Now a successful Victorian bloodstock agent, Mills didn’t find it easy going when he went out on his own, but perseverance and a valued Australian contact came to his rescue when he was negotiating to buy a mare off famed Irish trainer Jim Bolger.
The horse is question was Gaudeamus (USA) (Distorted Humor {USA}), who 12 years later has achieved broodmare fame as the dam of the Hong Kong Derby winner Golden Sixty (Medaglia D’Oro {USA}).
“She was the first horse I ever bought and I had a bit of a chuckle looking back at it,” Mills said. “I had left Mick Price as his Racing Manager and I moved to London a little bit ahead of my time.”
Mills had a cunning plan in mind, but he quickly found there was one major flaw.
“I moved there with the idea of buying Northern Hemisphere horses and selling them back to Australia. Obviously, it’s absolute common place now but that the time nobody was doing it and as I found out no-one was interested,” he said.
“Obviously, it’s absolute common place now but that the time nobody was doing it and as I found out no-one was interested.” – Sheamus Mills
“I couldn’t get one sold, but I’ve always been into the breeding side of things. One thing I did when I first got there was to get a list of all the trainers, the Directory of the Turf they call it.
“I started cold calling the good trainers asking them if they had any fillies that I could buy. One trainer I thought I would get a favourable response from was Jim Bolger.”
Mills was banking on a family connection to open the door for him.
Sheamus Mills (right)
“With a name like Sheamus and my mother is Irish and uncles and aunties and I had an uncle who used to paint houses with Jim Bolger. They used to car poll together on those house painting jobs,” he said.
“I rang Jim Bolger and said my uncle and you guys used to paint houses together and this, that and the other. He remembered and said he was a good fellow and then said, let’s cut to the chase and what are you ringing me for.”
Mills explained his reason and if Bolger had any fillies on the market.
“He said no, but then said he had one but a young fellow like me being wet around the ears wouldn’t be able to afford it. He said she was a Group 2 winning 2-year-old by Distorted Humor and I thought at the time he was the bee’s knees.
“He told me about her and I asked the price and he said that’s too expensive for you by far. I told him I was sure I could get a deal done.”
“He told me about her and I asked the price and he said that’s too expensive for you by far. I told him I was sure I could get a deal done.” – Sheamus Mills
One of the first people Mills got in contact with was successful Australian breeder and owner Bob Scarborough, with whom he had dealings with in his time with Price.
“I rang Bob and he made an offer so I went back to Jim and he said something along the lines of, boy you need to clean your ears out, I told you the price. I went back to Bob with my tail between my legs.”
Scarborough was keen on Gaudeamus and upped his offer and a deal was subsequently done.
Bob Scarborough
“It was the first commission I ever got paid. I was pretty much starving at the time and I was sitting in a little pub in Chiswick with about 10 people in it. When Bob said he would go ahead and buy the horse it’s needless to say the next round was on me,” Mills said.
“The great shame for me was that she came over here and I wish she had done a better job for Bob. He had a dispersal a few years ago of which she was part of and Element Hill bought her.
“She was my first purchase and I thought how easy is this job – I reckon it took me another 12 months to sell another horse. I quickly learned it was very much beginner’s luck.”
A lot of water has gone under the bridge since then with Mills now well-established among the leading echelon of bloodstock agents.
With Golden Sixty now a star of Hong Kong racing, Mills can attest to the old maxim that everybody needs a bit of luck along the way.
