FOLLOW KOBIE O'BRIEN'S KO RACING
By Graham Potter | Tuesday, November 7, 2023
KO RACING - THE BACK STORY
When a crowd of young racing enthusiasts erupted in the grandstand at Eagle Farm as Nikau Spur stormed to victory on the final Saturday of last season, the scenes of joy epitomized the pleasure of racing in an ownership group with like-minded mates. The fact that Nikau Spur carried the now highly distinctive colours of KO Racing to the KO brand its fiftieth success gave the win extra meaning, but, in truth, while achieving a landmark victory was very satisfying for the KO team, it, more importantly, gave them another opportunity to demonstrate that if you bring the right attitude to the game … as KO Racing does … it can give you so much in return. HRO’s Graham Potter asked Kobie O’Brien, the principal of KO Racing, about the back-story of KO Racing and how his syndication business has evolved. Read more ...
THE MIDWEEK INTERVIEW - WITH KOBIE O'BRIEN (09/08/23)
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The five-year-old chestnut mare Vonzither made it back-to-back wins when she took out a BM65 Handicap over 1100m at Toowoomba on November 11.
The daughter of Toronado had saluted by the narrowest of margins in her pervious start (in a Ratings Band 0-58 Handicap over 1200m) while still under the care of trainer Wayne Nugent, and she continued her good work here when scoring in her first start for the Corey and Kylie Geran training partnership.
Coming into the race on the back of that win, Vonzither jumped at a generous starting price of $5, while another last start winner, the Steve Tregea trained Quackery and the Robert Lyford trained Rose By Design (who had run third at Doomben in her last start) topped the betting boards at $2.30 and $2.80 respectively in the six horse field.
Jockey Gary Geran arguably made the race winning move on Vonzither a couple of strides after the start when he speared his mount into an immediate lead after which he controlled the race, holding a two to one-and-a-half lead all the way to the approach to the home turn. Read more ...
VONZITHER CARRIES ON HER GOOD WORK (NOVEMBER 11, 2023)
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The Little Dance, a race worth $750 000 over 1500m at Randwick on November 7 was always going to be a mouth-watering prospect for trainers Corey and Kylie Geran and the host of connections of the six-year-old gelding Without Revenge who was a recent addition to the team having been purchased by Kobie O’Brien.
The team arrived with little fanfare at Randwick. In fact, you could say they were hardly noticed and certainly not respected in the preamble, to the degree that Without Revenge was roundly neglected in the betting (he would jump at a starting price of $201) but everyone soon found out that Without Revenge was not there to merely make up the numbers and just go around.
He was there to shake up the pre-race thinking and … win, lose or draw … he was intent on laying down the law to his opposition, which included the $3.50 race favourite Cotehele (John O’Shea / Nash Rawiller) and runners from the yards of Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, Bjorn Baker and Kris Lees … amongst other.
Without Revenge, the only Queensland representative in the race, had to jump from the visitor’s draw (barrier draw fifteen out of twenty), but jockey Tom Sherry and the Geran team had only one thing in mind for Without Revenge on leaving the gates. Read more ...
WITHOUT REVENGE (A $201 CHANCE) GIVES THE LITTLE DANCE A REAL, SHAKE, RATTLE AND ROLL (NOVEMBER 6, 2023)
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THIS IS GOING TO BE EXCITING
The Corey and Kylie Geran stable have been very busy … and tomorrow at Randwick they will step up to feature race action at Randwick for the first time when the six-year-old import Without Revenge, who will be having the first start for the Geran yard, steps out in the $750 000 Little Dance over 1600m.
Busy in that in the last couple of weeks the Geran Team have qualified two runners, Jack Be Luck and Vinasta for the $200 000 Country Cups final and the $105 000 Country Stampede Final respectively.
Both of those races will take place on December 2 at Doomben, evidence that the stable continues to target the best options available for their team.
