In this week’s column, Tim Rowe examines the future of Kia Ora and Vinery after the death of Ananda Krishnan, hones in on Justify’s latest stakes winner and looks west to Darby Racing’s impact in Perth.
How Ananda Krishnan built a legacy
Even before Ananda Krishnan bought Kia Ora Stud in 2000, he was already on his way to creating an Australian racing and breeding legacy.
No one could have known at the time, but a colt by Danehill out of US-bred mare Patrona would go on to be one of Australia's most influential stallions of the 21st century,
That colt, born on September 5, 2000, was bred by Krishnan and Alan Bell under their Ascot Breeding Partnership banner.
Of course, he would go on to be named Exceed And Excel, a dual Group 1-winning sprinter for trainer Tim Martin who became Australia’s most successful reverse shuttler.
Exceed And Excel, pensioned by Darley last year after 20 southern hemisphere seasons at stud, is the sire of 218 individual stakes winners (so far), 121 conceived in Australia and 97 in the northern hemisphere.
Bren O’Brien
As a broodmare sire, Exceed And Excel mares have produced 114 stakes winners including Saturday’s Winterbottom Stakes scorer Overpass.
A self-made Malaysian billionaire, Krishnan died suddenly in his home country last Thursday, aged 86.
In the same year Exceed And Excel was born, Krishnan bought Kia Ora Stud and his breeding legacy is left by far more than just the champion stallion.
Bob Rose was there when the contract was signed, and he's still involved 25 years later.
When someone with such a huge investment in the thoroughbred industry dies, it tends to cause significant unease about what's next.
Kia Ora stallions Prague, Captivant and Farnan. (Photo: Kia Ora)
Kia Ora is a major employer, and then there are the ancillary suppliers who provide specialist services, the veterinarians, farriers and feed suppliers and so on.
It's understood that there were provisions put in place by Krishnan for it to be business as usual at Kia Ora after his death.
Krishan’s business empire is also a partner in neighbouring stallion farm Vinery, acquiring equity in the stud as part of a merged entity in early 2023.
The two studs, outwardly at least, have continued to operate as independent farms. That is expected to continue.
Kia Ora staff are preparing 12 yearlings for the fast-approaching Magic Millions on the Gold Coast while also managing late-season stallion coverings.
While the stallion operation, with Farnan, Captivant and Prague on the Kia Ora roster, will continue apace, what is less certain is the level of investment the business will make at the yearling and breeding stock sales in 2025 and beyond without Krishnan’s guiding hand.
This year alone, either outright or in partnership, Kia Ora bought 28 horses at Australian sales for $11,435,000, according to data provided by Arion.
Tim Rowe
Krishnan was also active at the recent breeding stock sales in America, buying a filly for US$550,000 at Keeneland on Last Call, the winner of Canada’s 2022 Grade 1 Natalma Stakes at Woodbine.
Steve McCann, also a partner in Vinery alongside Krishnan and Gerry Harvey, is chairman of Kia Ora and he will no doubt play a crucial role in managing the estate’s thoroughbred interests.
For two decades, Krishnan took shares in stallions with rival farms as well as developing a world-class broodmare band.
Sixteen years after Exceed And Excel won the 2003 Dubai Racing Club Cup (now called the Sir Rupert Clarke), Bell and Krishnan combined again to breed another elite Group 1 horse, the 2019 Manikato and and 2020 William Reid winner Loving Gaby.
In more recent times, Krishnan has also bred Hong Kong’s top sprinter Wellington and Newgate Farm’s two-time Group 1 winner Wild Ruler, a 2019 Inglis Easter graduate sold by Kia Ora.
With graduate stakes success coming year after year, Krishnan harboured a desire to return Kia Ora to its glory days of standing its own roster.
And there was no bigger way of doing that than purchasing the Aquis Farm and Phoenix Thoroughbreds-raced Golden Slipper winner Farnan after the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained colt’s two-year-old season.
Krishnan, reportedly Malaysia’s sixth richest man, added another Aquis-raced colt, the Group 3 winner and Group 1-placed juvenile Prague for the 2021 breeding season, as well as securing 2021 Group 1 Champagne Stakes winner Captivant to make it three on the roster in 2022.
Captivant’s first yearlings will be offered at the sales in 2025 and Farnan’s first crop two-year-olds are already on the board via Golden Gift winner North England.
On Friday, Kia Ora and Vinery released a short statement acknowledging the death of Krishnan.
“Mr Krishan’s passion and leadership in the Australian breeding industry will live on through the legacy that is the Kia Ora and Vinery farms and the bloodlines he has influenced,” the studs wrote.
“Our condolences to his family and to all those who loved him - a truly inspirational leader and friend who will be missed.”
