Having just been crowned Champion Australian Sire for the third year running, Yarraman Park’s I Am Invincible is a stallion whose legacy is assured and for his many fans that can no longer afford his service fee he does have two young gun sons starting out in the Hunter Valley this spring and choosing between the two is going to give breeders some sleepless nights.
If you are headed to the stallion parades in Scone later this week one thing you will want to get your head around is what you think about King’s Gambit at Newgate Farm and Hawaii Five Oh at Vinery Stud.
They are both bred the same way being by I Am Invincible from daughters of Encosta de Lago and both are bred by highly successful breeders with Gooree Stud producing King’s Gambit and Gerry Harvey responsible for Hawaii Five Oh.
Both stallions will be well supported by their respective breeders, but there will be plenty of room for outside breeders to get involved so who do you choose?
Let’s take a look at the relevant facts.
King’s Gambit is priced at $22,000.
King's Gambit won the G2 ATC Roman Consul Stakes - image Steve Hart
Trained by Peter and Paul Snowden, he only raced at two and three starting eight times for two wins and four placings with a visually impressive five length debut win in the Listed MRC Debutant Stakes as a spring juvenile earning him favouritism for the Golden Slipper.
Come the autumn, he did not quite measure up to expectation, but was nevertheless right there at the business end of the big races. He was beaten by Red Resistance when second in the Group III ATC Canonbury Stakes followed by a third to Cylinder and Platinum Jubilee (filly) in the Group II ATC Silver Slipper and was third to Shinzo and Cylinder in the Golden Slipper.
That is A grade 2YO form.
All of those colts are also headed to stud this spring, Shinzo is at Coolmore at a fee of $55,000, Cylinder is at Darley Victoria at $44,000 and Red Resistance is at Telemon Thoroughbreds at a fee of $11,000.
King’s Gambit had four starts at three that produced one win, but it was a good one as he scored a dominant victory in the Group II ATC Roman Consul Stakes at the expense of Ozzmosis, who went to Flemington for his next start and won the Group I VRC Coolmore Stud Stakes.
By champion sire Zoustar, Ozzmosis is also on the Newgate roster with a fee of $44,000 reflecting his G1 victory, but was he twice as good a racehorse as King’s Gambit? That’s something for breeders to work out.
Hawaii Five Oh is priced at $16,500.
Hawaii Five Oh won the G3 BRC Fred Best Classic - image Grant Courtney
Trained initially by Richard and Michael Freedman and then Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, Hawaii Five Oh is a big powerful sprinting type that needed time and is a full brother to ill-fated Group II winning sprinter Libertini.
Unraced at two, Hawaii Five Oh won on debut as an early spring three year-old, but it was not until the back of the season that he was able to translate potential into Black Type. He won the Group III Hawkesbury Guineas and Fred Best Classic in Brisbane over 1400m, before finishing a gallant third in the Group I BRC Stradbroke Handicap to Think About It and Rothfire.
As spring four year-old he competed against the very best and was far from disgraced. Hawaii Five Oh split Think About It and Bella Nipotina when second in the Group II ATC Premiere Stakes, was sixth of 12 in The Everest beaten a little over two lengths and was then fifth of 17 in the Golden Eagle won by Obamburumai (Jpn) beaten a length and a half.
That is A grade sprint form.
On the score of pedigree with King’s Gambit and Hawaii Five Oh, three-quarters of that pedigree is identical with same sire and dam sire, but that fourth quarter is very different and might be the thing that sways a broodmare owner from one stallion to the other.
Hawaii Five Oh is from Group I ATC Coolmore Classic winner Aloha, whose next three dams are Group winning juveniles Tennessee Midnight, Tennessee Morn and Tennessee Vain.
It’s an iconic Australian female family that traces in tail female line to 1945 Melbourne Cup winner Rainbird and it’s also responsible for producing last season’s Champion 3YO Riff Rocket.
King’s Gambit is from Group III winner Sultry Feeling, whose dam Visual Emotion (USA) was imported to Australia by Gooree Stud, who have had notable success with US bred mares over the years with influential sire Northern Meteor a classic example. Visual Emotion raced in Australia and won three races over 1100m and her grand-dam Movin Money won the Group II Del Mar Oaks and is a half-sister to Group I winner and leading US sire Cozzene.
Facts are useful tools in decision making, but so is going to see the stallions in the flesh and we’ll all be a lot wiser as regards an opinion on these guys at this time next week!
