Industry Mentors: Jonathan D’Arcy

Cover image courtesy of Inglis

Jonathan D’Arcy grew up listening to the dulcet tones of his mother on radio and her part in a weekly racing show sewed the seeds for him to subsequently pursue a successful career within the racing and breeding industries.

D’Arcy is a long-serving employee of the Inglis auction house, working his way up from a cadet position to now be General Manager Bloodstock Operations and a familiar figure on the podium as an auctioneer.

A love of thoroughbreds was first kindled at home and numerous industry identities have since earned D’Arcy’s gratitude for their time and advice, among them the late and respected horseman Joe Manning, the Inglis family and the recently-retired auctioneer Peter Heagney.

There have been others such as bloodstock agents John Foote, Kieran Moore, John Hutchinson and Michael Otto and lasting friendships forged.

Originally from Queensland, D’Arcy’s racing interest was initially drawn from his parents John and Jill, who was a racing writer and broadcaster.

“There was a family involvement and my father had a role in the management of newspapers and my mother was a columnist for a paper and she wrote a tipping column,” he said.

“She was also part of a radio panel in Brisbane where I grew up. She used to do a weekly show with Vince Currie, who was the race caller of that era, Bart Sinclair and a bookie called Dougie Boyle.

“My initial interest was hearing Mum on radio and we also raced a couple of horses. During the holidays I would go down and work in the stables of Daryl Strong and I used to go to the races as often as I could if I wasn’t playing school sport.”

On completing his high school years, D’Arcy continued his thoroughbred education.

“Once I finished my schooling I went and worked on a horse stud called Cooleadah at Beaudesert in Queensland in 1983,” D’Arcy said. “I had spent school holidays working on the stud because I just loved being around the horses.

“I did a year there and they had a couple of stallions and about 25 mares so we did sale preparations and foaling down as general stud hand duties and I learned a lot about the breeding side of the industry there.

“While I was there I learned of a course at Glenormiston College in Victoria. It was a stud management course, you learned to be a studmaster basically.

“They taught you about the veterinary side of things, pasture management and accounting – pretty much everything you’d need to know if you wanted to pursue a career as a stud manager or working on a farm.”

As part of the qualification criteria, two years of work experience was required within the thoroughbred industry.

“My second year I went down to a property called Woodburn Pastoral Company in Cootamundra, which was run by quite a well-known guy called Joe Manning,” D’Arcy said.

“Joe used to spell horses for Tommy Smith and Neville Begg and those sorts of guys and he also had his own private trainer. We used to have 20 or 25 horses in work and race around the Wagga, Canberra and Gundagai districts.

“We’d go racing every Saturday and he had a private training track so we used to break horses in there, do trackwork and pre-training for the likes of Smith and Begg.

“That was a great eye-opener for me because it not only exposed me to some high-class bloodstock, but also the people coming through and we’d have travelling horses coming through that were going down to the carnival in Victoria.

“I certainly learned a lot in the 12 months there about the racing side of things. Joe was a major early influence on my career and sadly passed away a couple of years ago.

“He was a great man and one you could be around and learn a lot from his experiences. He used to talk a lot about the old days and standing stallions.

“You’d always come away from a race day with Joe having learned something. He was a great raconteur.”

College course

With the necessary practical experience under his belt, D’Arcy then attended Glenormiston College.

“I spent two years there and that was a lot of fun. I went through the course with Mick Talty, who runs Edinglassie Farm and we’ve been friends for over 35 years,” D’Arcy said.

“His wife, Michelle, was also doing the course and a year or two above us was Damian Gleeson, who runs Phoenix Thoroughbred Farm in Victoria. We had John Sadler coming to us and teaching us about racehorse training.

“Part of the course was you took a yearling and broke that horse in and trained it the following year in whatever equine pursuit you wanted. Some of the girls there were training them for dressage and show jumping.

“Mick Talty, myself and others were training ours as racehorses and once again it was a hands-on experience I’ll never forget.”

At that stage, D’Arcy was keen to pursue a stud farm career but that was soon to change.

“That was where my interest was and toward the end of that course you had to go and arrange six weeks of working in the industry,” he said.

“I had learned a little bit more about the sales scene so I applied to all the auction houses around Australia. I was very fortunate that I was able to do my practical work experience at Inglis in Sydney.

“I joined up in mid-September, 1986, and I did six weeks with John Inglis who was the boss then and in the pedigree team was Glenn Burrows, who is now a successful breeder.

“John Inglis and Reg Inglis were the management team and I was very fortunate that they offered me a position to stay on as a bloodstock consultant. I was there writing pedigrees and going out looking at pedigrees and the rest is history as they say.

“They were certainly great influences on my career and the boss John was in the twilight of his career, but I can still remember watching him auctioneering and the way he could command a sale ring.”

D’Arcy subsequently spent the best part of nearly two decades working under Reg Inglis.

“They were great times and Reg was someone who was charismatic. He also had a great management style and his word was his bond. He created great relationships with a lot of our clients, be they vendors or buyers.

“That was always something Inglis was well-known for and still is, forming relationships that are the backbone of our industry.”

Auctioneering path

During the early days, D’Arcy got to start his own auctioneering career.

“Reg called Vin Cox, who started about 12 months after me at Inglis, and I into his office at the same time and at that stage the boss had decided to step down from selling thoroughbreds and they were looking for a couple of young fellows to start,” D’Arcy said.

