Kia Ora Stud founder Percy Miller will join an elite group of breeders when he enters the Australian Racing Hall of Fame next Monday as an associate.

Miller was a breeding pioneer in Australia, establishing Kia-Ora Stud in 1914.

Kia-Ora produced 1925 Melbourne Cup winner Windbag and stood champion stallions Midstream and Delville Wood, horses which produced champions such as Hall of Fame galloper Shannon, VRC Derby & Cox Plate winner Hydrogen, and Melbourne Cup winners Delta and Evening Peal.

Breeders have been consistently recognised by the Hall of Fame selection panel since the concept’s inception in 2001.

That year, Widden Stud’s Thompson family were among five inaugural associates the join the Hall of Fame.

The following year, Segenhoe Stud founder James White entered the elite list, along with the Wootton Family, who left a lasting legacy on Australian breeding when Stanley Wootton imported the legendary sire Star Kingdom.

Jack and Bob Ingham entered the Hall in 2004 for their wonderful achievements in establishing the Woodlands Stud racing and breeding empire, while New Zealand’s Sir Patrick Hogan was recognised by the selection panel in 2005, with the Champion stallions Sir Tristram and Zabeel making Hogan’s Cambridge Stud a dominant force in Australasian racing and breeding.

Further to those breeders, William Inglis & Son was also inducted to the Hall of Fame in 2003.

Now Percy Miller will join that group.

After starting out as a successful businessman and a hobby breeder, Miller decided in 1914 – with just six mares – to try commercial thoroughbred breeding.

He purchased the cattle property Kia-Ora from the established Segenhoe Stud, just east of Scone and with manager Bert Riddle, he set about developing Kia-Ora as a fully operational horse stud.

By 1917, he was able to offer two yearlings at the Sydney Easter Sales; the start of a sustained and most remarkable breeding record.

In the same year a horse called Magpie ran second in the English 2000 Guineas and eventually came to Australia where he was acquired as a stallion by Percy Miller.

Over the next decade Magpie became one of Australia’s leading sires producing many feature race winners at Kia-Ora, including Windbag, Amounis and Talking.

This became the pattern at Kia-Ora with a succession of successful sires standing at the stud farm.

Most notable of these were Midstream and Delville Wood who also became premiership winning sires and produced such champions as Shannon, Delta, Hydrogen and Evening Peal.

They were to leave a legacy in a superb brand of broodmares, but what was most remarkable about the record of Kia-Ora was the high percentage of winners that came off the property and the huge numbers of well grown yearlings that were sold off the stud.

This number peaked with 105 offered at the 1941 Sydney Easter Sales, helping contribute to the total of yearlings presented for sale between 1917 and 1949 of 2,862.

Bert Riddle was the manager through all these years but on his death in 1952, four years after Percy Miller, the stud was cut back by the family and finally dispersed in May 1959.

The stud has had a series of owners since that sale, with Champions like Gunsynd and Baguette having stood at the famous property.

The present owners took over the stud in 2000 and the Kia Ora name lives on today, recognised as one of the leading vendors at major yearling sales around Australia.

Recent success stories graduating off the farm include Australia’s Champion First season sire from last season, the dual Group 1 winner Exceed And Excel (Danehill-Patrona).

Kia Ora also sold the $2million Redoute’s Choice-Procrastinate yearling at the Inglis Easter sale in 2007 and at this year’s Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale, Kia Ora prepared She Will Be Loved for sale, where she made $2.4million.
(Source: Racing & Sports)