Celebrating his biggest success in 20 years of syndicating horses thanks to Mr Quickie's (Shamus Award) victory in Saturday's G1 Queensland Derby, Wylie Dalziel can reflect on two of the biggest influences on his journey.
The first is the late Roy Higgins, a member of the Australian Racing Hall of Fame and one of the greatest jockeys this country has ever seen, who Dalziel met in 2001 in the formative years of his 'Chefs On The Run' syndicate.
In 2009, they formed Roy Higgins-Wylie Dalziel Racing, a venture which tasted plenty of success until Higgins passed away in 2014.
Looking for a new partner, Dalziel needed someone with the experience and presence of Higgins.
Wylie Dalziel (left) celebrating the biggest win of his syndicating career after Mr Quickie's G1 Derby win
Not long afterwards, Dalziel's primary trainer, Peter Moody received a six-month ban and then made the shock announcement that he would retire from training.
Rather than lament the loss of two such significant aspects of the prosperity of his business, Dalziel sensed an opportunity.
"We had a lot of horses with Peter when he was training, then he made the decision to step away from it. I said to him when Roy passed away, I only ever wanted you to be my trainer," Dalziel told TDN AusNZ.
"He's straight-down-the-line, great to deal with, a real people person. He says what he thinks and is well respected. I just said to him, it would be great to work with you in some way."
"I said to him when Roy passed away, I only ever wanted you to be my trainer." - Wylie Dalziel
"When he shut his stables, I met with him and asked him to work with me as I need someone to help out with the bloodstock and the management and the running of my business and he said he'd be chuffed to, no worries."
"Moods has been the rock for me. He's the one I go to when I want to have a sook. This game can kick you in the guts and you need someone there with experience to get you through," he said.
Wylie Dalziel and Peter Moody
Moody's role in the Mr Quickie story is significant. He also works with Rosemont Stud, who bred the colt, and it was his insight into Rosemont's 2017 Magic Millions draft which led to Dalziel buying him for $115,000.
Moody then convinced Rosemont's Anthony Mithen and Nigel Austin that it was worth staying involved.
"Obviously, they bred him, and we bought him and then after we bought him, Moods thought he was one of the nicest yearlings in their draft that year. Straight after we bought him, Mitho said he and Nigel Austin wanted 10 per cent back in," Dalziel said.
"By the time we got to Easter I met Nigel again, he said how much he loved the horse as a weanling, and that he'd dreamt that he won the Cox Plate, and he asked if I had another share."
Peter Moody described Mr Quickie as the nicest yearling in the Rosemont draft
The compromise
There was just the matter of determining whether the son of Shamus Award would race in the white with blue spots of Dalziel Racing or the red with white 'Gatecrasher' lion of Rosemont.
"Nigel said he'd love it in his Gatecrasher, and I said I’d love it in my colours, and we said, 'why don’t we just combine them? We came up with a design there and said that looks good. He's our first horse together."
That has solidified the relationship between the two, with Dalziel now conducting spelling and pre-training through Rosemont.
Of course, Rosemont not only bred and race Mr Quickie, and own his dam, Special Favour (General Nediym), who was bought in foal with him in 2015 for $30,000, it also now stands his sire, Shamus Award, who transfers from Widden to move to Victoria this year.
Having only got his first stakes winner in April, he has now sired a Group 1 winner in his first crop and will stand for $11,000 (inc GST) at the Gnarwarre farm.
Rosemont's 'Gatecrasher' red lion with Dalziel Racing's blue and white spots
Stokes steps in
The other aspect of the story is trainer Phillip Stokes, who secured his first Group 1 winner since moving to Victoria last year, and just the fourth top-flight winner of his career. He is also the first trainer to win a Group 1 from the new Pakenham hub, opened less than five years ago.
Mr Quickie started out with Darren Weir, winning five of his first seven starts before Stokes took over after Weir's disqualification earlier this year. Dalziel couldn't be happier with how it has turned out.
"We had some horses five years ago with Phillip in Adelaide and when he announced he was going to Pakenham, I told him we'd be working very closely with him and giving him a lot more horses," he said.
"He's similar to Moods. He's a bushy and he's a hard worker. He doesn't mess you around. He can quickly judge a horse and is just a very humble bloke too. The whole fit has worked really nicely, so Phillip has now got 80 per cent of our stable now, about 45 horses."
"He's a bushy and he's a hard worker. He doesn't mess you around." - Wylie Dalziel
"He had a vision out there at Pakenham, built the property, the stables, everything. He took a big risk and I said to him, don't worry, you'll get plenty of good horses from us."
Jockey Johnny Allen with trainer Phillip Stokes after Mr Quickie's G1 QLD Derby win
"He doesn’t want to get too big. He just wants enough horses to pay the bills and keep things ticking over. That suits us nicely too, because he's very hands on, and allows us to get in there and do what we need to, whether it be owners' videos, or time with the horses. I was rapt for Phillip yesterday."
The offers
Dalziel has already been knocking back offers for Mr Quickie over the past few months, particularly from overseas. That will only intensify now he has won the Queensland Derby, with the past three winners of the race having been sold to Hong Kong. But he insists the gelding is not for sale.
"All these owners have been rock solid. The Hong Kong offers are coming thick and fast for the past six months, especially this preparation. They are all adamant they aren't interested," he said.
"They all want to race this horse out. We understand the risks going forward, anything could happen, but we just love the horse and we want to continue to race him in Australia and retire him to a nice home when he is finished."
"We understand the risks going forward, anything could happen, but we just love the horse and we want to continue to race him." - Wylie Dalziel
As for that next campaign, Dalziel is adamant they will let the dust settle before deciding where he heads.
"We'll give him a nice spell here in Brisbane, where the weather is warm, they spell really well up here and we’ll get together to have a chat," he said. "We'll nominate for most of the big ones and see where he gets to it."
Mr Quickie winning the G1 QLD Derby
There is certainly an element of expectation, especially when you consider that Austin once dreamt Mr Quickie won the Cox Plate, but with Moody heavily involved in the decision-making, Dalziel expects the route to be well planned.
In the meantime, Dalziel and Moody will focus on syndicating the rest of the 25 or so yearlings purchased this season, a task made a little easier by Mr Quickie's success.
"We are very excited about this crop we have just bought. We think we may have got a few very nice ones there. Adrian Corboy, who broke a lot of these in, he was quick to comment that this is a really nice batch of horses and Phillip Stokes said the same when he got them, hopefully we can repeat the dose from yesterday," he said.
