After the Whistle

Words / Jim Tucker

After the whistle, some of our sports stars enjoy a zealous connection with the thoroughbred industry and the Magic Millions. Jim Tucker traces three fascinating tales

JONATHAN BROWN

Three-time AFL Premiership-winner turned owner

AFL Hall-of-Famer Jonathan Brown has lived the thrill of a Magic Millions racehorse all the way to the winning post. The three-time premiership winner with the Brisbane Lions is enjoying the time of his life as a part-owner of Snapdancer, the classy bay mare which won the Memsie Stakes at Caulfield in August.

That second Group One victory catapulted her past $2 million in prizemoney. It’s a dream return on the winning bid she attracted of $180,000 when presented as part of the Sledmere Stud draft at the 2018 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.

Brown was on course for Snapdancer’s big win in the Magic Millions Fillies and Mares (1300m) at the Gold Coast last January when the feature race carried a $1 million purse. “I’ve owned plenty over the journey but I’ve finally hit a bit of a purple patch over the past few years,” Brown said with relish.

“I was there live for the big one on the Gold Coast. It was so exciting. I was in a marquee about the 200 and watched her click into gear.

“I remember my old footy coach saying to me that the 30 seconds of winning a big race (as an owner) there’s probably no greater exhilaration he’s felt in sport.

“That was from Leigh Matthews, who won a TJ Smith with Sizzling (in 2012). For all he’s done in footy with premierships and so on (as a Hall of Fame player and coach), I thought how could that be real?

“I agree with him now. The exhilaration of seeing your horse hit the front in a major is unbelievable.”

It was footy which inadvertently led Brown into buying a share in Snapdancer. In retirement, he’d headed to Melbourne’s Balwyn Football Club to train for some fitness.

“It was to keep fit and share a beer. The boys at the club said they were getting into a horse and I said ‘no worries’ because they’d already had the Midas touch with Extra Brut (2018 Victoria Derby winner). Being part of a syndicate has made it even more fun,” Brown said.

JONATHAN BROWN

His love of the racing industry has always been there, even before the first kick of his decorated 256-game career for the Lions (2000-14). More particularly, it started with greyhounds which his family raced in Victoria.

“I’d put greyhounds in their boxes to race. Back in the day, I walked out a Warrnambool Cup winner (Another Currency),” Brown said with a grin. “That was my claim to fame as a 15-year-old, wearing a loose-fitting tuxedo and bow tie as a box attendant. I was king of the tuckshop at school the next day.

“My grandfather Kevin always had a great love of the horses. All through my youth and teenage years on Pa’s farm, with the framed horse racing photos up on the wall, I’d hear some of the great old racing stories of the 1940s through to the ‘70s. “Mum would regale me with stories of being dragged along to provincial race meetings instead of going to school. “That morphed into my love of the horses.”

Brown’s wife Kylie is a Gold Coast girl. They lived on the Coast during part of the time in Queensland which made the Magic Millions an annual social highlight.

Going to school in Warrnambool with respected trainer Ciaron Maher has always meant Brown has wise counsel in his corner. “I like to listen to the experts. (Former West Coast and Carlton captain) Chris Judd and I have a staying type in early training with Ciaron at the moment so we could have some fun at the Magic Millions in years to come,” Brown said.

HAMISH STEWART

Western Force rugby player and Oaklands Stud Co-Principal

Hamish Stewart isn’t talking about performing as a rugby player in front of 20,000 fans, although he has savoured highs as a footballer he’ll cherish for life.

He’s talking about the vibe of the Magic Millions Gold Coast and being immersed in the bloodstock-sales and racing pleasure of an event that gets bigger by the year.

Stewart, 24, experiences the Magic Millions from the inside through the family-owned Oaklands Stud which thrives on more than 400 hectares of fertile, undulating pastures outside Toowoomba. For years now, he’s enjoyed the thrill of walking wellpresented yearlings into the sales ring at the Magic Millions.

“Honestly, there’s no better event on the calendar than the Magic Millions,” Stewart said. “For a good two weeks, there’s a rush of raw energy and excitement that you don’t get anywhere else. That’s whether you are going to watch the races or you are a big vendor with 40 or 50 horses in the draft.

“You feel the buzz that people get who don’t even know a lot about horse racing but go there and watch. For me, it’s the thrill that goes with knowing all the hard work put into one of our born and bred horses. That’s from the moment a foal drops and you monitor a steady growth, weaning, branding, letting them be carefree in the paddocks and prepping them for the sales. It’s watching how the progeny of your stallion develop.” Like Risky Investment, the two-year-old colt sired by Power that was a firststart winner over 1000m at Eagle Farm in October. Or Gypsy Power, an all-ladies owned colt.

