Following the passing of Ananda Krishnan, the owner of Kia Ora Stud, in November last year, the stud has been buoyed by an extraordinary run of success on the racetrack in 2025.
This includes three 2-year-old Stakes-winners on Saturday, with one being particularly special as it is bred from Krishnan's favourite mare, Ravi.
The Thoroughbred Report caught up with Kia Ora's Bloodstock Manager, Shane Wright, to review the farm's exceptional success with their 2-year-olds, their recent acquisitions at the Magic Millions, and to offer insights into their draft for the upcoming Inglis Classic Yearling Sale.
Shane Wright | Image courtesy of Inglis
Building on an already remarkable start to the year, on Saturday Kia Ora incredibly secured the top two positions in the Group 3 Cannonbury Stakes at Rosehill with Blitzburg (Snitzel) and Hillier (Zoustar). Additionally, they part-own the undefeated Return to Conquer (Snitzel), who triumphed in the G3 Collin Jillings 2YO Classic at Ellerslie and saw Inkaruna (I Am Invincible) win the G3 Chairman's Stakes at Sandown on debut.
"It's been a good couple of weeks actually," Wright said.
"We've got a good couple 2-year-olds that seem to be showing what they've got at the right time of year, we're very lucky to have them on the team.
"There's been a lot of work put into the farm and investment put into the breeding, racing and stallion side so to get some good results, it's very fitting for all the hard work put in by Mr Krishnan and the team here over the last couple of years."
Stakes winning debut for Kia Ora homebred Inkaruna
The recent victory of Inkaruna, who was passed in for $400,000 at the 2024 Gold Coast Magic Millions Sale and is now trained by Anthony and Sam Freedman, was particularly special for the Scone-based farm on the weekend.
"Inkaruna is a beautiful filly from a very, very good family," Wright said.
"She is out of Ravi, and although she was just a Group 3 winning mare, she was actually Mr Krishnan's favourite mare on the farm so it was very fitting that this smart 2-year-old filly came out not long after his passing and put in such a good showing.
"We took her up to sell at Magic Millions last year and, for a well bred Vinnie filly, we had a pretty modest reserve of $400,000. A lot of people took her off their lists because they said she had little feet. Luckily for us they are little, quick feet!"
Regarding future plans, Wright indicated that they would allow the filly to guide them in determining their next steps.
"We're not too sure of a program for her yet. Obviously, that was just her first start yesterday. The Freedmans will put her out on grass for a day or two and see how she pulls up and then the Kia Ora team will sit down with them and work out the best plan for her going forward. But for a filly from a family like that, for a filly to get black-type on her first outing we couldn't be more pleased."
Exciting colt Return to Conquer unbeaten and Group 1 bound
Across the Tasman, Return To Conquer, a $1.3 million purchase from Magic Millions by David Ellis CNZM (BANZ), continued to impress by winning the G3 Collin Jillings 2YO Classic at Ellerslie at just his second outing. He previously blew his rivals away in the Listed Counties Challenge Stakes in November. The TAB has now marked the boom colt $2.50 favourite for the G1 Sistema Stakes (1200 metres) at Ellerslie on March 8, and Wright is hopeful that this exciting colt will soon compete in Australia.
"Return to Conquer looks like a very, very exciting colt," Wright said.
"He's a horse that we really loved at the sales last year and obviously Te Akau bought him and they do an amazing job. It's quite a nice little partnership to be involved with. He's a beautiful type of Snitzel colt from nice family. He's got a big Group 1 prepared for him next start over there and then we'll see about bringing him across to Australia.
"The plan will be to see how he goes at his next start in New Zealand but from all reports they think he will be very competitive at the top level over here."
Wright indicated Kia Ora's association Te Akau Racing is a partnership they wish to continue to strengthen.
"We've got two colts with Te Akau and also two fillies," he said.
"We have a very nice filly down in the Cranbourne stable called Samudra that we are very excited about with them.
"They are a professional organisation and the results speak for themselves so we're very happy to do business with them."
Kia Ora's Cannonbury Stakes quinella
To cap off an unbelievable day, Kia Ora also secured the quinella in the G3 Cannonbury Stakes, with Wright expressing great optimism for the futures of both colts.
"Blitzburg was very impressive," Wright said
"He's had a couple of nice runs leading into that performance but he's improving with every run. That run on Saturday, he just put himself out there and he had it won with 200 metres to go really.
"We were very happy with Hillier also in second, especially considering it was his first race start. From back in the field, he finished off very, very well. We're quite excited about watching him going forward too. I think he's a horse that will get out a little bit further in trip too but he's also just learning his craft and he didn't have everything go his way. It was quite an impressive debut."
Both colts were bought from the 2024 Magic Millions, with Blitzburg being offered by Arrowfield Stud and knocked down for $500,000 to TFI and Ryan & Alexiou Racing, while Hillier was also purchased for $500,000 and bought by TFI and Ryan & Alexiou Racing from the draft of Segenhoe Stud.
Gerald Ryan shared after the race that he may aim Blitzburg towards the G3 Black Opal Stakes at Canberra on March 9.
My Gladiola Blue Diamond bound
These amazing results are built upon the remarkable debut of My Gladiola (I Am Invincible) just a week prior, where she excelled in the G3 Blue Diamond Preview at Sandown. Bred and sold by Kia Ora Stud for $550,000 at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, she was purchased by Redgum Racing. A share was retained in the filly, who is now favourite for the Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes.
"That was a very good win in the Blue Diamond Preview by My Gladiola," Wright said.
"She is out of a very good mare called Villa Verde, that we have here. She's in foal to Ole Kirk at the minute. My Gladiola was a beautiful filly at the Easter sales last year. John McArdle just fell in love with her the first moment he saw her. He's a very good 2-year-old trainer, John, so we were delighted to retain a share in her when he bought her.
