Nathan Bennett established his Bennett Racing syndicate only a handful of years ago but the business has been quietly building a nice team of horses and they celebrated more success on Saturday at Pakenham.
The Astrologist (Zoustar), a 4-year-old gelding who is trained by Leon and Troy Corstens, took out the VOBIS Gold Bullion and earned his owners another $150,000, bringing his total career prizemoney to $348,890 from just 11 starts.
He was purchased at the 2018 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale for just $150,000 and is the perfect pinup boy for Bennett Racing.
“He’s a ripper,” Bennett told TDN AusNZ. “He’s been given a lot of time and we’ve just nurtured him a fair bit, but obviously he’s only a lightly raced 4-year-old so we’ve just looked after him and known how much talent he’s had.
“In his last nine starts, he hasn’t missed the top three and a lot of that has been in the city as well.
“In his last nine starts, he hasn’t missed the top three and a lot of that has been in the city as well." - Nathan Bennett
“He’s still only learning his craft, Craig Williams did mention to me on Saturday night that the penny might have dropped a little bit more because he knew to fight out the finish of the race.
“In his last couple he’s tried to come home and win, like at Flemington in the Listed MSS Security Sprint on Melbourne Cup day, he got a little bit lost and didn’t really know how to finish it off and win the race.
“And then at Ballarat as well, he sort of ran around and was all over the shop again whereas Craig said on Saturday he stuck to his task and really stuck the neck out to make sure he won the race this time.
“He’s still learning but he’s a beauty to have in our colours.”
The Astrologist
The next campaign
While he has already earned more than double his purchase price, The Astrologist could be set to triple it in the coming weeks as he gets set for a campaign towards the $1 million R. Listed Magic Millions Cup.
“All the owners are really excited going forward because we’ve mapped a plan to the Magic Millions Cup which is a 1400 metre race worth $1 million,” Bennett said.
“And there is a Class 4 colts and geldings race over 1300 metres the week before the Magic Millions which is worth $250,000. So that’s a pretty nice race for him and obviously, there will be nice horses in it, but I’d say he’ll be one of the ones to beat in that.”
Before The Astrologist kicked off what has already been a fruitful campaign at the end of October, another member of the Bennett Racing team was flying the flag for the syndicate.
She Shao Fly (Epaulette) might not have won a race across the spring carnival but with placings in the Listed Regal Roller H., G3 Cockram S., G2 Rose Of Kingston S., and G2 Tristarc S., she has well and truly surpassed her $67,500 and is an incredibly valuable broodmare prospect.
She Shao Fly
“We’re very proud of She Shao Fly, she’s been a beauty," Bennett said.
“I think her day will come because she’s still improving and every prep we bring her back she goes to another step, so she’s an absolute ripper.
“She was probably unlucky not to win one of those Group 2s, but it was just a freak run at Flemington that day where that horse just came from nowhere and ran over the top of her from the inside, but she was super and has just gone to another level.”
“I think her day will come because she’s still improving and every prep we bring her back she goes to another step, so she’s an absolute ripper." - Nathan Bennett
She Shao Fly’s only attempt at Group 1 level so far was at the end of her spring campaign where she finished 12th in the G1 Empire Rose, but she will have another crack at the elite-level next year and Bennett is confident she is up to the task.
“She’s on a really exciting campaign as well, we’re going to target the Sangster in Adelaide en route to the Tatts Tiara,” he said.
“So we’re going to give her a good little break and skip the autumn, Melbourne and Sydney, and go towards the Adelaide and Queensland carnivals which I think she’ll be highly competitive in.
“She’s raced against the best fillies and mares in the country and she’s shown that she’s up to it so we’re looking forward to that.”
She Shao Fly (closest to camera) working at Balnarring beach
Consistant performers
While his horses like The Astrologist and She Shao Fly aren’t out-and-out superstar horses, Bennett said their ability to consistently perform at a high level and earn good prizemoney is just as important in growing his business.
“It’s obviously crucial to have prizemoney coming in the door for them because if you’re having success and earning prizemoney then it builds your business quite well,” he said.
“Obviously with She Shao Fly, she wasn’t winning the races but she was still earning really good prizemoney and adding more black type to her page. Her page now looks quite good and she’s added plenty to her broodmare value for later down the track.
