Something to shout about for Segenhoe

Cover image courtesy of Segenhoe

As Shout The Bar (Not A Single Doubt) was fending off her rivals to claim Group 1 success in the Vinery Stud S., in front of empty stands at Rosehill, around 250km away at Segenhoe Stud, a cheer went up among the appropriately socially distanced staff.

In troubled times, small successes mean a lot and for a group of 10 of Segenhoe's staff, who are invested in Shout The Bar's yearling full sister, and were hoping for a huge pedigree boost before she goes through the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale next week, it was a victory well worth celebrating.

"Kevin and Lesley Maloney kindly assist the lads each year to buy a weanling. Last year we picked out Shout The Bar's sister. There are 10 of the longest serving staff who have shares in the yearling going to the sale. For most of them, it’s their first-ever horse," Segenhoe General Manager Peter O'Brien said.

"It was fantastic yesterday, but you can’t really celebrate. There was lots of social distancing and leaping. It’s wonderful and amazing for them. They're all young people and like anywhere, they are dedicated. They work 24/7, in particular in these times. This is the first opportunity for some of them to get a little nest egg to start their trading career."

Like the Shout the Bar, the yearling filly was bred by Ron Finemore, who also raced Not A Single Doubt.

Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott had paid $200,000 for Shout The Bar, who was the first foal out of the mare, at the 2018 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale on behalf of a bunch of clients headed by Francis and Christine Cook of Mystery Downs from the draft of Newhaven Park.

Finemore retained the next Not A Single Doubt filly, named She's A Survivor, but the third filly went through the 2019 Magic Millions Gold Coast National Weanling Sale, again offered by Newhaven Park, where she caught O'Brien's eye.

"She was an unbelievable mover. She has an incredible action. She's a typical Not A Single Doubt in that she is not big but it was her action that caught our eye. That dam had already had two by the stallion to run for her, of which one was of course Shout The Bar," O'Brien said.

"We are always conscious of what farms we buy foals off. Newhaven has an incredible history of breeding good racehorses and their integrity is unquestionable. John Kelly knew the foal well and knew how good the sister was as a yearling, so that was good enough for me. I'd always listen to the Kelly family.

"She was a late foal and a lot of people at the weanling sale thought she would have been a bit small. But since the sale, she has done everything right. She's lengthened, she's grown. I was looking at a yearling picture of Shout The Bar and she is the absolute image of her."

A huge boost to the page

O'Brien was always confident that the $130,000 she cost Segenhoe would give every chance of a good return and in his regular conversations with Bott on the development of her older sister, that confidence only grew.

On Saturday, Shout The Bar was having only her fourth start, having won her first two, and being narrowly defeated at her first stakes test in the G3 Kembla Grange Classic.

That it was a Group 1 race was a tough enough of an assignment, but that she was taking on two of the best fillies of recent years in Funstar (Adelaide {Ire}) and Probabeel (NZ) (Savabeel), seemed an enormous task for a horse just six weeks into her racing career.

But she showed every bit of grit and courage you could want, leading all the way to give jockey Adam Hyeronimus his first Group 1 victory.

Understandably, there was much celebration at Segenhoe, given the likely impact on the desirability of her sister at the modified Easter Sale, albeit with the knowledge that the current circumstances will make it trickier for any horse to sell next week.

"When you pinhook a foal, you never expect that foal will be a full to a Group 1 winner the week before you sell. Any normal year, you’d be counting your money. We are realistic. We are going to be selling into a very depressed market. So she’ll be going in at a reasonable reserve because we want to sell her for the guys," O'Brien said.

"But when the filly goes through the ring - and we will have a social distancing plan in place - for the last half hour of the bidding, we’ll all have a beer, and hope for the best."

Buyers interest gives reason for hope

Optimism is a prerequisite for anyone in the bloodstock and breeding game and while there is so much uncertainty about both the confidence of the market and the new format of the sale, the interest in Segenhoe's draft of 16 in the past week has given O'Brien reason to be hopeful.

