The Aussie fighter of the horse racing world, Giga Kick, is four races away from becoming the biggest prize money winning racehorse of all time – not just in Australia, but worldwide.
And the remarkable thing is that as a young horse the vets couldn’t even get a catheter in him to relieve the immense pain of a colic attack.
So he was put aside at the vets because his owner, Jonathan Munz, expected him to die that day. Munz even called the trainer who would get the horse and told him he would be euthanized.
But when they checked him a little later, needle in hand, there was a fiery look of determination in the young horse’s eye that made them think.
From deathbed to a seat at the table of kings: Giga Kick (Number 12) is on track to become the biggest prize money earner in world history
So they postponed the procedure for a day. And 24 hours later, as if by a miracle, he got up, having stared death in the face, once from the colic, once from the vet.
Since then, Giga Kick has grown into a prodigious racehorse, defying not only death, but his humble pedigree.
At just three years old, he already ranks ninth on Australia’s All-Time Money Earning List, led by wildlife freak Winx with $26.5 million.
After his retirement, Winx was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall Of Fame.
She is also the highest-earning Thoroughbred of all time worldwide.
The wonder mare Winx (pictured) is the current highest prize money earner in racing history
Giga Kick has so far won $9.6 million following its Group 1 victory in Brisbane last weekend. He is now sent for a spell and returns with four targets in his sights and if he wins them he will climb to the top of the mountain.
These are: the $300,000 McEwan Stakes, $1 million Premier Stakes, $15 million Everest (strongly rumored to be worth $20 million this year), and $8 million Golden Eagle.
Because he is Australia’s best horse, he is the reigning favorite for all at the moment.
Currently, Giga Kick’s record stands at 10 starts, seven wins and two placements.
At the same age, Winx had a record of 10 starts, four wins, three placements for $636,500.
They are completely different racehorses, of course, as Winx could step up to 2200 meters, while Giga Kick could struggle past 1400 meters.
Aside from that, Giga Kick’s rise from low-bred beast to potential record-setter is arguably the greatest rags-to-riches story in Australia’s storied racing past.
Clayton Douglas, Giga Kick’s young trainer, with one of the horse’s winning riders, Jamie Kah, at the Oaks Dinner last November
His father, Scissor Kick, was so mediocre as a stallion that he was sold for a pittance to a farm in Tunisia. There he covers a few mares a year.
As for the Champion dam, Rekindled Applause, she was also low bred and never even raced. When Scissor Kick mated her she was 18 years old, way past the standard breeding age and in human terms she would have been 60 years old.
Giga Kick should therefore never have been conceived, should not have survived the colic attack and when it went to sale with a reserve of $20,000, its owner thought at the last minute: no, why keep him.
“When it came to designating Jonathan’s yearlings, we got to the last one – he was about number 39 – and that was Giga Kick. Jonathan said, “Give it up [Antony and Sam] Freedman to train,” and I said, “They don’t want a scissor kick,” said Rod Douglas, Munz’s race manager.
“He then said, okay, what about Grahame Begg?” and I said the same. I named Clayton Douglas and that’s the end of the story, it was the first horse Jonathan gave him.’
Clayton Douglas was then only new to the training ranks at 27 years old, and only had a handful of average horses on his books. He thought the bare-bones Giga Kick would fit very well.
And boy was he right.
His first-ever start was in a two-year-old girl worth just $19,000 to the winner and, ridden by Jamie Kah, took off from gate-rise and led them a merry dance to win by four lengths.
It had been an impressive debut, but no one could have foreseen what was to follow and what will unfold.
He raced again as a two-year-old, this time at Flemington, which is a huge step up in class from Sale, and won there by over a length.
Buoyed by this early unexpected success, Douglas spelled hemk and then brought him back as an early three-year-old.
He won two races within his age group, meaning he was four out of four when the world’s richest turf race, The Everest over 1200m at Randwick, loomed.
Owner Munz, a tycoon who owns a stud farm and recently bought a mansion in Toorak for $14 million, told Douglas to give it a try.
Despite being undefeated, his victories in limited numbers were nowhere near worthy of being in the same league as, say, the favorite in The Everest, Nature Strip who had been to England earlier this year, beat the best in Europe and came home as fastest sprinter on the planet.
So Giga Kick was an outsider. “His wins were in weaker races, but he was running very fast times late in his races, so we were shy of the stumps. For that money, who wouldn’t?’ Douglas said.
Craig Williams and Giga Kick (both pictured) made an unbeatable combination and will both try to shatter the world prize money this year
The superstar speedsters took off and he followed him until they turned home. Calling on his late-race rallying ability, he dove and came in with a dizzying burst of speed late, claimed Nature Street and the rest of the field near home and won.
He will be a year older, stronger, tougher and faster when The Everest comes in October.
Over the past 12 months, Munz has expanded his business with young trainer Douglas and has four in his stable.
“It’s still hard to believe all this is happening,” Douglas said.
“He could have gone through the Scone sale pretty easily and it would have changed someone’s life, a little dude would have gotten him for less than $20,000.
“And that’s normally Jonathan’s way. He usually sells geldings and Giga Kick is a gelding.’
If Phar Lap and Seabiscuit and Secretariat can get their travels on the track turned into a movie, Giga Kick could definitely qualify if he skips them all on the prize money list later this year.