A Justified investment
Strong Martini may not have lived up to expectations yet, but her younger half-sister Spicy Martini has certainly exceeded them.
Gold Coast trainer Toby Edmonds, who recently went into partnership with Stephen McLean, paid a paltry $8,000 for Spicy Martini, then a yearling, in an Inglis Digital sale in March last year.
On Saturday, and 18 months later, the daughter of Coolmore’s former shuttler Justify, Australia’s champion first season stallion of 2022-23, Spicy Martini backed up her long odds maiden win at Eagle Farm on October 23 to take out the Listed Mode Plate (1200m) at Doomben.
Spicy Martini was officially $51 into $41 when winning her first start and was $12 into $10 on Saturday.
“She’s won a stakes race at start number two; it is job done in terms of getting that black type so early in her career,’’ Edmonds said.
“We wanted a Justify and we knew we couldn’t afford one at the main sales, so we were keeping an eye on Inglis Digital and saw her.
“We also had the half-sister at home and liked her, so we were keen to get this girl too and she’s done everything right up to this point.’’
SPICY MARTINI too good in the Mode! 🍸
— RaceQ (@RaceQLD) November 30, 2024
The filly becomes a stakes winner at just her second start! @WilsonTaylor99 in the saddle for the @EdmondsRacing team.
A first black-type win for the trainer Stephen McLean too 👏 pic.twitter.com/Nuhlb6c3gs
The half-sister Edmonds refers to is Strong Martini, a $360,000 purchase from the 2021 Magic Millions sale, won her maiden last preparation and she is back in training on the Gold Coast.
A five-year-old mare who races in the orange colours of prodigious North Queensland owner Tom Hedley, Strong Martini’s value has also gone up considerably as a result of Spicy Martini’s important stakes win.
The pair is out of Redoute’s Choice mare Extra Olives, a stakes placegetter for trainer Lee Freedman who was raced by the late American owner Jon Kelly.
She was later bought by Coolmore’s Tom Magnier at the 2019 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale for $875,000.
One of Spicy Martini’s owners, North Queensland bookmaker Dalan Tamblyn, also enjoyed success two days earlier with another Justify, four-year-old gelding Tambo’s Justice.
Trained at Townsville by Georgie Holt, Tambo’s Justice made it two wins from as many starts on his home track on Thursday.
WA not just a passing interest for Darby
Western Australia has largely been a “syndicator free zone”.
Peter Morley runs Belhus Racing as well as the east coast-based Grand Syndicates, but most horses raced in the west are owned by people who have liaised directly with their chosen trainers to purchase a share.
Syndicators, however, are always on the lookout for new owners and markets. For Scott Darby, his top sprinter Overpass, who made it four from four in Perth with his second Winterbottom win on Saturday, has provided an opening in the WA market.
Darby Racing bought two colts at this year’s Magic Millions Perth Yearling Sale, a son of Toronado for $80,000 and another by Russian Revolution for $130,000. Both horses are both being trained at Ascot by Simon Miller.
The syndicator also transferred imported stayer Iowa from Annabel Neasham to Miller earlier this year, with the gelding boarding the same flight as Overpass prior to his second The Quokka victory in April.
Iowa, a Doomben winner in April 2023, won back-to-back races at Belmont during the winter as well as finishing runner-up in the Listed Boulder and Kalgoorlie Cups in the spring.
“Iowa’s gone on to do a terrific job there with Simon and, off the back of that, we sort of thought it would be great to get a couple of yearlings,” Darby racing manager Loren Wadsworth said.
“They (two-year-olds) have shown a bit of promise, but both are in the paddock at the moment being gelded.
“I think Simon was looking at having one of them up for the Karrakatta (in April).”
From heart-stopping tension to unbridled jubilation —Bjorn Baker rides every stride with OVERPASS as he claims his fourth WA win and back-to-back Group 1 Winterbottom glory. What a moment! 🏆✨ #Overpass #WinterbottomChampion #BjornBakerRacing pic.twitter.com/Z2UxihpZ7n
— Bjorn Baker Racing (@BBakerRacing) December 1, 2024
Iowa was runner-up in a Lark Hill barrier trial on Monday in preparation for a tilt at the Group 2 Perth Cup on New Year’s Day.
Fellow east coast syndicator First Light also headed west this year, purchasing four yearlings at the same sale in conjunction with trainers Luke Fernie, Trevor Andrews and Grant and Alana Williams.
Darby Racing is likely to be back in Perth for the state’s Magic Millions sale in February.
“We've got a few people who are very loyal WA-based owners who have been buying into Sydney-trained horses for many years and now there is the opportunity for them to stick with Darby and be able to enjoy racing (in their home state),” Wadsworth said.