"If you asked me a week ago, I would have expected to sell about 40 per cent. But it’s an absolute credit to everyone, we have been run off our feet all week. We had seven parades yesterday and six today. Not only have the vendors shown a united front, leading into the sale, but the purchasers have done the same. They are showing positivity by coming and looking at the animals," he said.

"I would think now that I am far more confident that it is going to be a better sale than people realise. Yes, the pass-in will be higher than normal, that's a given, but judging on the interest and the people making the effort to see the animals, I'm looking at it in a far more positive light.

Gallery: The team at Segenhoe have been busy parading for potential buyers in the lead-up to the online Easter Sale

"These are Easter yearlings. They are the cream of the crop from every farm. John Hawkes was here yesterday and he said he can’t remember seeing such a nice bunch of horses on every farm, not just ours. Inglis has turned every leaf trying to help us and in times of struggle, unity is important and this unified front from the farms is exactly what we need."

The Easter Sale is traditionally the biggest week of revenue for Segenhoe's year and last year they were the third biggest vendor, with $8.67 million in sales across 17 lots. Given it doesn't stand stallions, it is particularly vulnerable to the impact the current coronavirus crisis will have on the market.

O'Brien said, like all vendors involved, Segenhoe would be particularly realistic in how it approaches its reserves.

"If we can clear 60 per cent it will be unbelievable. The clearance is the key. Gauging the market is going to be really hard. We will be putting realistic reserves on every horse we sell, with the view that we are looking to sell," he said.

"Our income is from sales. We have to trade and to trade you have to meet the market. Obviously, like any farm, we aren't going to give horses away, particularly fillies. But they will all have selling reserves."

A top quality draft ready for Easter

The end results are unlikely to reflect it, but O'Brien believes the Segenhoe draft of 16 for Easter is the best he and his team have presented.

Big pedigrees and beautiful horses abound, headed by Lot 467, a colt by triple Champion Sire Snitzel out of Girl Hussler (Hussonet {USA}), who has produced Group 1 winner Manuel (Commands), as well as Group 3 winner Taking Aim (Choisir), stakes-placed Witherspoon (Exceed And Excel) and the recent Hong Kong winner Sun Patch (Exceed And Excel).

"Girl Hussler is a blue hen. Every foal she has had has been a runner," O'Brien said.

Lot 408, the Fastnet Rock colt out of Diana's Star (Northern Meteor), the half-sister to Champion Dissident is another favourite of O'Brien's, who sees marked similarities to a Group 1 winning Segenhoe graduate by the same sire.

"He looks the image of Merchant Navy, in my mind in terms of physique. He's a precocious early going 2-year-old type," he said.

Lot 489, the Snitzel colt who is a full brother to recent stakes-placed 2-year-old Philizzy out of stakes-placed Houston Benefactor (Encosta De Lago), is another colt O'Brien believes will create plenty of interest.

"He's a later foal, but he's magnificent and you wouldn't know that. He's got great balance, should be sharp and go early and probably has a bit more scope than most Snitzels."

Of the fillies Segenhoe is offering, aside from Lot 416 mentioned above, O'Brien is expecting huge interest in Lot 368, who is by I Am invincible out of Captivating Claire (NZ) (O'Reilly {NZ}), making her a sister to multiple Group winner Catch Me and the colt which Segenhoe sold for $1.4 million to Coolmore and Hermitage Bloodstock at last year's Easter Sale.

"Every foal Captivating Claire has is a belter, and it’s hard to split them. I know that it’s typical sales talk to say this, but it’s not, she is the best yearling to come off our property since I have been here," he said.

"Not only is she good looking and has the pedigree, but she has an unbelievable mind. While nothing is ever a given, to me she is a deadest racehorse. Any normal year, I would be confident she would be the highest priced filly at the sale.

"We have to be realistic with her in this market, but if anybody is looking for a well-bred class filly, who will make a racehorse, look no further."