The Thoroughred Magazine - Spring 2009

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A U S T R A L I A’ S R A C I N G A N D B R E E D I N G M A G A Z I N E

AUSTRALIA’S RACING AND BREEDING MAGAZINE

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THE MORTON LINE Scenic route adds Group 1 gloss to a family’s record

IF I RAN RACING Insiders tell what they would change

SUCCESS & SUCCESSION VO L . 2 N O.4 SPR I N G 20 09

Sir Patrick Hogan on Cambridge Stud

THE CUP VISITORS ... and why one stayed at home

thethoroughbred.com.au

TAKE A BOW Hugh Bowman on success, and on a life that is ‘not quite reality’

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Inside 4 A WINNING BLUEPRINT

Racing should note the AFL’s successful governance: Editorial by Geoff Slattery.

6 IF I RAN RACING ...

Passionate and knowledgeable industry players tell Adrian Dunn what needs fixing.

14 THE PREMIER JOCKEY Horseman Hugh Bowman is riding high on the Sydney stage, writes Jessica Owers.

18 THE MORTON LINE Andrew Carter tracks the successful – and Scenic – route taken by trainer Dan Morton.

24 WEIGHING UP THE COST The European horses are a key part of the Melbourne Cup story each year, whether they come or whether they stay at home, reports Emma Berry.

PUBLISHED BY: The Slattery Media Group MANAGING EDITOR: Geoff Slattery EDITOR: Stephen Howell CONTRIBUTING EDITOR: Danny Power ART DIRECTOR: Andrew Hutchison DESIGNERS: Joanne Mouradian, Beck Haskins

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Melanie Tanusetiawan PRODUCTION: Troy Davis, Stephen Lording

36 ON THE STEWARDS’ WATCH Peter Ryan spends a day at the races with chief steward Terry Bailey and his team.

52 THE CHAIRMAN

40 BELLELUIA The Thoroughbred Magaine Club’s promising filly is preparing for her first race start. Danny Power reports.

56 DISOBEYING DERMOT

42 THE SON ALSO RISES Paul Messara is carving out his own career inside father John’s Arrowfield. They talk with Andrew Eddy.

46 STILL THE CREAM OF THE CROP The 1993 Melbourne Cup winner remains a headline act. Jessica Owers visits him in Ireland.

PHOTO EDITORS: Natalie Boccassini,

ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES:

Tanya Fullarton, tanyaf@slatterymedia.com Ph: (03)9627 2683

Ben Collins sits down with Victoria Racing Club chairman Rod Fitzroy at Flemington, his home turf.

MARKETING ENQUIRIES:

Karla Bunney, karlab@slatterymedia.com CONTRIBUTORS:

Emma Berry, Andrew Carter, Bruno Cannatelli, Ben Collins, Adrian Dunn, Andrew Eddy, Martin King, Eric O’Keefe, Jessica Owers, Hugh Routledge, Peter Ryan, Michael Sharkie, Slickpix, Matt Stewart

How Damien Oliver and Media Puzzle’s handlers conspired to get the Irish horse into the Melbourne Cup – an excerpt from Eric O’Keefe’s book The Cup.

PHOTOGRAPHY:

Sean Garnsworthy, Michael Willson and Lachlan Cunningham of The Slattery Media Group Ph: (03) 9627 2600, Visit slatterymedia.com/images SUBSCRIPTION ENQUIRIES:

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58 SURGE OF POWER

All correspondence to the editor, The Thoroughbred. AFL House, 140 Harbour Esplanade, Docklands, Vic 3008, ph (03) 9627 2600

Matt Stewart investigates the amazing transformation of Group 1 winner Vision And Power.

Contributions welcome, visit thethoroughbred.com.au The Thoroughbred is published quarterly.

Next edition, Summer 2010

62 SPRING SPECIALS The Thoroughbred promotes the big city and country carnivals.

THE WRITERS:

Stephen Howell is the editor of The Thoroughbred Danny Power is the editor of Racing In Australia and a senior staff writer for The Slattery Media Group

66 PLENTY ON HIS PLATE Michael Browell is at home at Moonee Valley, writes Michael Sharkie.

Emma Berry, a writer who lives in Newmarket, England, is The Thoroughbred’s UK correspondent Andrew Carter is a Perth freelance writer Ben Collins is a senior staff writer for The Slattery Media Group, and the author of numerous books

SUCCESS AND SUCCESSION What next for Sir Patrick Hogan and Cambridge Stud?

The great studmaster talks with Danny Power.

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PHOTOS COURTESY OF CAMBRIDGE STUD

Adrian Dunn is chief racing writer on the Herald Sun Andrew Eddy is chief racing writer on The Age Eric O’Keefe, an American journalist and author, is an international contributor to The Thoroughbred Jessia Owers is a Sydney-based writer and photographer Peter Ryan is a senior staff writer for The Slattery Media Group. He has a keen interest in racing Michael Sharkie is a racing writer on The Age Matt Stewart is a senior racing writer with the Herald Sun and a host on radio Sport 927 ON THE COVER:

Hugh Bowman celebrates the stunning win of Samantha Miss in the Oaks at Flemington.

PHOTO MICHAEL WILLSON

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EDITORIAL

A winning blueprint

Racing should follow the AFL’s governance that has strength and authority from a central body working for the greater good. WORDS GEOFF SLATTERY, MANAGING EDITOR

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his issue of The Thoroughbred devotes a great deal of space to a series of questions that might face a theoretical CEO heading a powerful national Australian racing body in the style of the Australian Football League. We say theoretical taking particular notice of the response of VRC chief executive Dale Monteith to the concept of a national governing body: “… clearly more can be done to co-ordinate racing on a national basis but I suspect this might be scratching the surface until racing is removed from state legislative control – something that will not happen in my lifetime.”

There is much wisdom, and we sense a touch of frustration, in that comment. What right have state governments to manage what is, by definition, a cross-border industry? What is it that holds back a collective view of Australian racing? Why cannot people see the value of single authorities working with state bases – à la the AFL – for the greater good of all?

We mention the AFL with some authority, having worked with Australia’s leading sports body for more than a decade as a publishing consultant, during a period of remarkable growth and stability. We were able to see up close the difficulties the central body confronted as it faced up to and then faced down the xenophobia and short-sightedness of states. Although Monteith was referring to state governments, we can see similar doses of selfimportance, xenophobia and short-sightedness between state racing authorities. We know from our AFL experience that these malaises are easily fixed with a dose of powerful medicine.

Monteith makes strong points when he declares the positives that have come from the Australian system, in comparison with what happens overseas, but a key point in this discussion is that a federal system, with the central body making national decisions, with clear delegation to state-based needs is always going to be able to pick up the best of world models, and eliminate the worst. Seven bodies running their own agendas and coming together in a meeting without authority is

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never going to be a visionary unit. The AFL model is often mentioned in regards to a template for the racing industry. What is often forgotten about the AFL model is that it was driven by a mix of necessity (failing revenues) and vision (the creation of a national competition). The current model is now 25 years old – with the VFL clubs agreeing to the formation of an independent Commission at the end of 1984. The run to 2009’s glory days has been not without its travails; the beauty for the racing industry with such a model is that it ain’t broke; in many ways Australian racing is flourishing.

But anybody who studies the AFL’s 25 years of gradual collectivism will see the value of an independent national body with vision and muscle driving what must cross all borders, while leaving state-based initiatives to each state. We can see how important it is in the AFL that each club has its own identity, and culture and membership; we can’t see how the same applies to having multiple race clubs in one city, as per the VRC-MVRC-MRC model.

So much of what happens in the operation of a race meeting can be managed centrally (can you imagine a different team of stewards meeting-by-meeting?), and already we can see gradual shifts to such, even in Melbourne (eg, sharing membership benefits between the VRC and MRC). We also wonder as to the value of two racing channels on pay television.

As you will see on the following pages, our respondents have put forward many ideas, and many different views. What is common to all is deep thinking, a love of the industry, and a need for change in many areas; and many questions, but few clear answers. Only a body, created by the industry, for the industry, with independence and muscle can harness that love and need.

Dale Monteith is a young man, with plenty of life and verve and vision ahead of him.

We hope that he enjoys eating his words and sooner rather than later; that the industry will be able to come together and drive itself to be the world model that, in many ways, it already is.

FIVE THINGS WE’D LIKE TO SEE A visionary independent federal body with a national view, appointed by the states, following the AFL model.

Such a body would require a seriously funded and empowered executive.

One city, one club; one region, one club. In other words, a rapid reduction of cost, and a rapid development of knowledge.

One industry-owned website providing world’s best form, form analysis, video, and audio – all free for all meetings in all states.

A model, as yet unformed, that allows competition between betting companies, but allows for a commercially appropriate dividend to flow to the industry.

A single marketing model for the industry – racing, breeding and gambling – that is for the greater good, not for bits and pieces, with a focus on the next generation.

And a couple we, as a magazine would selfishly love … ●

a studbook online that is owned by the total industry (not just the VRC and AJC) and is funded to allow it to provide layers of information rapidly and efficiently in this information age.

●

and we pray that sense will arrive at the naming of horses, and emasculated and misspelt words arenolongerallowed; or as too often happens, nolongeraloud. We note a recent place getter at Echuca as a caseinpoint that drivesustodistraction: Miss Exstravigant.

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If I ran racing...

The Thoroughbred asked people passionately involved what they would do to make Australian racing better. Their answers are from the heart as well as the mind.

INTERVIEWS ADRIAN DUNN

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RACING UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

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ohn Schreck was known as ‘The Sheriff’ when he policed racing as chief steward in New South Wales and Hong Kong. Asked, “If you were in charge of Australian racing what is the one thing you would fix?”, the now racing consultant said: “I would fix, I would need a magic wand – it would be to take the selfishness out of the sport ... people do tend to see no further than their own little dunghill.”

Andrew Twaits is a newcomer, or rather he represents a newcomer. He is the CEO of Betfair Australia, the betting exchange that has played a big part in turning the wagering component of racing on its ear.

He talks of his own dunghill, because it is what he knows, and more.

“To maximise revenue from wagering, I’d take control of programming and have all product fees paid to the national body and distributed on a basis that would sustain the industry in the long term,” he said. “In terms of programming, I’d shorten the duration of meetings. I’d give the two premier meetings exclusive access to the 1.30-4.30 pm time slot.”

Danny O’Brien, the progressive Flemington trainer, said wagering was the issue he would tackle. “If you have a business where you have good revenues, everything else pretty much takes care of itself. At the moment we have dwindling revenues. If we put ourselves in the position that the AFL did 20 years ago when they consistently upped the money they received from their TV rights, you then have money for everything.”

Breeder Pauline Liston, the Wakeful Club’s ‘Lady of Racing’ in 2008, targeted corporate bookmakers, saying: “I’d have (them) pay their share for their participation in the industry.”

Leading jockey Dan Nikolic weighed in on the need to face up to the weight problem riders have to deal with daily. “Put the weight scale up nationally so the minimum weight would be 55kg with a 61kg maximum,” he suggested. “It would not have the detrimental effect on the longevity of horses that some people would have you believe.

Horses carry a minimum of 65-70kg every day of the week when they’re ridden by track riders with much heavier saddles.”

THE THOROUGHBRED 7

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RACING UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

8 THE THOROUGHBRED

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JOHN SCHRECK Racing consultant and former chief steward in Sydney and Hong Kong Is Australian racing better placed having various forms of funding or should it rely on strengthening its traditional source, the TAB? The racing industry needs to diversify and strengthen funding incomes as much as possible. If that means getting into shopping centres, shopping malls or slots as they have done in the United States and in Canada, then so be it.

Are corporate bookmakers/betting exchanges jeopardising the future funding of the industry?

I know from meetings with corporate bookmakers that they are quite prepared to pay a reasonable fee for access to the sport. Now, their idea of a reasonable fee may be different from what the racing industry thinks is a reasonable fee. It’s something that the two bodies need to get together on.

The corporate bookmakers I know have spent millions of dollars on bloodstock and employ thousands of people between them. From a purely selfi sh point of view they desperately want to see the sport do well. The last thing they want to see is the sport go backwards.

People have suggested they ‘cook’ the books to indicate their incomes – if they get caught doing that, they go to jail.

Managed properly I don’t think the corporate bookmakers are jeopardising the future funding.

I’m not in a position to talk about betting exchanges.

Would Australian racing be run more efficiently if there was one national governing body?

There is one nationwide governing body, the Australian Racing Board.

Whether the ARB has enough teeth is another question.

Does racing need more than one club in each state? Should the one club oversee all the city tracks?

The fact is that the only (mainland) States that have more than one city club are New South Wales and Victoria.

As sure as Australia will become a republic, Sydney will have the one club – there will be a merger between the Australian Jockey Club and the Sydney Turf Club. It’s just a matter of

the model being the right one.

In Victoria, there will always be two clubs – one north of the river and one south of the river.

In America they call the tracks we race on ‘the weeds’.

SCHRECK

Does racing on artificial tracks shorten the career of a racehorse or pose greater potential injury risk?

It does not. Artificial tracks are something we should have had in Australia 25 years ago. The best artificial track I have seen is the one in Hong Kong. It is a marvellous racing surface, but it is expensive to maintain. They can do so in Hong Kong because they have the funds.

Whether Australian clubs could afford that maintenance, I’m not sure.

We’re trying to run American style racing on grass tracks and it can’t be done. The tracks don’t seem to be standing up to it. Secretariat, Affirmed, some of the greatest horses you could think of, raced on artificial tracks in the United States (with medication).

In America they call the tracks we race on ‘the weeds’ and the only

PHOTO BRUNO CANNATELLI

Nikolic said jockeys would be healthier and more switched on, and their careers would be extended.

Ron Dufficy is a former rider and now a no-nonsense commentator who knows the punter’s hip pocket is an important part of racing. He said the industry had to change the perception that the competition came from within. “The competition is outside the industry,” he said. “We spend too much time fighting each other rather than concentrating on improving ourselves.

“If a bloke has $200 out of his wages to have a punt on, that could be gone by ‘who wins the toss at the football on Friday night’. We should be attracting that fellow; we have to fight for that dollar.”

Finally, Dale Monteith represents the “establishment” in that he already is in a position of considerable power as chief executive of the Victoria Racing Club, the industry’s biggest and best-known club. He, too, looked to wagering – but to a push that has faded from the spotlight during the TAB-corporate bookmaking war of words and money.

“Very clearly, a national totalisator pool is the only way we can ensure that our primary revenue source can compete effectively in the boundaryless wagering environment. Statebased wagering is now a thing of the past,” Monteith said. “Similarly the critical mass created by a national totalisator pool will drive wagering by overseas punters on Australian racing, which will create a vital new revenue stream.”

The “significant seven” The Thoroughbred polled answered questions about key issues such as governance, funding, wagering, attendance, artificial tracks and the hot issue of September, the use of the whip on horses.

They broke new ground, they went over old. They backed and they refuted comments spread throughout the media by big-money breeders and near-broke punters, by owners with battalions of horses and those with a family pet, by Group 1 trainers and hobby horsemen, by elite jockeys and picnic riders, and by those administering prestigious city clubs and once-a-year country clubs.

Here are their (edited) answers to the big issues racing has to face bravely to prosper. Take them with an open mind and chew over them with the same care they were given.

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21/9/09 3:10:24 PM

DANNY NIKOLIC

for Australian racing is to broaden the market for its product to an international audience.

The industry seems to be half way through an epiphany. Most stakeholders recognise that racing’s main competitors are other gambling products such as casinos, online poker and sports betting, but they don’t seem to have grasped what factors have made racing an increasingly unattractive gambling product.

There’s a place for totes, bookmakers and betting exchanges, but the racing industry shouldn’t be trying to pick the best model. Let the customers decide. As long as every operator, no matter what their model, pays the same share of gross customer spend to the industry, why should the industry care who they bet with?

Melbourne jockey who has ridden successfully in Sydney and Hong Kong.

He has 32 Group 1 wins Does racing on artificial tracks shorten the career of a racehorse or pose greater potential injury risk?

I believe there is a definite place for synthetic tracks, but only during the winter so we don’t have so many meetings lost or transferred at the last minute. As for a horse’s safety, I haven’t ridden on enough artificial tracks to present an informed opinion, but it is common sense that turf tracks are more forgiving.

DANNY NIKOLIC: A winner on track who speaks his mind off it.

reason we’re doing that is because Captain Cook came here. If the Americans had come here first, we would be racing on dirt tracks.

PHOTO BRUNO CANNATELLI

What would you do to attract people to the races outside carnival time so they would become regular attendees?

We all know that the majority of race fans today are in front of TV sets in hotels, clubs and private homes.

I’m sorry to say that is not going to change. People are not going to come back to the track, except at carnival time, and then it’s only for the party.

Did officials get it wrong by introducing whip rules that restrict the number of times a jockey can use it, especially over the fi nal 200 metres?

They did not get it wrong. The ARB is to be commended for addressing the whip issue. It should have been done a long time ago. I’m embarrassed that I didn’t do more to curtail whip use in all the years I worked as a stipendiary steward.

What would you do to attract people to the races outside carnival time so they would become regular attendees?

I don’t think you will ever get people back to the track off season.

These days there are just so many more entertainment options. And, the people who want to spend an afternoon betting/watching the races can sit in the their lounge room or go to a club where it is far more comfortable, you see more and it’s nowhere near as expensive. The only time non-regular race goers want to go to the track is in the spring and autumn when there is a real buzz and atmosphere.

Did officials get it wrong by introducing whip rules that restrict the number of times a jockey can use it, especially over the fi nal 200 metres?

Definitely. What authorities should have done if they wanted to solve the perceived problem of jockeys using the whip and supposedly hurting a horse was simply introduce the padded whips. They don’t hurt a horse. Limiting a jockey to the number of times he can use the whip in a driving finish when there is a lot at stake for an owner/trainer/punter/ breeder (and rider) causes confusion, headaches and unwanted attention.

ANDREW TWAITS CEO Betfair Australia Is Australian racing better placed having various forms of funding or should it rely on strengthening its traditional source, the TAB? Wagering will always be the primary source of funding. The challenge

I don’t believe state racing bodies will hand over control to a single national body until turkeys start voting for Christmas.

TWAITS

Are corporate bookmakers/betting exchanges jeopardising the future funding of the industry?

No. Provided we all contribute an equal share of gross revenue to the industry, low margin, innovative operators are critical to the survival of racing and to the broadening of the sport’s international appeal. The more international customers who watch and bet on Australian races, the greater the return to the sport.

Would Australian racing be run more efficiently if there was one nationwide governing body?

It depends who’s in charge. If it was a sensible, genuinely independent body, it could work. But, I don’t believe state racing bodies will hand over control to a single national body until turkeys start voting for Christmas.

Does racing need more than one club in each state? Should the one club oversee all the city tracks?

A single club makes sense from a financial and strategic standpoint.

It wouldn’t be that hard to create different tiers of membership that granted certain rights and preserved some of the worthwhile traditions.

Does racing on artificial tracks shorten the career of a racehorse or pose greater potential injury risk?

I’m not qualified to comment on this, but to the extent that artificial tracks create consistent racing surfaces, they’re a good thing for punters.

Horse and jockey safety is paramount.

What would you do to attract people to the races outside carnival time so they would become regular attendees?

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RACING UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

Racing needs to reclaim its “mainstream” status but that doesn’t mean the sport should aspire to become everyone’s favourite thing to attend on a Saturday afternoon.

Fundamental changes in society mean that those days are gone.

The key is to get people to maintain their connection with racing even when they’re not at the track. For that reason, I’d try to maximise the number of people who go to the races once or twice during the year.

I wouldn’t pour resources into getting people to come 10 times a year.

Better that the resources are spent encouraging people to follow the races when they’re at the footy, to put their bets on before they go to golf, to download a podcast of interviews or to read the form on a Friday night. The strategy should be one of infiltration, not domination, of people’s lives.

Did officials get it wrong by introducing whip rules that restrict the number of times a jockey can use it, especially over the final 200 metres?

In any sport, major rule changes need to be given adequate time before they’re assessed. Punters want to be certain that everyone is playing by the same rules. Recent comments by some prominent stakeholders have cast real doubt over this – a situation that only damages the confidence of punters.

DANNY O’BRIEN Flemington trainer who has nine Group 1 wins in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide since 2001 Is Australian racing better placed having various forms of funding or should it rely on strengthening its traditional source, the TAB? I think we have to accept there are multiple avenues to goal, but we have to come up with a fair system so everyone pays a decent product fee.

Are corporate bookmakers/betting exchanges jeopardising the future funding of the industry?

Definitely, at the moment. They’ve had a free ride for the best part of 10 years and that’s why their businesses have grown from zero to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

They have put nothing back into the industry. Good luck to them, that’s the situation that the industry has allowed to occur. It’s untenable if we want the industry to survive.

Would Australian racing be run more efficiently if there was one national governing body?

