It takes a village....and a highland pony

Image courtesy of Three Fillies Lodge

An orphaned foal, Tydeus would have never made it to the racetrack if it wasn't for the love and support of so many people, and a special highland pony named Amber that came to his rescue as a nanny.

It is that joint effort, and the unusual circumstances of his upbringing, that have earned him a special place in Agent's heart, and why his 3.5l win for trainer Lindsey Smith meant so much.

Agent's involvement in the story came when she purchased Tydeus' dam Elsedina (Encosta De Lago) at a mixed sale four years ago, needing to utilise a nomination to Woodside Park's Written Tycoon.

"I've only had the farm since 2015 and I bought my first mare, which is Flying Hostess. She had been injured and while I was treating her and thinking she might end up at stud, I bought a nomination to Written Tycoon," Agent told TDN AusNZ.

"I wasn't sure where she was at, and in August 2016, I bought Elsedina to go to Written Tycoon. She went straight to Woodside from the saleyards and straight to Written Tycoon.

"When she got home, she had bad feet and ended up with laminitis and she went into hospital about a month before she was due, and then she went a month overdue.

"We wanted to have the foal, with the prospects for the mother not being very good. He was orphaned and Woodside sent us a maiden mare who had lost a foal. Unfortunately, she didn’t take to him as she was a maiden and didn’t know what to do."

With the situation getting desperate, Agent looked outside the square and through a connection at the South East Equine Hospital. Julia Graves answered the call with a highland pony named Amber.

"She had a highland pony who had lost a foal and so we tried her and she took to him straight away and he took to her," Agent said.

"He grew up with this highland pony as a nanny, which was quite cute. We had this thoroughbred colt growing up on a highland pony, and I felt like she was good for him.

"She was like a dairy cow for him, she had that much milk, which ended up being great to raise him on.

"She was so bombproof and he'd come from a mare which was a typical Encosta in that she was quite fiery. He was such a quiet darling of a colt.

"He never knew that this highland pony wasn't his mum and it wasn't long before he was the same size as her. It was quite cute and he was quite a character."

Tough start no disadvantage

By the time he was weaned at six months, Tydeus had already outgrown the 13.2hh mare, but Agent never thought twice about his ability to make it as a racehorse.

"He was a beautiful foal. He always had this beautiful strong hip and hindquarter, a strong shoulder and I thought we had this wonderful colt out of it all," she said.

"I sent him to the sales and while he didn't go for as much as I hoped he would, I had to let him go and he's now grown and come out as a decent little racehorse."

Images courtesy of Three Fillies Lodge

Ty, as he was known, was named Tydeus, after a Greek mythological warrior, by his new owners at Spicer Thoroughbreds, who paid $50,000 for him out of the Millford Thoroughbreds draft at the 2019 Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale.

He has shown plenty of talent and powered to an easy win on debut for Smith and jockey Michael Rodd over the 1200 metres on the heavy track at Warrnambool.

A village shares in the success

For Agent, it brought back all the emotion of the journey just to get him through those early days, and the people who played their part.

"Everybody at the South East Equine Hospital who looked after the mare so well, often ask about the foal and how he's going," she said.

"He was bit of a darling for them and the mare was looked after by so many people.

"When he came out and won, they were all so excited to hear that this little foal which they had done so much for had come out and won at his first start. A lot of people have an interest in how he goes.

"Even the guy who helped build the fences on the farm back then. He developed a bit of a bond with him and used to come over and give him some grass and say hello to this highland pony and thoroughbred foal. I texted him and told him that he had won."

Agent is also looking forward to Flying Hostess' (Host {Chi}) first foal by Toronado (Ire) making the track soon. Known as Jet when under her eye, he is now a 3-year-old named Want To Doo, with Mornington trainer Logan McGill, and has been nominated for the G1 Caulfield Guineas.

"Those two colts grew up together and it will be interesting to see how they go," she said.

Small band continues to produce

While Three Fillies Lodge, located at Koo Wee Rup on the south-eastern outskirts of Melbourne, is mainly an agistment farm, Agent has a trio of broodmares she breeds from, including Flying Hostess, who is about to foal to Swettenham Stud's Akeed Mofeed (GB).

"Three Fillies Lodge started when I went to New Zealand in 2014, I bought three fillies at the Karaka Sale. The first one I bought was a mare named Cedar Grande, by Redwood. She raced in my colours, won five races on the track and she is now in foal to Cable Bay.

"The next year I bought Nothin' On Me, who was also a winner, and she is by Not A Single Doubt. She had a beautiful So You Think colt last year and she is in foal to Toronado."

Also purchased by Agent at Karaka was Pretty To Sea (NZ) (Ocean Park {NZ}). She won one race in Australia for Aaron Purcell and Ciaron Maher in the Three Fillies colours as well as running a second in a G3 Adrian Knox S. before being sold to Cambridge Stud.

Since going back to New Zealand, she has won three races, including a win in the Listed Hallmark Stud H.

She is one of the many stakes horses that have been through Agent's property, which also agists horses for several clients, including leading trainers Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young.

"I had (Blue Diamond S. winner) Tagaloa come through here last year and a lot of the horses from Busuttin and Young. There have been quite a few stakes horses come through here," she said.

"I take a lot of pride in watching the horses that have been on the property go out and win. Roland Garros, who won on Saturday at Moonee Valley, he has spent some time with me, and so just seeing him go out and win gives me joy."