Cover image courtesy of Ohukia Lodge
Written by Georgie Dennis
Getting to know his horses is the key for Jamie Beatson at Ohukia Lodge.
Not a lot of breeze-up vendors have the time or space to do everything with their draft from the time they are purchased as yearlings to when they return to the sales ring as 2-year-olds, but Beatson said that is one of Ohukia Lodge’s greatest strengths.
“They pretty much come straight back to our property from when we purchase them and we do everything with them here,” Beatson told TDN AusNZ. “We break them in and most of them will spell with us.
“A few of the clients' horses will go back to their farms but the majority of them will spend time on the property and then do all of their stages here.
“You get to know them pretty early on and you get to work out what they’re all like and their little quirks, so it’s great to be able to do everything with them and teach them from the word go.”
Chanel Snowden and Jamie Beatson
Beatson said the Ohukia Lodge breeze-up horses go through three stages in preparation to be sold again as 2-year-olds, but he takes his time and ensures they learn everything they need to become successful racehorses.
“We give them a light break-in, nothing too stressful, and then they’ll go out for about a month,” he said.
“Then they come in and do another little prep where we’ll put them through the gates and teach them to swim and bits and pieces so that when they go to a racing stable the know pretty much everything.
"We’ll put them through the gates and teach them to swim and bits and pieces so that when they go to a racing stable the know pretty much everything." - Jamie Beatson
“They’ll work around in pairs and threes and fours as well but we just slowly bring them up and do a bit more with them through each stage so when they come into their final prep for the breeze-up, they’re pretty straightforward and know what they’re up to, which is a big help.”
Ohukia Lodge have had many success stories with the Ready to Run graduates, highlighted by the likes of 2018 G1 New Zealand Derby winner Vin De Dance (NZ) (Roc De Cambes {NZ}) and this year’s G2 Wellington Guineas winner Gold Bracelet (NZ) (Pins).
Gold Bracelet (NZ)
A 19-strong draft
This year, the Cambridge-based operation will send a 19-strong draft across the Tasman to next month’s Inglis Ready2Race Sale, and Beatson believes they’re offering a well-rounded group of 2-year-olds with plenty of class but he has a couple of standouts.
“We have 19 coming over and we’ve taken them down to Taupo already for a look around and a bit of a breeze,” Beatson said. “We’re pretty happy with the lot of them to be honest, they’ve all shown a fair bit, but we’ve got four Savabeels in there and he’s a five-time New Zealand Champion sire.
“The Tavistock out of a More Than Ready mare and the one out of Simply You, that’s an O’Reilly mare, they’re both pretty switched on and know what they’re up to.
“We’ve got one out of Sombreuil, he’s going to be more of a 3-year-old type but he’s really athletic and a mile sort of type but a really classy horse.
“And then there’s the one out of Posy which is the Daffodil family and she obviously won the Australian Oaks so there’s good breeding in him.”
First-season shuttler Maurice (Jpn) is represented by Lot 86
Among the Ohukia Lodge draft is a colt by first-season shuttler Maurice (Jpn) whose third-dam is blue hen mare Single’s Bar (Rory’s Jester) and Beatson believes he has a bit of quality about him.
“He’s a nice big athletic horse the Maurice,” he said. “He’s quite an early running sort of horse with a good action and he’s been pretty natural from the word go.”
As for other first-season sires, Beatson echoed the thoughts of many industry participants, praising what he has seen of the first crop of Capitalist juveniles.
“We’ve got a Capitalist in there that’s a really classy sort of horse,” he said. “He seems to be really sharp at this stage and he’s a real 2-year-old type.”
Scully to the helm
Beatson won’t be present at this year’s Inglis Ready2Race Sale, but has entrusted Jonathan Scully to take care of the draft in Australia.
“It’s tough work going ourselves with two weeks of quarantine both ways,” he said. “A month locked up in a hotel, we’re not too keen on that.
“If it was just the two weeks one way we’d definitely think about it pretty seriously but we’ve been lucky enough to have some pretty good staff organised over there and they’re going to run our draft.
“Jonathan Scully is going to run the draft over there for us and we’re pretty lucky, we’ve been the last two years and we’ve got staff that know how to do things over there so it makes it a bit easier for us.”
