Widden Pinhook Winner Takes G3 Breeders Plate
A $300,000 Magic Millions purchase from the Widden Stud draft, exciting colt King Kirk made a winning debut at Randwick on Saturday on the Group III ATC Breeders’ Plate (1000m).
Ridden by Rachel King for Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, King Kirk was an alarming drifter in betting, but that proved no guide at all. Given time to find his feet, the son of Ole Kirk drifted back to seventh of the eight runners to find some cover and then hit the line hard to win by half a neck over his stablemates Tempestuous and North England.
It's a Waterhouse & Bott trifecta in the Breeders' Plate! 🔥
King Kirk down the outside sweeps past them to score! 💨@GaiWaterhouse1 @RachelK11 @MyRacehorse pic.twitter.com/5l1zrh3zPd
— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) October 5, 2024
“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 and then made $300,000 when offered by Widden at Magic Millions and bought by My Racehorse Pty Ltd/Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott/Belmont Bloodstock Agency.
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, a stakes-winner of more than $730,000.
