Good Judges Land on $700,000 Ole Kirk Colt

Tara Madgwick - Friday January 10

Vinery Stud’s Ole Kirk has already sired two stakes-winners from his first crop of two year-olds in ill-fated King Kirk and O’ Ole, who runs in the Magic Millions 2YO Classic on Saturday, and the son of Written Tycoon had a sales highlight at the Gold Coast on Friday when his colt from Pop Girl made $700,000.

$700,000 Ole Kirk colt from Pop Girl

Consigned by North Bloodstock on behalf of his breeder Neil Werrett, the athletic bay is the third foal of metro winning Snitzel mare Pop Girl, who was also bred and raced by Werrett and is a daughter of Group III placed import Music Review.

The colt was purchased by Mark Player and Rob Roulston of PR Thoroughbreds and interestingly he has a full brother that made $200,000 at the sale last year and has been named Designer with Team Hawkes to train.

Pop Girl is married to Ole Kirk and had another colt last year by him and she is back in foal to him again.

“We have a great affiliation with Ole Kirk. A horse that is dear to us. Our partners really want to back Ole Kirk and we thought Pop Girl was the best example at the sale by the stallion,” said Mark Player.

“Lovely horse, comes off a really good farm and just a horse that we wanted to take home and hopefully the stallion can continue on the fantastic start so far.”

The price was a little higher than they expected to pay, but Player is happy to have the colt with a trainer still to be decided.

“The price is more a reflection of the quality of the horse. This market is a fantastic market and full credit to Magic Millions for having a market as strong as this. The ones you really want, you have to fight for. We spent a lot of time this week being underbidders and it is nice to get out on top of the market,” he said.

Advertisement

“The way we like to do it is that we like to buy our colts for the year and then we sit down with our partners and have lunch and we then have quite vigorous debates around the table as to who should go where, but we try and match the horse to the trainer.”

The Ole Kirk colt is the second purchase at this sale for PR Thoroughbreds, who also secured the Gun Runner colt from Golden Slipper winner Estijaab from the Emirates Park draft for $500,000.

$500,000 Gun Runner colt from Estijaab

“Absolute champion sire out of a Slipper winner and I think we all know how well Snitzel works with fast mares so we just applied the theory that a fast American sire working with a champion Snitzel mare had to be just a good a chance of success,” said Mark Player.

“We were very attracted to him and he was very high on the list of colts we wanted to get.

“Great walk, great attitude and he had that rich chestnut colour. Great head carriage and we went back again and again. He walked beautifully and had a great presence about him.

“His temperament seems bulletproof and has handled everything at the sales. He’s one of those horses that improved each day of the sale. That was another big tick for us.”

Advertisment
More Reading...
Incredible Quality in Magic Millions Virtual Sale
A breeding right to the world's most prolific sire - by elite level strike rate - will stand alongside a swag of stakes performed fillies and mares in next month's Magic Millions August Virtual Sale, with the initial catalogue unveiled today.
One to Watch - Belmont
Racing made a welcome return to Belmont Park yesterday and the first winner to salute on the freshly renovated track was a two year-old that started a red hot favourite and could not have been more impressive!
Sires With Winners - Sunday July 27
Here is the full list of 54 stallions which had winners throughout Australasia today with winners and result details.
Another G1 Triumph for Aga Khan Stud Bred Gelding
Aga Khan Studs don’t race a lot of geldings, but one that they do is Calandagan, who made it back to back G1 wins overnight when beating a select field in a tactical battle to win the Group I King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (1m4f) at Ascot.
Zousain Sunday 2YO Double
Zousain is surging to the end of the season with a double of new 2YO winners on Sunday bringing his seasonal tally of juvenile winners to 13.
Carrazzo Melbourne 'Sport of Kings' Tax Talk
It gives Baumgartners great pleasure to announce that the Paul Carrazzo’s “Sport of Kings” horse tax talk returns to Inglis Melbourne on Wednesday 13 August.
JRHA Foal Sale – Equinox Fever and Aussie Star Mares
The JRHA Select Sale continued on Tuesday with the prized foal session and while the sale-topper always looked an obvious one with the Equinox colt from Champion US Mare Midnight Bisou widely tipped to star, our Aussie bred mares still made their presence felt.
Inglis Digital Now Online - G1 Winner Velocious the Star
The G1-winning Champion 2YO Velocious (Written Tycoon) has been joined by a host of outstanding racing and breeding prospects in a tantalising Inglis Digital July (Late) Online Sale catalogue.
Zoustar Filly Wander Dune Impresses On Debut In South Africa
Making her debut as favourite in the Race Coast Maiden Juvenile Plate (1200m) at Kenilworth, South Africa on Saturday, 2yo Australian-bred Zoustar filly Wander Dune impressed with an emphatic victory.
2026 Inglis Yearling Sale Series Entries Open
Entries for the 2026 Inglis Select Yearling Sales Series – which will be headlined by the presence of the highly anticipated Snitzel x Winx colt at the Easter Sale – are now open.