Kermadec joined a rare club when he won the Gr1 Doncaster Handicap as a 3YO, and the victory capped off a magical 3YO season for the son of Teofilo. A winner on debut over 1400m, Kermadec won the Gr3 Carbine Club Stakes at his third start in the Spring. Asked all the big questions in the autumn, the powerfully built colt responded with a fourth behind Wandjina in the Gr1 Australian Guineas, third against the older horses in the Gr1 George Ryder Stakes, and then victory in the Gr1 Doncaster Handicap.
Returned to the track as a 4YO, Kermadec proved his ability had grown with him when he won the Gr1 George Main Stakes in the Spring, and ran fourth in the Gr1 Caulfield Stakes behind Criterion. Three more Gr1 placings in the autumn (including second to Winx in the Gr1 George Ryder Stakes) all demonstrate Kermadec’s ability against the very best horses in Australia. All up, his four wins and many placings netted Kermadec nearly $3 million on the track.
“Kermadec was a horse of exceptional quality who was able to win a Gr3 on Derby Day at Flemington at just his third start. He went on to win two of the best Gr1 mile races in Australia with only the superstar Winx denying him a third win at the elite level,” said Darley’s Head of Sales Alastair Pulford.
Champion 2YO in Europe, and dual Gr1 winner Teofilo has become a force to be reckoned with at stud with 83 stakes-winners (sixteen of them Gr1 winners, including Happy Clapper, Humidor, Palentino, and Kermadec in Australia). Teofilo is bred on the same cross as Frankel, being by Galileo from a Danehill mare, and Kermadec’s female line brings in the superior Sunday Silence line as well.
Kermadec’s dam, Hy Fuji, was a superior racehorse herself with four wins up to 2400m including the Listed Tattersalls Plate. Aside from Kermadec, she has left stake- placed winner Good Winning at stud. Kermadec’s second dam, Hysterical, won eight races including the Listed Emancipation Stakes, and was several times black-type placed. As well as leaving Hy Fuji at stud, she is also the dam of Gr2-placed winner Mary Machree, dam of Gr3 winner Triple Elegance, and this is also the immediate family of Moss Trip, At The Heads, and Shoreham.
Kermadec’s weanlings fetched up to $75,000 last year, and buyers will get a good look at his first yearlings with 12 entered in the Magic Millions Gold Coast sale, nine yearlings in book one at the New Zealand Bloodstock yearling sale, 20 in the Inglis Classic yearling sale, plus a further nine consigned for Inglis Melbourne Premier.