But, for now, that big day out at Doomben will be pushed aside for the moment as an even bigger adventure beckons.
The surrounds of Royal Randwick will be the focus of attention when Corey and Kylie Geran saddle up a newcomer to their stable in the form of the former David Vandyke trained Without Revenge, who was purchased by KO Racing’s Kobie O’Brien after the son of Muhaarar had finished second in the Lismore Cup, a result which galned him entry into the Little Dance. Read more ...
WARMING UP FOR THE LITTLE DANCE (NOVEMBER 6, 2023)
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SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT
Talk about taking no prisoners!
The Corey and Kylie Geran trained Vinasta might have missed out (when finishing third) in the Country Cups Challenge Qualifier / Tara Cup Open Handicap over 1400m (held at Dalby) last time out, but the ever-game, now eight-year-old mare is something of a gift that keeps on giving for the Geran stable and her ownership group who race in the Kobie O’Brien’s KO Racing colours.
It didn’t take long for Vinasta to set the record straight and she did so in the most emphatic terms when she tackled the Country Cups Challenge Qualifier / Wondai Cup Open contest on October 21.
Stepping up in distance to the 1577m, Vinasta, under Gary Geran, could not have been more clinical in the way he went about his business … from start to finish.
Pushed out by Geran from the worst of the draw (barrier ten out of ten), Vinasta, the $5.50 third favourite, was quickly right up with the speed, crossing under a great ride to fill second place briefly before settling into third spot as the $3.30 favourite Portnoy led the field past winning post for the first time.
When the field emerged out of the dust cloud going down the back straight, Portnoy still held the lead with Vinasta holding the inside run in the trio of horses racing a couple of lengths in behind the leader. Read more ...
VINASTA - A GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING (OCTOBER 21, 2023)
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SECONDS ALL AROUND
Make no mistake, trying to land a spot in the Country Cups Challenge final is a tough task.
KO Racing and the Corey and Kylie Geran training partnership brought a three-pronged attack to that game on October 7, sending Torbreck out to the contest the Country Cups Challenge Qualifier / Eidsvold Cup Race-day and doubling up with Vinasta and Sammy in the Country Cups Challenge Qualifier / Tara Cup Raceday, which was rescheduled to take place at Dalby after, according to a Racing Queensland media release, ‘Ongoing hot and dry conditions - with no rain - have made the Tara track unsuitable for racing.’
At Dalby, the $2 favourite Office Jim was prominent from the break, settling in a clear second place behind the tearaway leader Parko ($9), while Vinasta ($6) took the trail in fourth and Sammy raced well back, some six to seven lengths off the leader in the early part. Read more ...
QUALIFYING FOR THE COUNTRY CUPS CHALLENGE FINAL IS NOT AN EASY TASK (OCTOBER 7, 2023)
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COULD BE MORE TO COME FROM THIS ONE
The lightly raced four-year-old mare Awesome Moon became the latest winner in the KO Racing colours when she claimed her first career victory in her eighth start in a Maiden Plate over 1890m at Toowoomba on September 30.
Awesome Moon could not come from a better line on the male side of her pedigree. Her sire, Satono Aladdin, was a top-class racehorse in Japan where his eight victories included a Group 1 success in the Yasuda Kinen.
That win in the Yasuda Kinen, as described in a report in the South China Morning Post, took the Yasutoshi Ikee-trained stallion from a ‘million dollar baby’ to a Group One winner, the article referencing the fact that, ‘Satono Aladdin was the first horse Ikee bought for high-profile owner Hajime Satomi, who paid ?136,500,000 (HK$9.52 million) for the well-bred foal by Deep Impact out of the stakes-winning Storm Cat mare Magic Storm at the 2011 Select Sale.
Deep Impact, who won the Japanese Triple Crown in 2005, in turn was sired by Sunday Silence who won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness in 1989. Read more ...