"We've had glowing reports on her since she was broken in basically. She didn't disappoint, obviously going a slicker time than the colts. The plan for her is to head to the Blue Diamond Prelude next week and then, all going well, she'll have a strong showing in the Blue Diamond."
Although, Villa Verde (Not A Single Doubt) was yet to produce a stakes performer with her first five foals, Wright was confident that it was only a matter of time given her quality.
"She was seventh foal from the mare, but everything she has produced has won and we always had faith there was going to be a very good one come out of her," Wright said.
"Looking at it, My Gladiola could be the one. I think the two best 2-year-old fillies we have seen in Australia so far this year are her and Bel Merci. They are both out of mares that have had a few foals beforehand.
"We have a very nice Pierro filly going to Classic out of Villa Verde. Obviously, it's a nice update for that filly, and hopefully she goes and wins again next week. She's a lovely filly, correct and very straightforward so I think she would have had admirers beforehand, but she will definitely be on everyone's list for inspections now."
Farnan's progeny ready to fire
Alongside their racing successes, Kia Ora is thrilled to follow the advancement of their flagship stallion Farnan's progeny, who have hit the ground running with G3 Golden Gift winner North England (Farnan). The Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained colt is scheduled to trial at Rosehill tomorrow alongside fellow Golden Slipper hopefuls Bel Merci (Extreme Choice) and Pallaton (Wootton Bassett ).
"North England looks like one of the top colts of the year," Wright said.
"He was very impressive in the Golden Gift and in the Breeder's Plate. Henry Field and his team at Newgate, as we all know, are the best in the business at finding these colts and Gai and Adrian think a lot of this horse.
"Farnan has about eight triallers tomorrow at Rosehill, including North England who is in for a big campaign. We also have Farcited, which is a very nice colt out of the Group 1 winner I Am Excited.
"One to keep an eye on is one of Gerald Ryan and Sterling Alexiou's called King Of Pop. He looked a very nice horse and is coming back in at the right time. I thought he has looked very good in his trials. His first trial he was out in front and won by about 5 lengths doing nothing, the next one they put him in behind to learn something new and got to the line nicely behind Gallo Nero. I think he could be one of Farnan's big horses this year.
"For a stallion like Farnan they are all coming up just at the right time. Hopefully, over the next couple of weeks there's going to be a lot going on there."
Farnan had 20 yearlings sell at the Magic Millions in January at an average of $276,750, with a top lot of $750,000.
Kia Ora's Magic Millions purchases
Kia Ora bought three Lots for a total of $1.5 million at the recent Magic Millions Sale and Wright is hopeful that the two fillies he bought can replicate the success the farm has had with filly purchases in recent years.
"We bought some nice fillies up at the Magic Millions," Wright said.
"Lot 799, the Pretty in Pink filly was a beautiful filly, that's a half to Hillier who ran second in the Cannonbury yesterday. We've also got Ikasara that ran third in the Heritage Stakes and he looks like a horse with a big future as well, so it's a family we are right in behind. We picked the filly up with the theory that the pedigree page will be getting a lot more black-type in the near future.
"Lot 421, the I Am Invincible filly with Michael Freedman, to me she was one of the fillies of the sale from a physical stance. It's a family I know very well, being from Yarraman, we had From Within's dam Zimaretto. All that family are going very well and if you go through the family, they were a lot better racehorses than the Group 3s and Listed races they won – they were very unlucky not to win Group 1s. It's a very solid fillies family and it's one we're very happy to be with going forward.
"At the sales it's all looking forward towards the broodmare band. It's all about families we like and want to get involved in and then they have to meet the criteria of the physical types, but it is all looking towards the future.
"We've had a very good run here with our fillies over the last couple of years that we've bought at the yearling sales starting with Mumbai Jewel and her sister Mumbai Muse. Learning to Fly was obviously a big one. Serasana, who won the Group 2 Sandown Guineas, Eneeza who won the Group 2 Percy Sykes last year. We've had a lot of fillies getting black type over the past few years and even this year we've had Chisholm who is a daughter of Snitzerland who ran second in the Inglis Banner. There are lots of nice fillies with nice families around us."
Wright was also keen to support Kia Ora's Group 1-winning stallion Captivant who has his first yearlings selling this year.
"We're very happy to support our own breed of course and there was a couple of very nice Captivants up at the sale so trying to pick out which one we wanted to get our hands on was the key," Wright said.
"Lot 832, the Captivant out of Rayas was a lovely colt we bought off Bhima. They are very good breeders, obviously they bred one of our stallions here Prague and numerous other top horses as well. We were very happy to get him and all reports from the breakers so far is that he is very straight forward with a very good mind. We will be looking to pick up one or two more by Capivant before the end of the year."
Kia Ora quality on show at Inglis Classic
Kia Ora will offer nine quality horses at the upcoming Inglis Classic Yearling Sale in Sydney, consisting of Lots by Kia Ora's stallions Farnan, Captivant and Prague, as well as a filly by Zoustar and another by Pierro.
"I'm very happy with our Classic draft that are heading down on Tuesday morning," Wright said.
"They will be parading on Wednesday. There are some very nice Captivants there out of very professional mares on the track, Listed and Group 3 winning mares. We have a good Zoustar filly out of a good Triple Crown-raced mare called Moss Trip, who was very good. She is a nice filly. She's a good size, solid, forward type of filly.
"From a physical viewpoint I would love to take home Lot 767, a filly by Captivant out of War Heroine or Lot 583 – Captivant out of Revolutionary Girl."
Article from Tom Baddock, The Thoroughbred Report
