Pierro Pinhooker Brings Strong Draft

GOLD COAST, Australia–David Kobritz, a property investor and developer based in Victoria, has been a longtime successful racehorse owner, having plundered Australia's two most prestigious prizes, the G1 Melbourne Cup and the G1 Golden Slipper, in the early 90s, but Kobritz admits it is the pinhooking of 2-year-old Triple Crown winner Pierro (Aus) at Magic Millions that really put his Musk Creek Farm on the map. Pierro was an early marker of success in Kobritz's selling plan to supplement his annual draft of homebreds with a few pinhooks, and this week Musk Creek brings a draft of 14 to the Gold Coast: nine homebreds and five pinhooks.

“We do pinhooking to supplement the draft, particularly by stallions that we think may be popular that we didn't visit that particular year,” Kobritz said. “We started pinhooking when we first bought the farm. That first year we had 70% fillies so we decided we'd better buy a few colts to even out the gender.”

Kobritz picked up Pierro for A$115,000 out of a Darley cull at the Magic Millions National Weanling Sale in 2010, and seven months later pinhooked him for A$230,000 to Gai Waterhouse. The dark bay colt would go on to sweep the Sydney 2-year-old Triple Crown of the Group 1 Golden Slipper, Sires' Produce and Champagne S., and trained on at three to win the G1 Canterbury S. and G1 George Ryder S. He is now shaping into a successful young sire, with his first crop three, for Coolmore.

“He was a great-looking weanling and grew up to be a cracking-looking colt,” Kobritz recalled. “On pedigree and looks he looked more like a 3-year-old miler than a 2-year-old Golden Slipper horse, but Gai Waterhouse bought him and that turned him into a 2-year-old, and the rest is history. That put the farm on the map very quickly.”

Based on the Mornington Peninsula in Flinders, Victoria, Musk Creek is a full-service farm that offers clients a range of services from agistment, foaling, sales prep and racehorse layup.

“It's a beautiful part of the world,” Kobritz said. “We have the ocean on one side and the bay on the other, and it's quite hilly country so it's great for raising young horses. We sit on 135 acres and have 30 mares. Our business plan is breeding as good of horses as we can and putting them to the market for sale. We improve our broodmare band year in and year out and try to buy three or four nice mares a year and perhaps sell three or four at the bottom end. Definitely the business plan is to breed nice horses and sell, and periodically we'll keep a share here or there. We don't mind racing as well.”

It was in fact early success as an owner that hooked Kobritz into the game. Five years after finishing university, Kobritz was contacted by a friend who was putting together a racehorse syndicate for 10 university friends. The horse went on to win nine city races including a Group 3 and a listed race.

“We were hooked,” Kobritz said, adding that his friendship with trainer Lee Freedman led him to campaigning Subzero (Aus), winner of the 1992 Melbourne Cup, and Danzero (Aus), winner of the 1994 Golden Slipper. When Danzero began to enjoy success as a sire, Kobritz said he decided to buy a few mares and use the shares he had retained in the stallion.

“Once it's in the system, it's there for good,” Kobritz said of his ever-evolving racing interests. “It's only cured by death.”

It is likely the best of this year's Musk Creek draft will be its last, an I Am Invincible (Aus) filly set to go through Saturday evening as lot 820. The homebred is the first foal out of listed-winning If I Can I Can (NZ) (Iffraaj {GB}).

“We have a very even draft,” Kobritz said. “The standout filly is lot 820, the I Am Invincible filly. She's a very neat, compact filly and the first foal out of a stakes-winning mare and has been very popular.”

Kobritz also pointed to lot 43, a Sebring (Aus) colt out of a strong Australian family, lot 389, a Street Boss colt bought for A$110,000 as a weanling, lot 425, a daughter of hot sire Not A Single Doubt (Aus), and lot 574, a son of More Than Ready, as standouts.

Kobritz said when it comes to pinhooking, he likes to spend between A$80,000 and A$120,000 on foals, but he is not afraid to go higher for a horse he loves. That was the case with lot 576, a son of first-crop sire Deep Field (Aus) bought for A$240,000.

“He's a cracking colt, out of a five-time winning Exceed and Excel mare and we thought he was an absolute standout as a weanling,” he said. “He's gone on as a yearling. We don't mind stretching the budget a bit if we can find the right type and hopefully they grow into a nice horse.”

“We had a nice [Deep Field] on the farm that was a homebred and we thought they'd be popular, and this horse was a standout as a weanling,” he added. “As I said we stretched the budget but we hope we'll make our money on him. Last year we sold a colt by Dundeel for A$500,000 and we paid A$220,000 for him as a weanling. He was such a standout weanling and most of the time the standout weanlings will grow out into standout yearlings. We've been fortunate that way but we just supplement the draft with stallions we think will be popular.”

Another Kobritz expects to be popular is Deep Field's Newgate Farm barnmate and fellow first-season sire Dissident (Aus). Musk Creek will offer lot 64, a colt bought for A$160,000 as a foal, and lot 562, a homebred.

“Dissident is by Sebring and Sebring is such a successful stallion,” Kobritz said. “[Dissident] was a strong, tough horse and his foals we had at the farm early days were very much stamped by him and also strong-looking foals, so we've gone back to him each year. We bought one as a weanling as well, we have one here, one selling in Melbourne and another for Easter in Sydney.”

Another first-crop sire among the Musk Creek pinhooks is Rubick (Aus), sire of a colt bought for A$110,000.

“The Rubick looks like a very early runner,” Kobritz said. “Physically he looks like he'll be an early 2-year-old.”

With the start of the sale beckoning, Kobritz said, “We run a relatively small operation but the aim of the game is to have quality horses that can grow into quality yearlings that we can bring to the main sales, and that hopefully continue winning on the track.”