AWESOME MOON WINS LIKE A GOOD THING (SEPTEMBER 30 2023)
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SO NEAR AND YET SO FAR
The Corey and Kylie trained Nikau Spur had certainly earned his stripes coming into the Toowoomba Cup, his big home-town feature race which was contested over 2000m on September 23.
Carrying the distinctive KO Racing silks, the seven-year-old son of Proisir had won three of his last four starts prior to facing the starter in the Toowoomba Cup.
Those wins had come over distances ranging from 1815m to 2200m, so the Cup distance fell neatly within his comfortable stroke zone and bookmakers were not keen to chance their arm with him, sending him off as a clearcut $2.50 favourite after being punted in from $3.80 … with only two other runners in the fourteen horse field … Heleva Deel ($8 – a last start winner at Eagle Farm) and Namazi ($9.50) – the Townsville Cup winner) quoted at odds under $10.
There was a jockey change on Nikau Spur. There was nothing sinister in that as Mark Du Plessis, Nikau Spur’s regular pilot, was unavailable, so Ben Thompson, another top rider, was handed the reins.
Nikau Spur was surrounded by horses in midfield as the runners passed the winning post for the first time. Thompson then briefly settled him in seventh place as the field left the home straight with the $13 chance Military Gamber, who Damien Thornton had pushed forward from a wide draw, coming across to take up the lead.
Nikau Spur was caught three wide at that stage, and he was briefly as much as five lengths behind Military Gambler as the leader got on with it, taking the field towards the back straight. Read more ...
NO CIGAR, BUT ANOTHER STRONG SHOWING BY NIKAU SPUR FINISHING RUNNER-UP IN THE TOOWOOMBA CUP (SEPTEMBER 23 2023)
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THE EXCITEMENT OF A HOME TOWN CUP
It’s home-town Cup-time for the Corey and Kylie Geran training partnership and the betting says they are in the pound seats with the in-form Nikau Spur marked up as dominant favourite for the big race.
Early in the race-week, co-trainer Corey Geran spoke to James O’Shea on Racing Nation about Nikau Spur and his feelings going into the race. Geran’s informed comments are repeated below.
On the excitement and anticipation of the occasions:
“To come into this race is a big thrill in itself, but to come in as favourite is pretty special. The only one thing that can beat that most likely is winning it.
On the path Nikau Spur has taken to the Cup:
“If you’d asked me about it a few months ago I would have been pretty sceptical. We sort of bought this horse for the Rocky Cup. That was the original plan … a few Cup races like that.
“Kobie O’Brien picked him out. I didn’t mind him when said he had bought him. I wasn’t overly sold on him to be quite honest … and then I got him here and he is a magnificent horse. He is a beautiful looking horse. He has got a great nature on him.”
On the feedback received on Nikau Spur’s profile prior to coming into the stable … the change and how the change came about. Read more ...
TAKING AIM AT A HOME-TOWN CUP (SEPTEMBER 21 2023)
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GALLWAY HUSSLER ON A ROLL
A good break at the start and a quick forward move straight into a comfortable rails run in second place three quarters to half a length behind the early leader Approval ($5) was all the $2.50 favourite Galway Hussler needed to set up yet another victory for the KO Racing ownership and the Corey and Kylie Geran training partnership. … this time in a QTIS Three-Year-Old BM60 Handicap over 1200m at Dalby on September 16.
Gallway Hussler would not have been short of confidence coming into the race the three-year-old filly had already won two of her three starts this season, but the Geran Team was testing her rate of progress yet again, increasing the distance test from 1100m to 1200m while also asking the daughter of Husson to carry 2kg more than she powered home with in her previous, last start win at Gatton … going up to 59kg from 57kg. Read more ...
GALWAY HUSSLER CLAIMS HER THIRD WIN IN FOUR STARTS SINCE THE START OF THE NEW SEASON (16/09/23)
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GOING FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH
Three wins and one third place finish in four starts over a six-week period (from July 29 to Sep 9) … all at Saturday metropolitan level … has seen the career of the Corey and Kylie Geran trained and KO Racing owned Nikau Spur go into turbo-charge mode and take off on an exciting new trajectory.