We’re hamstrung by a multi-layered, very difficult governance structure … there’s no national body with any strength. All the State Governments have their own wagering laws, it’s just a dog’s breakfast. If we could have one national body and federal government legislation on the things that mattered it would be a very easy situation to work together and get a good result.

Does racing need more than one club in each state? Should the one club oversee all the city tracks?

I’m not sure you have to throw out the history of the clubs completely.

I’m sure you could have two clubs in Melbourne, I’m not sure you need three. I’m sure all that stuff would fall into line if we had a national approach and club power was diminished. I’m sure there are savings there. If we had an over-reaching body it could streamline a lot of the things the clubs do independently now and still give them some of their identity.

Does racing on artificial tracks shorten the career of a racehorse or pose greater potential injury risk?

The best artificial track I’ve seen in England and Singapore is the Polytrack and it costs four, five times as much as was put into ThoroughTrack. You get what you pay for. I can see a future for some sort of synthetic surface, particularly in Victoria if we continue to run the number of meetings we do. We have to bite the bullet and invest in a quality one.

What would you do to attract people to the races outside carnival time so they would become regular attendees?

I really haven’t got the answer. The biggest problem we have with crowds, and most people don’t understand, it is that we put on too much racing. If you want people to value it and go to it, it has to be a premium product, not the mundane one we have.

Did officials get it wrong by introducing whip rules that restrict the number of times a jockey can use it, especially over the final 200 metres?

They changed it to a padded whip, which is very kind on the horse, and then they introduced another rule limiting the times a jockey could use the padded whip. What they should have done was introduce

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We put on too much racing. If you want people to value it and go to it, it has to be a premium product.

O’BRIEN

the padded whip and see how it fared. It seems like an overkill and now people are really struggling to adjust, especially the punters. Even though a padded whip wouldn’t hurt a fly, punters struggle to see a horse not being fully tested in a fi nish.

No one wants to see a fi nish where jockeys are half-hearted.

PAULINE LISTON Breeder (Three Bridges Thoroughbreds) and the Victorian Wakeful Club’s Lady of Racing in 2008.

Is Australian racing better placed having various forms of funding or should it rely on strengthening its traditional source, the TAB? It should rely on the traditional source but explore other forms of funding.

Are corporate bookmakers/betting exchanges jeopardising the future funding of the industry?

Yes. We need to tax their turnover not profits – these can be adjusted to suit various situations.

Would Australian racing be run more efficiently if there was one nationwide governing body?

I believe it would be better left in the hands of the states as they are aware of the issues that they face, and competition is healthy. It’s important to keep provincial and country racing strong for racing in Australia to prosper.

It’s important to keep provincial and country racing strong.

LISTON

Does racing need more than one club in each state? Should the one club oversee all the city tracks?

Competition is healthy and each club has its own identity and sense of pride.

Does racing on artificial tracks shorten the career of a racehorse or pose greater potential injury risk?

Only time will tell, but it’s not looking good.

What would you do to attract people to the races outside carnival time so they would become regular attendees?

Encourage more family participation so it will continue to attract people for generations to come.

Did officials get it wrong by introducing whip rules that restrict the number of times a jockey can use it, especially over the final 200 metres?

Personally, I’d like to see whips banned.

www.thethoroughbred.com.au

21/9/09 4:58:28 PM

RACING UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

RON DUFFICY Former jockey, now racehorse owner, punter and commentator on Sky Racing Are corporate bookmakers/betting exchanges jeopardising the future funding of the industry?

If they’re not paying by a turnoverbased model they are jeopardising the funding.

Would Australian racing be run more efficiently if there was one nationwide governing body?

Most defi nitely.

foolish enough, to risk the future of racing on this opportunity.

If they were going to make any change they should have gradually brought it in.

DUFFICY

What would you do to attract people to the races outside carnival time so they would become regular attendees?

I don’t think there is any surefire answer to that, otherwise someone would have worked it out by now.

Did officials get it wrong by introducing whip rules that restrict the number of times a jockey can use it?

Yes. If they were going to make any change they should have gradually brought it in.

DALE MONTEITH Chief executive of the Victoria Racing Club and former chief at the Melbourne Racing Club Is Australian racing better placed having various forms of funding or should it rely on strengthening its traditional source, the TAB? How much better placed the industry might be begs the question of where the Australian racing industry is placed compared with overseas – it is the third or fourth most successful racing industry in the world. This is something few other industries in Australia can claim.

Also, if you compare Victoria with UK racing you quickly realise how lucky we are. From a population base of six million people the Victorian racing industry provides equivalent prizemoney as for the whole of the UK flat racing from a population base of 60 million people. The TAB/Tote system has delivered since the 1960s; UK racing relies upon much smaller revenues from bookmaking.

If it can be ensured the tote system remains competitive and importantly can deliver growth at least equal to CPI, then the other funding will be a plus. But I am not brave enough, nor

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We have to target those meetings with strong racing.

MONTEITH

Are corporate bookmakers/betting exchanges jeopardising the future funding of the industry?

Corporate bookmakers, by offering tote odds betting and credit betting, certainly have the potential to jeopardise the future of racing as we know it. Any diminution of total revenue from wagering on racing will impact negatively on the industry.

Would Australian racing be run more efficiently if there was one nationwide governing body?

Experience overseas where a single national body controls everything does not support this assumption.

These bodies are highly bureaucratic and waste funding from revenues derived from wagering compared with the efficient system in Australia.

By way of example, in Australia 75 per cent of wagering revenue is returned as prizemoney, whereas it is 48 per cent in both Japan and Hong Kong. The one advantage such overseas bodies enjoy is that they also control off-course wagering on racing which is something we can only dream of in Australia.

Having said that, clearly more can be done to co-ordinate racing on a national basis but I suspect this might be scratching the surface until racing is removed from state legislative control – something that will not happen in my lifetime.

Does racing need more than one club in each state? Should the one club oversee all the city tracks?

Understanding the business of running of a race club – I have run two of Australia’s major clubs – does not lead me to the conclusion that one club will drive significant savings.

There will be savings but they will not be enough to drive the amalgamation of successful commercial entities in their own right.

I strongly believe, and have seen, that competition between the clubs is a good thing for racing.

Does racing on artificial tracks shorten the career of a racehorse or pose greater potential injury risk?

The jury is still out on alternate racing and training tracks. While studies have been done based upon injuries for each type of track, they are not conclusive.

Also, certain types of artificial surfaces work in colder climates

but not as well as in warmer climates, and this experience is being learned on an ongoing basis.

What would you do to attract people to the races outside carnival time so they would become regular attendees?

That’s the $64,000 question. If I could bottle the success of the Melbourne Cup Carnival and liberally sprinkle it around the rest of the year that would be fantastic.

However, the real world is different.

The interest in racing is still there, albeit largely off-course, and revenue growth from off-course has hugely compensated clubs and the industry for the loss of on-course patronage.

Financially, racing is much better off now than the mid-1970s. As I see it we cannot hope to aggressively promote all race meetings. We have to target those meetings with strong racing.

Market research associated with the Melbourne Cup Carnival indicates how challenging getting big crowds is.

Less than 30 per cent of the 400,000 who attended last year came for the racing and 54 per cent were women and a higher percentage were under 40 years of age.

How do we try to replicate these figures in an attempt to grow attendances? From the VRC perspective we started 10 to 12 years ago with our campaign to convert racegoers to members. In 1995 we had 7000 members; now we have 28,000 and it is these people who are sustaining and growing attendances outside of the Melbourne Cup Carnival. During the carnival, members and their guests accounted for 182,000 of the 400,000 crowds over the four days.

At our Flemington Finals race day (formerly Grand National Steeple day) this year, we had 10,500 people attend. More than 6000 or 60 per cent were members.

Did officials get it wrong by introducing whip rules that restrict the number of times a jockey can use it?

Clearly the padded whip is supported by most people but there appears to be major concerns around the integrity of race results for punters and owners with the way jockeys are now able to use the whip.

Racing cannot afford to have its two largest investor groups, punters and owners, disenchanted.

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2009 INglIS auStralIaN racehOrSe Sale Select & General Sessions Two-year-olds ~ Racehorses ~ Unbroken Stock

Breeze Up filming to be conducted at: • Benalla on Tuesday, 6 October • Randwick on Friday, 9 October • Cranbourne on Monday, 19 October Go to www.inglis.com.au for breeze up, trial and race footage.

Sunday, 15 November | Oaklands, melbourne a comprehensive format to source your next winner.

Newmarket, SydNey PO Box 477, Randwick NSW 2031 T: +612 9399 7999 | F: +612 9398 5547

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THE PREMIER JOCKEY

Hugh Bowman,

horseman Literally riding the irons one horse at a time, Hugh Bowman gets on with the job after winning his first Sydney premiership.

WORDS AND PHOTOS JESS OWERS

ust shy of 6.15 in the morning, as dawn rolls over the grandstands of Royal Randwick, James Hugh Bowman swings a leg over the Hussonet colt Lentini. He is concentrating, a slight frown through his eyebrows and straight line across his lips, and he nods at Anthony Cummings, Lentini’s trainer. Quiet once round for this one? Okay. And the clock goes off in his head. One red apple. Two red apple. Three red apple. The colt moves off and Hugh Bowman gets to work.

“Years ago when I arrived at Billy Aspros’ place in Bathurst to do my apprenticeship,” the 29-year-old jockey recalls, “the first thing Bill did was hand me a stopwatch and say that by the end of the week he wanted me to be able to count to 15 exactly. Count red apples, he said.

One red apple. Two red apple. And to this day when I ride trackwork I count red apples.” He pauses for a moment, measuring time. “I’ve been through buckets of them over the years.”

EYES ON THE PRIZE: Hugh Bowman has been “top three” in Sydney for the past fi ve seasons.

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Bowman is a man of routine, and every Tuesday and Saturday he is up before the birds counting apples around Randwick racecourse.

He will ride for John O’Shea, Cummings or Graeme Rogerson, sometimes all three and more, and in crisp moleskins and cool Cuban heels he looks bigger than raceday Bowman.

Still, the trademarks are there: the quiet hands and pensive expression, and the talent that won him the Sydney jockeys’ crown this year.

“I thought at the beginning of the season that I could win the premiership with 80 or 90 winners,” Bowman says, reflecting on the statistics of previous years. But on December 10 last year, when it was looking like he might do just that, he guided a horse called Withoutme off the rails at Rosehill and caused a threehorse pile-up, and was given a sixweek suspension. “That was a terrible day,” Bowman says, “I hope it doesn’t happen again. I was beside myself for the horses and riders involved.

But I also thought it had put me out of business for the premiership. So I thought, forget about it and just think about your 80 winners, and that’s

ON TRACK: Hugh Bowman on Lentini, one of his morning mounts for Randwick trainer Anthony Cummings

Life at the moment is ... not quite reality with the money I earn and the lifestyle I lead, the publicity and all that bizzo HUGH BOWMAN

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what I did. I kept working towards that goal and nearly rode 100.”

Bowman was only two short of it and his 98 winning rides for the 2008-09 season were 16 clear of his nearest rival and friend, Corey Brown.

By August, he had put away three titles: the NSW state and metropolitan premierships, and the national title that saw him ride 150 winners, three more than persistent country champion Greg Ryan. But Bowman is no stranger to achievement. He was champion apprentice in Sydney in 2000, and in the past seven years of Sydney riding he has been among the top 10 of all jockeys. In the past five years he’s been in the top three. So he’s good then? “I suppose I am,” he says, “but I’ve worked hard at it.”

The cold stats on Bowman read well.

For the season gone he had 739 rides for a 20 per cent strike rate at the wire.

He rode 119 second places, tallied over $8.3 million in prizemoney, and looked through the ears of Samantha Miss, Duporth and Racing To Win. He won three Group 1 contests, seven Group 2s and three Group 3s.

His victories included the Golden Rose, AJC Oaks and Flight Stakes, and when he booted home Samantha Miss in the VRC Crown Oaks at Flemington he won his first Victorian Group 1 contest. Even his parents were there for that one.

“It was just the best day of my… you know,” and Jim Bowman sighs before he finishes his sentence.

Bowman’s mother Mandy delights in the memory. “We decided four days before the race that we’d go down,” she says. “We drove to Dubbo, flew to Sydney then flew to Melbourne, and we were back in Dubbo the very next day. It was a whirlwind, a spur of the moment decision, but we’d discussed waiting until (Samantha Miss) raced in Sydney in the autumn to see her, and of course we’re glad we didn’t.” In February this year, when the champion filly bowed a tendon in Newcastle, all of the Bowmans were devastated.

Jim and Mandy are salt-of-the-earth folk common to the country. They have always had property, always had horses, and it’s no surprise that their only son has gone the way he has.

“When Hugh was tiny,” recalls Jim, “I’d put him up on the front of the horse with me and he’d handle the reins, so when he started riding on his own he was quite natural. He must have been four one time and

we had him out at a local show and he won boy rider under-five or something. But one of the judges came up to me to say that that little boy had such lovely hands. He was only four.” Jim is still amazed.

The Bowmans have their own thoroughbreds at their Merotherie property south-east of Dunedoo (about four hours drive north-west of Newcastle), and Jim has trained and raced on country circuits as long as he can remember. He keeps only a handful of gallopers, but they’re good enough to win the Mudgee Cup now and then.

“We didn’t ever envisage that Hugh would be a professional jockey,” says Mandy. “We thought he’d just ride at the picnic races and have a bit of fun doing it. But when he was riding the barrier trials around here, he must have been around 15, some of the people in racing saw him and said to Jim he’d be wasted as an amateur rider. He’s got so much potential, they said, we should let him become a professional.”

As mothers do, Mandy insisted her son’s education was important, but if Hugh had continued his program at Scot’s College, Sydney, where he boarded from the age of 12, he would have become too old and too heavy to infiltrate the ranks. So when he elected to leave school and court the racetrack, a place he describes with slow and deliberate affection, it was a great day for Sydney.

O

ff the track, life is good for Bowman. He drives a slick black Lexus, buys good clothes, plays golf off a handy handicap, and isn’t ashamed of the finer things he can afford. “I like to wear nice clothes and I like to present myself well,” he says.

“The Lexus? Well, I’d really like to drive a $150,000 car, and I’ve seriously thought about getting a car worth that sort of money. But although I could afford it, it’s easy to get carried away with that sort of thing. Life at the moment is…” he thinks about this for a second, “not quite reality with the money I earn and the lifestyle I lead, the publicity and all that bizzo. It’s nice to think you could have all those things, but you have to be realistic too and think about the future.”

Bowman can say all this without being haughty or arrogant. He is a man appreciative of his luck but mindful of his hard work. “I earn a good living so I can afford to be like that,” he says, and Christine Walsh, his Irish fiancée, has learned to understand him beautifully.

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THE PREMIER JOCKEY

“We’re very different,” she says. “For example, Hugh likes to drive to the races in silence, whereas I love to chat.

I love to talk.” She is bubbling as she says so. “I think it annoys him sometimes.”

Christine has accepted the stress that comes with her partner’s constant dieting, the frustrations that follow it and the state of mind that Bowman finds himself in because of it. They will be married in December. But Christine is a headline of her own.

This is the young woman who, in 2002, worked for Dermot Weld and made the front page of The Australian newspaper drilling Media Puzzle around Sandown two days before his Melbourne Cup win. She is animated, infectious, a quick-talking character and the sweetest type of girl next door. Since Media Puzzle, and meeting Bowman six years ago, she has become the on-course producer for TVN’s Sydney meetings, and on race days she is barraged with racing identities wallowing in her energy.

But the serious side of being a professional jockey is never far from their minds, and in recent months there have been career-altering changes to their industry, and one in particular.

“The whip rules have gone too far,” Bowman states. Not noted for his aggressive whip riding in the first place, he is with nearly every other Australian jockey when he says that some horses need it. “Personally I’m not big on hitting horses,” he says, “but there’s no question that it helps them to win. And while I think the changes are a step in the right direction, I think they might need to be a bit more flexible with them, particularly inside the last 100 metres. What’s going to happen here is we’re going to start hitting them harder because we can’t hit them as often.”

In June 2007, Bowman headed to England for a three-month stint with West Ilsley trainer Mick Channon, during which time he learned quicksmart lessons in whip usage in the mother country. “When we were over there Hugh got suspended for overuse,” Christine says, “but he was hitting with a feather duster compared to the likes of Jamie Spencer and the other boys.” Bowman adds there was more to it. “When I arrived Mick said to me that I’d ride a few winners and get suspended for overuse of the whip, whether I hit them or not.” Sure enough, when he clocked a few winners he was given an involuntary holiday. “I didn’t let it bother me though,” he says.

TIME OFF: Hugh Bowman plants a kiss on fiancée Christine Walsh.

HUGH BOWMAN First ride Go Campese, Mungery picnic races, 1996 First win Slatts, Wellington Picnic Cup, 1996 First Group 1 win Defier, Doomben Cup, 2004 Total wins in Australia About 1100 (by Bowman’s estimation) Total Group 1 wins 13

B

owman’s willingness to roll with things has made the latest changes to Australian race riding a little easier for him. It also makes him a very attractive customer. Bryan Haskins has been Bowman’s manager for a decade, and says there is little that fazes his client. “He doesn’t worry too much about too much,” Haskins says, “and he doesn’t drive me mad, which is a bonus.” Trainer John O’Shea describes Bowman as the ultimate professional.

The two have enjoyed a working relationship – and friendship – for years now, sharing success, especially with Group 1 hero Racing To Win, who broke back into the winners’ list in the Group 2 Theo Marks Stakes (1400m) at Rosehill on September 12.

“He is honest,” O’Shea says of his stable jockey. “He has a good assessment of horses, and he’s a team player. He makes a significant contribution to the preparation of the horses, and on race days he’s got a good understanding of what’s required to win the race.”

But Bowman is also sensible about himself. He doesn’t pretend to know everything about racing, so doesn’t

preach out about the issues at hand.

That doesn’t mean, though, he’ll shy from raising eyebrows. On June 24 at Gosford, as he guided Verrekeen clear of the pack in veteran race caller Ian Craig’s last call, Bowman tipped his helmet to Craig 50 metres from the line, upsetting the stewards to the tune of $300. It escalated his likeability. “I like to see him do well,” John O’Shea says, “even if it’s on other horses. I think I’ve gone on record saying that I started to use him years ago because one day he would be the champion rider of Sydney.”

Thousands of red apples later, Hugh Bowman is just that. He teeters on the edge of proper brilliance; his own state title in one pocket, possibility gnawing in the other.

Haskins says that the main aims from here are to win the premiership again, and to converge on the spring carnival, but Bowman himself is reticent. He’s riding the irons one horse at a time.

“If you set yourself unachievable goals” he says, “You’re just going to break your heart all the time, aren’t you?

So I just do things realistically now.”

Group 1 wins in 2008-09 season 3 (Samantha Miss in Flight Stakes and VRC Oaks, Daffodil in AJC Oaks) Total wins in England 33, including Benandonner in the Shergar Cup at Ascot, 2007 Spring carnival commitments With dual Group 1 winner Metal Bender injured, Bowman has no confirmed commitments in Melbourne.

“I’ll be in Sydney until the Cox Plate,” he said.

“But I’d still love to be down there for the carnival.”

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WORDS ANDREW CARTER

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PHOTO HUGH ROUTLEDGE

Growing up as a trainer with father Len has enabled Dan Morton to make the most of Scenic’s sons, Scenic Shot and Scenic Blast.

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WORLD CLASS

LEADER OF THE PACK: Scenic Blast (Steven Arnold) races to the post in the King’s Stand Stakes (1000m) at Royal Ascot in June.

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Apprenticed at 14 to his father, Morton weighed in at just 38.5kg. He had some success in the saddle, particularly in the Goldfields (at 15 he won the Listed Hannans Handicap, 1400m, on the stable’s warhorse Pirate’s Reign) and while riding on the north-west bush circuit during the winter months.

Weight got the better of him after six years and nowadays he rides trackwork at 68kg.

When his riding career finished Morton found work as a ringer on a huge cattle station, Eva Downs (in the Barkly Tablelands of the Northern Territory, about 3 1/2 hours drive north-east of Tennant Creek) owned

by Heytesbury, the Holmes a Court family company. “There were 36,000 head of cattle on the property and a big crew and even though it was long hours it was lot of fun,” he said. “I love working outside and with the horses.

If I wasn’t training I’d probably still be working on a station somewhere.”

With role models such as his father and another trainer, Frank Maynard, to observe while growing up in and

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TEAM WORK: Len and Dan Morton, aged 16, in 1988 with their classy galloper Century God. YOUNG KING DAN: as a 15-year-old, Dan Morton won the Listed Hannans Handicap at Kalgoorlie on Pirate’s Reign.

around the Goldfields region of WA, Morton learnt the basic aspects of horsemanship as a young child.