“There are limited periods I can be fully involved but I won’t be doing anything else when I finish footy. I love it. I walked my first horse at the Magic Millions when I was 12 or 13. Once you are born into horses, it’s in the blood,” Stewart said.

Centre-flyhalf Stewart is lacing on the boots with the Western Force this year after fruitful seasons with the Queensland Reds earned him a Super Rugby AU title in 2021 and Australia A games against Samoa, Tonga and Japan in 2022.

HAMISH STEWART

Other players put their feet up during the off-season. Stewart dives into the more physical aspects at Oaklands.

Hamish and older brother Alistair are Co-Principals beside proud father Neville, who has built an operation running more than 150 broodmares and 100 foals since he founded Oaklands Stud in 1979.

NEVILLE & HAMISH STEWART

Hamish has his collection of Magic Millions catalogues stored away yet there is no better text to read than absorbing wisdom out in the paddocks. “You might pay $2 million for the nicest horse in a catalogue and he won’t run for you. I do study bloodlines but, like in footy, sometimes you see a freak of an athlete where the risk and reward is tilted more your way. The horse might be a good walker, have fluent moves or another trait,” Stewart said.

“Dad is a pretty tightlipped so you need to be beside him in the moment inspecting a horse to pick up those gems of knowledge he’s learnt over decades.”

HAYDEN BALLANTYNE

Former Fremantle Docker turned trainer

Playing 171 AFL games for the Fremantle Dockers taught rising trainer Hayden Ballantyne plenty of lessons that relate to getting the best from his horses.

You can absorb every pointer on bloodlines from a Magic Millions catalogue but never underestimate what you see and feel with your own eyes at a parade of yearlings.

Western Australia’s up-and-coming trainer uses the analogy of playing for a decade beside two-time Brownlow Medal-winner Nat Fyfe. “Nat is an absolute superstar player but his brother can’t kick a footy. Just because they’ve got good pedigree doesn’t mean you get a superstar horse,” Ballantyne said.

“The breeding side is a good starting point but you need to see a horse in the flesh. The eye that an experienced trainer has from being in the game for 100 years is invaluable.”

Ballantyne, 35, is grateful that veteran trainer David Harrison is so unselfish in sharing astute insights from decades around Perth tracks and sales. “David is a bit of an uncle to me. He’s helping me learn the trade when it comes to picking horses and I’m developing an eye for the horses I like. We love getting around to all the studs before a Magic Millions sale to pick out some good horses I’ll bid hard for,” Ballantyne said.

HAYDEN BALLANTYNE

“I’ve learnt from him and others to build my own training process.” The high-energy forward was in his final season of AFL when he trained his first winner, Mankind, in 2019. The transition to the racing industry full-time with Hayden Ballantyne Racing has kept his busy equilibrium and avoided the post-footy void experienced by so many.

“You can get consumed by the day-to-day life of being a footy player. For me, getting to the stables was my outlet, a real gift. My little mate, Mankind, got me through the last few years of my footy career,” Ballantyne said.

“Having stepped out of playing senior footy for 15 years, I needed something to step into or I would have gone crazy.”

He’s a hands-on trainer as you’d expect and happy to ride the harder to handle thoroughbreds for the first week or two at his Karnup base, south of Perth. He has around 25 horses on the books, including multiple race-winner Vogue’s Choice, a mare sired by Patronize that was his first MM purchase. It’s named for his five-year-old daughter, Vogue.

Good nutrition and recovery translate directly from his elite footy know-how as does his focus on preparation and keeping his horses happy. “I get my satisfaction even before a horse jumps when I know I’ve ticked every box in getting them as fit and ready to race as I can. I really like the process. When they do win, it’s a huge reward,” Ballantyne explained.

He bought seven horses at the 2022 Magic Millions sales in Perth, three for individual owners and four to syndicate. He’s hoping to repeat the formula that put so many smiles on faces after She’s Greysful ran second in the Magic Millions WA 2YO Classic at Pinjarra in February.

“We were the first all-ladies horse home for the Magic Millions WA Racing Women’s bonus. There were more than 50 ladies who had a share in the horse as individuals or through syndicates. You could have heard them on the east coast when She’s Greysful was coming down the straight,” Ballantyne said with a smile.

“It was a great day and a really good way to be involved. You can own one per cent of the horse but share 100 per cent of the fun.”

Ballantyne’s own love of horses started early. Father Graeme, a long-time trainer himself, had his son in the saddle as a 12-yearold and provided the sort of racing fairytale we all love. The Ballantyne-trained Talent Show was first emergency for the 2013 Perth Cup, earned a late start and the daughter of Melbourne Cup-winner Jeune raced home as a roughie at $31. “My old Dockers teammate Nick Saban and I owned a quarter-share in Talent Show and we got on at $68,” Ballantyne said.

One of WA’s best young trainers is making his first visit to the Magic Millions on the Gold Coast in January.