That run of results, rubber stamped by his latest win at Doomben on Saturday, September 9, has brought just shy of a $150 000 boost to Nikau Spur’s prize-money-earnings bank balance, which means that, with a career earnings total of $321 507, he is already well on his way to doubling the money he earned in eighteen starts for the Ciaron Maher and David Eustace camp, prior to transferring the Geran stable, after only ten starts for the Geran team.
Nikau Spur won four races for Maher/Eustace up to 1600m and he was only tried beyond that 1600m trip once, at 1700m, during his time down south.
Corey and Kylie Geran followed that lead for Nikau Spur’s first six starts for the stable … not venturing beyond 1666m … until what was to become a transformative run when they asked Nikau Spur to tackle 1815m at Eagle Farm in a BM78 Handicap on July 29, which he won. Read more ...
THE NIKAU SPUR STORY JUST GETS BETTER AND BETTER (09/09/23)
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THE 'HUSSLER' AMBUSHES THEM
The Corey and Kylie Geran trained Galway Hussler overcame a bungled start and a six-length early deficit to pulverize her opposition in no uncertain terms, laying it down to them in the straight before powering away to win every bit as easily and impressively as the official three length winning margin suggests in a QTIS Three-Year-Old BM60 Handicap over 1100m at Gatton on September 7.
The three-year-old daughter of Husson took five starts to shed her Maiden ticket, but she was a model of consistency before landing that first success, featuring in the placings in all four starts leading up to that win, which came over the 1000m trip at the Sunshine Coast.
Her follow-up run, when finishing fourth behind the smart Show Me Mercy (who is unbeaten in two starts) in a QTIS Three-Year-Old BM68 Handicap over 1000m, was always going to bring her on, if nothing else giving the lightly raced filly some necessary race experience so that, when she arrived at Gatton with that extra run under her belt and facing nothing like the strength of opposition she had tackle at her previous start, it looked like she was going to be right in this race.
Some of that level of optimism would have taken a hit when Galway Hussler (a $3.60 third favourite) blundered out of the gates, with Micheal Hellyer going up in the saddle and having to take hold a few strides into the race, a combination of factors which took the Geran trained runner back to last. Read more ...
GALWAY HUSSLER LULLS HER OPPOSION INTO A FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY. SMASHES THEM LATE (07/09/23)
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SECOND IS BETTER THAN THIRD
Ok … it wasn’t a case of ‘they came, they saw, the conquered’ … but it was just about as good an example you can get of someone giving the Birdsville Cup a real go to the point that, when you look back it, this is a second place of which connections can be proud.
Torbreck is the horse in question here … the Corey and Kylie Geran training partnership the trainers involved along with a large ownership group who race Torbreck under the KO Racing colours.
The trip …. as documented in a pervious article on HRO (see here) … is one steeped in optimism. Why else would you undertake a sixteen-hour journey with three horses, as the Geran team did, particularly when the answers to questions such as how the horses might be affected by the trip or how they would handle the prevailing track conditions on the day at Birdsville would only be known after the fact.
Of course, it is a great place to be with one of the biggest outback parties in the country, but you can do that without having horses in tow, so when you load them up your mindset has to include at lest a touch of optimism. Read more ...
THE ICONIC BIRDSVILLE CUP - WHEN FINISHING SECOND IS STILL A FEATHER IN YOUR CAP (02/09/23)
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REMEMBERING A GROUP 1 STAR
Remember Samantha Miss?
The Redoute’s Choice mare who raced for trainer Kris Lees in the orange colours with the black maltese cross and who won the Champagne Stakes (beating Sebring), the Flight Stakes (beating Portillo) and the Crown Oaks at Flemington (beating Miss Scarlatti) – all Group 1 wins – as well saluting in the Silver Shadow, the Furious Stakes and the Tea Rose!