Dan and his brother Shaughn, older by 17 months, learned to ride at a very young age. “We didn’t have any ponies, but Dad bought us a little Arab to ride and, if you know anything about Arabs, when you ride one you learn pretty quick or you will end up in the dirt,” Dan said. “I was riding this Arab when I was six and by the time I had just turned seven Dad would put both of us on some of the quieter racehorses in the stable and we would ride them out the back of our (outer suburban) Wattle Grove property in the bush.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF MORTON FAMILY

D

an Morton had only one horse in his stable when he left Victoria for his home state on the night the great Makybe Diva won her fi rst Melbourne Cup – a maiden named Pennywest. Morton travelled on the fl ight with Pennywest in November 2003 after working for a year at his father Len’s Flemington satellite stables, and was rewarded when the Dexter fi lly settled into her new Perth home and had three straight wins to kick off his training career in style.

A mere six years later, 37-yearold Morton became the toast of Australian racing when Scenic Blast blitzed his rivals at Royal Ascot in this year’s Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes (1000m), following a trail blazed by Paul Perry with Choisir in 2003 and repeated by Joe Janiak and Takeover Target and Lee Freedman and Miss Andretti. In August, Scenic Blast was named Australian Racehorse of the Year for 2008-09.

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“By the time Shaughn and I turned 12 we were both riding trackwork.

Shaughn continued to ride right through high school before he became too big and went on to study at university before deciding to get a commercial pilot’s licence.

“Shaughn still loves his racing and owns several horses in our stable, and the family – Dad and Mum (Annette), Shaughn and his wife Rosie and myself and my wife Carol recently bought a 300-acre farm outside Pingelly (about 1 ½ hours drive south-east of Perth) that we are developing into a pretraining and agistment operation.

“The idea is that we will eventually have 20 horses in work at Ascot and another 20 working or freshening up at the farm. It provides a great escape from the city for Carol and our kids (Meghan, 15, and Luke, 10) and for Shaughn and his family when he’s back in Perth (from his job with Royal Brunei Airlines) and for Mum and Dad. “It will also allow me to train some out of the paddock or send them down there to freshen up mentally if they’re better suited to that than the Ascot stable environment. Once it’s up and running Dad will run the farm for me and I will run the Ascot stable, which will give us a flexibility we don’t currently have at Ascot.

“It’s ridiculous what we have to put up with. There’s a severe shortage of track riders and, while I’m fortunate that I have good staff and enough track riders, I quite often see trainers who are unable to work their horses because of the lack of track riders. These trainers end up sitting around all morning and having to take their horses home without being worked ... I am lucky as I ride some in work, Dad still rides work regularly, Jason Brown rides some and young Campbell McCallum, who recently transferred his indentures here, rides as well.

“The big problem is that you don’t have anywhere near the amount of time that you would like to spend working with your horses; you’re too busy concentrating on making sure that they all get worked in the relatively short period that the track is open for. That’s why I am really looking forward to having the farm operating as it will allow us the flexibility to spend more time working with our horses.

“That’s one of the huge advantages they have in the UK – it’s not only the magnificent gallops they have

PHOTO EMMA BERRY

WORLD CLASS

MORNING WORK: Dan Morton rides Scenic Blast at Newmarket before his Royal Ascot win.

If Celestial Show had won the Caulfield Cup rather than been beaten in a three-way finish

by Ethereal and Sky Heights, who knows …

DAN MORTON

at places like Newmarket, it’s the fact there’s no shortage of riders and they have the time required to work properly with their horses. One of the big stables might send out 60 horses to work and they all have riders.

That luxury is non-existent here.”

Morton plans to build several long straight gallops, similar to those he saw while in the UK, on the farm’s undulating stretches.

Dan’s father Len, who now works with him while training his own horses, is an outstanding, do-it-all horseman who has had a long and distinguished training career that has included successful Eastern States raids.

A former shearing contractor, Len Morton went east to work for great trainers Tommy Smith and Neville Begg at Randwick in the early ’70s.

He returned to Western Australia and set up shop in Wattle Grove as a horse breaker and educator before training in his own right. He prepared former top sprinter Dark Beau (B h 1985, Beau Sovereign (NZ)-Vazila, by Baguette), 1978 Brisbane Cup winner Muros (Br h 1972, Ribollire (USA)-Polo Jane, by Ark Royal (NZ)); brilliant filly Lost World (Bl m 1978, Jungle Boy (GB)-Will O’ The Gods (NZ), by Hermes (GB)) and outstanding stayer Sugarstone (B g 1990, Serheed (USA)Double Amber, by Subsidize).

Len Morton had been considering adding an eastern stable for some time. When he went to Victoria, in 2001, it was probably a case of right

place, wrong time. “We didn’t know it, but it was probably the worst bunch of horses we had in the last 10 years,” Dan Morton said.

Before Dan went across he had been in charge of Len’s WA stable after being foreman since his return from the Northern Territory many years earlier. “We had a good band of loyal and supportive owners,” Dan said. “Michael Carlile in particular gave us great support. While our strike rate was good and we were still getting some new owners it was becoming difficult to achieve our goals without a real headline horse ... and it would have probably taken us another two years to get a really good foothold.

“If Celestial Show had won the (2001) Caulfield Cup rather than been beaten in a three-way finish

by Ethereal and Sky Heights, who knows, things may have been very different. It was an expensive exercise at the time but it was a great experience.”

Morton is thankful for Pennywest’s success six years ago, and for owners such as Andy Phelan standing by him.

“Soon after I arrived home in WA, Andy sent back Knight School from Victoria and he developed into a pretty handy horse,” he said of the Royal Academy gelding who won five races in 2004.

Phelan and other stalwart owners Elio Galante and Fred Fairthorne Jnr are the backbone of Morton’s stable, helping bring in new people. “I was fortunate to end up with a big owner like Elio so soon in my career,” Dan said. “Dad had bought two (horses) and Elio came to take a look. As it turned out neither of them were much chop, but while he was there he noticed Scenic Shot and we still had had some shares left in him and he and Fred both became involved in the horse.

“Scenic Shot was the first Scenic we bought and, again, that was Dad’s eye for a yearling as we didn’t pay all that much for him. We looked at him because he was out of a pretty handy mare that Dad used to train and we had a reasonable opinion of her, and Dad and I both liked Scenic Shot when we first inspected him.”

Len Morton paid $36,000 for Scenic Shot (B g 2002, Scenic (IRE)Sweepshot, by Dr Grace (NZ)) at the 2004 Magic Million Perth Premier yearling sales and from the outset he showed the stable plenty.

“He’s my favourite horse and is the toughest horse I’ve ever had anything to do with, and he really

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PHOTO THE WEST AUSTRALIAN

deserved to win a big one,” Dan Morton said. “His constitution is unbelievable and for a small horse to lump 60kg in the manner he did in a Brisbane Cup was pretty special ... He probably should have won the WA Derby as 3YO and has run huge races in the Railway Stakes and the Kingston Town at weight for age here.

“He’s also been touched off by a lip

by Devil Moon in the Turnbull Stakes at Flemington and has run well in two Perth Cups when it was still a two-mile race, and a Melbourne Cup. Like any horse he’s had his fair share of niggles over the years, but he’s as tough as nails ... every season he just butters up for more.” His spring goal is the Group 1 Cox Plate (WFA, 2040m) at Moonee Valley on October 24.

Morton went back to the Magic Million Premier Yearling sales in Perth in 2005 and bought another Scenic colt, Oroya Gold, for $72,500.

Oroya Gold is also part-owned

by Galante and Fairthorne, both of whom are in the ownership of Scenic Blast. Oraya Gold (ex Stellare,

by Bletchingly), now a gelding, has since developed into a quality open class sprinter in WA with five wins and $387,425 in earnings as well as compiling frustrating placings in feature sprints.

Morton backed up the yearling selections with the stable’s best horse, the brilliant sprinter-miler Scenic Blast, buying the Scenic colt (now gelding, ex Daughter’s Charm by Delgado (USA)) for $85,000 in 2006.

“He was a standout yearling, a beautiful big type but athletic as well,” Morton said. “He showed us from the outset that he was very good ... We weren’t certain just how good he was until he blew them apart second up as a 3YO

THE OLD HAND: Len Morton, an outstanding, do-it-all horseman.

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HIS SAY

A problem in Perth Dan Morton, trainer of the Group 1 winners Scenic Blast and Scenic Shot, would like more track riders at Ascot in Perth.

I quite often see trainers who are unable to work their horses because of the lack of track riders.

These trainers end up sitting around all morning and having to take their horses home without being worked.

in the McNeill Stakes (Group 3, 1200m, at Caulfield in September 2007). He’s a bit freakish really as he has the highest cruising speed of any sprinter I’ve seen and he was unlucky to bump into a great horse like Weekend Hussler in the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m) during his 3YO season, as in any other year he probably wins easily.”

The 2008-2009 racing season was one to remember for the stable. Morton won Flemington’s Group 1 sprints, the Lightning Stakes (1000m, January) and the Newmarket Handicap (1200m, March) with Scenic Blast; Scenic Shot broke through for a Group 1 win in the WFA Doomben Cup (2020m, May) and followed it up with wins in the Group 2 WFA PJ O’Shea Stakes (2200m, May) and then turned in a career-best effort lumping 60kg to victory in the Group 2 Brisbane Cup (2400m June).

The rise of Dan Morton hasn’t always been smooth going, especially when Gavin Morton, a cousin and father of four boys, was killed in a car crash in June 2008, aged 40. “He was a gifted horseman and a good friend,” Dan said. “He broke in most of my good horses, including Scenic Blast, and I was continuing to work closely with him.”

Just over six months later, Dan took took Scenic Blast to Melbourne.

“We weren’t really sure which path we would take with him, as I had it in the back of my mind that the Futurity (1400m) would be a nice race for him and that he may have even headed towards the Australian Cup (2000m). The Lightning was just a really nice race for him to kick off his Melbourne campaign, but after the manner in which he won the Lightning it was a ‘no brainer’

to keep him fresh and target the Oakleigh Plate (1100m at Caulfield) and the Newmarket Handicap. ”The Oakleigh was a tough race for the horse. He got smashed in the run and the wound he ended up with was quite severe and literally inches from ending his career. The injury was to the outside of the fetlock on his near side fore and it probably should been stitched ... We left the wound clean and wrapped and treated him with some low grade antibiotics and it was touch and go whether he would make it to the Newmarket.

“I was only able to walk him for four days following the Oakleigh, but fortunately I had got two runs into him earlier in his preparation so he had a good fitness base ... but make no mistake, the injury was very close to ending his career and when he came back to scale after the Newmarket the wound had opened up again.

“We had never really given any consideration to the Global Sprint Challenge until after he won the Lightning, but after that it was definitely on the cards if he ran as expected in the Newmarket and pulled up OK. “If it wasn’t for the (series) bonus you wouldn’t bother going to the UK to run in the King’s Stand as it’s not worth enough to justify flying halfway around the globe, but the bonus makes it worthwhile and it was a really nice race for him ... Fortunately he’s a seasoned traveller ... Unfortunately the horse had a few things go wrong prior to the July Cup (at Newmarket, Scenic Blast’s second, and unplaced, run in England) but it was always going to be a bonus if he ran well in that race.

“He’s spelled beautifully (in England). All going well he will head towards the next leg of the Global Sprint Challenge in Japan. (Scenic Blast was to fly from the UK to Japan late in September, and spend five days in quarantine on landing. Mark Zahra was booked to ride in the Group 1 Sprinters Stakes, 1200m, on October 4 because regular jockey Steven Arnold has Flemington commitments.)

“The really good thing about the US$1million bonus on offer is that $250,000 goes to the trainer, so needless to say we will doing our level best.”

(To collect the bonus a horse has to win Group 1s in three countries – a win in the Sprinters Stakes, 1200m, at Nakayama on October 4 will give the “extra” to the Scenic Blast team.)

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21/9/09 5:00:31 PM

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THE GREAT CUP ADVENTURE

Staying

at home

One year on from Yellowstone’s fruitless trip, trainer Jane Chapple-Hyam judged the moment was not right to tackle the Melbourne Cup again.

WORDS EMMA BERRY PHOTOS HUGH ROUTLEDGE, EMMA BERRY

W

hen the Melbourne Cup nominations were announced on 4 August, the list included 31 European entries (including two from South African Mike de Kock’s satellite stable in Newmarket). By the middle of September, this number had dwindled to 16 possible starters (see The Contenders, P28-29) and, when one takes into account the costs and logistics involved in flying a racehorse from one side of the world to the other, it’s little wonder the figure will fall much further by second declarations in early October.

English trainer David Elsworth said this time last year: “I’d seen the film about Phar Lap, but when I first started out Australia seemed beyond our reach. Nobody travelled horses like that in those days. The excitement of going to the other side of the world to take part in such a special race was just a great big fantastic adventure.”

It’s also an expensive adventure and Elsworth will have bittersweet reminiscences of his Cup outings: Persian Punch (Ch g 1993, Persian Heights (GB)-Rum Cay (USA), by Our Native (USA)) made his two trips worthwhile by finishing third in both 1998 and 2001; but in 2006, the stable’s Wunderwood (B g 1999, Faltaat (USA)-Jasoorah (IRE), by Sadler’s Wells (USA)) fractured a leg in a training gallop before the race and was put down.

Of course, international travel for the world’s top horses is now commonplace but, at the end of a lengthy European season when horses would otherwise be looking forward to a winter break, connections need to be sure a hefty financial outlay can be justified, especially when there are still a few lucrative staying prizes to be snapped up on the domestic front.

It is for this reason that Jane Chapple-Hyam, Australian-born but now British-based, has decided to shelve plans to send her first Royal Ascot winner Judgethemoment (Br h 2005, Judge T C (USA)-Rachael Tennessee (USA), by Matsadoon (USA)) in pursuit of glory in her home city.

“He had three hard races in a row and, therefore, when I was leading up to Royal Ascot I didn’t have the Melbourne Cup on my mind at all, but after he won there, the owner asked if we could enter,” said ChappleHyam. Judgethemoment won the Ascot Stakes, a 4000m handicap from Sesenta, who went on to win the Ebor (2800m), Europe’s top handicap, at York by a head from the unlucky Changingoftheguard (B c 2006, Montjeu (IRE)-Miletrain (IRE), by Marju (IRE)), one of Aidan O’Brien’s Coolmore team entered for Melbourne.

Sesenta (B m 2004, King’s Theatre (IRE)-Cincuenta (IRE), by Bob Back (USA)), trained by Willie Mullins, was not nominated for Flemington’s

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famous race, although, after the Ebor, Irishman Mullins was reported to have been disappointed Melbourne Cup entries had closed.

He had Deutschland (B g 2003, Red Ransom (USA)-Rhine Valley (USA), by Danzig (USA)) as a first declaration on September 8. Three days later Deutschland (Kieren Fallon) was fi fth of five behind Aska Tau in the Group 2 Doncaster Cup over 3600m.

Chapple-Hyam said: “Really, you have to campaign your horse for the Cup for the whole year, not just on a whim. It’s got to be in the back of your mind at the start of our season.”

A fruitless trip to Melbourne with eventual non-runner Yellowstone (B h 2004, Rock Of Gibraltar

(IRE)-Love And Affection (USA), by Exclusive Era (USA)) last year has given the trainer an insight of just what is at stake fi nancially.

“With Yellowstone, it was a £60,000 trip,” she said. (That’s about $150,000 on 2008 exchange rates of £1 to $2.5, which has since improved to about £1 to $2). “It’s probably around £27,000 (about $67,500) for the actual flight but there’s much, much more to consider than just the transport bill.”

Pre-export testing and quarantine costs came to about £2000 ($5000), while flying grooms, tack containers, insurance, customs charges, feed freight and disinfecting of the plane added more than £8000 ($20,000) to the final bill.

ROYAL ASCOT: Judgethemoment, with Richard Hughes wearing purple, orange and white, wins the Ascot Stakes, giving Jane ChappleHyam her fi rst Royal Ascot success.

I stayed with my mum and used her car so I had no personal expenses other than my flight.

JANE CHAPPLE-HYAM

“We flew out with Aidan O’Brien’s horses which made it a bit cheaper but we were only allowed to send one lad with our horse, so we then flew another person out on a regular flight,” Chapple-Hyam said. “The VRC (Victoria Racing Club) are good in that they give overseas staff a mobile phone and a vehicle, but obviously we have to pay for their accommodation and meals.

“Luckily, I stayed with my mum (Susan Renouf, in Melbourne) and used her car so I had no personal expenses other than my fl ight, but Dr Hay (Yellowstone’s owner) had a racing manager and a stable jockey, both of whom were flown out to Australia and stayed in hotels.

THE THOROUGHBRED 25

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THE GREAT CUP ADVENTURE

You can bring your costs down by using an Australian jockey and I was planning to use Michelle Payne.

JANE CHAPPLE-HYAM

I was planning to use Michelle Payne this year,” Chapple-Hyam said. “She got on really well with the horse when she was riding over here and it would have been perfect.

It’s obviously much better if they’ve already ridden the horse – I wouldn’t want to put someone on cold when you’ve gone halfway round the world.

I believe Michelle is quite keen to do three months here next year and she’s a great asset.”

For the time being, however, Payne’s Goodwood Cup partner, Judgethemoment, will remain in Newmarket with Melbourne on the back-burner.

“With ‘Judge’ it just made sense to go two miles down the road to run in the Cesarewitch (October 17) this year rather than fly all that way with a bit of a question mark in my mind,” explained his trainer. “But

THE REVERSE ROUTE

The surge in popularity in National Hunt racing in Britain and Ireland is such that promising jumping stock now regularly fetch six-figure sums, a fact that encouraged Gask’s team to take a punt on spending about $25,000 a horse in transport costs to Britain.

Jeremy Gask, with an eye on England’s strong jumps racing, is flying horses in a different direction. Words Emma Berry

“The dearth of good class handicaps in Australia now means that there are few opportunities for that sort of horse and they can be bought relatively cheaply. I think they could make terrific jumpers here. When it looked like the hammer was going to fall on jump racing in Australia, we were inundated with offers of horses that people were trying to sell.” Of his five imports, it is the six-year-old Denton who has most surprised the trainer by winning back-to-back 2000m handicaps in August.

Jeremy Gask, another Australian ex-pat training in the UK, used his change in scenery to experiment with flying horses in the opposite direction, importing five southern hemisphere-bred gallopers to his Horses First Racing stable at Sutton Veny in south-west Wiltshire earlier this year.

“We looked at fillies to start with as we felt that there was more depth in the sprinting ranks in Australia, but we also brought over a few horses primarily to be sold on as jumpers,” Gask said.

Mrs Penny (B m 5, PlanchetRespective, by Noalcoholic (Fr)) has saluted with a second-up win over 1200m, and two of the potential jumpers have also remained with Gask for the time being as a result of some successful outings on the flat this season.

JEREMY GASK: says there’s defi nitely a market for potential jumpers.

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next year’s Cup is his goal, via Ascot.

“Also, I think it will be better for him to go next year when he’s five. I’d race him less here at the start of the season so we have enough fuel in the tank at the end.

For this year’s Cup he was given 50kg, so that gives me a guideline, but he’d probably need another kilo to get in.

“Obviously it’s made things easier now that the prizemoney goes to 10th place but you’re going there to win and you shouldn’t be going if you don’t think that your horse has a chance of finishing in the top 10.”

Win it and you get $3.3 million; second is worth $835,000, third $420,000, fourth $220,000; fifth $150,000; and sixth to 10th earn $115,000.

“It hasn’t quite worked out the way we expected as both Denton (B h 6, Montjeu (IRE)-Melora (NZ), by Sir Tristram (IRE)) and One Way Or Another (B g 6, Carnegie (IRE)-True Blonde, by Naturalism (NZ)) have shown good flat form so they are still with us. Horseshoe Reef (B g 6, Encosta De Lago-Christies Beach,

by Naturalism (NZ)) is now with Gary Moore to go jumping.”

“Denton wasn’t expensive and we’ve been offered significantly more money for him since his wins,” says Gask. “I’d definitely look at doing this again. I wouldn’t want to be bringing over horses to run in the Ascot Gold Cup, but there’s definitely a market for potential jumpers, and the sprinters can certainly hold their own.”

PHOTO HORSES FIRST RACING

“Then there’s the bill when you get home for any veterinary work you’ve had from the RVL (Racing Victoria Limited) vets.”

(The trip proved especially costly for connections when the horse was scratched two days before the Melbourne Cup because of a hip injury. And jockey John Egan was fi ned $8000 for calling local racing officials ‘tinpot Hitlers’ in a television interview. ) With the enterprising Michelle Payne having made the most of a lull in racing at home by riding in England in June and July, she was able to forge links with a number of British trainers with interests in the Melbourne Cup, including Luca Cumani and, of course, her fellow Australian, Chapple-Hyam.

“You can bring your costs down by using an Australian jockey and

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21/9/09 4:37:47 PM

THE GREAT CUP ADVENTURE

at the Sandown quarantine barns, but was more likely to run in the Saab Quality (2500m) on Derby day or the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2500m) on the final day of the Flemington carnival. “I really bought him with 2010 in mind,” he said. (7 starts, 2 wins)

HERE THEY COME

Cima De Triomphe (gr h 2005, Galileo-Sopran Londa, by Danehill) Trainer: Luca Cumani

The Thoroughbred’s UK correspondent Emma Berry casts an expert eye over the 16 Irish and English horses left in the Melbourne Cup at second declarations.