“Vin and I jumped at the opportunity and we had a livestock selling centre and we sold bobby calves to buckets, pretty much everything you could sell.

“Our first time at selling thoroughbreds up at the Scone Yearling Sale was great. I don’t think any auctioneer at Scone had ever made more notes than I, and then of course when you’re caught up in the atmosphere of taking bids, I don’t think I referred to any notes.

“It was good fun and a great way to learn in front of what was a pretty learned crowd, albeit at a lower price level that you’d find at other sales now.”

History in ring

D’Arcy has been a player at the high-end of the action and his involvement in a slice of auction history in 2009 among his many auctioneering highlights.

“I was lucky enough to sell Samantha Miss for $3.85 million, which was at that time a record for a filly or mare in work,” D’Arcy said.

“I sold Makybe Diva’s first foal, a colt by Galileo for $1.5 million and that was a real thrill in that he was probably the highlight lot of the year and had so much expectation.

“I’d never seen as many cameras and press and the crowd around the Newmarket sale ring was phenomenal.

“I was also lucky enough to go and sell at Tattersalls a few years ago and as an auctioneer that is something I will always remember. They looked after me very well and to stand there at Newmarket in England and sell horses to the leading trainers was fantastic.

“I sold at the July Sale and got to meet John Gosden and William Haggas and got to speak to them and then sell in what is one of the most famous auction rings in the world.”

D’Arcy said auctioneering satisfaction was not always about the major transactions.

“Sometimes the thrills aren’t the $1 million sale, sometimes the thrill is getting $40,000 or $50,000 for a battling breeder. That can mean a lot to those sort of people and I’ve certainly had that experience.

“Obviously, we’re trying to get as much as we can for the breeder every time we stand in the auction box and if we can get a couple of extra bids for a client it can make a difference to keeping them in the game and continue on breeding.”

D’Arcy said he was also forever grateful for the advice and support of a man he considered to be the king of the podium.

“I was very fortunate to come through at a time when some great agents gave their time to younger people. Peter Heagney, who ended up working for Inglis, was someone who would come and say hello and sit down and ask how I was going,” he said.

“Peter and I became lifelong friends and he's probably the best auctioneer I have ever worked with. Once again, his auctioneering style is something I have always aspired to. He always endeavoured to get the best price possible for every horse he’s ever sold.

“I have travelled overseas a lot with Peter and through Asia and every time we went over there he was treated like a member of the family because that’s the way he’s always treated the clients.

“That’s something I learned a lot and the way to develop relationships, particularly overseas.

“Agents like John Foote, Kieran Moore, John Hutchinson and Michael Otto are four of the most professional men I’ve worked with. I’ve spent a lot of time walking around sales grounds with those gentlemen.

“Their records are second to none and they have all bought Group 1 winners and, I think more than anything, their integrity is something young bloodstock agents should take a good look at, it's stood the test of time.

“They are four people that I have certainly learned a lot from over the years.”

Online revolution

D’Arcy said a major change in the business had been the development of the Inglis online platform.

“I’ve had several different roles here at Inglis and with Mark Webster at the helm we’ve gone down a path of developing our digital reach.

“The development as we’ve seen in the last 12 months of the online sale was something Mark saw when he first came in as Managing Director. We’ve seen the benefit of his foresight in the online sales platform.

“We were the first sales company in the world to allow online bidding and it’s become such as important part of the business. This year at the virtual Easter Sale the online bidding was something that made it possible to conduct a sale.”

As General Manager Bloodstock Operations, D’Arcy has a wide-ranging brief including mentoring younger members of the staff.

“My role has changed over the years and I've been involved in different areas of the business. During COVID-19 it’s been a bit different as normally I’m travelling the world looking to get people involved in horseracing in Australia and the virtues of buying Australian thoroughbreds and certainly from Inglis,” he said.

“I’ve been fortunate to spend time in most of the racing centres in the world and that’s something I really enjoy and now also bringing through some of our younger auctioneers to make sure have a good group of young people coming through.

“Brett Gilding and Bryce Bevan have started off their career in great fashion and time will tell that they will be two very good auctioneers in years to come.

“About 18 months ago we brought Sebastian Hutch into the bloodstock team and he’s been great and allowed me to spend more time in promoting the brand overseas rather than concentrating just looking at all the yearlings we have to offer each year.

“It’s great that I have the benefit of working with Sebastian and we enjoy having that support.”

Challenging but satisfying

While 2020 has been a trying one for the breeding and racing industries, it had also brought a good deal of satisfaction.

“It’s been a challenging year, but in some ways incredibly rewarding. Chris Russell and I sold at the Australian Easter Yearling Sale, which was conducted as a virtual sale,” D’Arcy said.

“It was a sale like no other and we stood up there and had four or five people in the gallery suites and we had three or so staff on tables spread out in front of us.

“It was nothing like you would normally see at an auction and no horses in the ring. We pretty much had to put on a show and try and keep the interest and the entertainment going for about seven or eight hours that day.

“It’s certainly something I am very proud of, the way it played out, and we had no idea going into it if anyone was going to bid online.

“It was a tremendously successful sale and we turned over $72 million for the two days, but more than that, talking to people around the world about the sale, they were blown away that we could conduct a sale so successfully in what was the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I think that is the proudest time I’ve had in an auction box, just being able to finish that sale and we could put money back in the hands of our breeders.”