Ozzie's belief vindicated by Cox Plate success

Kheir has done plenty of big thoroughbred deals over the past five years, and has celebrated success as an owner in many of Australia's biggest races, including the G1 Caulfield Cup through Verry Elleegant (NZ) (Zed {NZ}) last week, but the win of Sir Dragonet in his own navy blue and pale yellow spots, was as much about vindication as anything else.

Kheir, who heads up the successful property development business Resimax Group, had pursued Sir Dragonet for some time before eventually getting a deal done with global giant Coolmore to bring him to Australia.

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"I had approached my friends and said 'let’s buy this horse, I love him, let’s win a Melbourne Cup and on the way, we will have a crack at the Cox Plate,'" Kheir told TDN AusNZ.

"That was my thinking with the horse. To have so many good people in the horse is just great fun. That main objective was to have that bit of fun with some good mates and family."

Not someone who usually lets the opinions of outsiders affect his perspective, Kheir admits there were a few times when he wondered whether he had pulled the right rein to secure the son of Camelot in a reported seven-figure deal.

"When you buy a horse, especially when you get it off Coolmore and Aidan O'Brien, you start to have your doubts. People tell you that they wouldn't sell you a horse that is any good. You have taken him from the best trainer, why would you do that? All of the experts start telling you he can't win," he said.

"You start to half believe it a bit and the pressure starts to mount. When we won, there was enjoyment, but with that came a lot of relief. This horse hadn't won for something like 535 days. It was a long time between wins, so to crack a win on his first start for us, in a Cox Plate, it was just phenomenal."

It's easy to characterise an investor like Kheir as someone who looks to just cast his net wide to purchase the best tried Spring Carnival prospects. But to say that is to do a disservice to the rigour he applies to his selection process, and the work of the team he utilises does in order to identify horses and purchase them.

"I look at a lot of horses and we are not emotional buyers. We go through the form, and we do our work, and look at a lot of horses that don’t pass the vets and things like that," he said.

"I've liked this horse since early on his career when he ran in the Epsom Derby. He was favourite there, but I thought he wasn't really set-up to go there, given he wasn't even originally nominated. They are all the things we look at."

A team effort

Helping broker the deal with the Magnier family for Sir Dragonet was English-based agent Matthew Houldsworth, of Howsen and Houldsworth Bloodstock, and Australian-based Mathew Becker of Group 1 Bloodstock.

But the effort was in much more than getting the handshake, and Kheir's army moved into full motion once it became clear that Sir Dragonet was headed to Australia to be trained by Ciaron Maher and David Eustace.

"This horse has gone through so many changes in such a short time. He's gone from Aidan O'Brien's yard to James Eustace's yard, Dave's father, stayed there for two weeks, then went into quarantine for two weeks in the UK, then into Werribee for quarantine for two weeks. He then left Werribee and we had to take him to Caufield for a week," Kheir said.

"He arrived at Ciaron's Caulfield stable and was unsettled for a few days. He just wasn't himself. We were a bit worried at one stage and had to get him back and settled."

A key plank in smoothing that transition was former jockey James Winks, who was employed by Kheir to ride the horse every day and give reports back on exactly how Sir Dragonet was adapting to his ever-changing surroundings.

"We employed James to ride him from day dot when he got here. He has been on him every day and rings me every day after his gallop and having walked him around. It shows you that there are so many people which are involved to get the result and tick all the boxes you need to get that result," he said.

Bowman's role in Boss booking

Kheir also revealed the trouble he had trying to secure a jockey for Sir Dragonet for the Cox Plate. With the options of Melbourne-based jockeys seemingly exhausted, he opted for Hugh Bowman, only for the four-time Cox Plate winning hoop to be suspended.

"I remember asking Hugh, I had a few jockeys who would be an option for the ride, and gave him the names, and asked him his opinion. I also said, there's a left of field suggestion with Glen Boss, but my only worry with him, because he rides a light weight, we'd have a lot of dead weight on the horse," he said.

"Hugh said pretty much straight away, put Glen Boss on him, a big race day like that, he's the one you want on him."

With some helpful advice from Winks before the race, Boss overcame a slower than expected start, to give Sir Dragonet a good run, well off the pace set by stablemate Grandslam (Myboycharlie {Ire}).

While he was a bit nervous when Boss found himself on the fence early in the race, Kheir was delighted when Boss got on to the back of former stablemate Armory (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) down the side and always felt he was travelling like the winner from that point.

"To my mind, I saw him from the 600-metre mark and he was travelling really well. When they turned, I saw he had the momentum and knew he was always going to be in the finish," he said.

Kheir said one of the reasons Sir Dragonet had appealed to him as a Cox Plate prospect was his turn of foot and Boss had given him every chance to show that. In the closing stages of the race, he surged past his rivals, giving his jockey the luxury of rising high in the irons, punching the air, 1.25l clear of his closest rival, Armory.

"Bossy made the moment with his celebration. That will live long in the memory. I feel like maybe he wanted to get there a bit earlier, so he could do that," Kheir joked.

"When I spoke to Bossy after the race he said he only felt he was starting to get going. He was motoring through the line. He pulled up, and hardly blew out a candle, He got through it amazingly well, and his stamina and fitness shone through."

Now for the Cup

That is an excellent pointer to Sir Dragonet's next assignment, the $8 million G1 Melbourne Cup at Flemington on November 3, a race which he is now $9 second-favourite for at what will be just his 11th start. Should he win that race, he would become the first horse to complete the Cox Plate/Melbourne Cup double since Makybe Diva (GB) (Desert King {Ire}) in 2005.

"I've always had the opinion he will run out a Melbourne Cup on his ability alone," Kheir said. "He has to go out and do it, but I don't hold any concerns about the distance. He has been beaten a length by Anthony Van Dyck in an English Derby, I think he’ll absolutely run out the trip.

"We did buy him to run in the Melbourne Cup. The Cox Plate, as a weight-for-age race, it was always a bit of a dream rather than a reality. I thought he was a better chance to have won the Cup, and to now go into that race with a bit of a free ride and for fun, it’s going to be a fun day."

It will be particularly fun for Kheir, who holds shares in three horses set to contest the Cup, with Verry Elleegant and Finche (GB) (Frankel {GB}) also inside the Top 24 of the Order of Entry.

It's a race Kheir has won before, through his interest in 2014 winner Protectionist (Ger) (Monsun {Ger}), whose victory helped supercharge his investment in thoroughbred racing.

That approach led him to Saturday's success, one of the most satisfying he has had and a moment that will stay with him for a lifetime.

"In years to come having won the 100th Cox Plate in a pandemic year will be something that will always belong in history. It’s something that nobody can take away from us," he said.