Godolphin, a Caulfield Cup in its trophy cabinet (All The Good, last year), had four horses in quarantine in mid-September as possible travellers to Australia as Sheikh Mohammed’s world-renowned stable continues to stretch out for the Melbourne Cup that has been out of reach since 1998 when glamour jockey Frankie Dettori finished seventh first up on Faithful Son for trainer Saeed bin Suroor.

PHOTOS EMMA BERRY

Before pulling the pin on Melbourne, Godolphin’s great rival Coolmore had three second declarations through trainer Aidan O’Brien, although the colt considered the best chance, Changingoftheguard, was to change stables to leading Australian trainer David Hayes.

Dermot Weld, already a winner of two Cups (Vintage Crop 1993 and Media Puzzle 2002), planned to come back for seconds with Profound Beauty, fifth last year, and had two other second decs. Luca Cumani, runner-up for the past two years (Purple Moon and Bauer) had two horses doing their quarantine stint.

Four other trainers were making preparations with one horse each. Coming or not, here is how the second declarations shape up ...

Age Of Aquarius (b c 2006*, Galileo-Clara Bow,

by Top Ville) Trainer: Aidan O’Brien

Scratched from the English St Leger on the eve of the race with pulled muscles but has shown some decent form this season. Only lightly raced, he was runner-up to Cavalryman in the G1 Grand Prix de Paris (2400m) in July (beating subsequent St Leger winner Mastery by a length and a half), having previously finished seventh in the Derby at Epsom. (5 starts, 2 wins)

in the UK in March to be trained by Luca Cumani.

His six victories have all come on Italian soil but some decent placed efforts recently – notably when grabbed on the line after making all over 2800m at Salisbury and when fourth behind fellow Cup contender Munsef at Chester – have convinced Cumani to include him in his raiding party.

(21 starts, 6 wins) Changingoftheguard (b c 2006, Montjeu-Miletrian,

by Marju) Trainer: Aidan O’Brien when entered; David Hayes on arrival in Australia

Basaltico (above) (ch h 2004, Shantou-Sfilza,

by Indian Ridge) Trainer: Luca Cumani

Having started life with Italy’s champion trainer Alduino Botti, Basaltico was switched to the Dubai stable of Herman Brown for this year’s International Racing Carnival before arriving

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MELBOURNE BOUND: Cima De Triomphe, exercised at Newmarket

by Sara Cumani, is one of her husband Luca Cumani’s Cup entries.

A fast-finishing second in the Ebor (2800m) before failing to sparkle in the English St Leger (3000m), a race which marked his first outing in Group company. His dam was a high-class stayer and, on paper at least, he should stay two miles. There is a tendency for the offspring of Montjeu to favour wet tracks but this colt has proved he can act on good-to-firm going. Purchased (subject to a vet test) by clients of David Hayes’ stable after he was unplaced in the St Leger.

Hayes said he would decide on a Melbourne Cup start when Changingoftheguard arrived

Like his stablemate Basaltico, Cima De Triomphe started his racing career in Italy, where he won last year’s Derby Italiano (2200m). Highly regarded by Cumani, he has been primarily campaigned at 2000m this season, winning the G3 Brigadier Gerard Stakes and finishing fourth to the outstanding Sea The Stars in the G1 Eclipse Stakes, but he gives the appearance in his races of a horse who would stay much further, as his pedigree also suggests. He is owned by Teruya Yoshida, whose colours were carried to glory in the 2006 Melbourne Cup by Japan’s Delta Blues. (14 starts, 5 wins) Crime Scene (b g 2003, Royal ApplauseCrime, by Gulch) Trainer: Saeed bin Suroor

A rare staying son of good juvenile/sprinting stallion Royal Applause. His better recent efforts have come on softer conditions than he is likely to find in Melbourne. Beaten a neck

by Eastern Anthem in a Dubai handicap (2400m) in February.

Didn’t act around the contours of Goodwood on his most recent start when last in the G3 Glorious Stakes (2400m) but before that had won the Listed Steventon Stakes (2000m) at Newbury in July. (27 starts, 8 wins) Deutschland (b g 2003, Red Ransom-Rhine Valley, by Danzig) Trainer: Willie Mullins

Decent handicapper with winning form at two miles and over hurdles and fences.

He was only 2-3/4 lengths behind stablemate Sesenta in the Ebor on 19 August but ran last of five when appearing not to get home

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Directa King (b g 2004, Acatenango-Dawlah,

by Shirley Heights) Trainer: Dermot Weld

German-bred half-brother to Deutsches Derby winner Dai Jin. Directa King became an inmate of Dermot Weld’s stable last season and romped home by 17 lengths in a Galway handicap at 2400m. Has raced only once this year when a soundly beaten fifth in good-to-soft conditions over 2600m at Down Royal.

Needs to improve dramatically.

(6 starts, 3 wins) Ghimaar (b h 2005, Dubai DestinationCharlecote, by Caerleon) Trainer: Dermot Weld

Won well off top weight over two miles when making most of the running in a valuable Galway handicap in July. Most recent effort in Listed company at the same track can be discounted as it was contested in conditions that made racing near impossible – the meeting was abandoned after his race. Nevertheless, he is another who will need to step up.

(13 starts, 3 wins)

Eastern Anthem (above) (b h 2005, Singspiel-Kazzia,

by Zinaad) Trainer: Saeed bin Suroor

A Group 1 winner in March in Dubai and has since finished in the places in Group 1 contests

in Germany in August and September (each time over 2400m). Eastern Anthem had Crime Scene and Sugar Ray behind him when winning a Dubai handicap in February prior to the Sheema Classic.

Beat Munsef by 10 lengths last season in a Conditions race at Newmarket. A son of Singspiel, whose stock tend to improve with age and distance, and out of Godolphin’s German-bred Guineas and Oaks winner Kazzia. (14 starts, 5 wins)

Kirklees (above) (b h 2004, Jade RobberyMoyesii, by Diesis) Trainer: Saeed bin Suroor

On the go through the early part of the year in Dubai, but he was freshened up on his return to the UK in April and has since kept a clean sheet in three races, including the G2 York Stakes (2000m).

Godolphin racing manager Simon Crisford said after his recent G3 September Stakes (2400m) win: “He’s in the Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup. We’re not too pleased with his weight in the Melbourne Cup, but the Caulfield Cup is worth targeting anyway and we’ll see how he goes there.

He’s doing everything right.”

Kirklees was a Group 1-winning juvenile and is a halfbrother to the English St Leger winner Mastery. (17 starts, 8 wins) Johann Zoffany (b c 2006, Galileo-Belle Allemande, by Royal Academy) Trainer: Aidan O’Brien

The winner of three 2000m contests in Ireland and soundly beaten by his stablemate Poet in the G3 Kilternan Stakes at the same distance on his most recent outing. Down the field on his only start over 2400m, at Royal

Ascot, but missed the break on that occasion and was asked to make up ground on the outside.

Not yet highly tried and open to improvement. (8 starts, 3 wins) Mourilyan (b h 2004, Desert PrinceMouramara, by Kahyasi) Trainer: Herman Brown

Mourilyan started life racing for his breeder, the Aga Khan, from the stable of John Oxx. Following his sale to Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, he has been trained by South African Herman Brown in Dubai and is now with Gary Moore in England – Brown will take over again if he comes to Melbourne, and probably bring stablemate Bankable for the McKinnon Stakes on Derby day.

A thoroughly genuine individual, Mourilyan finished just a length behind Schiaparelli in the Goodwood Cup (3200m) and recently returned to his nearby Sussex track for a Listed win at 2800m. Serious claims.

(15 starts, 8 wins) Munsef (b g 2002, Zafonic-Mazaya,

by Sadler’s Wells) Trainer: Ian Williams

Enigmatic elder statesman who has enjoyed something of a renaissance since joining the stable of jumps trainer Ian Williams earlier this year. In hindsight, his failure to sell Munsef will have been a source of delight for Marwan Koukash, who has about 40 horses in training in Britain, as the gelding has not been out of the first two places in five subsequent starts. He won the Listed Chester Stakes (2600m) and was beaten half a length into second in the G3 Stockholm Cup (2400m) on September 13.

Munsef is reportedly not the soundest creature but seven wins and 15 places in 32 starts are testament to his gameness.

Profound Beauty (b m 2004, Danehill-Diamond Trim, by Highest Honor) Trainer: Dermot Weld

Dermot Weld’s best chance at claiming a third Melbourne Cup boasted a spotless record this season until the Irish St Leger

(2800m), in which she ran a well beaten fourth on heavy going that would not have been to her liking. Owned and bred by nonagenarian Walter Haefner’s Moyglare Stud, which bred 2002 winner Media Puzzle, this mare may be just the horse to fulfil the dreams of Eva BucherHaefner, who now runs the stud for her father, “to have a Melbourne Cup winner in our colours”. Victory for Profound Beauty, who was fifth in last year’s Cup, would also give the late, great sire Danehill his first Melbourne Cup winner.

(15 starts, 6 wins) Sugar Ray (b g 2004, Danehill-Akuna Bay, by Mr Prospector) Trainer: Saeed bin Suroor

Beat last year’s Cup runner Mad Rush by a neck in the Duke of Edinburgh Handicap (2400m) at Royal Ascot in 2008. Has since switched from the stable of Sir Michael Stoute to Godolphin, for whom he is yet to salute. The least appealing of the Godolphin quartet. (15 starts, 3 wins) Warringah (B g 2005, GalileoThreefold, by Gulch) Trainer: Sir Michael Stoute

Having competed in handicaps, Warringah was thrown in at the deep end when finishing 76 lengths behind his stablemate Conduit in last year’s St Leger, in which Unsung Heroine (a Cup entry now trained

by David Hayes) was second.

A big horse, Warringah has come on physically this year for three runner-up finishes in stakes company, including a creditable front-running effort in the G3 Glorious Stakes (2400m) at Goodwood, in which he was beaten a neck. Trained by Sir Michael Stoute, whose reputation for possessing a touch of genius with older horses is well deserved. (12 starts, 2 wins) (*Horses born in 2006 are 3YOs by northern hemisphere time; 4YOs

by Australian time)

PHOTOS WWW.GODOLPHIN.COM

in the 3600m Doncaster Cup in September. Trained by Ireland’s pre-eminent jumps trainer Willie Mullins, who is best known in Australia for his association with the recalcitrant Holy Orders (17th in the 2003 Melbourne Cup after becoming a source of media interest on refusing to gallop while working at Sandown) but can produce a good stayer on the flat. (31 starts, 8 wins)

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THE STUDMASTER

The Sir Patrick Hogan story

The great studmaster begins to talk of the next era for the renowned Cambridge Stud, and of his remaining goal in racing.

WORDS DANNY POWER

S

ir Patrick Hogan, the wily Irishman in a Kiwi coat, is the complete package for the modern studmaster. He can read the wind of change better than an America’s Cup helmsman; he’s as tough as an All-Blacks front rower; and he’s as competitive as any of the champions bred on the lush paddocks of his famed Cambridge Stud, in the heart of New Zealand’s horse country, the Waikato.

It has been said that Hogan is the master marketer – a man who sold himself and the New Zealand thoroughbred industry; but most of all, can he sell a horse! It was Hogan who pioneered the modern professional yearling sale presentation associated with social entertainment for prospective clients, long before the Irish lads from Coolmore and the like stepped into the breech and raised the bar, at the bar, so to speak.

It wasn’t just a case of build it and they will come; for Hogan you can add – feed and water them and they will buy.

Hogan, in contrast to rival breeding conglomerates who have large marketing arms and more hangerson than a football team, admits he has been a one-man band playing all the instruments, and rising 70 - his birthday is on October 20 - he is starting to feel the pinch. The tune

is starting to miss a beat and he’s tired and needs a rest.

For that reason, Hogan is conscious that his days at Cambridge Stud, the sprawling 404ha stud farm he developed from a 52ha farmlet in 1975, are numbered. “A decision needs to be made as to what will happen to Cambridge Stud in the next five or six years,” Hogan told The Thoroughbred.

The “For Sale” sign has not been tacked on to Cambridge Stud’s black-stained fence posts – and it is unlikely to go up – but Hogan is looking for a succession plan to send the stud into the next phase; post The Commander, as he is affectionately known in the district.

Hogan and his wife, Lady Justine, don’t have a male heir and their daughters Erin and Nicola and their families don’t have the passion to take on the daunting task of running Cambridge Stud without the driving force of the old man to help them along.

“I’ve had my go, my time,” Hogan said. “I don’t believe I should, or would want, to be running the stud at its current level in the future.

I don’t have an heir, so the sensible thing is to hand it to someone else.

Nothing else would please me more than to see Cambridge Stud continue on as a world-class thoroughbred stud and breeding great racehorses.”

PHOTOS COURTESY OF CAMBRIDGE STUD

Success

WINNERS: Sir Patrick Hogan with Zabeel (now 23), sire of 38 Group 1 winners.

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THE STUDMASTER

Hogan knows that Cambridge Stud, set on many titles over years of expansion, is beautifully positioned to be a juicy prospect for developers – it is only eight minutes from the centre of the thriving city of Hamilton and only five minutes from the quaint town of Cambridge, from which the stud gets its name.

There is no way Hogan is going to hand what he has built, both on the fertile, prosperous land and in worldrenowned goodwill, to developers.

“I don’t think about that; I don’t want to see Cambridge Stud carved up to the benefit of retired farmers,” he said.

“Land at Cambridge is the most fertile in New Zealand. We have 900 acres, including a huge 400-cow dairy farm, the facilities to sustain five or six stallions and raise and prepare 90 yearlings each year.”

Hogan said that bare land in the district was selling at $40,000 an acre.

He won’t speculate on the value of Cambridge Stud dirt, but you can be assured it is a lot more than that. Do the sums: on those base figures alone the land alone is worth $36 million.

During our discussion about who will be running Cambridge Stud in the future – near future if Hogan gets his wish – the phrase “to the right people” is often repeated by the famous horseman.

It is not hard to fathom that money is not necessarily the be-all of any possible acquisition. “The right people” need to fit Hogan’s plans for the future of his famous farm. This is not a legacy to hand over lightly.

He wants to see the stud’s tradition of greatness carried on and he understands that there are only a few organisations that can carry on what he has built.

He admits that overtures have come from interested parties across the Tasman. Last year representatives of Nathan Tinkler’s Patinack Farm made informal inquiries that didn’t amount to much. There also were rumours that Coolmore Stud was in line to buy the stud. While Hogan admits there was talk, it was nothing more than a friendly discussion.

“I have known John Magnier (the Irishman in charge of Coolmore) for most of my life with thoroughbreds.

He’s a close friend, but there has been no offer from Coolmore to buy Cambridge Stud. I did sit down with Kirwan (Coolmore’s Australian general manager, Michael Kirwan) over a bit of lunch to talk about all

SIR TRISTRAM (above): sired 45 Group 1 winners, 130 Stakes winners.

SIR TRISTRAM (opposite): standing in bronze at Cambridge Stud.

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sorts of things when the subject of what I was going to do with the stud came up, but it was nothing more than that,” Hogan said.

“I’d like to retire and race a few horses, and breed 10 or 15 mares which will be kept at other places in New Zealand and Australia.

Nobody would be happier than me to see Cambridge Stud continue on successfully. I can’t be worried what will happen in 25 years time, I won’t be around.”

Hogan has one burning ambition – own the winner of the Melbourne Cup. “You can have your Golden Slipper, there is only one race and it’s the Melbourne Cup. I am desperate to win it, and I have only 10 or 12 years to achieve it,” Hogan said.

To help his cause, Hogan has joined forces with a couple of owners who have won seven Cups between them, and a trainer who has a dozen on the shelf. “I have shares in horses with Dato Tan Chin Nam with Bart Cummings, and a couple of Zabeels with Lloyd Williams. I am sticking

with the lucky owners and hoping they can drag me along.”

He hopes to have a Cup runner this year in Precedence (b h 2005, Zabeel (NZ)-Kowtow (USA), by Shadeed (USA)), part-owned with Dato Tan Chin Nam and trained by Cummings.

“He might make it this year, but his best chance of winning it will be next year,” Hogan said.

While he doubts he will stand another new stallion at Cambridge – “It takes six years to develop a stallion, and I haven’t got six years” – he contradicts himself, saying later that he hadn’t given up on standing a son of Zabeel to continue a sire line that began with Sir Tristram (IRE) (b h 1971, Sir Ivor (USA)-Isolt (USA), by Round Table (USA)) in 1976 and carried on through his famous son Zabeel (b h 1986, Sir Tristram (IRE)-Lady Giselle (FR), by Nureyev (USA)), who stood his first season at Cambridge in 1991 when his sire was aged 20.

“I didn’t chase a son of Zabeel – horses like Don Eduardo and Savabeel – because I already have so many

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SIR TRISTRAM (IRE)

mares with Zabeel and Sir Tristram blood. The crossing of Zabeel and Sir Tristram has worked, but I doubt a triple cross would.

“The timing hasn’t been right up to now. It doesn’t mean I wouldn’t. I only took on Zabeel when Sir Tristram was virtually finished, and the same could exist with Zabeel.”

Hogan admits it is his association with Zabeel that keeps him going when other things, including his health, have made the hard life a bit of a struggle in recent years. “There is no other stallion like him, even with all the great sires that are around today.

No horse in the future will be able to sire the individual Group 1 winners that Zabeel has left, including four Cox Plates and three Melbourne Cups.

“I am prepared to put money on it.

He has emulated his sire … I am sorry to say.”

It was a strange statement coming from Hogan – sorry that Zabeel has emulated Sir Tristram – but his words reflect just what Sir Tristram means to him and his family. The horse he

30-34_Hogan.indd 33

B h 1971, Sir Ivor (USA)-Isolt (USA),

by Round Table (USA) First crop in 1976, died in 1997 Sire of 45 Group 1 winners combined total of 72 Sire of 130 Stakes winners 287 wins Melbourne Cup winners 3 Progeny earnings in excess of $56m Sire of Sovereign Red, Grosvenor, Gurner’s Lane, Kaapstad, Marauding, Dr Grace, Tristarc, Empire Rose, Military Plume, Riverina Charm and Brew Winner of nine Dewar Awards (leading sire combined NZ and Australian earnings) Australian champion sire 6 New Zealand champion sire 1

plucked from obscurity, that other breeders rejected, changed Hogan’s life and he will never forget it.

Hogan inherited his love of horses, and farm life, from his father Thomas, who emigrated from Ireland to raise Clydesdales in Taranaki. In 1956, the elder Hogan bought a 50 per cent share in the imported stallion Blueskin, who was to stand on a friend’s property, ironically named Cambridge Stud.

Patrick was 15 at that time, the youngest of seven. He lost interest in schooling, claiming he shined only at mathematics and religion, one of which, ironically, turned out to be the subject that would come in handy in later life – the maths, for obvious monetary reasons. Some of Hogan’s close mates still claim that the old man is a wizard at sorting out a big bill at the end of a long, red winefuelled lunch.

The Hogans caught the thoroughbred bug in the 1950s, and soon enough the family decided to rename their property Fencourt Stud and the investment was made in a new stallion. Hogan recalls the time: “Pigs and cows began going out the back gate, horses came through the front.”

Hogan, in his early 20s, and his elder brother John took over the running of Fencourt. Hogan remembers selling his yearlings out of the same tired old mares each year without fanfare and little result.

The entrepreneurial Hogan then imported the stallion Hermes (GB) (b h 1963, Aureole (GB)-Ark Royal (GB), by Straight Draw (GB)), who arrived in New Zealand in the late1960s. Hogan did his best sell job to syndicate the horse and soon things were on the up as Hermes’ stock stared to show some talent.

The “up” continued when Hermes’ first-crop son Asgard, trained by Bart Cummings, won the 1973 Group 1 WA Derby (2400m) at Ascot and the 1974 Group 1 Australian Champion Stakes (2000m) at Randwick.

Just when Hermes was developing a reputation, tragedy struck in early 1975 when the horse was stricken with colitis X and died – and four valuable foals also caught the lethal bug and died. To rub salt into the wounds, not long after that Herminia (by Hermes) won the Group 1 Brisbane Cup and in 1976 another son, Van Der Hum, ploughed through the mud on the wettest of days to win the Group 1 Melbourne Cup.

The death of Hermes had a huge impact on the Hogan brothers’ partnership, with Patrick deciding to go his own way, buying a nearby plot of land. He also sought a new stallion in 1976 and travelled to Europe in his quest.

During his European crusade, he unearthed his Holy Grail.

