Tributes flow for Luskin Park's Paul Whelan

Few are in a better position to reflect on Paul Whelan's lifelong achievements than Wilf Mula, with the pair first meeting at school at De La Salle at Ashfield in Sydney's west in the 1950s. On Whelan's retirement from politics the pair formed a successful thoroughbred partnership which saw them breed Group 1 winner Foxwedge (Fastnet Rock) and co-own G1 Coolmore Stud S. winner Flying Artie (Artie Schiller {USA}).

Whelan's achievements in a long public life in politics, which included a six-year-spell as New South Wales Police Minister, will be no doubt commemorated in the coming days, but his greatest accomplishment in the 20 years since, according to Mula, was to pursue and succeed in one of his great passions.

"He's had a lot of good horses and a lot of city winners. His passion after politics was to get into horse breeding. He really loved it. He was able to achieve his passion," Mula told TDN AusNZ.

"He bought his stud up at Luskin Park, where Luskin Star was born and he produced and sold a lot of good horses. He was a very respected breeder and very hands on.

"Initially he had a manager in and realised very quickly that he had to be there himself. He uprooted his wife Colleen and himself and they moved to Luskintyre. He then continued to enjoy that life on the farm and he enjoyed his racing as well."

Not long after relocating to Luskin Park, Whelan contacted his old school friend and asked him to go in with him on a yearling filly by Fusaichi Pegasus (USA) he had purchased through Bart Cummings for $200,000.

"We got back together again and he had bought a horse called Pegasus Queen which Bart had bought, and he said, 'Wilf I love this horse, I want you to be in it'. So we bought her, she raced and won a couple of races and we started breeding with her," Mula said.

It was the start of a breeding partnership which went from strength to strength, with the ownership of 12 broodmares now shared in the venture.

Whelan's first major success as a breeder came when Rock Classic (Fastnet Rock) won the 2010 G1 Australian Guineas, a great example of how Whelan was always ahead of the game in his thinking.

Rock Classic was from the first crop of Coolmore's now legendary Champion sire Fastnet Rock and was one of his first Group 1 winners.

Leading the way

A few years earlier, sensing there was value to be found in the American market, Whelan had asked Vin Cox to source some mares at Keeneland. He picked up the stakes-placed Forest Native (USA) (Forest Wildcat {USA}) for US$45,000, a purchase that would prove one of his most significant.

Her third foal, a colt by Fastnet Rock, was co-bred with Mula's Aston Bloodstock and would sell for $925,000 at the 2010 Inglis Easter Yearling Sale. Named Foxwedge and raced by the Bateman family, he would win five of his 13 starts, nearly $1 million in prizemoney and a G1 William Reid S. which assured his future as a stallion.

He became Newgate Farm's foundation stallion and stood there for seven years before joining Woodside Park's roster for the 2019 season. As it stands, he has sired 15 stakes winners, including three Group 1 winners.

The importing of outcross American mares has become a significant industry trend over the past decade and Whelan, who led the way, himself remained a fan of sending these mares to young stallions.

"He was always looking outside the circle. He was keen on the new stallions that were coming on and just this year we got an American mare and he said we should send her to The Autumn Sun," Mula said.

Finding Flying Artie

But it wasn't just an eye for stallions and mares that Whelan possessed. Trainer Mick Price recalls the day at the 2015 Inglis Easter Sale when he and Whelan were catching up and a son of Artie Schiller (USA) walked past.

"We were just sitting on the seats at the old Newmarket complex in Sydney having a chat. The colt walked past and I remember he was a Super Vobis horse, and Paul said to me, 'Have you seen that horse by Artie Schiller, and I said I’d go and have a look at it," Price said.

"I came back and said, 'he's quite a nice horse, I'd be buying it at the right price.' He got passed in, but he ended up buying it after the sale for $50,000 and put Wilf in it."

That horse was of course Flying Artie, who would go on to win nearly $1.3 million in just seven starts including a victory in the stallion-making G1 Coolmore Stud S.

"He went on to become a really smart horse," Price said. "It was his lucky day and it was my lucky day, we just happened to be sitting there chewing the fat and the horse walked past us."

The impression Price drew of Whelan from those days was his professionalism and courtesy.

"When horses become good and race for big figures in big races and there is potential for them to become big stallions, there is a lot of pressure in that for some owners. He was obviously an experienced owner and he never changed. He was always polite and he did a great job with the horse," Price said.

"He conducted himself very, very well and he was a real gentleman."

For Mula, it was another great chapter in the friendship between he and Whelan and there will be a degree of poignancy when the now Newgate stallion's first crop go through the yearling sales in 2020.

"We had a lot of fun with him and are now waiting for his first progeny to go through the yearling sales. Paul will miss that, which is sad," he said. "We loved the horse and we think he's got great potential as stallion."

A mentor and a fighter

What Mula will also miss is the chance to just sit and talk with his old school mate about horses.

"With his background in politics, he was able to give advice, which at times I asked for. He was a great mentor to a lot of people. He had a great personality, he had a lot of life. Even though he had this illness for two and half years, he never gave up, he was a bloody fighter," he said.

Mula said there was no greater measure of what he had achieved as a breeder and vendor than the excellent reputation among his peers.

"He did it for 20 years and being a very intelligent human being, he picked it up pretty quickly," he said. "He had a good eye for a horse. He became a very respected breeder.

"Our stock was always well looked at and the buyers always came and checked them out and invariably they were well sought after."

Industry pays tribute

It was a respect shared right across the industry, with Racing NSW’s Chief Executive Peter V’landys also paying tribute to Whelan.

“Paul was a visionary and was admired by all,” V’landys said. "He was respectful to anyone he met, on any level, and always had a smile on his face.

“Paul will be missed by everyone in the racing industry that had the pleasure of his acquaintance and we would like to pass on our sincere condolences to his family.”

The youngest of seven children, Whelan was born and raised at Ashbury in Sydney and worked as a solicitor and barrister. He entered local politics in 1970 and was Mayor of Ashfield from 1971 until 1976, when he entered state parliament.

He served as Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Roads, Minister for Water Resources and Minister for Forests but was renowned for being the longest serving Police Minister in New South Wales history, retiring in 2001.

He and his wife Colleen have four children; John, Cathy, Stephen and Bridget (dec) and seven grandchildren.