Yes, that’s the one.
Samantha Miss banked 1.7 million in prize-money from her relatively brief career of only twelve starts which is a pretty useful return when you consider we are talking about races run and won in 2008.
The mare is now eighteen years old and those who have gone through Friday’s racebook for Birdsville might have spotted her name in the breeding as the dam of horse number six in race five – the Cory and Kylie Geran trained Sammy. Read more ...
SAMMY'S FAMILY BRAGGING RIGHTS (31/08/23)
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KO RACING HAVE TORBRECK AND SAMMY AT BIRDSVILLE
Birdsville bound and a chance to mix with five thousand or so of your new best friends at the country’s greatest outback horse racing party ... well, that’s a well-worn path for Gary and Kylie Geran, so much so that Kylie can’t tell you exactly how many times they have made the trip.
“Ah geez, I really don’t know how many times exactly,” said Kylie, speaking shortly after her and Gary’s arrival at Birdsville for the 2023 edition of the iconic event.
“We’ve been coming to Birdsville since about 1998. Corey was about two years old when we first came out here ... and, yeah, as an event nothing much has changed.
The Geran team has three horses involved over the two-day meeting this weekend but, even with all of their understanding of the Birdsville experience, Kylie admits that the decision-making process in deciding which of the stable runners to bring to Birdsville remains a difficult call.
“It’s really very hard trying to pick the right horse because of the possible effects of the travel might have on the horse and, at the time you are making that decision, you also don’t know what the racing conditions will be like on the day,” explained Kylie. Read more ...
BIRDSVILLE BOUND, CUP TARGETED. INSIGHT INTO WHAT THE TRIP INVOLVES FROM A STABLE WHO SHOULD KNOW (30/08/23)
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YOU CAN'T BEAT THE FEELING OF A GOOD CITY WIN
The win of the Corey and Kylie Geran trained Nikau Spur on July 29 and the horse’s subsequent close-up third place finish in his follow-up outing on August 12 had already kept the KO Racing’s colours to the fore in town giving the training/ownership team a good start to the season ... and it got even better at Doomben on August 26 when the self-same Nikau Spur made it two wins in his last three starts, taking out a BM90 contest over 2020m.
In spite of his consistency, Nikau Spur started at seemingly generous odds of $5 in a five-horse field ... with punters rather siding with the big stables of Chris Waller, who saddled the $2.70 favourite Wairere Falls with whom Nikau Spur had dead-heated for third place when they last met, and Tony Gollan, who sent out the $3.90 second favourite Fifth Position.
That would prove to be their mistake.
Nikau Spur’s pervious win had come over 1815m. Following that, his narrow defeat had come over 1835m ... and now the stable saw fit to step up the distance test to the 2020m trip with Mark Du Plessis, who had partnered Nikau Spur in all of his last three starts leading into this race, staying in the saddle, thereby giving his vote of confidence to the chestnut son of Proisir, and providing a presence, with his knowledge of the horse, which would serve Nikau Spur well.
From the break, Du Plessis settled Nikau Spur in second place on the back of Mubariz ($6) as the lesser fancied of the Chris Waller trained runner took the field along at little more than a dawdling gallop. Read more ...
NIKAU SPUR DOES IT AGAIN (26/08/23)
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ANOTHER BIG EFFORT FROM NIKAU SPUR
KO Racing’s Nikau Spur’s win on in town July 29 was a huge effort from the son of Proisir. The fact that it came off the back of an eye-catching third place finish at Ipswich ten days earlier strongly suggested that Nikau Spur was enjoying his racing and lifting his form in the right direction.
