Kali has made a fast and successful start to the second stage of her career after being denied the opportunity to show her true worth on the track.
The Darci Brahma mare’s first foal to race is The Oaks Stud-bred and sold Perfect Chaos, with the daughter of Hello Youmzain shedding her maiden tag in style with victory in Saturday’s Listed Wanganui Guineas (1200m).
She had placed in all four of her juvenile appearances for trainer Stephen Marsh before breaking through to add momentum to plans for a tilt at the Gr.1 Barneswood Farm New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m).
The Riccarton classic was unfortunately the race that spelled the beginning of the end of her dam Kali’s racing days.
She had won three times from Tony Pike’s Cambridge stable, including the Gr.3 John Grigg Stakes (1400m), before finishing sixth in the Guineas.
“Kali was a good mare and she started near favourite, but something went off in the gates, and she was bleeding from the nostrils when she came back,” The Oaks Stud general manager Rick Williams said.
“We never got her right after that, she was very talented and a beautiful mare and it’s nice that she’s kicked off with a stakes winner.
“She’s about to foal to Hello Youmzain again, we own shares in him and it’s the first stakes winner we’ve bred by him.”
A decision has yet to be made on breeding plans for Kali this time around.
“It will either be Hello Youmzain or Savaglee, I haven’t made up my mind yet, but it will be one or the other,” Williams said.
Perfect Chaos was offered by The Oaks at New Zealand Bloodstock’s National Yearling Sale, with Marsh and Dylan Johnson Bloodstock signing the ticket for $50,000.
“She was a beautiful filly but about two or three inches too small to make more money as a yearling, but she’s done a fine job now,” Williams said.
The Oaks has been sold by owner Dick Karreman to Tony Rider’s Milan Park, but it’s business as usual until the official changing of the guard from the beginning of the 2027-28 racing season.
“We will continue racing horses and we’ve got shares in Storm Boy, Savaglee, Hello Youmzain and Ace High, and we may keep a handful of mares to support those,” Williams said.
“We haven’t thought that far ahead, we will be selling yearlings as normal and we’ll work our way through it.”
Among The Oaks’ current racing team is Tajana, who will open her four-year-old season at Ellerslie this Saturday.
“We’re very, very happy with the way she has come up, it’s tough when they are up against the older horses, but I think she has made the physical improvement and she might do it better than some,” Williams said.
Trained by Shaune Ritchie and Colm Murray, the Darci Brahma mare has won four races, including the Gr.3 Sunline Vase (1400m) and Gr.3 Northland Breeders’ Stakes (1200m), and placed in the Gr.1 Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m). – LOVERACING.NZ News Desk
