Kubrick: The Winning Racehorse Turned Showjumper

Kubrick was described as “a racehorse with above-average ability”. He earned the compliment, as unlike most of the horses discussed in this feature, Kubrick won $1,165,550 from a career of 35 starts and six wins that went from 2019 to the end of 2022. In 2019, Kubrick won the $1,000,000 Bondi Stakes at Royal Randwick and was second in the JJ Atkins at Eagle Farm in Brisbane. Since retiring, he has turned his hand quickly and successfully to the sport of showjumping under the guidance of his former track rider and strapper, Shelley Simmons.

Kubrick was bred by and foaled at Two Bays Farm on the beautiful Mornington Peninsula. Certainly a lovely place to start life, Kubrick was then sold at the 2018 Inglis Yearling Sales for $250,000 to the Star Thoroughbreds Syndicate. From there, he was sent to Chris Waller to be trained and remained there until his retirement. He is named after the American filmmaker and photographer Stanley Kubrick, as someone formed an association with his sire, Shooting to Win (AUS) and the filmmaker. His breeding includes many well-known names, Encosta De Lago (AUS), Danehill (USA), Fastnet Rock (AUS) and Dr Grace (NZ) etc, but going to the breeding behind them shows not only the recipe for a good racehorse but also the ingredients for a successful sport horse. Over the years, several Thoroughbred stallions have put their heads above the parapet and gained a reputation for producing good sport horses. Northern Dancer and Sir Tristram appear on both sides of Kubrick’s pedigree. In fact, there seems no getting away from Northern Dancer in modern Thoroughbred breeding; he was, after all, the stallion of the twentieth century. Sir Tristram, we know produces jumpers, and Mr Prospector is all over the place in Shooting to Win’s pedigree. Mr Prospector (USA) has been described as “an outstanding producer of sires and broodmare sire, whose descendants have dominated the (American) Triple Crown.” He was enormously popular as a sire in the US despite having the reputation of passing on his poor conformation. But the fact remains that he appears in many Thoroughbred sport horse pedigrees.

Kubrick was foaled in 2016 and is by Shooting to Win (AUS), a male line grandson of Encosta de Lago (AUS), out of a mare by Fastnet Rock, which in turn is out of a mare by Dr Grace (NZ), who is by Sir Tristram. If you needed justification in his breeding to purchase Kuby (stable name) as a sport horse, you can easily find it. You can also find plenty of reasons to purchase him as a racehorse.

“When Kuby arrived at Chris Waller’s Gold Coast stables,” begins Shelley Simmons, “the stable foreman at the time, Paul Shailer, asked me to take this horse jumping and do something different with him. Chris is pretty big and is doing things differently with his horses. A lot of them will go into the middle of the track and do a bit of jumping and flat work. It stimulates their brains, especially the horses that are a bit older. Kuby had lost a bit of form in Sydney and had come up to the Gold Coast for a change of scene. Paul said, ‘go take him for a jump, and we will see if we can get his form back.’ I went out and jumped the logs and cavaletti out there, and when I came back, I said I loved him and wanted him when he retired. Brett Killion then became foreman and continued to make sure Kuby was happy and got his form back. I loved him from the start; he always showed great technique over a jump, and he was bold. A few months later, he started to perk up and got his good form back.

“He was five years old when he came to us, and I rode most of his track work and strapped him. He stayed at the Gold Coast, and after I left the stables, he went back to Sydney, then back up to the Gold Coast. He had a couple of starts on his return before they decided to retire him. Star Thoroughbreds and Chris Waller and then stable foreman Brett Killion are very good at retiring them when it is time, and they knew he had a forever home with me. They sent me an email asking if I still wanted him. I loved him and was going to take him whether he was going to be a performance horse or a paddock horse.

“I took him in November 2022 and gave him a three-month spell and just let him be a horse. Then I started working with him, and from the get-go he was just so professional. He had such a natural head carriage, and even at his first show in April 2023, he was so quiet and just jumped around the 65-70cm like he had done it his whole life. So many people could not believe that the Gold Coast Equestrian Jumping Day was his first show. He progressed really quickly, and we went down to the Thoroughbred Jumping Championships at Stonewall in NSW in November. He competed in the 90cm-1m Slipper, where he jumped clear rounds and took the big atmosphere down there in his stride.

“I am trained by Clem Smith and Becky Jenkins, so I am in good hands, and they both love Kuby, and Clem said, ‘why couldn’t you give me this one?’ He retired sound, but I managed him well, and he is happy with life. Clem and Becky think he will go far in the sport, but I would be happy to just jump around 1.20m and amateur classes. However, you never know. Kuby has a cocky attitude and is a very look-at-me horse. He is only 15.3hh, but he is very well put together.

One of Kuby’s owners lives in Main Beach (Gold Coast), and she visits him and watches him at shows. Star Thoroughbreds is still very involved and loves hearing about how their horses are doing after racing.
“I have my own (racehorse trainers) licence now and a couple of horses in work, and I ride for Lee Freedman and Glen Thornton. But I have a lot of support and will always make time to go showjumping. I am really going to go all out with Kuby at the Thoroughbred Sporthorse Association competitions.”

Article: Anna Sharpley.

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