Kia Ora freshman sire Farnan has made an incredible start to his stallion career, and with tomorrow's Group 1 Golden Slipper featuring three Farnan colts — 19% of the field, his reputation as a sire-to-watch could reach new heights.
The Champion 2YO and Golden Slipper winner is the most represented first season sire in the race, a feat shared only with heavyweight proven sire Written Tycoon, with Farnan’s runners showing plenty of natural ability, precocity and maturity.
The Golden Slipper is the richest 2YO race in the world and the peak of juvenile racing.
“Australia has the strongest two-year-old racing of anywhere in the world and the Slipper is the pinnacle. It’s the race that works out the order of merit for the year and is something that’s lodged in Australian heritage. All the best stallions in Australia have come through a Slipper campaign, and it’s the goal of every yearling buyer to get there,” said Kia Ora Stud’s Shane Wright.
Farnan's three runners in the Group 1 feature are a testament to the quality and depth of his first crop.
“We couldn’t be happier with how Farnan has started. North England won the Golden Gift earlier in the season and King Of Pop and Farcited quinellaed the Black Opal and are proving to be lovely colts,” Wright said.
“With North England, King Of Pop and Farcited all running in the Slipper, it’s a rare thing for a first season sire to have three live chances. It shows the quality of the stock Farnan has out there.”
North England put himself into Slipper contention early in the season, taking out the $1m Golden Gift and placing in the Group 3 ATC Breeders’ Plate on debut. He will jump from Barrier 9 with Tim Clark aboard for Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott.
North England is joined by Farnan’s second highest-priced yearling — $800,000 King Of Pop, who showed his hand at just the right time for trainers Gerald Ryan & Sterling Alexiou, claiming the Group 3 Black Opal Stakes in track record time earlier in March.
$1,200,000 colt Farcited — part-owned by Kia Ora and Farnan’s highest-priced yearling, lines up with the hopes of emulating his sire in the Group 1 feature, but what makes his presence on course tomorrow even more fitting is that his dam, I Am Excited, won the Group 1 Galaxy on this day back in 2020.
He too is trained by Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott, who are no strangers to Slipper success with Waterhouse winning the G1 Golden Slipper a record seven times, including Farnan’s own win in 2020, and will line up three runners in tomorrow’s 69th edition of the race.
The whole team here at Kia Ora would like to wish the very best of luck to all of Farnan’s runners and their connections tomorrow. To contest this prestigious race is an achievement in itself, and time will tell if one of Farnan’s sons can stamp their name into the history books too.
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