Luke McDonald, younger brother of champion jockey James, overseas one of Australia’s largest thoroughbred portfolios – hundreds of racehorses, untried stock and a massive broodmare band - and the 25-year-old is revelling in the position.
Harvey and his wife Katie own and operate Baramul Stud in the Hunter Valley, maintain a large racing string divided between numerous trainers and have Westbury Stud at Karaka in New Zealand under the management of Russell Warwick. The Harveys also own the Magic Millions sales company.
“I’ve never done anything like it before. It’s very broad and to sit next to Gerry and Katie every day is both daunting and exciting,” McDonald said.
Luke McDonald
“I met Gerry at Magic Millions in January and he always had a keen eye on me and was always watching me. The job was advertised, but very privately, and Gerry told me to apply for it.
“I had a job interview and Gerry and Katie loved me and on the spot asked me to come in next week and start.
“I had a job interview and Gerry and Katie loved me and on the spot and asked me to come in next week and start.” – Luke McDonald.
“It was quite exciting and when someone’s chasing you it gives you confidence, it’s a big job. When you’re in charge of all their bloodstock there’s not much time for sleep.”
McDonald works out of Harvey’s Sydney office, and spends a lot of hours there.
“Gerry has his finger on the pulse all the time and asks question after question,” he said. “He likes to know where his horses are, what they’re doing and what we can be doing to improve the operation and what we should be selling.
“I try and get in nice and early and do all my e-mails. Gerry gets in a bit later and his office is right next to mine.
Gerry Harvey
“For a young person sitting next to a guy with that amount of knowledge is just incredible. We sit down every morning and go through what needs to be done.
“For a young person sitting next to a guy with that amount of knowledge is just incredible.” – Luke McDonald.
“It’s a unique operation because Gerry has shares and fingers in pies everywhere. He’s got 25 to 50 to 100 percent in the horses and there’s around about 200.
“Also there are horses on the books coming through like 2-year-olds and yearlings and there’s probably another 80 or so of those. We support people who support us and there’s about 40 to 50 trainers at any given time.”
Supporters of the Baramul yearling and broodmare drafts and of Westbury are looked after.
“Obviously, we have our favourites and those people really support us in the sales ring,” McDonald said. “It’s a no brainer to give them horses, you scratch my back and we’ll scratch yours.”
Focus on quality
The focus is always on improving quality and representation on major race days.
“We want to get horses on Saturdays and at stakes level and we try to give the horses every opportunity,” McDonald said. “We use the likes of Chris Waller and Anthony Cummings to increase our chances of getting to the big days.”
The first six months of the role has been a major learning curve for McDonald.
“It’s been very satisfying and not just in the racing world, Gerry teaches me outside of the racing,” he said.
“The pinnacle is to have horses on Group 1 days and to have had the likes of Libertini running in the Princess series and winning the Flight S. would be a dream come true.
“We’re very excited about Duchess Of Lennox as well. She’s a very good stayer and to my eye she looks a Metropolitan horse. Chris Waller thinks she’s got a huge amount of ability and she’s a very promising Reliable Man filly.”
Mare management
Management of the broodmare band is another major exercise in itself.
“I try to be involved in every aspect of the operation and Gerry includes me in all his business, it’s very interesting,” McDonald said.
“Gerry loves doing the mare matings, but I’ll be there to help and if physically they don’t match or if I think we should be doing something else pedigree-wise I’ll say my piece. Hopefully he listens and we move forward.
“We aim to get around 400 to 600 mares in foal this year. It’s a very new thing for me and there’s a big team, obviously Paul Thompson at Baramul manages all the mares and he has a lot of input, he does a great job.
Luke McDonald and Paul Thompson
“Russell runs the Westbury operation and Gerry has fingers in the pie over there too, but Russell does an incredible job.
“He doesn’t really need direction, but we all sit down together and Russell will be here next week and go through all the matings that he has come up with for the New Zealand mares.
“He’s got some very exciting stallions like Telperion and El Roca, and Reliable Man is really hitting his straps with a good percentage of runners to winners.”
McDonald’s predecessor was Claire Bird, well known as strapper to the mighty Sunline (NZ) (Desert Sun {GB}), and he’s been grateful for her assistance.
“Claire did an amazing job and she’s been very helpful, she’s been a treasure,” he said. “She’s helped me through the system and taught me the way she did it – I looked at her and said, gee, how do you fit all the hours into one day.
“Claire did an amazing job and she’s been very helpful, she’s been a treasure.” – Luke McDonald
“You’ve just got to keep working away and prioritise and get on top of things. It’s a big job, but I love it.”
Luke's predecessor, Claire Bird with the mighty Sunline
McDonald joined the Harvey stable after a stint with Darley.
“Darley gave me a huge opportunity to go into the nominations office,” he said. “I was doing all their breakers beforehand and I met the studmaster Barley Ward-Thomas and he really helped me.
“He gave me projects to do to prep me to be in the office. I was fortunate someone pulled out of the office and I stepped straight in.
“It was a life lesson I’ll never forget. Being in the office at Darley you learn so much. It’s an operation that people just want to be involved with and I was very fortunate to be a part of that team.
“Vin Cox came aboard and we had a tremendous amount of success. Gerry’s job then came up and I grasped it with both hands and haven't looked back.”
