WAIKATO stud STALLIONS 2023

Every generation writes the next chapter.

ARDROSSAN $10,000 + GST

I was young I couldn’t quite understand why he was selling horses and taking the money, but as I got older I recognised the need to trade horses and the opportunities for our family those trades created. Did he ever retain a good one?

His most successful horse was the first one I took a share in; I was always hanging out to turn 18, not so I could go to the pubs, but so I could own a racehorse!

He was called Alpha Pukeko (Catbird), Pukeko being a bird native to New Zealand, and he turned out to be a very capable sprinter who won six times and was Listed placed from 24 starts. He was a horse that provided our family with a number of thrills and while I already had an idea I wanted to pursue a career in racing and bloodstock in some capacity he was the horse that ensured the bug had well and truly bitten. That’s a brilliant piece of naming. Where to for you after school?

When I left high school I went to Massey University at Palmerston North where I majored in Animal Science. At that time I really didn’t know what I wanted to do, where I was heading or what the opportunities were out there in terms of the Thoroughbred industry so I chose a fairly broad degree. I was reasonably good at science and had an interest in biology so that’s why I chose Animal Science. It was a step down from Veterinary Science which I knew quite early in the piece I wasn’t at an academic level to succeed in, and to be honest I didn’t have the propensity to do that much study either.

It was only really in my final year of study that I became convinced that a career in Thoroughbreds was the direction I wanted to head. Undoubtedly one of the best things I did at the time was emailing Andrew Seabrook at New Zealand Bloodstock about six months prior to graduating, just asking if he could keep me on the radar going forward. That turned into a job opportunity in the Airfreight Department just as I graduated. It was a wonderful opportunity which turned out to be a nine year tenure in airfreight alone. As you can imagine it was a very logistics based role which created an excellent foundation for my career going forward. I met and befriended a large number of clients which provided an excellent springboard for when I eventually moved into the Bloodstock Department which is where I ultimately wanted to be.

You say the role was very logistics based, did you get to experience the kind of travel the horses had to undertake?

Occasionally I was able to travel on the plane and got to visit some amazing countries like Inner Mongolia, Singapore, mainland China and Hong Kong. Through that I saw some fantastic racecourses and farms and met some incredible people.

When did you make the jump from Airfreight to the Bloodstock team?

That opportunity arrived about five years ago and I moved from the Karaka office down to Cambridge to join Danny Rolston and the Bloodstock team. Working under Danny was fantastic and a time for which I will be forever grateful. I certainly learnt a lot working with Danny and grew enormously, both personally and professionally. Danny has an unbelievable grasp of the industry and was an incredible mentor. Over time we became great friends as well.

His move to work for the Hong Kong Jockey Club created an enormous opportunity for me and to be offered the role of Bloodstock Sales Manager was an honour and a very proud moment in my career so far.

How did you find switching from a logistics based role in airfreight to a more intuitive position around pedigrees and type in bloodstock?

As a young boy I had a passion for pedigrees and was always interested in looking through the Karaka yearling catalogues and the annual Stallion Register, so when I moved to the Bloodstock team I had a solid grounding in pedigrees. As it was a field I wanted to get to even when I was in the Airfreight department I tried to spend as much time as possible with the Bloodstock team, particularly learning more about conformation. Then, over the final few years in Airfreight, I was involved in the yearling selection meetings, as well as bidspotting at the sales, which made for a reasonably smooth transition into Bloodstock. In your relatively short time in the Bloodstock team which is the best horse you have been involved in the purchase of?

My claim to fame at the moment is purchasing this year’s Karaka Million winner Tokyo Tycoon (Satono Aladdin) as a weanling for an Australian based client. The client couldn’t make our Weanling Sale so he sent through an order for a racehorse and after narrowing the short list down to four or five horses we purchased him. He eventually had a change of heart and ended up selling him as a yearling, making a tidy profit and that’s how he came to be in the Te Akau Stable. Tokyo Tycoon is an exciting talent and I can’t wait for him to step out in the Spring.

What is the best part about being in the Bloodstock team?

There is always a new crop of horses to keep us excited but it has to be the amazing people that you come across from all walks of life - they make the industry what it is. The ability to chat with anyone in racing and have a common interest is great and when we see good people get a wonderful result that gives us immense satisfaction.

It has been well documented that the New Zealand racing industry has suffered greatly from a lack of funding, and by extension that has affected breeders. What effect do you see the recent partnership agreement between New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing and the Entain Group having on racing and breeding?

A partnership like that has been a long time coming and the promise of an increase in funding into the industry will be incredibly significant. New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing (NZTR) announced some very exciting across the board stakes increases recently and there’s no sugar coating it, they were desperately needed. That announcement has given people here in New Zealand the confidence to race a horse and will make breeding and racing far more commercially viable going forward. The stakes increases of over (NZ$) 20 million were well thought out and there is something in it for everybody, from maidens right through to some showpiece races. The new race for four year-olds on Karaka Million night is exciting and will certainly add further lustre to an already outstanding card. Real thought has been given into where they increase the stakes and have been especially mindful of turnover by promoting races that generate revenue. There is a lot of positivity in our industry looking forward riding on the back of those increases.

In the expectation that the increases will have a positive effect on the domestic market, how soon do you think we might see New Zealand buyers being able to punch that bit harder in the sale ring?

It was too soon to see any tangible uplift in the New Zealand spend at our recent Weanling Sale but I would like to think trainers will have increased confidence to step up at this year’s Ready To Run Sale and definitely Karaka 2024. I’m confident going forward that Kiwis will have more of a presence at future sales.

What do you see on the horizon for yourself and NZB?

Personally, it’s all about bedding into the new role then continuing to grow as part of NZB. This is an industry where you can continue to learn no matter how old you might be and I can see some massive scope for me to develop in this role.

In terms of NZB and the wider New Zealand bloodstock industry, I think our breeding side of things is in good shape particularly in terms of stallion strength. For a long time we have relied on Savabeel and he has been a phenomenal stallion for both New Zealand and the wider industry, but to have a horse like Proisir really put his hand up now is incredibly exciting. We have a number of proven stallions and a host of incredibly promising young prospects, so the future looks bright. The strength of stallions in New Zealand is as good as it has been for a very long time and that bodes well for our breeding industry as well as Karaka 2024 and beyond.

What advice would you give to someone entering the industry?

I’m sure it sounds obvious but be prepared to work hard and never be afraid to ask questions. Whether you are a total newcomer or have been in the industry for a lifetime there is always something new to learn, so ask away and soak up as much knowledge as possible.

The other piece of advice would be to have integrity and to protect it as if your life depends on it. It can take a lifetime to build a good reputation but just seconds to lose it, so be honest with people and just act with integrity.