Be it luck, intuition, good fortune or genius, it doesn’t matter. Hogan found Sir Tristram, a moderately performed, plain, bullish and cantankerous son of Sir Ivor that nobody else wanted. But what Sir Tristram had was a pedigree that appealed to Hogan – the Sir Ivor sire line and the dam line that traced to the great mare Selene – and he couldn’t wait to get him home to New Zealand. Hogan’s life, and the lives of many others in New Zealand and Australia, changed forever.

Hogan encouraged investors to take a stake in the young horse, sight unseen, but not all followed their pied piper from Cambridge. When Sir Tristram arrived in New Zealand, some investors didn’t like him at all, even after the Hogan sales pitch, and jumped off like lemmings. Ten years later, some of those, including well-known breeder Fred Bodle, of Whakanui Stud, were paying $100,000 a service fee to send their mares to the stallion.

Bodle at least got some redemption for his decision, by breeding the 1988 Melbourne Cup winner Empire Rose (ch m 1983, ex-Summer Fleur (NZ),

by Sovereign Edition (IRE)) from one of those expensive matings. As one scribe wrote: “Bodle saved himself from becoming racing’s equivalent of the man who said no to The Beatles.”

Sir Tristram stood his first year at Fencourt while Hogan prepared his new property. It was during that first stud season that the unpredictable stallion badly savaged Hogan’s brother John. From that time on, Sir Tristram was treated with the utmost respect and, although he remained dangerous, Hogan, dressed in helmet and body protection, always handled the horse himself.

Sir Tristram’s initial fee was $1300. From his first crop he sired Sovereign Red, who won the 1980 Victoria and Australian Derbys.

From crop two emerged Gurner’s Lane, a brother to Sovereign Red, who won the 1982 Melbourne Cup. Soon the “full book” sign was up and shares in the stallion were exchanging hands for $100,000-plus.

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THE STUDMASTER

ZABEEL (NZ) B h 1986, Sir Tristram (IRE)Lady Giselle (FR), by Nureyev (USA) First crop in 1992 38 Group 1 winners combined total of 80 121 Stakes winners 292 wins Progeny earning in excess of $100m Melbourne Cup winners 3 Cox Plate winners 4 Sire of Octagonal, Might And Power, Vengeance Of Rain, Maldivian, Sky Heights, Efficient, Mouawad, Reset, Savabeel, Don Eduardo, Jezabeel and Greys Inn. Winner of 13 Dewar Awards Australian champion sire 2 New Zealand champion sire 4 2009 service fee NZ$90,000 (plus GST)

THE HOGANS: Sir Patrick and Lady Justine with the great broodmare Eight Carat.

Cambridge Stud growth, and Hogan’s standing in the racing industry and the Cambridge community, came with the success of Sir Tristram. The great sire, who Hogan affectionately named Paddy, died in 1997 after breaking his shoulder, aged 26. Even though the stallion was in his twilight years, the death was hard to take. Sir Tristram was everything to Hogan and Cambridge Stud.

They buried Sir Tristram in the traditional way for a warrior horse, standing upright, facing the west.

His grave, which now features a magnificent bronze statue, is a centrepiece in front of the Cambridge Stud barn. Paddy’s favourite mound, in his old paddock, from where he would stand and gaze over his empire, remains, as does the head stall which Hogan would hook with a pole and “walk” Sir Tristram to the gate to be prepared for mating – when he was good and ready.

When Sir Tristram died, he had sired a world record 45 Group 1 winners (surpassed by Danehill in 2002). Zabeel was just starting to leave his mark when his sire died; since then the bay stallion has been a phenomenon. The big horse, very much in his sire’s image, but possessing a far more accommodating temperament, has so far sired 38 Group 1 winners and 121 Stakes winners. Sir Tristram sired 130 Stakes winners.

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30-34_Hogan.indd 34

Hogan said that Sir Tristram and his son Zabeel possess the ability to pass on the three essential ingredients of a top-quality racehorse – the heart, the lung capacity and the brain.

Cambridge Stud is more than a stallion station. Hogan has prided himself on his ability to continually upgrade his band of mares. “I learned early on when people stopped coming to see my yearlings because they were from the same old, tired families, that you need to keep offering new bloodlines,” he said.

As much as the success of Cambridge is its stallions, the lush paddocks have housed some of the southern hemisphere’s greatest broodmares - Eight Carat (GB)(m 1975, Pieces Of Eight (IRE)-Klairessa (GB),

by Klairon (FR)), dam of five Group 1 winners, including Octagonal and Kaapstad; and before her Taiona (m 1972, Sovereign Edition (IRE)-Vickyjoy,

by Sabaean (GB)), dam of Sovereign Red and Gurner’s Lane; and My Tricia (m 1974, Hermes-Gay Poss, by Le Filou (FR), dam of five Stakes-winners, including Grosvenor (by Sir Tristram).

It’s sale time that brings out the best in Hogan. He prepares for it like a trainer prepares for the Melbourne Cup. His stud has topped the yearling sale aggregate at the New Zealand premier sales for the past 26 years.

The highlight was when Hogan sold future AJC Derby winner Don Eduardo (b c 2000, Zabeel-Diamond Lover, by Sticks And Stones) for an Australasian record for a yearling of NZ$3.6 million. “I had a $1.5m reserve on him. I was happy when

Bart Cummings bid $2m, but then Gai Waterhouse and Tik Tik Trinadad got into a bidding duel,” Hogan said.

Trinadad, acting for his boss Eduardo Cojuangco won the battle.

Patrick Hogan was knighted in 2000 for his services to racing, and in 2006 he was inducted into New Zealand’s Racing Hall of Fame, a year after he received the same honour in Australia’s equivalent.

Hogan’s move from pig and cattle farmer to world-class thoroughbred breeder has made him a wealthy man – it has been reported his worth is around $65 million. In recent years he spent some of it, building a mansion on Cambridge Stud, while he and Lady Justine spend some spare time in the family “bach” (the New Zealand term for holiday home), overlooking the sea on the lower slopes of Mt Maunganui at Tauranga on the east coast of New Zealand’s north island. It is a three-level ode to modern architecture that some of his closest friends say is “just not Pat”.

Hogan admits the “bach” was a bit of Irish blarney. “I’ve never known an Irishman who didn’t want to skite when you have the opportunity to make a statement,” he said in a 2006 interview in the New Zealand Herald.

He has come a long way since Bart Cummings bought a yearling from him on the condition that he used the money to buy a house better than the tiny home he was living in on the farm. The deal was done, Bart got his horse and the shrewd Hogan invested his money in two new broodmares.

The horse always comes first.

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21/9/09 4:03:11 PM

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21/9/09 4:06:59 PM

A DAY IN THE LIFE

the stewards’ watch The Thoroughbred shadows racing’s stewards, taking a rare look behind closed doors and in their towers as they keep the key players on track at a big city meeting.

WORDS PETER RYAN. PHOTOS SEAN GARNSWORTHY

S

ON DUTY: Terry Bailey watches the action from the stewards’ tower at Caulfield.

cott Leckie walks in to the stewards room at Caulfield alongside jockeys’ association chief executive Des O’Keeffe.

Leckie, the 2005 South Australian Apprentice of the Year, was placed in an induced coma after a race fall at Darwin’s Fannie Bay racecourse in July 2007 and is spending a day at the Caulfield races. On crutches and struggling to voice the words he wants to say to Bailey, the room falls silent as he finishes his sentence.

“I wanted to thank you personally,” he says, the grin disappearing from his face for just a moment.

“Pleasure Scott,” says Bailey, “that is very good of you.”

O’Keeffe breaks the solemnity. “It’s nice for him to come in here without getting fined or suspended.”

“We can give you a couple of weeks while you’re here,” jokes Bailey as he stares down the barrel at Scott. The young man laughs at the thought.

He’d take them in a heartbeat.

As soon as Leckie leaves the room steward Steven Coombes says it all in three words. “Dangerous sport fellas.”

There are 14 stewards (three of whom are female) and three cadets in Victoria, and five at work at Caulfield on Memsie Stakes day. The room where they gather after each race and sometimes summon jockeys, trainers or owners

is cluttered but large enough to house six permanents and any number of visitors. The rectangular table taking up the middle of the room acts as the operational nerve centre. To describe a busy day in the stewards’ room they say ‘the door was swinging.’

The room is full of gear essential to stewards doing their work effectively.

Two large televisions (one showing front-on, one side-on vision) sit on top of an old, sturdy cupboard. Each screen is connected to a computer hard drive that stores vision of every race since 2005, ready to be called upon in an instant if needed. There are three smaller television screens in the corner of the room, one showing tote odds, the other two tuned to Sky Channel.

Another screen affixed to the wall in between the televisions permanently displays the previous race’s photo finish. In the opposite corner is an intercom microphone just to the side of where form analyst Andre Kassay sits, his computer in front of him taking up most of the old wooden table that would not look out of place in a country classroom. Kassay’s input is important when deciding racing patterns, whether a horse’s performance was consistent with its ability or any other relevant information about a race to come, or one just gone. The stewards also receive predicted markets from Aspinall Racing

THE THOROUGHBRED 37

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21/9/09 4:07:54 PM

A DAY IN THE LIFE

to give them a chance to spot any unusual trend in bookmakers’ odds and investigate why if necessary.

Bailey’s chair is at the head of the table. To his left sits the experienced Alan Reardon, a Queenslander who has worked in his home state, New South Wales and Victoria. Next to him at the table is Bruce McGinley, an efficient steward who is not afraid to express his opinion. Beside Bruce sits Donna Saunders, who carries the official title of stewards’ stenographer, but appears to be a person less A person concerned with titles and more to fill the concerned with getting the job position of done right.

On the other side of the table stipendiary crowded with phones and loose sheets steward of paper such as the weights and effi ciently branding sheet or the jockeys’ list sits must be Mark Hill. Hill has been a steward peculiarly for 20 years but he looks nothing like you would imagine the ‘racing constituted. police’ to look. He is sharply dressed, He must be his glasses fashionable in the Lee a man of Freedman style. Steve Coombes is extraordinarily a polite steward from Lara who keen has drawn the short straw putting his seat at the table nearest the perception, door. He needs to open it each of nerve, time someone knocks, as appears of courage to be the custom, and either invite to support the person in or deal with the his own enquiry there and then.

The stewards are racing people, opinions, honest brokers in a world of money, and last, but gambling and ambition. A world not least, with those elements doesn’t make he must be people dishonest. It just gives some prepared the incentive to be. The stewards are responsible for Victoria’s reputation and able to as a clean racing state. They do take up a their job without fear or favour position and with an overriding focus on safety, hold it in the and a secondary, but important face of strong consideration of what is fair to all owners, trainers, horses and punters. opposition Like most racing people they have and torrents a good turn of phrase. And they are of abuse. experienced enough to know when it is time to switch on the seriousness or flick the channel to banter and THE STAR, normal conversation.

NEW ZEALAND No one ever knows how the day FEB 22,1897 will turn out. It is why their job is one where you need to be constantly on alert. As Reardon tells cadet stewards, “Expect the unexpected”. None has left the stewards’ room without jotting down the odds of each horse in his racebook, but they are more indecisive when it comes to whether they should wear a raincoat or not. It’s that sort of day, a track-rating nightmare.

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After gathering in the middle of the mounting yard as horses parade to check gear, brands and ensure the jockeys have what they should have in their saddlebags the stewards head for towers dotted around the course. The top of the stewards’ tower next to the mounting yard provides a good view but it is impossible to see much detail without a trusty pair of Brownings’ binoculars. Both Bailey and Reardon have them in hand. They watch the race in silence, lowering their binoculars as the horses thunder past below them and are urged to the finishing post.

It’s from that moment on that the stewards’ work really begins.

“The favourite was disappointing,” says Bailey. “Thought it was going to do something at the top of the straight. Better get it looked at, hey.”

The vets will be notified to examine the horse.

Bailey walks through the mounting yard and out among the trainers and owners to stand in front of the placegetters as they return to scale.

He inches past the growing crowd and holds his racebook aloft, catches the eye of the returning jockey and nods. He does so in turn until the first five horses have returned. “It is a bit of a tradition. Under the rules they (the jockeys) are supposed to get permission to dismount. That (signal) is just giving them the OK to dismount,” said Bailey.

Reardon stands at the scales as the jockeys weigh in. As he does he asks each one about the rating of the track. He may ask a jockey whether he has a view on why his mount didn’t respond. Or why he led by four lengths at the turn, or dropped out the back. It’s unofficial but essential gathering of information.

Bailey’s mind is racing as he heads away from the madding crowd to the sanctity of the stewards room. There are several issues his mind needs to consider: the state of the track; the performance (or non-performance) of the favourite or another horse; the way the race was run – who led, who dropped out, how particular were horses ridden; did all horses have a reasonable opportunity to run on their merits and if not why not; does a vet inspection need to be made on a horse; and the latest burning issue in racing – the use of the whip.

That is not to mention the events away from the racetrack. Was there

a betting irregularity somewhere?

A horse has been found on course with high TCO2 levels. Should it be scratched? Should the trainer be investigated? Another trainer has arrived at the track with his horse 15 minutes later than he should have.

All horses need to be boxed two hours before their race. What is an appropriate penalty? A trainer wants to check whether his winkers are within the guidelines. Another wants to remove his horse from a later race.

The list does not stop there. They have all just arisen by race one.

This is the reason the stewards’ brains don’t stop on race day. It’s during the time immediately after the race that the good stewards separate themselves from the average. After watching a race live they retreat to the stewards’ room to watch vision.

Time is limited. If they have not got some idea what they will be looking for on the screen before they sit down with the other stewards they will be lucky to pick it up. If they don’t pick up a breach then the moment is all but lost. They don’t just look at the obvious, but the giveaway signs only an expert eye notices: how a jockey sits up at one stage or crosses the reins are just two examples. Dealing with issues quickly and immediately is essential to ensure their authority is backed up by credibility.

Summoned to the stewards’ room during the day are Linda Meech for getting well back on Yule Luvit and Steven Arnold when his mount

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21/9/09 4:08:11 PM

Tariks overraced. Jockeys are asked less formally occasionally to explain the performance of their mount.

One ‘looked to be flying but when he was asked to go, he gave nothing’.

Another ‘jumped poorly’. At least that is the rider’s take on the effort. Craig Newitt is handed a severe reprimand for allowing his ride Éclair Fastpass to shift out and make contact with Darren Gauci’s mount Baby Corn.

Newitt sits pensive but does not argue the toss too hard while Gauci just answers the questions directly without animosity or flourish.

None of these issues was taking much time until the whip use of Stephen Baster in race five became a discussion point. The rules relating to whip use were introduced on August 1 after the industry had been notified a year earlier. Some believe a moratorium would have been useful but the authorities decided to introduce the rule as soon as the season began. Jockeys are now using padded whips and “other than on one occasion in the last 200 metres, when the whip may be used in three consecutive strides, the whip shall not to be used in consecutive strides, other than in a slapping motion down the shoulder or in a backhand manner.” Jockeys are not allowed to use the whip more than five times before the 200m mark.

It has created some counting in the stewards’ room that leads to discussions more often heard around a poker table. Baster has three twos

ON EDGE: Craig Newitt is about to be severely reprimanded by stewards after a short hearing.

Fellow jockey Darren Gauci looks on.

ON CALL: Terry Bailey keeps in touch with staff around the racecourse.

rather than a three and then a whack every second stride. What Baster has done takes a bit of explaining but the third time Bailey hits the nail on the head: “You could have hit it three times the first time but once you have done that you can’t hit it in consecutive strides after that. So you went bang, bang, broke it up, bang, bang. Well the second bang, bang is a no-no. Under the rules you have to break it up. Are you with me?”

Baster nods, his Ginger Meggs grin still with him.

“We have to put it down as a caution,” explains Bailey.

The stewards appear to be taking a sensible approach to administering the rules – they are cracking a padded whip so to speak. In general terms the jockeys ought to be able to adapt, and many have. As an observer it is easy to see how difficult it is to monitor and adjudicate the rules. Time is of the essence and counting takes time.

But no stewards are complaining.

They just want the rule to be applied in a practical manner.

The relationship between jockeys and trainers and stewards is important when any matter arises.

There needs to be an easy rapport without loss of authority. It’s old-style policing in a sense. Know your stuff and understand the people. When one trainer is summoned and informed that the authorities made a mistake when his horse was allowed to run in a race it was not qualified for he can’t resist a cheeky jibe.

“I won’t fine youse this time,” he says as he scuttles from the room.

“We’ve got a good record haven’t we?” says Bailey, appreciating the humour.

“Not too bad,” says the trainer.

It’s a good reflection of the mutual respect between parties.

As soon as free space occurs one of the stewards will be talking to stenographer Saunders, dictating a decision from the day to record in the stewards’ report. Transparency is critical. The stewards’ report will be handed to the media for early airing and appear on Racing Victoria’s website for constant reference. One of the lines in the report for race seven says: Near the 100m Imashadow shied and got slightly unbalanced. It was an eagle set of eyes that noticed an unusual twitch of the ears during the race, the confirmation coming on the video 10 minutes later.

When Bailey asks Kassay whether he has ‘twittered’ the late scratching of the

Dale Sutton-trained Wind Shear, taken from the last at 1.20pm, you know the pork pie hat days are behind us. Only a photo hanging in the inquiry room that makes the stewards of yesteryear look like they were part of the set of the television series Homicide reminds one of the bygone era when it was frowned upon if the stewards did not don the hat.

Bailey is back on the tower for the last. It has been a quiet day, by his reckoning, so far. But there is one race to go. The horses thunder past the tower, as Bailey and Reardon turn their heads to watch them pass the finishing post. “Geez, got tight on the line,” says Bailey.

Three jockeys are called to the stewards’ room. Nikita Beriman and Mark Zahra are there to provide evidence. Brenton Avdulla is being asked to explain his actions for allowing his mount Stickpin to squeeze the two horses inside after the line.

Bailey is polite but formal when questioning the jockeys. Avdulla is protesting that he was not aware of the proximity of the other horses until it was too late: “I just want to say I had no idea Mark Zahra was so close. You can see on the side-on (vision) Mark has made a lot of ground really late … my mount relaxed and as I relaxed Mark’s mount raced up beside me.”

Bailey is delivering a lesson as much as a penalty: “Whether it’s before the line or after the line, as the old saying goes, the ground is just as hard.”

The questioning is firm like the turf. It appears the stewards are keen to see Avdulla acknowledge his action could have consequences.

“If Mark Zahra did not take that run he would not get a ride,” says Bailey. “He’s entitled to improve and he is entitled for a straight run to the line.”

“Don’t you think the inside horse has shifted out?” asks Avdulla.

“Fractionally but that does not relieve you of your responsibility,” says Bailey.

The stewards decide on a severe reprimand. Experience tells them the jockey will learn. If he doesn’t they will come down hard. They will not have forgotten Leckie’s visit earlier. These are serious matters with significant consequences.

The potential for regret is high.

The day is done. The carnival is coming. But the racing is the same every day – dangerous, unforgiving, real. The stewards keep the standards high. With a human touch.

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21/9/09 4:08:27 PM

Belleluia

gets ready to race T

Trainer Robbie Griffiths is impressed with the growth of your filly during her break, and with the way she has come back to work.

WORDS DANNY POWER

he Thoroughbred Magazine Club’s filly Belleluia is back in work and gearing up for her first race start early in November.

Trainer Robbie Griffiths is very pleased with the way the filly matured in her winter break at Eliza Park. “We turned her out after her two trials in the expectation the spell would do her great benefit, and it really has,” Griffiths said.

“Belleluia has grown, she’s come

up in the wither, and she has filled out to be a big, strong filly.”

Griffiths also was delighted in the way Belleluia arrived at Cranbourne after a five-week pre-training stint under the guidance of Eliza Park’s Sue Ellis.

“Sue had her doing strong even time (15 seconds to the 200m),” he said. “And she was in fantastic condition when she arrived.”

He expects to ask a lot more of Belleluia in her training this time in. “Her two previous preparations have been educational. In fact, she trialled above expectations when you consider she wasn’t anywhere near wound up. But this is a racing preparation and it’s time to see what she has got.

“At this stage (late September) she is working 800 evens, galloping home the last 400m on the bit, and she is doing everything right. Once she gets to galloping her last 600m, we will set her for a trial, and then it is off to the races.”

This is a racing preparation and it’s time to see what she has got.

ROBBIE GRIFFITHS

Griffiths said November, after the spring carnival, is an ideal time for a 3YO filly. “There will be plenty of opportunities to win a maiden, and if she is as good as we expect, it won’t be long before we have her racing in the city.”

Belleluia’s three-quarter sister Black Caviar has been a revelation this season. The powerhouse filly, at the time of publication of The Thoroughbred, is unbeaten in four starts, including Stakes wins at Moonee Valley (Listed William Crockett Stakes) and Flemington (Group 2 Danehill Stakes) at her past two outings.

An injury has forced trainer Peter Moody to change plans for the filly, who was to miss the Group 1 Thousand Guineas (1600m) on October 14 in preference for the shorter, and later, Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) at Flemington on Derby day, October 31.

