By Craig Kerry
Debbie Kepitis, the part-owner of Winx who paid a record $10 million for the racing legend’s first live foal, a filly, is daring to dream of an even greater legacy at stud for the champion’s first son.
And the multi-millionaire is not ruling out another bid to own a piece of it, if the Snitzel colt is put up for sale.
Winx with her Snitzel colt at Coolmore Stud.Credit: Fallon O’Kearney
Winx, the winner of more than $26 million on the track, including 33 consecutive races and 25 group 1s, gave birth to the colt last week.
The arrival of a son by Snitzel, a champion sire with a service fee of $247,500 and 21 group 1 winners among his progeny, has sparked speculation about what the colt could get at market – and what he could generate as a stallion if successful on the track.
The Winx ownership group of Debbie and Paul Kepitis, Peter and Patty Tighe and the family of the late Richard Treweeke are yet to decide what to do with the colt.
Kepitis, the daughter of Bob Ingham and niece of Jack Ingham, the brothers who built Australia’s largest poultry business and a racing and breeding empire, said whatever the decision, it would be “great fun”.
“It’s still a complete decision between all of us,” Kepitis said. “With the foal being born close to Christmas, we probably won’t get together until after Christmas, then we’ll have a chat then. But at the moment we just want them to grow and be healthy and go on from there.
“You never know. We may sell him, we may keep him. It’s all up for the vote.
“It was never an easy decision to put [the filly] up for sale, and it’s not going to be any easy decision with this boy.
“It’s always hard. How do you part with something that you are very proud of and love? That’s not an easy thing.”
Given the top sires in Australia demand $275,000 a service and can cover as many as 200 mares a season, the supremely-bred colt could one day make twice as much money each year at stud than his mother made in her whole record-breaking career on the track.
Winx’s Snitzel colt at Coolmore Stud.Credit: Fallon O’Kearney
“That’s the dream,” Kepitis said of the colt’s potential to become a sire. “We lived the dream with Winx, and you don’t do this game if you haven’t got a bit of a streak of wanting to dream things.”
If the colt does go through the sales, all eyes will be on Kepitis.
A director of the family company, Ingham Property, and estimated to be worth $320 million, Kepitis won a bidding war with American John Stewart to pay a record price for Winx’s Pierro filly in April this year.
As for speculation the colt might top the price of the filly, given the stallion potential, she said: “You wouldn’t know what he’d go for. I think we’d need John Stewart back again if we were going to get $10 million, but anyway.
“Look, that’s total speculation and I don’t go in for that. Once the decision is made, then we’ll have a bit more clarity.
“The market will say. It could be tight, something might go wrong, and it’s a tight market, and we don’t sell him. Or you sell him at a lower price than that, and you hope he does something. But there’s a lot of water to go under the bridge.”
Asked if she might try to secure the colt, if it goes to the sales, she said: “I’ve got to be careful, I went a bit overboard with getting the filly. But I’m very comfortable, and we love her dearly.
“And in a unique world, we’d love to own them all, but we can always be a part of it if we do sell him, or you can just be fortunate enough to watch his progress outside of ownership.
“It’s all up in the air, and it’s just fun. Great fun.”
Kepitis is yet to see the colt, at Coolmore Stud in the Hunter Valley, because her focus has been on the recent arrival of her third grandchild, and first grandson.
She said Winx was unlikely to be covered again this season, because of the late spring arrival.
As for her unraced filly, which is under the care of Winx’s trainer, Chris Waller, Kepitis hoped to have a name approved next week.
“She’s a Pierro, so we are giving her plenty of time,” she said.
“She’s back in pre-training, just doing a refresh, and will probably do a stable run-through in the next month or so, and Chris will go from there.
“He’s in charge of her, and we’re in safe hands, and looking forward to when she’s up to it to trial and possibly race.”
