread through the Kia Ora band, being the sire of Mambo In Freeport (USA), dam of not only Redoute’s Choice’s first stakes winner, Elzaam, but also G3 Sheraco Stakes winner Ravi (Redoute’s Choice), whose dual Group 3-winning daughter Inkaruna (I Am Invincible) just added two further Group placings to her spring campaign while carrying the Kia Ora colours.

Haughty and Bubble Rock’s first foals, both colts by three-time Champion Sire I Am Invincible, will be amongst Kia Ora Stud’s offerings at the 2027 yearling sales, hoping to give the same flying start to their dams as has been afforded Dream Play, Mani Bhavan, and other Fasig Tipton graduates on the farm.

And what future seven-figure yearlings and Group winners lie in this year’s star-studded catalogue? Particularly when you know the path to success at Fasig Tipton is this well-trodden.