Black Caviar, like Belleluia, is by Victoria’s leading stallion Bel Esprit. Black Caviar’s dam Helsinge (by Desert Sun) is a daughter of Scandinavia (by Snippets from Song Of Norway); Belleluia’s dam Song Of The Sun (by Desert Sun) is a half-sister to Scandinavia.

All subscribers to The Thoroughbred magazine can enjoy the excitement of following Belleluia’s racing career through our exclusive Thoroughbred Magazine Club – including weekly updates and trainer’s information – as though you are an owner of the filly.

For details on how to become a member of this club, go to thethoroughbred.com.au/club.

FLYING FILLY: Belleluia (Ivan Culliver) trials at Cranbourne before her spell.

PHOTO SEAN GARNSWORTHY

THE THOROUGHBRED MAGAZINE CLUB

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QA UINELL

thealso son rises Messara & Messara

PHOTO COURTESY OF ARROWFIELD

WORDS ANDREW EDDY

THE TRAINER: Paul Messara keeps an eye on his team at the Arrowfield Training Centre.

J

ohn Messara is a racing heavyweight as former president of Thoroughbred Breeders Australia, which represents Australian breeders, and of the industry’s marketing arm Aushorse. He stood down from both positions earlier this year when considering a board position with Racing NSW. Eventually, he declined to join the board, saying: “It wasn’t the thing for me to do at the time. I am still on the board of the Australian Pattern Committee, but I suppose I’ve been on holidays of sort ... although there is always plenty to do.”

Messara’s ground-breaking Arrowfield is behind only Sheikh Mohammed’s Darley and the Irish outfit Coolmore as Australia’s largest racing and breeding businesses. It has eight stallions, including super sires Redoute’s Choice, Flying Spur and Weekend Hussler’s sire Hussonet, as well as housing about 150 broodmares.

The intention is that all the progeny should be sold, but selling racehorses is never that easy.

Many, including Redoute’s Choice colt Leicester Square (from Lavishly,

by Sunday Silence (USA)), who sold for $2 million as a yearling but was returned to Arrowfield after failing a

post-sale scope, wind up back at the 2500-acre farm near Scone in NSW. Paul Messara worked on racing and stud farms at Newmarket in England and in Ireland and Japan.

After returning from overseas, he saw an opening to pursue his dream of taking out a trainer’s licence.

“We gave him a lot of desperate cases to start off with to practise on,” quipped John Messara, 61. He wanted his son to work in marketing – Paul has a degree in that field – but eventually relented. “He started out with a few crocks and got most of them going so the signs were promising right away.”

Three years ago Paul started with two horses who had failed to sell, and just 18 months ago he began training at new facilities, including a 2300-metre all-weather track, at the Arrowfield farm with up to 50 horses. With 49 winners at an incredible strike-rate of about 25 per cent last season, the 31-year-old, who also runs a nine-box stable at Randwick in Sydney, is emerging as a talent in training.

Whose idea was it to create the Arrowfield training arm?

Paul: “It just evolved over time. I was trying to decide where I’d start training and trucked a couple of horses to Scone to work on the track.

But then things picked up and I got

PRETTY GOOD: the Messara stable flag bearer is the attractive and talented gelding Battlefield, winner of the Ramornie Handicap at Grafton this year.

PHOTO ADAM HOURIGAN

John Messara runs the successful Arrowfield Stud in the Hunter Valley; son Paul has had a winning start with the training division at Arrowfield, next door to the stud.

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lucky with (multiple Stakes winner) Alverta and not long after I was taking 24 horses a morning to Scone to work. It made sense then to look to work the horses at home and the idea just grew and grew.”

John: “As Paul began to show an interest in training and showed immediately that he could have success, we decided to establish a proper facility on the farm that will assist the total operation. I am very impressed at what he’s been able to achieve in a very short time. He’s ahead of the curve that I’d found for him in my mind.”

I’ve never had a runner in Melbourne so that, in itself, will make it an exciting time.

PUAL MESSARA

Did the father offer the son $100,000 not to become a trainer, as claimed by former trainer Geoff Chapman?

Paul: “I never saw the money, so I don’t know how serious it might have been. But I’ve always found the performance side of the industry the most interesting and most exciting.

I used to play a lot of sport and loved the competitive nature of it, so training horses was always going to be it for me.”

John: “It is true. Dr Geoff Chapman (a GP as well as a former trainer) is a mentor of Paul’s and a great friend of the family, and we did

try to dissuade Paul to take up training because we both know that it is a very tough life. It’s 24/7.

It’s hard to get away on holidays and it’s early to bed and early to rise. It’s a tough life with a lot of disappointments to deal with.”

Is it a father-son or employeremployee relationship?

John: “It’s about mutual respect.

I certainly respect what he’s achieving and at the same time I’d expect that he understands we’ve been in the game a long time and we have an idea of what we’re doing.”

Paul: “It’s not as hard as I thought it

THE THOROUGHBRED 43

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QUINELLA

What are the major benefits of having a training/racing venture?

John: “The training structure is very supportive of Arrowfield because from the training centre can emerge stallion prospects and future broodmares. It allows Arrowfield to offer a womb-to-tomb approach where you can get your mare served here, have the foal born here and then can either sell it or have it trained here. It gives us that added dimension as it also allows us to persist with some horses that have missed out at the sales and need that element of patience.”

Paul: “I train up to 50 horses and some of them are for outsiders, usually (Arrowfield) clients. We’ve found we can offer a real synergy for clients with their horses able to be served here, born here and the progeny can be either sold or raced.

It means the horses never have to really leave the farm. Also for a horse like (the Ramornie Handicap winner) Battlefield, we can work him the Melbourne way every day of the week if we like at home, but if you’re at a training track, you’d be lucky to get one day a week. The flexibility you have is a major plus.”

Is the striking chestnut Battlefield, who has won five from seven, Paul’s first Group 1 horse?

Paul: “Potentially he can go right to the top. We’ve got a few Group 2 races mapped out for him in Melbourne, but the option is to take him to Group 1 in Melbourne if he shows that’s where he’s at.

He might go to New Zealand over

THE FAMILY John Messara and his wife Kristine have four children, but only Paul has made racing his career.

John said: “My eldest, Louise, is a doctor, then comes Paul and then Michael, who’s a funds manager.

My youngest, Susanne, is a segment producer for the Today Show on Channel 9, so there is the widest spread of interest possible.”

summer for the Group 1 Telegraph (Handicap, 1200m, at Trentham in January) as the prizemoney is excellent and a trip away won’t hurt him. If he comes on, we’d think about racing him overseas.

He’s a gelding, so he’s going to be around for a while.”

John: “He looks like a star in the making. He’s the sort of horse that might be able to travel (overseas).”

Why did the stud have Battlefield gelded?

Paul: “He’d have been a very bigframed horse and just would have been far too big to stand up. He’d have been a 600kg-plus horse, so we didn’t have much choice.”

John: “Paul had picked him out at the Melbourne sale (for $300,000 in 2007) and has really become a very good yearling selector. He didn’t have an outstanding pedigree, but Paul insisted he was something special so I relented and bought him. He was going to be far too heavy on top if we didn’t geld him. He (Paul) was right.

He’s developed into a great athlete.”

Can the stable have an impact in Melbourne this spring?

Paul: “I’ve never had a runner in Melbourne so that, in itself, will make it an exciting time. I’ve got about half-a-dozen horses that I could take. Apart from Battlefield, there’s Rogano and a filly Congenial, who’s had some problems, but she’s ready to roll.”

(Rogano (B c 3, Redoute’s ChoiceSingles Bar, by Rory’s Jester) is a brother to Arrowfield stallion Not A Single Doubt. He won his only start, a Canterbury two-year-old race in June. Congenial (B m 4, Redoute’s Choice-Toast Of The Coast, by Rory’s Jester) had three starts last spring for two wins and a second.)

John: “We’re hoping Battlefield can put Paul on the map. There’s a horse called Leicester Square, who we sold for $2 million at the sales but the horse was returned after it failed the scope. He won very well at his debut (as a three-year-old colt at Scone on August 14; first prize $6300) and might be a horse you’ll see in Melbourne.”

Is a penchant for racing politics a family trait?

Paul: “Probably not. I don’t really have to be with him (John) here.”

John: “He just loves training racehorses and wants to concentrate on that.”

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THE RISE & RISE Paul Messara

John Messara

In 2005, Paul Messara took out a trainer’s licence with two cast-off horses. Within 12 months that number had risen to 24 and now he has more than 50 horses on his books.

In 1989, Arrowfield Stud entered a partnership with Ireland’s Coolmore Stud at Jerrys Plains in the Hunter Valley to buy the Danzig stallion Danehill. Coolmore eventually bought the entire rights to the stallion in a deal that valued him at $24 million.

Messara trained 49 winners at a strike-rate of about 25 per cent in the 2008-09 season. His best performer has been the Flying Spur mare Alverta, who has two Listed wins and has been placed at Group level.

Heading spring hopes is the chestnut with a flaxen mane, Battlefield (G 4, ChoisirCharming Charge, by Rory’s Jester), who won Grafton’s Listed Ramornie Handicap (1200m) in July and has had five wins from his seven starts. Notably, it was the 2004 Ramornie Handicap that launched the elite career of recently-retired super sprinter Takeover Target.

The Arrowfield horses race in the now-famous black and yellow diamonds and yellow cap.

FATHER AND SON: John (right) and Paul Messara, who said his dad “leaves me to train the horses”.

Danehill, who was put down in 2003 after a paddock accident, sired 193 stakes winners in Australia and 349 worldwide. He was nine times the leading sire in Australia and was also the premier stallion in Great Britain three times and France twice.

In 1996, Messara developed the Arrowfield Stud farm at Scone, where he unearthed Australian champions Flying Spur and the now highest-priced stallion Redoute’s Choice and, more recently, Hussonet from Chile.

In 2008, he was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for services to the thoroughbred industry.

Arrowfield Stud has bred 42 Group 1 winners, including Miss Finland (by Redoute’s Choice), Weekend Hussler (by Hussonet) and Forensics (by Flying Spur).

PHOTO COURTESY OF ARROWFIELD

would be. He leaves me to train the horses.”

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VINTAGE TOURISM

The 1993 Melbourne Cup winner is still the cream of the

Vintage Crop serves a different purpose to the virile stallions who rake in the euros with scores of coverings at the Irish National Stud. As the most popular living exhibit, the gelding gets people through the gates of a business that must pay its way.

WORDS AND PHOTOS JESSICA OWERS

A

t the end of a long, narrow avenue they call Oak Walk, an old chestnut gelding lives in the last paddock on the right.

It’s a grand yard, nearly an acre square, fringed by oak and beech and bitten by yellow buttercups. The old gelding is 22 now and probably worth very little, but he is the Irish National Stud’s most popular living exhibit. He is Vintage Crop.

It is 16 years since his Melbourne Cup victory, a famous one because he was the first Europeantrained horse to win. And when he did, his trainer Dermot Weld recited Banjo Paterson’s The Man From Snowy River. “Since I read that poem,” the ever smiling, self-effacing Kildare man said, “Australia has always been in my heart.” In 1993 Vintage Crop had managed to slip through the media spin that courts the foreign raiders, but his win was a cruising one, three lengths clear of outsiders Te Akau Nick

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and Mercator. The Irish triumvirate of Weld, jockey Mick Kinane and magnate owner Michael Smurfit had changed the world of horse racing in three minutes and 23 seconds. They had opened the Flemington gates to international competition.

Vintage Crop looks tired these days, and a little dark around the eyes, but his infirmity is the fruit of growing old on the magnificent Irish National Stud in Tully, Co. Kildare.

He has lived here since his retirement from racing in 1995, graced to the stud by Smurfit, and over the years he has kept company with Irish hurdling champion Danoli and, lately, champion ’chaser Florida Pearl. In the neighbouring paddocks on Oak Walk the National Stud stallions graze in isolation, but the polite geldings at the end of the avenue know little of them.

Life in retirement is good, quiet and constant, just as it should be.

The Irish National Stud has existed in its current form since 1946, a few years after the Irish Government assumed control of the property from the British. It exists to promote Irish bloodstock, to develop it, and to do so around tourism, a unique initiative that allows anyone the opportunity to walk through the foaling yards, stallion paddocks and breeding barns.

But this isn’t a boutique business with neat fences and ornamental thoroughbreds. It is a multi-million

euro empire standing Invincible Spirit (B h 1997, Green Desert (USA)Rafha (GB), by Kris (GB)), Elusive City (B h 2000, Elusive Quality (USA)-Star Of Paris (USA), by Dayjur (USA)) and Rakti (B h 1999, Polish Precedent (USA)Ragera (IRE), by Rainbow Quest (USA)).

It has been graduating students since 1971, was home to Arc winner and illustrious Group-producing mare Urban Sea for the last eight years of her life (she died after foaling in March this year), and last year it played host to 135,500 visitors.

As a commercial entity, the National Stud is no different to its competitors, standing nine fl at stallions that begin at €6000 a cover and climb to €60,000. Not all of them reside on the property, like Touch Of The Blues who lodges at Haras du Logis Saint-Germain in France, but the big guns do, and that includes Verglas (Gr h 1994, Highest Honor (FR)-Rahaam (USA),

by Secreto (USA)), Amadeus Wolf (B h 2003, Mozart (IRE)-Rachelle (IRE), by Mark Of Esteem (IRE)) and Jeremy (B h 2003, Danehill Dancer (IRE)-Glint In Her Eye (USA), by Arazi (USA)).

The stud has 148 horses on site this season and 72 foals, one of which includes the orphaned Urban Sea colt by Invincible Spirit who, as a half-brother to Epsom Derby winner and super stallion Galileo and this season’s undefeated three-year-old

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LAZY DAYS: Boarders graze contentedly at the Irish National Stud.

It would be extremely difficult to set up a national stud anywhere now. There is more competition and there would be more opposition.

JOHN CLARKE

Sea The Stars (five Group 1 wins), has set tongues flapping since his arrival in March. But he, like many of the racehorses produced here, is a boarder whose owner pays good money for livery, in turn fueling an enterprise audited by the Minister for Finance and answerable to the Minister for Agriculture.

John Clarke is the chief executive of the Irish National Stud and has been on the team for 26 years. He has had plenty of time to adjust to the unique nature of his stud and can peel its layers like an onion.

When it comes down to the horses, though, this man’s job is the same as any stud master’s. “We look at horses owned by independent firms when it comes to stallions coming here,” he says, “because any big stud racing a potentially brilliant stallion is not going to sell him. So we go racing, we go to the sales, and we just have to bide our time and be ready to move on a horse, and normally we instigate the purchase.”

When a horse is acquired by the National Stud for duties, a ballpark figure of 45 to 50 shares is released.

The state will retain 50 per cent of the equity, dependent of course on the horse, but the stud insists that shareholders be breeders rather than investors out to make a quick buck.

“What we want are breeders who are going to use their nominations,” Clarke says, “because if they own a one-fiftieth share in a stallion they will have two nominations a year.

If you have 50 breeders who all send two mares, then you’ve got 100 mares already booked to your horse.”

The stallions, as critical as they are to the National Stud’s existence, are but one penny in the jar when it comes to balancing the books, even if they are the biggest penny. Keep-fees for boarding horses comprise the second level of income for the stud, followed by yearling-sale returns (including commissions), tourism, shop returns (€30,000-€50,000 annually) and cattle. A profitable venture then, this national concept? “Usually, but not always,” says Clarke, “which is what we’re finding this year.” But they wouldn’t be alone there.

Where they are alone is the proviso to keep up appearances. There is no room on this land for broken fences or peeling paint, chip packets or tardy workmanship. At a parliamentary discussion in 1969 on amendments to the National Stud Bill, the then

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VERGLAS: the grey stallion is at home at the Irish National Stud after standing in France and Western Australia.

From two seasons in WA (2003, 2004) he has 143 live foals, including Spirited One (G3 Champion Fillies Stakes) and Sheenasaidgrey (Listed Perth Stakes).

HIS SAY

Who owns the stallions?

John Clarke, Irish National Stud chief executive, says the state usually goes halves in the ownership of a sire with a group of investors, preferably breeders.

opposition leader Liam Cosgrave wisely stated; “No matter how alert or energetic the board or their advisers may be in acquiring suitable bloodstock, it does not always follow that the success which they expect for the progeny will be achieved.” So while every other stud can slink away from mistakes with burnt fingers and a shorter pocket, the Irish National Stud can make it all the way to parliament.

The Australian breeding industry has no such concerns. Operating around wholly commercial interests, there is no major stud that uses tourism to bolster its income or further the cause of bloodstock. Clarke says that he is rarely approached these days by nations looking to emulate the Irish National Stud, and he knows why.

“It would be extremely difficult to set up a national stud anywhere now,” he states. “There is more competition and there would be more opposition. But I’ve had numerous meetings in my 26 years with people from Australia who were investigating the possibilities of setting up an Australian National

Stud. It started with the Australian ambassador to Ireland some 20-plus years ago, Sir Peter Lawlor. There was even a group that came from Tasmania last summer. So while it has been investigated, it is very difficult to see it actually working.”

The notion is feasible, though unlikely. The Irish National Stud is located in prime thoroughbred country an hour from the national capital so, were Australia to replicate its northern hemisphere cousin, is the Hunter Valley an obvious location?

“I could see it working in Seymour, for example, which is only an hour outside Melbourne,” Clarke says.

“It would be very hard to see how it could work in the Hunter Valley because the competition would be so enormous there. To actually turn around and set up a national stud and have it open for business, with facilities for tourism, you really have to be near a centre, and the Hunter Valley might be too far away.”

Localities aside, there is an issue that few are willing to mention.

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46-50_VintageCrop3.indd 50

What we want are breeders who are going to use their nominations because if they own a onefiftieth share in a stallion they will have two nominations a year. If you have 50 breeders who all send two mares, then you’ve got 100 mares already booked to your horse.

Michael Ford, Keeper of the Australian Stud Book, isn’t one of them. “Imagine a government spending $20 million on a stallion,” he states, and plants the idea firmly where it belongs, because as lovely as the idea of a national stud is, the Australian public are not as enamored with horse racing as the Irish. Someone, somewhere, would moan that stallion money could be well spent on a hospital. “The top stallions attract the high fees,” says Ford, “so if the idea is to have stallions that are second rung (which would happen when a government won’t pay big money), there’d better be a market for them. In Australia, the commercially successful studs have, really, 80 per cent of the market so I don’t know that a national stud is feasible here. Whoever is thinking about doing it would have to do some hard research.” John Clarke reiterates that like any commercial business, the Irish National Stud is out to profit its shareholders – in its case the Department of Finance – so without the good stallions there are no fees and without the fees, no stud.

There is one gesture, however, that the Irish National Stud continues to make that elevates it beyond that of the everyday stud. It has, since its early days, existed to benefit small breeders, the backbone of the trade. In days when the conglomerate studs make it almost impossible for the small man to compete, such an institution has to be worth its weight in gold.

Far from the irascible stallions and wild dollar figures all the while, Vintage Crop grows older on Oak Walk. He migrates from the barn in winter to the paddock in summer, hardly noticing the clamoring public that recognise his name on the fence above all others. Over the years he has made guest appearances on race days, even venturing back to Melbourne in 2000 for the Cup parade, but his travels are getting fewer now. He’s a little long in the tooth. At Navan racecourse in nearby Co. Meath, the listed Vintage Crop Stakes (one mile and five furlongs) honours one of Ireland’s most celebrated stayers and, just across the field, The Curragh has mounted a life-size statue of him. The real thing, though, at the Irish National Stud is infinitely more impressive. And isn’t it interesting that the property’s least valuable thoroughbred draws the most number of visitors? The old boy probably would say he has earned it.

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was always passionate about sport. As a boy my heroes were footballers, tennis players, cricketers, jockeys (Geoff Lane was a favourite) and horses such as Lord and Dhaulagiri. At secondary school (not far from Caulfield racecourse) a number of us were passionate about racing and it was a regular topic of conversation amongst us, particularly during the spring and autumn.

My parents enjoyed a day at the races and I can well recall my mother in classic racewear, including a beautiful hat. I don’t think my father ever went to the races without wearing a hat, as that was the standard dress for men in the ’50s. Like all parents, I think they were concerned that I might see racing as a shortcut to riches.

Their underlying message was, “Enjoy it, have a bet, but always bet within your means”. It was really the colour and excitement of the racetrack that appealed to me, not so much the punt.

In my early 20s I travelled and lived in Europe for two years.

Whilst I had a degree in property, when I arrived in London I worked in merchant banking and temporary accounting roles. I was fortunate to be in the UK for two stellar years of racing, the first being centred around the 3YO Nijinksy who was beaten only twice in his career. I managed to see him race twice and, yes, they were the two occasions he was beaten into second place, including the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

The following year was even better with the great 3YOs Mill Reef,

Brigadier Gerard and My Swallow.

I understand current form ratings recognise these three as being among the greatest 3YOs of the past 50 years.

The experience in London gave me confidence to start my business when I returned to Australia.

