Rowe On Monday – VRC Oaks winner gives Grunt a late breeding-season lift, an upward Graff for Kitchwin Hills sire, Distorted Humor tributes

Oaks win helps Grunt make up for lost time

A good horse can make or, in the case of Grunt, save a stallion’s career.

When Strictly Business, the Thomas Carberry-trained three-year-old filly by Yulong’s foundation stallion Grunt, won her maiden first-up at Ballarat in late October, her sire had not served a mare in 2025.

But it was no fault of his own, with a setback before the start of the breeding season putting him out of action for the first two months of the season. However, he made up for lost time, helped by the emergence of his Group 1-winning filly.

After getting the all-clear from the veterinarians, Grunt covered his first mare on November 1, the same day Strictly Business charged home to finish runner-up in the Group 2 Wakeful Stakes at Flemington at just her second start.

According to Australian Stud Book figures, the emergence of Strictly Business, who went from maiden to VRC Oaks winner in the space of just 13 days, coreesponded with Grunt covering 26 mares in November.

Twenty-three of those mares were served by Grunt after Strictly Business’ emphatic 3-1/2 length victory in the Oaks.

The homebred filly, trained by an expatriate Irishman in Carberry, has ensured Grunt will have a seventh crop of foals and despite the halt in momentum caused by the setback, it will be enough to keep him in the mind of breeders.

But what Strictly Business, Grunt’s second Group 1 winner alongside another Ballarat trainee in Veight, does in the autumn may determine how strongly the supporters of the son of O’Reilly go in 2026. With Yulong owner Zhang Yuesheng’s support – and enormous broodmare band – we wouldn’t write him off just yet.

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More to come from Graff?

A similar tale could be said of Kitchwin Hills’ Graff, who is two years behind Grunt in terms of his stallion career, with Kelly Schweida’s first crop three-year-old Grafterburners keeping the son of Star Witness in the limelight.

The impressive sprinter made it four wins in succession this preparation in the $3 million Sunlight, the three-year-old Magic Millions slot race open to all-comers, at the Gold Coast on Saturday night.

Ridden for the first time by jockey James McDonald, bigger things are in store for the son of Graff, potentially during the Queensland winter carnival or down south in Sydney or Melbourne.

Graff served 42 mares last year, his third biggest book in his five years at stud.

When the sprinter retired to stud in 2021 as a six-year-old, he was in a competitive crop of first-season sires that included Golden Slipper-winning colt Farnan, dual Group 1 winner Ole Kirk, champion sprinter Bivouac and “proven” freshman, shuttler Wootton Bassett.

It was hard for Graff to gain traction despite covering 120 mares in his first season, but as Grafterburners’ demonstrates, the sire can produce a good horse.

“He was outstanding. Credit to Kelly and his team,” McDonald said of Grafterburners.

“They turned him out immaculately. He was presented to win, he drew a good gate and he just put himself in the box seat. He’s a very good horse.”

Just as Strictly Business’s next campaign will tell a tale, so too could Grafterburners for Graff if he can go to the next level.

Both Graff and Grunt have one yearling each catalogued in this week’s Magic Millions sale.

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Remembering Distorted Humor

In North America on Saturday, WinStar Farm paid tribute to Distorted Humour, a leading US stallion who died aged 33 from the infirmities of old age.

By Forty Niner, Distorted Humor shuttled to Victoria for two seasons, in 1999 and 2000, with his best-performed Australian-bred being the Rick Hore-Lacy-trained Rinky Dink, the winner of the 2004 Group 1 Australasian Oaks.

His second and final southern hemisphere-conceived crop had 13 stakes horses, six of them black-type winners, before his time in Victoria was brought to a halt at the start of the millennium.

Perhaps his greatest contribution in Australasia, however, was as a broodmare sire. His daughter Gaudeamus is the dam of Hong Kong champion Golden Sixty.

Overall, Distorted Humor sired 174 stakes winners, 19 at Grade 1 level including Any Given Saturday and Jimmy Creed, both of whom shuttled to Australia.

“It’s a deeply sad day for all of us at WinStar Farm to lose a generational sire like Distorted Humor,” outgoing WinStar Farm president and chief executive Elliott Walden said.

“We take solace in the legacy he leaves behind. His sons and daughters have won on the biggest stages, and his daughters are proving to be exceptional producers. His impact on the breed is undeniable and will be felt for generations to come.”