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Kitchwin Hills has a reputation for breeding some of Australia’s finest whether that’s sprint sensation Pierata or sizzling stayer Vow and Declare. Kitchwin has some fine Sooboogs coming up for sale in July.
The Impact speaks to Kitchwin Hills’marketing and nominations manager James Heatherton about their drafts. He also let us in on some of the fantastic weanlings they have on the ground currently that will be headlining their yearling sales’ drafts.
A keen fisherman, James has been at Kitchwin for well over two years and is now well known for this steady opinion in the industry.
Q: Are you participating in sales in July? If yes, can you tell us more especially about the highlights of those sales?
A: We have a somewhat smaller draft this year at the Magic Millions July sale. We have 6 weanlings, 12 mares and 10 yearlings heading to the Gold Coast with strong quality throughout.
Highlights of the weanling draft include some nice Sooboog colts, who has sold exceptionally well throughout 2020 averaging 7x Service fee. These colts would usually be retained to the yearling stage however given the current climate our owners have decided to test the market and I feel will be dually rewarded given how well they’ve sold to date this year.
One of the highlights of our mare draft is La Questa, a half-sister to Courgette the dam of She Will Reign & Time To Reign in foal to an exciting son of Snitzel and Trapeze Artist. Another mare I’m looking forward to getting to the Gold Coast is Cersei, who has an outstanding Hellbent at home and in foal to Deep Field. For those looking on a Sooboog front, we have two nice maiden mares in foal to him from deep pedigrees.
In the yearling sale, we have a Pride of Dubai colt out of Wickedness who was broken in on the farm and the team here doing that were always full of wraps for this horse! Great Attitude who moved fluently through everything he did. We also have a Sooboog colt out of Ginali that has broken in on-farm well, a typical Sooboog with a great shape and moves really well.
Q: As breeders, I am sure you will agree that creating a mating which will result in Valuable Thoroughbreds is both an art and a science. What has been your process to create such matches made in heaven? Do you take requests?
A: While we are a commercial farm where selling quality yearlings for economic return is the highlight, Kitchwin Hills want to be known for their performances on the track predominantly, so there is always that juggle of not only producing a horse with the commercial appeal but that will get the job done on the track as well. Type on type plays a big role with what we do here, I have to very much believe in what we are producing will be an attractive proposition in the sales ring and also something I would want to buy for my clients to run!
Q: Could you tell us more about some of Kitchwin’s top mare lines? Also, could you tell us more about some of the top weanlings you have on ground that are expected to take the 2021 yearling sales with a storm?
A: We have got a number of first foals by I Am Invincible out of some really nice race mares including Torvill, Vienna Miss & Workdrinks who will all spearhead our 2021 drafts. Hopefully, the economic climate can bounce back come January because I feel we have the stock coming through to really capitalise next year.
Q: How has COVID19 affected your operations? Do you see any long-term implications?
A: The fact we have been able to maintain racing here in Australia has no doubt been a blessing on our industries behalf. It has certainly kept some confidence there for buyers knowing that these horses can still work through trainers systems after purchasing and the outlook for racing looks positive in a situation which may have had a very different look! No doubt the bottom end of the July sale may be sticky, but that’s the nature of the sale generally anyway and if the top half can hold together we should have some good results.