Gilgai Farm mourning the loss of Black Caviar’s sister and influential broodmare Naturale

Gilgai Farm’s blue hen mare Naturale, the sister to unbeaten champion Black Caviar and mother of top young Vinery Stud sire Ole Kirk, has died at the age of 13.

The Rick Jamieson-bred and owned daughter of Bel Esprit had to be euthanised on Friday morning after finally succumbing to a lifetime of complications that stemmed all the way back to when she was a foal.

Her ongoing issues meant Naturale – the fifth live foal out of Helsinge with Black Caviar her first – was never a racing proposition and Jamieson kept her as a broodmare.

And the master breeder, who relies on his own pedigree theories with great success, struck gold immediately with Naturale producing dual Group 1-winning colt Ole Kirk, a son of Written Tycoon who was crowned Australia’s champion first season sire last season.

Her second foal by Not A Single Doubt, Gimmie Par, was a winner at two who won the Group 3 Quezette Stakes first-up at three while achieving another two stakes placings before being retired to stud in 2022. 

Naturale had recently retired from breeding to live out her days at Gilgai Farm near Nagambie, having encountered ongoing issues in the breeding barn for the past three seasons.

Her final foal, a three-year-old sister to Ole Kirk named Float On, is unraced and currently listed as spelling.

Naturale’s death on Friday cast a pall of grief over the tight-knit Gilgai Farm team, led by Jamieson and long-time stud manager Kelly Skillercorn.

A call from The Straight to Skillecorn on Friday brought him to tears and there’s no shame in that given his association with Naturale, essentially since her birth in October 2012.

Skillecorn sent a text message later with a photo of a card sent to Gilgai by Avenel veterinarian Dr Frances Worsman who cared for Naturale in her final moments.

“My sincere condolences. Long may we cherish and get to see the gifts of issue she has bestowed to Australia. With deepest sympathy,” Dr Worsman wrote.

Naturale’s loss leaves just two half-sisters to the late Black Caviar active in the Australian Stud Book and one, All Too Hard’s sister Brigite, in the hands of Jamieson.

Stallions All Too Hard and Ole Kirk are both on the roster at Vinery Stud and the pair is leaving a mark on not only the Hunter Valley farm but also the stud book.

“It’s obviously just an amazing family, not only to produce probably the best sprinter we’ve ever seen in our lives in Black Caviar, but then All Too Hard and Ole Kirk,” Vinery Stud acting general manager Adam White told The Straight on learning of the death of Naturale. 

“It’s a family that just continues to produce a horse at the very highest level, and Rick, obviously, knows the family extremely well, he manages the family extremely well and they get the results because of it.”

When Black Caviar’s dam Helsinge died in January 2017, Jamieson acted immediately by removing an unraced sister to All Too Hard from Mick Kent’s Cranbourne stables and adding her to his Gilgai Farm broodmare band.

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Named Brigite, Helsingle’s last living foal, the Casino Prince mare has continued Jamieson’s remarkable breeding record with the family by producing last season’s ATC Champagne Stakes winner Nepotism.

The valuable Brutal colt, who is part-owned by Jamieson along with Black Caviar’s former owners Neil Werrett and Colin Madden, is being set for the Group 2 Run To The Rose first-up on September 13.

It is unclear whether Float On will be immediately retired and saved from the racecourse, just as Brigite was when Helsinge died suddenly.

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Gimmie Par visited Widden’s Written By in her first two seasons, producing fillies by the high-class two-year-old sprinter, her latest foal born at Cressfield in the Hunter Valley on August 14.

Black Caviar tragically died last year at the age of 18 after a battle with laminitis while her Snitzel colt was also lost due to complications from foaling.

“It’s obviously just an amazing family, not only to produce probably the best sprinter we’ve ever seen in our lives in Black Caviar, but then All Too Hard,and Ole Kirk” – Vinery Stud’s Adam White

White sympathised with the Gilgai staff members who were at a loss on Friday.

“It’s not just the owners (affected). From our perspective, it’s the staff that work with them and know them personally over many years,” he said.

“It’s an emotional time for everyone when you lose such a quality racehorse or producer, and everyone feels it.”

Belle Couture, a Redoute’s Choice daughter of Helsinge, died in February 2023 after producing four foals, only one being a filly, the two-time winner Yumi who is owned by Love Racing.