Element Hill: A Risk Averse family affair

NATHAN EXELBY

TYPHOON Tracy may sadly no longer be with us, but her feats were the catalyst for the Hutchins family’s Element Hill becoming a serious player in Australia’s bloodstock market

Typhoon Tracy, Australia’s Horse of the Year in 2009-10, was the result of John Hutchins and his wife Fu Mei’s first serious tilt in the bloodstock business.

The Peter Moody-trained mare retired as the winner of 11 races, six of them at Group 1 level, making it a dream entry at the pointy end of the market for the Hutchins.

A decade down the track, it has become a real family affair, with son Josh overseeing Element Hill’s broodmare and yearling portfolio.

Element Hill had its biggest milestone to date at the 2018 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, selling a Fastnet Rock colt from their stakes winning Encosta De Lago mare Risk Aversion for $1million to Tom Magnier and John O’Shea.

“We had never come close to selling a million dollar horse. We always thought he was going to make a bit of money, but if you asked me if he was going to make that, I would have said no,” Josh says.

“I THOUGHT 600, 700, MAYBE $800,000.

“It was nerve wracking. Bidding stalled at $800,000 for a bit. I thought ‘this is great’ but being so close, I just wanted it to get there.

“When Tom Magnier went bang, $1M, I just had a big smile on my face and it was a great experience.

“Magic Millions blew our expectations out of the water (in 2018). Not only him, but the other two horses that made $700,000 and $650,000. It was such a surreal sale for us.

“What we budgeted was about 20-30 per cent less than the aggregate we got.”

Element Hill sold 17 yearlings on the Coast last year for an aggregate of $5.175million, putting it sixth on the list of vendors by average (for 10 or more sold).

It was the coming of age for a farm that has only been fully operational since 2011.

The Element Hill property, which is next door to Glenlogan Park just outside Beaudesert in Queensland’s south-east corner, was purchased in 2009, against the recommendation of Hutchins’ long time bloodstock advisor Neil Jenkinson.

“Neil said I was a moron if I set up the farm, but said if we really want to and love it, go ahead, but I think you’re a moron,” John tells.

“It was always something I wanted to do.”Fu Mei said it was a lifestyle decision.

“We used to have a farm in Scone (Turangga), but the farm was down there and for us to be able to enjoy, we want to visit the farm often,” she said.

“If we want to have a real lifestyle, in touch with all of these animals, we would like to do it day by day. And more convenient travelling.”

It’s now easy for John and Fu Mei to commute between the Gold Coast and Element Hill, under which banner the family has sold for the past four years.

John Hutchins’ interest in racing dates back to his childhood.

“I came from a family where my mother’s brother was a trainer, he trained steeple chasers,” he said.

“And on my father’s side they were professional fishermen.

“On the holidays I would go to my cousins’ place and help in the stables.

“But we came from a situation where we could never race horses.”

After Hutchins enjoyed success in the business world, importing footwear into Australia, it opened the door for him to take a financial interest in the industry.

Originally, he was dabbling at the cheaper end of the spectrum, which he says Fu Mei wasn’t overly fond of.

“I like blue chips” Fu Mei confirmed.

Hutchins said he played at the lower end for a few years and virtually got out of the game before “Fu Mei said “if you’re going to have a go, have a go properly.”

So he did.

Hutchins sought the advice of Jenkinson, who orchestrated the deal to buy the mare that would deliver the Hutchins family the stuff only dreams are made of.

“If you’re going to spend a lot of money and don’t know what you’re doing it’s the quickest way to go broke,” John says. “So you need a good honest agent and (Neil) had that reputation.

“We went to a few sales and the prices were ridiculous at that particular time. You couldn't buy young mares or fillies.

“So we decided to have a crack and buy an older mare.

“Neil said at the time, he might be able to get the best possible one you could think of. It was Tracy’s Element. She had the pedigree and performance.