Although somewhat naïve and certainly under-capitalised, I started my own valuation consultancy practice in Albert Park. Within five years, the business (Fitzroys) had grown to a broader based real estate agency. My business career was a wonderful journey during which we survived a number of cyclical downturns in the economy, learning from each experience along the way. I retired from Fitzroys in 2005 and have continued to act as a consultant to the business.

PHOTO MICHAEL WILLSON

Victoria Racing Club chairman Rod Fitzroy is a guardian of almost a century and a half of rich tradition across Australian sport, industry and culture. He opens up to BEN COLLINS.

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day needed invigoration. Their plan was to talk to a backbencher from the National Party. I told them in my opinion they would not get far talking to an Opposition backbencher. As there was an election looming, I suggested that the breeders join the owners and trainers to form a more powerful political lobby group which would have a lot more influence.

So VICTRIE – the Victorian Thoroughbred Racing Investors and Employers – was born. With the help of a current VRC board member, Paul Leeds, who was then head of a major advertising agency, we produced a video, ‘Racing, Victoria is the winner’.

The message that we sought to get across to the politicians was that the Victorian racing industry was a major employer and contributor to the economy. The main initiatives that formed part of the platform were: ● ●

●

●

A business plan for racing Linking prizemoney increases to wagering distribution revenues A substantially enhanced VOBIS scheme, and A permanent marketing budget to promote racing to the next generation.

The video was distributed to politicians on both sides of the House and to the VRC committee.

The committee commended VICTRIE and helped to fund the production.

I’ve had horses with (trainer) Colin Little for more than 30 years. A group of friends and I played squash at courts owned by former leading trainer Jack Godby, and Colin did the same thing with a group of his friends and through Jack we got to know each other. At the time, I was playing amateur football with Ormond and a few of us got together to lease a horse from Colin, which went on to win a number of restricted races in the bush.

The owner/trainer relationship has grown into an enduring friendship.

One of the best horses I raced was Taos, who won nine metropolitan races including the BTC Sprint in Queensland and ran second in the VRC Sires’ Produce Stakes. On the same day that Taos won the BTC Sprint, Lord Matthew, which I owned

ROD FITZROY: the Victoria Racing Club chairman says his job is a labour of love.

We are now considering the projects that will form part of the Flemington Master Plan Mark II. ROD FITZROY

with a group of friends, ran second in the Goodwood (at Morphettville).

That was probably my most memorable day in racing, winning a Group 3 and running second in a Group 1.

Testimony was a brave horse that won 13 metropolitan races and finished second in the Goodwood (in 1986).

I suppose you could say I am an “accidental racing administrator”.

I never sought a board or committee position and certainly was not political in any way. I was just an owner – I wasn’t even a member of the owners’ association.

My involvement can be traced back to 1992 when I was asked to provide some advice to a group of Victorian breeders who felt the VOBIS (Victorian Owners and Breeders Incentive Scheme) of the

I was initially appointed, rather than elected, to the VRC committee.

Following the privatisation of the TAB in 1993, the State Government required the VRC committee to be more representative of the broader church of racing. I was asked (as a result of my role at VICTRIE) if I would consider a committee position as part of the proposed VRC restructure. I was pleased to accept and since then I have been re-elected by members of the club every third year.

I was honoured to become vice-chairman in 1998 under (then chairman) Andrew Ramsden.

Andrew has such a passion for and knowledge of racing and was a wonderful mentor. The one thing I didn’t learn from him was how to own a Melbourne Cup winner – he’s a past master (having part-owned 1982 winner Gurner’s Lane and 2000 winner Brew). I haven’t had a runner.

There is no set pathway to becoming chairman of the VRC. In part it is a matter of being in the

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VICTORIA RACING CLUB

right place at the right time (Fitzroy was elected in July 2003) and having the confidence of your colleagues. You have to commit the time and energy.

However, it really is a labour of love.

One of the strengths of the VRC is the diversity of the board’s skill set. We have a very talented executive structure. Dale Monteith (chief executive) is regarded as without peer in Australian racing and he is ably supported by Sue LloydWilliams (deputy chief executive), who has overseen the growth of the Melbourne Cup Carnival during the past 30-plus years. Behind these executives we have an outstanding team of general managers.

We treat Flemington like a fivestar hotel. We have to appeal to the next generation who are not exclusively racegoers; they are looking as well for entertainment and social interaction I believe very strongly in the hotel analogy. As we are in the hospitality and entertainment business, we need to continually upgrade our facilities because if you start with a five-star hotel but don’t replace the carpets, don’t replace the box TV with a flat-screen, or don’t refurbish the lobby, you’ll soon become a four-star, then a three-star and eventually no one bothers coming.

It’s a constant balancing act to maintain prizemoney at a level that is attractive to owners, while investing in essential infrastructure.

So we have now refurbished the hotel and the rooms are looking good, however the process is ongoing.

Continuous improvement is an underlying theme at Flemington.

We are now considering the projects that will form part of the Flemington Master Plan Mark II. The old members’ grandstand is one example. It’s a part of the character of Flemington, but it needs a makeover. We are looking at an appropriate solution by getting the balance right between modernising and respecting our history.

The Melbourne Cup truly is the race that stops a nation – and we have

PHOTO MICHAEL WILLSON

The role of the VRC chairman is much easier today than it was before Racing Victoria Limited was formed. For well over a century, the VRC was not only responsible for racing at Flemington but also for the governance of racing throughout the State. In 2001 the VRC relinquished its broader integrity, licensing and administrative responsibilities to the new independent body.

the research to prove it. Roy Morgan Research conducted a national poll when Makybe Diva won her third Cup in 2005. The research revealed that 63 per cent of Australia’s adult population watched the race live, and a further 15 per cent watched it on replay. The Cup has an amazing reach considering that outside Victoria it’s a non-holiday Tuesday. The economic power of Cup day was reinforced last year when a national economic impact study was commissioned. The study showed that the economic impact of Melbourne Cup day to the other states and territories was $235 million. I cannot think of any other major event that has such economic significance outside the state in which it is held.

The Melbourne Cup breaks all the rules for a great race. The world’s great thoroughbred races are generally at weight-for-age over 2000 metres or 2400 metres.

The conditions surrounding the Melbourne Cup do not conform with this established international practice. They perhaps best reflect the Australian egalitarian spirit of providing an even chance to all comers. The distance requires not brilliance but the special qualities of stamina and courage.

The champions can and still do overcome the handicap conditions –

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CUP PARADE: each year the VRC takes the Melbourne Cup to the city streets. Holding it during last year’s parade is former Lord Mayor John So. Rod Fitzroy is on the right right of a representative of sponsor Emirates.

It was a huge relief when AAMI Victoria Derby day arrived and Victoria was still EI free.

ROD FITZROY

Carbine, Phar Lap, Peter Pan, Comic Court, Rain Lover, Makybe Diva – and that makes them even more special.

It is the Cup that produces some rare moments of human emotion: such as in 1999 when the Darwin schoolteacher Wendy Green, with Rogan Josh, defeated Central Park, owned by the most powerful stable in the world, Godolphin; or when Damien Oliver honoured his brother Jason with his win on Media Puzzle in 2002. The stories go on and on.

The fact the Cup is now an international race adds to the occasion. The VRC visited Japan to promote the Melbourne Cup 12 years ago in the belief that if we were to make the race truly international we had to go beyond the daring of a Dermot Weld, a few like-minded English trainers and the passion of Godolphin. Our general manager – racing, James Earls, and I saw the running of the Tenno Sho over two miles at set weights. It was obvious to us that if we could persuade them to come here, they would be extremely competitive. It was rewarding when Delta Blues and Pop Rock took the quinella for Japan in 2006.

This year we had entries from 11 other nations which underlines how international owners and trainers continue to be swept up by the challenge of the Cup.

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Equine influenza (EI) could have had catastrophic ramifications.

If the (2007) Melbourne Cup had been cancelled, a substantial part of the $45 million it costs to run the event would have been expended and we would have received no revenue as all pre-payments would have had to be refunded. It would have been catastrophic for the Australian racing industry, too, because each state derives more revenue from the Cup Carnival, and Emirates Melbourne Cup day in particular, than at any other time of the year. It was a huge relief when AAMI Victoria Derby day arrived and Victoria was still EI free.

We think we’ve just about got the positioning of the carnival right.

AAMI Victoria Derby and Emirates Stakes days are the quality days of racing, Emirates Melbourne Cup day is the people’s day and Crown Oaks is for the ladies. It is the biggest four-day racing carnival in the world, and we want to keep it that way by challenging ourselves to do it better.

There are two main reasons Emirates Stakes day is becoming more popular each year. Until recently, it had been developed as ‘Family Day’, an opportunity to bring kids along and expose them to the carnival. This was possible up until about five years ago because attendances rarely exceeded 35,000-40,000, but its attraction to the racegoers of tomorrow together with its re-positioning as a day of quality racing has seen attendances break through the 80,000 mark and it won’t be that much longer before we have a crowd of 100,000 on Emirates Stakes day. It is very much a part of the social agenda for Melbourne’s teenagers and it is they who will be the regular racegoers of tomorrow.

Despite the global financial crisis, the carnival will be as big and bright as ever this year. It won’t look any different. We’ve just been a bit smarter in how we’ve pulled things together.

The biggest area to be affected this year will be corporate hospitality. Some of it is by necessity, and some of it probably due to some corporates feeling that it’s not the time to be seen to be hosting the traditional enclosure party as they have in the past. Some who felt that way a few months ago have changed their minds and have recommitted.

We have the largest race club membership in the world - 28,000 members. We have always enjoyed

a 97 percent retention rate, however this year due to the economic environment it was going to be a challenge. We are tracking in line with renewal rates from previous years. That, in a sense, illustrates the value that our members place on being able to be part of Flemington and in particular the Cup carnival.

Only 20 percent of our total revenue comes from industry wagering distributions. All clubs are looking at ways to increase non-racing revenue and in so doing meet the benchmark objective of returning at least 100 per cent of wagering distributions from RVL as prizemoney. Our new grandstand was designed as a multipurpose facility and now operates on non-racedays as a major function centre. Flemington is one of the biggest wedding venues in Victoria and has hosted a diverse range of functions from the Prime Minister’s Dinner to trade shows and corporate seminars.

Flemington is also the venue for three major entertainment concerts, including the Big Day Out, the revenue from which enables us to support further investment into infrastructure and to fund premium prizemoney.

Perhaps the biggest single challenge confronting the industry at the moment is the wagering environment and the means by which the Australian racing industry can receive appropriate funding for the provision of its product.

Corporate bookmakers are a reality and can no doubt add to interest in racing, but because of tax and cost advantages they can offer products – ie: best tote odds – that have the potential to divert turnover away from the traditional source of revenue for the industry. Any loss in tote turnover as a result of money being diverted to corporate bookmakers has the capacity to impact on distributions to race clubs, which in turn will have a negative impact on prizemoney.

One possible solution is a federal tax on all wagering with all funds raised in such a manner returned to the state on whose product the bet was made. There is already a model of commonwealth/state co-operation in taxing, which is the GST. TVN was a stand taken by the racing industry to protect the value of our product. In a sense, it was for the same principles as the dispute that the industry is having with

During my term as chairman, I have been privileged to witness history being created – Makybe Diva’s three consecutive Melbourne Cup wins and the first success of a Japanese owned, trained and ridden horse with Delta Blues. Last year, Bart Cummings, as an octogenarian, won his 12th Cup with Viewed – a record that may never be bettered.

ROD FITZROY

corporate bookmakers. Some five years ago, the clubs were put on notice

by Sky Channel that in the longer term it would be reducing rights fees payments. Sky Channel was a highly profitable venture and was totally reliant upon the racing product for its success. As a result, the clubs in Victoria and the two metropolitan clubs in Sydney combined to create TVN. A more conciliatory approach now exists between Sky and TVN and we hope that future co-operation will lead to an even better coverage of racing (on pay television).

Water is a critical issue. Half of the potable water used at Flemington is in support of the training facilities that are based here. All of the horses here require tracks to work on and we’ve got various types of tracks – grass, dirt, synthetic and sand – and they all have to be watered. Then there’s the consumption by the horses, the cleaning of the stables and the use of the equine swimming pool. Incidentally, training costs the VRC about $2 million net each year.

We have commissioned two small desalination plants that will keep Flemington green and our training tracks healthy in the short term.

Flemington has always been crown land. We have a very good relationship with the Victorian Government; and we are already speaking with them on some very exciting projects.

I plan to step down as chairman after next year’s 150th Cup. It is important to try to provide a succession plan to ensure continuity.

It will be up to the board, but I would be hopeful our vice-chairman, Michael Burn, would be in a position to take over and make his own mark.

The days of race clubs being the last bastion of male chauvinism are long gone. At least that’s the case at the VRC. We have a 60-40 gender balance between men and women members and at times we have as many women as men in our monthly member intakes. The VRC was also the first club to have a female committee member, Sally Chirnside, and now we have two – Amanda Elliott and Katherine Bourke. I’m certain we’ll have a female chairperson one day. If women can be GovernorsGeneral, Prime Ministers and corporate leaders, a woman can certainly chair the VRC.

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BOOK EXCERPT

The day we disobeyed How Damien Oliver and Media Puzzle’s handlers changed the great Irish trainer Dermot Weld’s race plans and ensured the stayer took his one chance to qualify for the 2002 Melbourne Cup.

BY ERIC O’KEEFE*

A

gainst all odds.

That was the phrase being bandied about as Dermot Weld endeavoured to secure the qualifying race required for Media Puzzle to gain a start in the Melbourne Cup. He had been nominated to run in the Cup. He had been assigned a handicap by the Victoria Racing Club. But by no means was he guaranteed a start. Like every other battler hoping for a chance to run in the big race, the son of Theatrical would have to earn that distinction on his own.

Media Puzzle faced a seemingly insurmountable number of obstacles.

Not only was his recent record abysmal – two last-place finishes in his three most recent outings – but in his four-year career he had not come close to winning a Group race. This underwhelming combination of factors was one of several reasons why he was allotted a paltry 51-kilogram handicap, and it was this attractive weight that was also the horse’s greatest hindrance to competing in the Cup. Media Puzzle’s weight was 7.5 kilograms below weight-for-age, which pushed him well down the list of horses seeking a start. In order to make the final field in the Cup, Media Puzzle would not only have to win a Group race, but would have to win it so decisively that he would be penalised with a heavier handicap and get a bump up the list ... Numerous

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qualifying opportunities presented themselves, the most obvious one being the all-important $2.5 million Caulfield Cup, held 17 days before Cup Day ...

In phone calls from the Curragh, Weld conferred about various other possibilities with the VRC’s new racing manager, Mark Player, who suggested a second race to Weld, one that had often been used to some effect by Australian trainers. Given the circumstances, it would prove to be Media Puzzle’s only option to get a start in the Melbourne Cup. The 2400-metre Geelong Cup is held in Victoria’s second largest city, Geelong, about 75 kilometres south and west of Melbourne. Although the Group 3 contest had a distinguished 130-year history, not once had the winner of the Geelong Cup gone on to win the Melbourne Cup, although there had been many who had placed in both ... At 2400 metres, the Geelong Cup was the same length as the Caulfield Cup. It was held the Wednesday immediately following the Caulfield Cup, so a runner would still have plenty of time to recover if it needed to back up in the Melbourne Cup. Last but not least, the competition at Geelong would be nowhere near as formidable as in the Caulfield Cup ...

Weld immediately began pursuing the Geelong option.

(On race day Weld’s travelling foreman Dave Phillips was assisted by his young brother Niall, who had

migrated to Australia and trained horses near Geelong; Weld was at home at the Curragh, but his son Mark was representing him.) The moment Mark Weld revealed his father’s race plan, Niall’s worst fears (that they wouldn’t suit the track) were confirmed. The essence of Weld’s plan was for jockey Damien Oliver to keep Media Puzzle, who would carry 55 kilograms, well off the pace for most of the race. Then, at the approach to the final turn, he was to accelerate the well-rested horse into contention and, if all went according to plan, to take the lead and win the race.

But years of racing at Geelong had taught the younger Phillips a thing or two about the course that the Welds, father and son, who had never been to Geelong, would have no way of knowing. Most important of all was that the final turn was the last place a jockey would want to lay back and wait to make a big move. “You can’t ride this track that way,” Niall said.

The way the racecourse was laid out, there was a tendency for the field to bunch together as they came into the last turn. Any jockey running off the speed would then find his mount forced out of contention, pinned behind a wall nine or 10 horses wide.

Unless an unexpected gap opened up, that meant the only option would be to pray for a clear run or swing wide and swoop late.

Niall had explained his rationale to Dave the day before. He explained

PHOTO COURTESY OF SLICKPIX

Dermot

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21/9/09 4:22:34 PM

to Damien the gist of his discussion with his brother and shared their conclusion. It was apparent to all three that to bring Mark Weld into the conversation was not feasible.

Out of loyalty and out of habit, he would side with his father. That meant Dermot Weld, who would be calling in from Rosewell House (at the Curragh), would then be brought into the discussion, and that would be the end of that story. The decision to alter Weld’s riding plan would be theirs and theirs alone.

Damien concurred with Niall’s change in tactics but for an entirely different reason: a horse in the race named L’Avenir. “The track was racing pretty fast at the time,” he said. “If you got too far out the back, it was just too much ground to make up. In most of L’Avenir’s races he’d been breaking up the field, and horses out the back just didn’t have a chance. So that was my reasoning for that. I suppose it’s hard to give instructions when you’re on the other side of the world. You don’t know how the horses are racing. I’ve got a great saying that good jockeys don’t need instructions and bad ones don’t follow them.”

As post time approached, Dave Phillips had to sign off on the decision to overrule Weld’s instructions ...

“What do you reckon?” Dave asked Damien. “I know what I’m going to do,” Damien replied confidently ...

As Media Puzzle made his way to the starting gates, Mark Weld telephoned

WELL CLEAR: Media Puzzle is an easy winner of the 2002 Geelong Cup. Requiem, trained by Tony McEvoy for a syndicate that included international owner Robert Sangster, is second more than three lengths back.

I talked up the Geelong Cup win so he would get the weight penalty.

DAMIEN OLIVER

Ireland to join a conference call that would broadcast the Geelong Cup around the world: to his father in Ireland and simultaneously to (owner) Michael Smurfit in Los Angeles.

Just as Damien had anticipated, L’Avenir shot out of the barrier and established a lively pace from the very start ... With the first 1600 metres behind them, Media Puzzle was sittingg off the speed and Damien was giving his mount a perfect ride. The chestnut was relaxed and ready to go full throttle. It was that rare moment on the racecourse when everything goes exactly as planned. “Coming into the corner, he was just bolting. I sent him home from the top of the straight, and he pissed in. He won by three or four lengths thanks to that tearaway leader.

I thought to myself, ‘That was as good a Melbourne Cup ride as you can have..

I didn’t know how good Vinnie Roe (Weld’s other Cup runner) was, but Media Puzzle should win’.”

Among the entries vying for the 24 starting barriers in the Cup, Media Puzzle was well down the list of 57 qualifiers: he ranked 40th, thanks to his light weight ... “He needed a penalty to get him into the field and also so I could ride at the right weight,” recalled Oliver. “So I talked up the Geelong Cup win so he would get the weight penalty. So I said, ‘Super win.

Real chance in the Melbourne Cup’.”

Like everyone else, Racing Victoria chief handicapper Jim Bowler was duly impressed with Media Puzzle’s stellar performance and penalised him an extra 1.5 kilos to 52.5 kilos, exactly the right amount to qualify and at the absolute minimum end of Damien’s weight range ... Dermot Weld’s new stable star was not only all but assured of making the final field, but he had also become one of the race favourites, roaring up the betting charts as bookmakers responded to his commanding performance on the firm ground at Geelong by listing him at 10/1.

(Media Puzzle (Ch g, 1997, Theatrical (IRE)-Market Slide (USA),

by Gulch (USA)) started at 11/2 in the 2002 Melbourne Cup and beat Mr Prudent (40/1) and Beekeeper (8/1), with Weld stablemate Vinnie Roe, the 9/2 favourite, fourth. Oliver bravely dealt with the heartbreak that accompanied the death of his brother Jason, also a jockey, in a track fall between the Geelong and Melbourne Cups, and rode a magnificent race.) * An edited excerpt from The Cup, by American author Eric O’Keefe

THE BOOK

The Cup is the story of Damien Oliver’s tragedy and triumph in the 2002 Melbourne Cup. It is on sale in book stores, or order on line at slatterymedia.com/books Published by The Slattery Media Group RRP $34.95

FREE

Be one of the first five people to buy The Cup through slatterymedia.com/books and receive a copy of Miller’s Guide 2009/2010 edition

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THE BIG IMPROVER

Surge of

The improvement in a racehorse sent from Melbourne to Sydney was a vision no one saw coming; and one that brought Group 1 success – twice.

