There was some concern for the champion Queenslander Rothfire when he was led back to scale after he struggled into fourth in Saturday’s $1 million Group 1 De Bortoli Wines Golden Rose at Rosehill, which proved a triumph for the Hawkes stable with the top two lots at the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale.
Rothfire was made to work to find the lead as Mamaragan pushed up underneath him. After giving a kick at the 300m, Rothfire was in trouble a hundred metres later as Tommy Berry on Ole Kirk and James McDonald on North Pacific made their runs down the centre of the track.
It was a team Hawkes quinella as the Written Tycoon colt Ole Kirk defeated the high-priced Brazen Beau colt North Pacific by a head with a length and a quarter back to the dual Group 1 winning Redoute’s Choice colt King’s Legacy in third.
The first and second were the second and first top sellers at the 2019 Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale.
“I said to Neil Werrett before the first run, that the horse was going as good as he’s ever gone<” Michael Hawkes said.
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uo;He’s from the All Too Hard, Black Caviar family, it just doesn’t get any better. He is going to excel further.
“Look out Caulfield Guineas.”
It was the first win for Ole Kirk since his triumph in the Listed Talindert Stakes at Flemington at his career debut in February.
In between he has placed in the Group 1 ATC Champagne Stakes, Group II VRC Sires’ Produce Stakes was fourth in the Group 1 ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes and prepped for the Golden Rose with a fast-finishing third in the Listed Run to The Rose.
It was the second win in the race for Tommy Berry whose first ever stakes win came with Epaulette in the Golden Rose in 2013.
Ole Kirk was a $675,000 purchase by International Thoroughbred Solutions from the Gilgai Farm draft at the 2019 Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale runs for a syndicate headed by Neil Werrett, in whose colours he runs, with his breeder Rick Jamieson of Gilgai Farm also retaining a share.
The son of Written Tycoon was the second-highest priced lot of the sale behind only his stablemate, the $800,000 Brazen Beau colt North Pacific.
Ole Kirk is the first foal of the unraced Bel Esprit mare Naturale who is a sister to the undefeated world champion Black Caviar and a half-sister to Vinery Stud’s 4-time Group 1 winner All Too Hard.
Naturale has a 2yo Not A Single Doubt filly named Gimmie Par but has missed in her last two seasons.
Ole Kirk’s Golden Rose triumph comes after Written Tycoon’s speedball Pippie captured the Group 1 Moir Stakes at Moonie Valley on Friday night.