“They (Vinery) were going to have a dispersal sale but Neil said ‘I think for the right price you might be able to buy Tracy’s Element.’

“So backwards and forwards … and Neil said no mucking around here, give them the price they want and don’t argue otherwise they would put it in the dispersal sale.

“They came back with a figure of $1 Million. That was a bit of a shock and a big figure.

“Fu Mei doesn’t like to pay full price and said we’ve got to bargain.

“Neil said there would be no bargaining.“The people at Vinery said that was the price and that’s it.

“It went backwards and forwards, they didn’t move and Fu Mei said ‘I must have a discount.’

“They came back and said they would give us a free service to Red Ransom.

“That was $60,000 at the time, so Fu Mei had a win and said ‘if you don’t ask, you don’t get.’

“That service gave us Typhoon Tracy.”Fu Mei smiles knowingly at how the deal transpired.“She was the freebie,” Fu Mei says of Typhoon Tracy.

Tracy’s Element was carrying Red Element when she was purchased and he was later sold for $1million to stand at Glenlogan Park Stud, so despite the big up-front fee, she proved an astute investment.

Around the same time, the Hutchins’ bought the Group 1 winners Bonanova and Danendri and Risk Aversion’s mum Subterfuge.

“We bought the older mares with the idea of breeding fillies and building up that way,” Hutchins said.

“We got four daughters from Danendri, three daughters from Bonanova and four out of Tracy’s Element.”

Typhoon Tracy made it seem all too easy.

Josh remembers going to Rosehill the day she won her first Group 1, the Coolmore Classic, and just expecting to win.

“I was only young at the time, very new to the horse game. It was quite surreal because you went there expecting to win Group 1s,” he said.

“Now I look back and I’m trying to win a maiden at Ipswich and I cheer!

“To have that going around, going to the races just expecting to win a Group 1 was just incredible.

“Now I know it’s hard to win any race, let alone a stakes or Group 1 race.”

Tragically, Typhoon Tracy died while giving birth to her first foal, a colt by Street Cry later named Last Typhoon, who won two races before retiring to stud.

John and Fu Mei were holidaying in Croatia when they received news of Typhoon Tracy’s death.

“IT WAS TOTALLY DEVASTATING TO LOSE HER,” JOHN SAID.

“Sir Patrick Hogan had told me some time earlier, the really great time with a mare is breeding from her and seeing her foals. We missed all of that, which was unfortunate.

“We are lucky enough to have three of her sisters.“She was at Vinery and is buried at Vinery.”

Josh’s brothers work in the footwear side of the business, but Josh decided to make a career out of the horse side of the family business.

“It was never my intention of doing this, but it came to a stage where there was a sizeable investment in the horses,” he says.

“As soon as I finished high school I went and worked at Coolmore for eight months and then worked for Duncan Grimley at Glastonbury for six months.

“I learnt a lot off both farms. It was a great experience. I saw how it works at a big factory and then a smaller operation.

“I then went to Uni for three years studying commerce, majoring in finance and accounting and came straight here (to Element Hill).”

Element Hill has about 40 mares on the books at any given time and gets a rest during the breeding season, when the horses are transferred to another property in the Hunter while they are being covered.

“The horses themselves have the best of everything, whether they are here or in the Hunter,” Josh said.

This year the broodmare band has been bolstered with new purchases like Pasar Silbano (the dam of Zousain), My Amelia (dam of The Mission), Amelia’s Dream and Dizelle.

“From those mares we will obviously hope to get fillies and we will keep those,” Josh said.

"Our investment in more expensive mares will fall away and we will rely on the daughters of the good mares we've got and hope they can be black type horses themselves.”

Element Hill has a draft of 16 headed to the 2019 Gold Coast Magic Millions Yearling Sale, with progeny by stallions including Redoute’s Choice, Snitzel, I Am Invincible, Zoustar, More Than Ready and young stallions Exosphere and Pride Of Dubai.