To win two-in-a-row anywhere though is no ‘gimme’ so when the Corey and Kylie Geran stable set Nikau Spur the task of chasing back-to-back wins in town on August 12, when stepping the chestnut up to a BM90 (from a BM78) and pushing the race distance out ever so slightly to 1835m (from 1815m), it was always going to be a tough assignment for the now seven-year-old, but, while the win did elude him, Nikau Spur did run out of his skin, to claim a highly creditable third place dead-heat, finishing just half-a-length behind the winner Tony Be, who carried 2kg less than the Geran Team trained runner. Read more ...
NIKAU SPUR - ANOTHER BIG EFFORT. DOING TEAM GERAN AND KO RACING PROUD (12/08/23)
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A WIN WORTH THE WAIT IS NOW ON THE SCOREBOARD
If any horse has been knocking at the door trying to open the way to his first win, it has been Galway Hussler.
in four starts as a two-year-old, the Corey and Kylie Geran trained daughter of Husson finished third, second and then third and second again … maybe not against the strongest of opposition, but nevertheless showing a level of consistency while learning her trade which suggested that a win was certainly on the cards.
The stable targeted a QTIS Three-Year-Old Handicap over 1000m at the Sunshine Coast on August 6 as Galway Hussler’s first run as a three-year-old and the run she produced here underlined the progress she has been making while getting to grips with the task of learning how to win.
Starting at double figure odds of $11 with Mark Du Plessis in the saddle, Galway Hussler began quickly before taking up a trail in third place a little over a length behind the two leaders in the early part.
Up to the bend and on straightening, Galway Hussler was back to fourth and now some two-and-a-half lengths off the lead and she lost a further length on the frontrunners in the first half of the straight as she took a while to start going through her gears.
Approaching the 200m mark, though, Galway Hussler significantly increased her tempo. Read more ...
GALWAY HUSSLER FINDS WINNING FORM (06/08/23)
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ANOTHER COUNTRY CUP GETS KO RACING'S SEASON OFF TO A WINNING START
The chestnut gelding Torbreck gave Kobie O’Brien’s KO Racing a winning start to the new racing season when he saluted in the Nanango Cup Open Handicap over 1600m on August 5.
The now six-year-old son of Sebring had won four of his fourteen starts since relocating the Corey and Kylie Geran stable (from the training partnership of Ben and JD Haye) prior to lining up for the Nanango Cup … and, in two of his last five starts coming into this assignment he was deemed by the stable to be good enough to be given his chance in town.
While he did not place in either of those outings at Eagle Farm, he also did not finish that far back so, given the overall respectability of his form-line it arguably would be fair to say he was over the odds when he jumped at a starting price of $12.
Not that that bothered the KO Racing’s connection in the least, and the fact that the bookmakers had got it wrong only added to the pleasure of the large group of owners whose celebration has become one of the trademark features of KO Racing.
Torbreck was brave because this was no ‘gimme.’ Read more ...
IT'S TORBRECK'S NANANGO CUP! (05/08/23)
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KO RACING'S FIFTIETH WINNER!
WHAT A WAY TO ROUND OFF THE SEASON.
Nikau Spur made a lot of ultra enthusiast owners very happy when he saluted in a BM78 over 1815m in town, at Eagle Farm, on July 29.
It was the KO Racing Syndicate brand’s fiftieth race winner and it came with the added bonus of a valuable city win which added a useful $42 700 to the prize-money earnings kitty.
Formerly with Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, the Corey and Kylie Geran trained New Zealand bred came into the race on the back of a close-up third placing in a Class 4 Handicap over 1666m at Ipswich just ten days earlier.
Mark Du Plessis was in the saddle that day, and he retained the ride here with Nikau Spur jumping at a starting price of an easy-to-back $17.
Nikau Spur settled just off the speed, in fifth some three lengths off the front-runner early. That became sixth place and five lengths back going down the back stretch, but Nikau Spur was always seemingly travelling well within himself with Du Plessis content to hold that position. Read more ...
NIKAU SPUR LANDS A BIG PUNCH FOR KO RACING (29/07/23)
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