A former Arrowfield Stud employee, Rogers is now a resident in Lexington, Kentucky, and as a pinhooking specialist he enjoyed success with the G2 Norfolk S. winner A’Ali (Ire) (Society Rock {Ire}).
“I bought him from Tally Ho Stud at Goffs Doncaster Sale last August and sold him back at Goffs 2-year-old sale at the end of April,” said Byron Rogers.
“I bought him for 35,000 pounds and sold him for 135,000 so it was pretty good.
“This is the third year I’ve been doing it and I’ve been helping Star Bloodstock, a company owned by Matt Eves in England.
“I bought 14 for him last year and we had four of them run at Royal Ascot. A’Ali won and Cool Sphere was in the same race. We had Majestic Sands run in the Coventry S. and Better The Devil ran in the Windsor Castle S.
“For all those 2-year-olds to run at Royal Ascot was very pleasing.”
Australian experience
Rogers said his Australian background and lessons learned there had been put to good use in his current role.
“It helps a fair bit and doing 2-year-old sales you’ve got to have something a bit sharp. I learned off some of the best guys down there, buying horses to suit the market.
“Merrick Staunton was a big help, he really had a good model for the particular type of horse he was looking for. Obviously, he’s very good with sprinters.
Working with John O'shea, Byron Rogers learned a lot about looking at horses
“I’ve known John O’Shea ever since he came down from Queensland. John and I worked together for a long while and he taught me a lot about looking at horses.
“I worked for Arrowfield for 10 years and you go to a lot of sales and watch people looking at horses like Demi O’Byrne or James Bester or George Smith. They are really good judges and you get to see what they’re putting on their short lists.
“They are really good judges and you get to see what they’re putting on their short lists.” – Byron Rogers.
“Over a period of time you pick up what to look for and what not. You see what goes out there and wins races.”
Rogers said the difference between young horses in different countries was noticeable.
“I live in America now and the difference between an Australian sprinter and an American horse is that the Americans are a lot longer-legged and it’s more about fatigue management.
“In dirt racing they get out there and get into a rhythm while the Aussie horses are high turnover, high cadence. The European horses fit somewhere in between.
“They stretch out the speed whereas with Australians sprinters it’s about the last three furlongs, that’s the most important part of the race.
Watch: A'Ali (Ire) breeze up
“I made a couple of mistakes early on going for American-style horses and they had no ability to quicken on turf. Working out what will work in Europe is slightly different to America and that’s slightly different again to Australia.
“Why you have success in this is observation, if you can observe in our game you’re a long way ahead. Part of that success is focusing on one particular type of horse.
“Working out what will work in Europe is slightly different to America and that’s slightly different again to Australia.” – Byron Rogers.
“We try to make horses run from five furlongs up to two miles. It’s hard to pick out a horse that’s capable of doing all things, we wait and wait and wait until we find the right horse for what we need.”
Rogers also formerly worked with Pedigree Consultants and still has a hand in the True Nicks mating programme.
“Alan Porter bought me out of that a few years ago. I don’t do any pedigree analysis work now, I just basically do yearling sale selection.
“I still own a bit of True Nicks with Alan and the Jockey Club, but all I’m doing now is buying and selling yearlings.
“It’s a nice niche to be in and it was good to get all the horses run at Ascot from our pinhook group. To have a winner was extra special.”
