 |
|
 |  |
The co-owner of Kitchwin Hills and leading Australian Thoroughbred industry influencer chats with The Impact about exciting happenings at Kitchwin Hills with Graff’s launch as a stallion as well how he sees Graff’s impeccable outcrossed pedigree being a boon for the industry.
Q: Congrats on securing Graff. What do your marketing plans to support him look like?
A: We hope to try a bit of everything. We were trying to buy mares last month but it was crazy. If we were buying mares there, there wouldn’t have been a lot of earning at the other end for us so we'll just buy privately, there are a lot of mares out there that will suit him and we also already own suitable mares, which is a good thing about Graff. Everyone walks around wondering why we haven’t seen these sons of Snitzel, or a really good son of Fastnet Rock or a really good son of Exceed And Excel, and I think it’s because they just don’t get the chance to breed to the most prolific line of mares that work here in Australia - Danehill. Graff is an outcross so can breed to those mares, to match he is the right shape and a good size, for us, he fits the bill perfectly.
Q: And you think because of the pedigree, he just sort of fits those mares to a tee?
A: Very much so because he's an outcross. If you look at all those hot new kids on the block, most are outcross’ who are covering Danehill mares. To date, Capitalist’s best runner – Captivant, he is out of a Commands mare, Frosted’s best runner Cloudy is out of an Exceed and Excel mare, Star Turn’s best runner Miss Hipster is out of a Not A Single Doubt mare, Flying Artie’s best runner Artorius is out of a Redoute’s Choice mare. Those stallions get to breed to those Danehill mares. Again, when we look at Star Turn who profiles extremely close to what Graff is, he fits in with what Star Turn was – a proper racehorse with a very good pedigree across all those, Snitzel, Not A Single Doubt, Fastnet Rock mares.
 |
Q: At Kitchwin you now stand a Group Three winner and a Group Two winner, do you have any plans to add a Group One winner to your roster?
A: Actually, we have no such plans because I don’t think it's that important. At one point if you stood a Group One winner, you were seen competing in the field but today if you look at the top three sires, none of them are Group One winners.
To me, a sire is about a sound horse and tough body to withheld racing here in Australia and a really good attitude is crucial, too. If you can produce that sort of horse, you will see them in lots of stables here. Going back to the broodmare-sire lines that often work that the Danehill sires can’t cover, those mares often end up visiting the European stallions that shuttle to Australia. These stallions come down here that are great European (and other: middle-distance stayers and absorb the majority of the prolific Danehill, Redoute’s Choice line mares, that may have visiting the outcross Australian sires but usually that stallion is full, or non existent. So these Aussie raced outcross Sire lined mares visit the overseas races stallions. So I just think that Star Turn is a bit of writing on the wall for me. He has stood up with those types of mares and is doing a great job.
When I spoke to Kris Lee’s about Graff, he said, that he had a massive amount of ability. In fact, if he hadn’t gone to the Everest and instead run in Group One sprint somewhere, then the rest would have been history.
Q: So tell us about the opportunities available with Graff?
A: We’ve done a good job with Sooboog and we're extremely excited by him. We’re doing a similar deal with Graff, anyone who gets to see him will be blown away, he is an exceptional physical. Lifetime breeding rights at a cost of A$26,400 (Inc. GST: are being offered in Graff, which provides breeders with two nominations in year’s one and two and one every year after.
We already have some good people getting behind him in the last few weeks since he was announced.
If a breeding right holder sends a mare in year one by Fastnet Rock, Snitzel, Exceed And Excel, Not A Single Doubt, or Redoute’s Choice, they will receive an extra nomination to be used at their discretion at any time during Graff’s stallion career.
Q: You're doing a lot of things right now at Kitchwin including standing stallions, breeding mares, you also have boutique breeders that are standing mares at Kitchwin. Where do you see Kitchwin in another five years?
A: My business partner at Kitchwin Hills, Steve Brown, is also the co-founder of miRunners and Director of 99 Sports which is the parent company of MiStable. You know, you need to be fingers in many pies. One thing I’ve learnt in this game, is try not to learn from the year prior, it’s an ever changing and evolving environment, it would seem when the mob a running one way, maybe head the other. You know, you've got to continue to have your eyes open and look at different opportunities. And we've had good success with stallions. We haven’t cracked that Star as yet, but we are one step closer day by day.
Every horse we've stood from, Dane Shadow to Sooboog has been exactly the kind of horses that race in Australia and handle our conditions. I think Graff is exactly what we see works in Australia - tough, sound, fast and a temperament that matches his looks - brilliant.
With our stallions, it's about supporting Australian mares and raising the standard of racing in the country with tough top horses that are born and bred and raised in Australia.