A magnificent start for Vinery Stud's Written Tycoon stallion Ole Kirk as King Kirk came with a barnstorming finish to make a winning debut in the Group III Arrowfield Breeders' Plate (1000m) at Randwick.
Ridden by Rachel King for Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, King Kirk was an alarming drifter in betting.
Given time to find his feet, King Kirk drifted back to seventh of the eight runners to find some cover.
Travelling sweetly behind the pace set by stablemate North England, King Kirk picked off runner after runner down the centre of the track to defeat the Extreme Choice colt Tempestuous by a half-neck with a head back to the Farnan colt North England, completing a Tulloch Lodge trifecta for the second consecutive year.
"He's a lovely horse. Everything he's done to date has just been very professional," Adrian Bott said.
"He got a bit further back than expected today in the run, and it was a great effort to pick them up there in the final strides. An exciting horse going forward and rightly so, they (owners) should all be excited."
"I think he's a Magic Millions horse so I'd say that's, first and foremost, the main target for him. We'll look to give him a spell now and work back from there. And obviously, big picture you're always looking for the Golden Slipper.
"It's a bit of a relief there, when you have a representation that they perform well, which they all did. Very proud of them all. I'll have to go back and watch that again and individualise the runs there, but I thought all of them put in a great effort."
A $200,000 pinhook for Redwall Bloodstock from the Rosari Farm draft at the 2003 National Weanling Sale, King Kirk was the most expensive of the eleven weanlings to sell from the first crop of Ole Kirk.
Widden Stud consigned the chestnut to the 2024 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale. My Racehorse Pty Ltd/Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott/Belmont Bloodstock Agency (FBAA) had the final say at $300,000.
Bred by Ged Nolan, King Kirk is the third foal of the Nicconi mare Oxford Angel, a winner at Wyong and Gosford for Kim Waugh, who trained his half-brother Oxford Poet to eight wins and 17 placings from 45 starts highlighted by the Listed ATC Winter Stakes while banking over $730,000.
Granddam Oxford Princess (Magic Ring) is a three-quarter sister to Quack, the dam of the dual Listed stakes-winner Antina (Fastnet Rock) and Listed winner Pricked (Thorn Park), and a half-sister to the dam of ATC Hall Mark Stakes winner Ladys Angel (Arena).
Oxford Angel visited Ole Kirk last spring.
