Vinery Stud has further strengthened its stallion roster for the 2026 breeding season with the arrival of Kia Ora Stud’s exciting trio of Farnan, Captivant and Tropicus, joining resident young sire sensation Ole Kirk.
Headlining the newcomers is Golden Slipper-winning champion Farnan, described as the most credentialled Champion 2YO colt in more than a decade.
Already the sire of 10 stakes performers, including eight from his first crop, Farnan was crowned Champion First Season Sire by winners and stakes performers before progressing to lead the Second Season Sires’ premiership by winners and prizemoney.
His headline performers include Ninja, a four-time winner highlighted by victories in the Hobartville Stakes and Vo Rogue Plate, while also finishing runner-up in the Magic Millions 3YO Guineas.
Profoundly added further black-type success by winning the Adrian Knox Stakes, before placing in the Australian Oaks, Kembla Grange Classic and Reginald Allen Quality.
Farnan has also been represented by stakes placegetters King Of Pop in the Black Opal Stakes and Kindergarten Stakes, North England in the Kindergarten Stakes and Golden Gift, plus Recuperato in the VRC Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes and Blue Sapphire Stakes.
Champion Australian two-year-old of the 2019-20 season, Farnan retired to stud in 2021 and, from 125 runners to race, has sired 60 winners at a strike-rate of 48 per cent, including five stakes winners, with progeny earnings exceeding $8.1 million.
On the track, Farnan won five of eight starts as a two-year-old and earned more than $2.5 million, highlighted by victories in the Golden Slipper, Todman Stakes, Silver Slipper Stakes and the Magic Millions 2YO Classic at Wyong.
By Not A Single Doubt, Farnan retired with a Timeform rating of 122 after becoming Australia’s highest-earning colt by his sire. Purchased for $550,000 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, his own yearlings have sold for as much as $1.2 million.
Already established at Vinery, Ole Kirk continues to build an outstanding record. The reigning Champion First Season Sire by earnings and stakes winners has already produced six individual stakes winners and remains the leading Second Season Sire by stakes winners.
Commercial demand for Ole Kirk continues to grow, with his yearling sale averages increasing by 24 per cent from 2025 and a 91 per cent clearance rate across this year’s Magic Millions and Inglis Easter Yearling Sales. Across three crops, his progeny have grossed more than $33 million in the sale ring.
Free of Danehill blood, Ole Kirk is by Written Tycoon from a full sister to Black Caviar and a half-sister to All Too Hard, making him one of Australia’s most attractive outcross stallions.
Joining Farnan at Vinery is Captivant, the highest Timeform-rated Group 1-winning son of Capitalist and the only Group 1-winning son of the sire to stand at stud.
Captivant announced himself with victory in the Victory Vein Plate on debut before featuring prominently through the 2021 juvenile Triple Crown. He later earned a Timeform rating of 121 as a three-year-old and is already the sire of promising juvenile Vantorix.
Completing the new arrivals is Tropicus, described as the fastest and highest-rated sprinting son of Too Darn Hot after his victory in the Group 1 Oakleigh Plate.
The Oakleigh Plate has long been recognised as a stallion-making race, with past winners including Snitzel, Fastnet Rock and Starspangledbanner. Tropicus is the only progeny of Too Darn Hot anywhere in the world to earn a Timeform rating of 120 or higher over 1200 metres or shorter.
He also carried the highest weight to victory in the Oakleigh Plate since the introduction of weight metrics in 1973 and is the highest-rated colt to win the race in the past decade.
Out of a Group-performed daughter of Exceed And Excel, Tropicus made an immediate impression when winning on debut over future stakes winners Bridal Waltz and Too Darn Discreet before developing into one of Australia’s most exciting sprinting colts.