WORDS MATT STEWART PHOTOS BRUNO CANNATELLI

Power A

n informant dobbed in the IRA for stealing Epsom Derby winner Shergar and tests of hair fragments last year proved the legendary Phar Lap died from an accidental overdose of arsenic and was not poisoned by Americans. So that just leaves Vision And Power as horse racing’s great unsolved mystery.

This claim might be taking a little licence with the truth, but Vision And Power’s whirlwind Sydney autumn with two Group 1 wins that could have been three (which might have landed him the ‘horse of the year’ gong that went to sprinter Scenic Blast) made no textbook sense.

Vision And Power was an average horse who somehow, at the age of six, “grew another leg”. He won the Doncaster Handicap (1600m) and George Ryder Stakes (1500m) and could have won the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m), a defeat that still stings trainer Joe Pride – the horse ran fifth behind Pompeii Ruler. “I’m still upset by that,” Pride said. “He was badly ridden. I don’t think any horse has won all three before, but I guess we should be thankful he’d already won two.”

Jim Cassidy rode Vision And Power superbly in the Doncaster and Ryder, but stayed with Bart Cummings’s AJC Australian Derby winner Roman

Emperor in the Queen Elizabeth, and finished 10th. Nash Rawiller took over on V&P. Melbourne punters, who had done their dough on the “first’’ Vision And Power in a forgettable 19 starts down south, squinted at the TV screen to check his brands as he charged home at Rosehill and Randwick in the autumn.

In 10 starts from December to April, Vision And Power won six races and $1,756,950 in stake money.

At his previous 35 starts he’d earned relative peanuts – $208,000 – and was a regular easy-beat in Victoria.

Owner Nick Moraitis, a Godfearing man who believes miracles happen on and off the racetrack, has no idea why his plodding Melbourne stayer became a dashing Sydney miler. “It’s one of life’s mysteries,’’ he said. “There’s no real reason to it. I’ve never had a horse who’s improved so much and so quickly. Obviously he had some hidden talent that was waiting to come out.”

Only Moraitis’ forgiving nature prevented him from sacking Vision And Power well before his successful second coming.

The owner, who raced the horse of the 1990s Might And Power, would probably shrug his shoulders and look to the heavens if really pressed to explain the hows and whys of Vision And Power.

WINNING VISION: Vision And Power bursts clear of the pack to win the Group 1 Doncaster Handicap at Randwick.

“If you’ve got a slow one and want it to go fast, give it to Joe,” Cassidy said after the Ryder win.

And after the Doncaster he added: “I have been lucky enough to ride for all the great trainers, but for Vision And Power to do what he’s done has been remarkable; Joe is an outstanding young trainer.” It’s obvious what Cassidy believes is the reason for the improvement.

Pride, 36, said there were no magical answers, just small things that all added up; such as tips he learned from his old boss, John Size, and the simplicity of time.

Garry Chittick, who bred Vision And Power on his famous Waikato Stud in New Zealand, offered small

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THE BIG IMPROVER

hints but no clear answers. “Must be that fine New Zealand pasture finally kicked in,” Chittick said. “He’s a vastly improved horse, quite amazing really ... if I knew the secret, I wouldn’t tell you!”

Original trainer Robert Smerdon said the transformation was a real head-scratcher. Like Pride, Smerdon pointed to Size for some answers and said the great uncertainty of life and racing might explain the rest.

The starting point for all horses, good and bad, is, of course, pedigree.

And location. Both gave Vision And Power a healthy start. The lush pastures, the rich soils of the Cambridge and Waikato districts of New Zealand, are world-renowned.

They talk about good bone with horses. Brittle horses crumble and break down. Vision And Power, born and raised in the heart of the

nutrient-rich Waikato, might be a surprising horse, but he is not a brittle one.

Vision And Power, by the disappointing Sadler’s Wells horse Carnegie from the Centaine mare Escada, is a member of one of Waikato Stud’s oldest and most successful female families.

“We’ve had the family since about World War II. I re-imported his grand-dam Georgina Belle from the US in about 1975,” Chittick said.

Vision And Power’s half siblings include Glamour Puss (by Pins), Rare Insight (O’Reilly) and Escadaire (O’Reilly). In 2005, Glamour Puss won the Goodwood Handicap and Salinger Stakes, both Group 1 sprints; Rare Insight won the Group 2 Stan Fox Stakes; and Escadaire was a $260,000 stake earner.

I’ve never had a horse who’s improved so much and so quickly. Obviously he had some hidden talent that was waiting to come out.

“Vision And Power’s staying blood must come from his sire (Carnegie) because on the dam side they are ‘runners’, basically up to 1600 metres,” Chittick said. “A lot of his success, I think, comes from the fact he wasn’t hammered as a young horse.”

Chittick presented the CarnegieEscada colt at the 2005 Sydney Easter Yearling sale. Moraitis was sniffing around, praying for another Might And Power. “He was nicely bred. My vet Tim Roberts liked his conformation,” he said.

Moraitis paid $100,000 for the Carnegie colt, had him broken in, and sent him to Smerdon at Caulfield. Vision And Power showed enough to be raced at two, winning over 1600m at Moonee Valley on a bog track at his fifth start.

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He showed enough at three to contest the Group 2 Stutt Stakes at Moonee Valley – fourth, beaten 2.5 lengths, to Red Dazzler – and the Group 3 Norman Robinson Stakes, in which he ran fifth to Pendragon. That winter he ran near last in the Group 1 Queensland Derby. From there, in Melbourne, it was all downhill.

Moraitis said Vision And Power went within a whisker of being sacked. “He was one run away from being sold, but I’ve got a policy with horses; one last chance with a change of environment,’’ he said.

In early 2007 Moraitis shifted Vision And Power to Pride at Warwick Farm. Pride has a knack with hand-me-down horses. “We were a bit hopeful,” the trainer said.

“I don’t mind horses who have lost form as long as they’ve shown something. We’ve got a bit of a formula, nothing magical. Lots of swimming, twice a day. A small team, lots of individual attention.”

Vision And Power had a niggling joint problem when he arrived and was spelled. He had seven starts in his first campaign with Pride (from December 2007 to March ’08) and won two minor races. He looked a welter horse at best. The first hint of rapid improvement came at the second trial of his second campaign.

For whatever reason, Vision And Power returned to the stable with that “extra leg”.

“He was much better the second prep, and then the third. We had a clean slate and knew more about him,” Pride said. “Craig Agnew rode him in a trial and said he went unbelievable. He was 20-1 at his first run back (over 1400m at Rosehill in December 2008) and won. He was flying. I had a decent bet. Nick didn’t. He was filthy.”

Pride worked for John Size in Sydney for four years before Size headed to Hong Kong, where he won the 2007-08 premiership to make it five in seven seasons, and in the season just ended he finished top three. Part of the reason for the great record is

VISION OF SUCCESS: Jim Cassidy celebrates Vision And Power’s stunning Doncaster win.

He was 20-1 at his first run back and won.

He was flying.

I had a decent bet. Nick didn’t.

He was filthy.

JOE PRIDE

that while others have long lunches in Kowloon, Size tends his horses.

Smerdon said Size’s influence on Pride, by ripple effect, had a positive impact on Vision And Power. “Size is a freak and Joe Pride’s learned a lot from him,” Smerdon said.

Pride said Size clicked with horses similar to Vision And Power.

“He had a great record with horses of his age. It goes against the trend in Australia where we really rush them, but this horse is an example of how we probably should train them,” he said. “John was a terrible teacher, to be honest. He’d tell you

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nothing but it made you observe.

He’s the best trainer I’ve seen.”

Like Chittick, Smerdon believes the stoutness of Vision And Power’s sireline has been influential. “He’s by a son of Sadler’s Wells and they are late maturing horses, a bit like Noble Bijou in the olden days,” Smerdon said.

Moraitis isn’t too bothered with analysing and dissecting Vision And Power. He is just glad that he has defied the odds and got his hands on a second star.

For Pride, this upside-down success story, of the ageing gelding who improved out of sight, is not over yet.

The trainer has his sights on Australia’s “champions’ race” at weight-for-age, the one Moraitis won in 1998 with Might And Power. “Yeah, we’ll have a look at the Cox Plate,” he said. “It’s a war horse’s race and he’s a war horse. Why not?”

The now 7YO was unplaced in the Warwick Stakes (1400m) and the Chelmsford Stakes (1600m) – both Group 2 WFA races – at his first runs this campaign, Pride saying the gelding was going well but needed a soft track. This was confirmed with an improved fourth in the Group 2 Hill Stakes (1900m, WFA) at Rosehill on September 19, and Pride was considering a run in the Group 1 George Main Stakes (1600m, WFA) at Randwick on September 26. The Group 1 Yalumba Stakes (2000m, WFA) at Caulfield on October 10 was to be his Melbourne lead-in race for the Group 1 Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley on October 24.

The Cox Plate tilt will have Vision And Power back boarding at the scene – probably at the stable – of his humble racing origins. Smerdon continues to train a dozen or so horses for Moraitis, including the mid-year Sandown, Caulfield and Flemington winner Makeadreamcometrue.

“It’d be nice to have another look at him,” Smerdon said of Vision And Power, adding with a grin, “and see if he looks any different.”

Pride said: “You’ll see a far better horse down there than the one you saw two years ago.”

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21/9/09 4:15:15 PM

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rom October 3 until the Melbourne Cup carnival concludes at Flemington on November 7 not a Saturday goes by in Melbourne without Group 1 racing.

Of course, Victoria’s spring thoroughbred season is running strongly before October with the September Saturdays, although in the shadow of the football finals, having carnival punters primed for 15 more Group 1 highlights built around the great trio of Australian races

– the Caulfield Cup, the Cox Plate and the Melbourne Cup – and with four Group 1s on an all-Group card at Flemington on Victoria Derby day, October 31.

And the letdown is gentle after Emirates Stakes day on November 7 has the final two Group 1s, with the following Saturday having two Group 2 races at Sandown and the one after (November 21) having the Group 3 Eclipse Stakes at the same track.

It is a time for sprinters and stayers and those in between; on and off course. The races are the headline acts, but not all attend to watch the horses. To many, spring racing is party time and, recognising this, the Victoria Racing Club, the Melbourne Racing Club and the Moonee Valley Racing Club put on much more than cards of eight or more races – they dress their courses in spring colours and indulge those who dress

up to be part of the scene in the hope that they will get them back next year, and on dates in the interim.

Built around the race-day parties are the breakfasts, lunches, dinners, cocktail parties, fashion shows, a street parade, and more – even a special racing mass – as Melbourne comes down with spring racing fever.

The races beget the social events, but they remain the focus of sport and industry.

Turnbull Stakes day (October 3) at Flemington is the VRC’s last warm-up for its carnival. Caulfield (October 10, 14 and 17) and Moonee Valley (October 24) step in with their own winning events, but it is Flemington’s fabulous four days (October 31, November 3, 5 and 7) that deliver the biggest crowds and the best racing.

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21/9/09 4:21:05 PM

THE THOROUGHBRED ADVERTISING PROMOTION

Bendigo strikes while the spring is hot Clubs cash in as the racing carnival extends beyond Melbourne to take in meetings statewide. WORDS STEPHEN HOWELL

PHOTO SLICKPIX

T

he Bendigo Jockey Club is convinced it is on a winner in the wider but jam-packed spring carnival, having moved its fl agship cup forward two weeks and back 200 metres.

For the first time the Bendigo Cup (now 2200m) will be run before the Melbourne Cup, and BJC chief executive Ian Hart believes it will benefit the race, the club and the town.

“It will be in the height of the spring,” Hart said of the October 28 meeting to be held on the Wednesday before Australia’s greatest race. “Where it has been (eight days after the Melbourne Cup) it doesn’t have the same lustre.”

Bendigo also has a new sponsor, Jayco, and the caravan company

THE 2008 BENDIGO CUP: Banana Man (Michelle Payne), on the rails, holds off Imvula (Vlad Duric).

will give a van if a trainer wins the Cup, the Eliza Park Oaks trial and another race on the day.

The country cups circuit has had a polish. And with betting businesses throwing money into racing through sponsorship and promotional deals, it is a time for “have horse will travel”. The bonuses range from the wishful, with Luxbet offering a $1million bonus if a horse wins the Cranbourne Cup and the Caulfield Cup six days later, to the grass roots – Betfair has a King of the Bush series tallying points from eight races spread across meetings at courses it sponsors (Swan Hill, Bairnsdale, Kilmore, Sale, Terang, Echuca, Mildura and Wangaratta) with the winning trainer to be handed $25,000 at the Dunkeld Cup meeting on November 14.

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SPRING COUNTRY HIGHLIGHTS

Cup (1800m) for the same prizemoney.

Wycheproof is 285km north-west.

Saturday October 3 Gunbower has its famous Gunbower Cup over 1800m as the feature on the nonTAB card, to be called for the 59th time by the legendary Jack Styring.

The purse is only $13,000, but the day out is priceless.

Which horse will Jack call “baring his molars to the breeze” on turning for home.

Gunbower is 250km north of Melbourne.

Sunday November 1 Mornington has the $80,000 Peninsula Cup (1500m).

Mornington is 55km south.

Tuesday November 3 Victoria’s Melbourne Cup day country meetings are at Moe, Bairnsdale, Wangaratta, Echuca, Horsham and Mildura. Mansfield has a picnic meeting.

Wednesday November 4 The Kyneton Cup (2000m) is worth $93,500.

Kyneton is 85km north-west.

Sunday October 4 Benalla has its $100,000 Gold Cup (2040m), the $50,000 Weary Dunlop Handicap (1206m) and a $35,000 0-78 handicap over 1506m, with the winner getting a spot in the Seymour Cup field on October 18.

Benalla is 200km north-east.

Wednesday October 7 The $50,000 Gold Nugget Handicap (1600m) is the highlight of Ballarat’s midweek meeting.

Ballarat is 115km west.

Saturday October 10 It’s Manangatang Cup day with $15,000 prizemoney for the 2000m main race. It’s a non-TAB and lot-of-fun meeting.

Manangatang is 420km north-west.

Sunday October 11 A big “what might be” here – the $150,000 Listed Luxbet.com Cranbourne Cup (2025m) offers a $1million bonus if the winner goes on to win the Caulfield Cup six days later.

The 1998 winner Lisa’s Game has done best with second place at Caulfield.

Cranbourne is 50km south-east.

BENDIGO CUP DAY: the club is looking to build on last year’s crowd with its new date.

Thursday October 15 The prizemoney for the Moe Cup (2050m) is $130,000.

Moe is 135km south-east.

Saturday October 17 It’s Avoca’s big race day with the $15,000 Avoca Cup (1860m) at the town’s non-TAB meeting.

Avoca is 185km north-west.

Sunday October 18 Top of today’s list is the $120,000 Listed Seymour Cup (1600m).

Seymour is 100km north.

Horsham has a highlighter, too – the $40,000 Horsham Cup (1800m).

Horsham is 300km north-west.

Wednesday October 21 Group racing heads the huge day at Geelong, which has the $200,000 G3 Geelong Cup (2400m), the race that Europeans Media Puzzle and Bauer won to get into the Melbourne Cup – Media Puzzle won both in 2002, Bauer was a whisker away in the second leg last year. And there’s the $100,000 Listed Geelong Classic (2200m) that

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has an extra lure – Centrebet is offering a $100,000 bonus to the trainer if the Geelong winner also wins the VRC Derby at Flemington on October 31.

Geelong is 75km south-west.

Saturday October 24 The $15,000 St Arnaud Cup (2000m) is the main act on a big day out for St Arnaud.

St Arnaud is 245km north-west.

Sunday October 25 Country racing’s big selling point this day is the $120,000 Sale Cup (1600m).

Sale is 215km east.

Terang has its $50,000 Cup (1850m) on the same day.

Terang is 220km west.

Wednesday October 28 The $150,000 Listed Bendigo Cup (2200m) will be run before the Melbourne Cup for the first time.

Bendigo is 150km north-west.

Saturday October 31 If you’re not one of the 100,000 going to Derby Day at Flemington, Mortlake’s non-TAB meeting has the $15,000 Mortlake Cup (2000m).

Mortlake is 235km west.

And Wycheproof, also nonTAB, has the Mt Wycheproof

Sunday November 8 It’s a golden day at Ararat with the $52,500 Gold Cup (2000m), the $61,500 China Bowl (1600m) and the $26,500 Golden Grain Series final (1310m).

Ararat is 205km west.

The $50,000 Frankston Cup (1300m) is at Cranbourne.

Wednesday November 11 The Seymour Spring Classic (2000m) is a Listed race worth $100,000.

Saturday November 14 The Grampians make a beautiful backdrop for the $15,700 Dunkeld Cup (1800m).

Dunkeld is 260km west.

Sunday November 15 The Donald Cup (1620m) has prizemoney of $36,600.

Donald is 290km north-west.

Wednesday November 18 The Listed Ballarat Cup (2200m) of $120,000 heads a big card.

Sunday November 22 Benalla has the $50,000 Country Challenge Series final (1606m).

Sunday November 29 The $60,000 Wodonga Cup is over 1590m.

Wodonga is 305km north.

PHOTO BENDIGO JOCKEY CLUB

The $30,000 Murtoa Cup (2050m) is the country TAB focus of the day.

Murtoa is 300km north-west.

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21/9/09 5:02:59 PM

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PASSION FOR

THE

JOB

Plenty on his plate

Michael Browell, Moonee Valley’s chief executive, is living his job, literally, from a house steeped in club and course history. WORDS MICHAEL SHARKIE, PHOTO LACHLAN CUNNINGHAM

I

t may have been the pre-dawn starts, or the unmistakable smell of manure, possibly a combination of both and more, but after Michael Browell set out on a predictable career in thoroughbred training – uncle Allen was a leading regional trainer and father Geoff trained on a smaller scale – he had an early change of heart.

“I was in my last year of school when Russell Cameron moved to Bendigo to start up his (training) business under the guidance of his father Ted. I finished my last exam on Bendigo Cup day, rode to the cup, then went and knocked on Russell’s door the next day and asked for a job,” Browell, 36, recalled.

“After a while working at the stables I thought there had to be a better way to make a living out of racing, so I went and got my Bachelor of Business degree.”

Finding that elusive first job after graduating from LaTrobe University wasn’t easy. “The assistant secretary’s job came up at Bendigo and I started working there in July 1995,” Browell said. He relished the opportunity to work behind the scenes of a race club. “The opportunity to be involved in decision making and, more so, event building was really appealing.”

Five years on, Browell, then 28, applied for the chief executive position at Mornington Racing Club although thinking he was “probably four or five years off being suitable for the role”.

Under a board willing to try something

new, Browell set out to maximise earning potential with some innovative management strategies. During his eight years at the helm, Mornington completed $20 million worth of projects including the redevelopment of on-course training facilities and a $4.2 million grandstand upgrade. Browell also sought to develop the earning potential of the club on non-race days, using the grounds and the stand as function sites.

Mornington was named Country Racing Club of the Year for 2002-03 and 2004-05, and was awarded a prize for Most Innovative Marketing Strategies in 2003-04. Attendance on Mornington Cup day has nearly doubled since 2001, but Browell admits the club wasn’t entirely responsible for that growth. “A horse called Gunnamatta came along and won three Mornington Cups (2001, 2002, 2004),” he explained. “He was locally trained and was a great public relations tool for us.”

Browell was appointed CEO of the Moonee Valley Racing Club in July 2008, bringing an innovative approach to the role as he attempts to put the metropolitan club back on the right side of the financial ledger.

“The first challenge was to make the club profitable.

In the first week in January

this year we undertook a major restructure and saved close to $1.3million. Twenty-three staff members were made redundant and, while that is never easy, it was necessary.

In the total efficiencies of the restructure we’ve achieved a saving of close to $3 million.

“We have also recently announced a prize money increase of $2.5million a year, the bulk of which will be funded by the club.”

Negotiating an end to Moonee Valley’s contract with Harness Racing Victoria (now at Melton) has freed up former harness weekends as potential sources of non-race day income crucial to the long-term profitability of the club.

Night racing is also in line for change, but don’t expect to see the club’s iconic race, the Group 1 Cox Plate, shift to an evening timeslot. “We have a contract in place with the Tatts Group for three more years and they are keen to see the race stay in the daytime time slot,” he said.

“However, we are moving Group 1 product to the night meetings and this year the Manikato Stakes will be the headline race when we launch the night racing season on September 25.” Browell recognises that cracking the lucrative Asian market by tying into Asian timeslots as the key to unlocking its full potential.

From his club-owned house, the White House built by Cox Plate founder William Cox, on a hill in a corner of the racecourse, Browell’s sense of the history of Moonee Valley is as strong as his vision for the future, and one target involves Browell and his wife, Caryl, standing in the winner’s circle on Cox Plate day, a dream he hopes to pursue this spring. “I’m an active owner with five horses in work, including one that will hopefully make his debut here on Cox Plate day,” he said.

TRACK MAN: Michael Browell “at home at work” at Moonee Valley.

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21/9/09 4:09:33 PM

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