“You need to be in the big races and you need to have horse getting to the spring time and I think it’s crucial to have city-class horses.
“If they don’t measure up, we do move them on. We don’t hold on to horses for long that aren’t measuring up because that’s probably the worst thing you can do as a syndicator, just keep holding on to the horse because if they’re not up to it, they’re not up to it.
“I do have a little rule that you want to give them 10 starts before you move them on if they have shown ability. A few owners voted to get rid of a horse at one stage so we moved him on and he went up to Queensland and won eight races in a row, so you’ve got to make sure that you don’t get rid of them too quickly.
“But it is crucial to have the prizemoney coming in the door for new owners and for owners that you’ve got to spread the word and tell people to get involved with us.”
Phil Wells, Nathan Bennett, and Rick Wells from Bennett Racing
Having grown up with his father being a hobby trainer, Bennett has racing in his blood and founded Bennett Racing four years ago after buying into syndicates himself from a young age.
“My father actually passed away when I was 14 so I sort of moved away from racing a bit but when I got to 17, the bug came back and I suppose it was in the blood,” he said. “I bought into my first horse when I was 18 and it sort of grew from there.
“I used to just love doing the form and I started my own form business, and that took off pretty well and a few of the clients in that said ‘when are we going to race a horse together?’
“We ended up buying a horse and we filled it through that club and it’s just taken off from there.
“That horse had his first three starts and was a winner at Caulfield on Boxing Day and it really started to grow so we bought a few more.
“I suppose I’ve just followed my passion and we established Bennett Racing four years ago. I think we’re about 85 per cent winners to runners ratio so the systems are working, and the metro performed horses are around 65 per cent.
“So we’re going along quite well at the minute and having good success but we are putting the hard yards in.”
Putting in the hard yards
Bennett Racing inspect and select all of their yearlings themselves and with the 2021 yearling sales just around the corner, he and his team are getting ready to find their next stables stars.
They’re not after the seven-figure lots though, or the precocious 2-year-olds. In fact, they’re after the opposite.
“So we’re definitely trying to look for the value in the sale,” Bennett said. “I suppose what we always look for is a horse with a good walk, and a horse that looks like an athlete, but we always look for a horse that’s got a bit of scope about them.
“I suppose what we always look for is a horse with a good walk, and a horse that looks like an athlete." - Nathan Bennett
“I find at a lot of these sales, a lot of those seven-figure horses, what you see at that sale is what you get.
“A lot of them don’t grow and they end up as what they are, is what they are, hence why they look so sexy at the sale and they’ve got the great pedigree to go with it, but they get home and a lot them don’t go on and improve much more.
“So we look for a horse that might sneak through the gap and probably isn’t as sexy at the sale but it’s actually got a fair bit of scope about it.”
The Bennett Racing team on the move inspecting yearlings at the Magic Millions complex
Patience is the key for Bennett as he likes to give his yearlings as much time as possible to grow and mature before they get to the races.
“Once we take over the horse we put it out for three months, we don’t actually go and get it broken in,” he said.
“We just take all the pressure off it because that sale prep is quite big on the horse and we find that it’s best to just give it three months rest and let the get over the prep and then break it in from there.
“I know that’s hard for a lot of owners because they get in and they want that 2-year-old running before Christmas but we’re not about that. We’re about giving the horse time.
"If the horse is ready to go, no worries but if the horse isn’t ready to go, it won’t be pushed.
“It will be given the time that it requires before it’s off to the races, and a lot of our owners now are understanding of that and they believe in the system because we’ve done it with a fair few of our young stock now, and they’re coming out in their first couple of races and showing really good ability.”
At the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale this year, Bennett Racing, in conjunction with Anthony Freedman Racing and Blue Sky Bloodstock, secured a Snitzel colt out of multiple stakes-winning mare Angel Of Mercy (Hussonet {USA}) for $150,000 from the draft of Arrowfield Stud.
Snitzel x Angel Of Mercy (colt)
For a colt by a champion sire, out of a multiple stakes winner, from a proven nursery of champions, $150,000 seems like a steal, but Bennett said he is a perfect example of what they’re looking for when they head to the yearling sales.
“He was very immature and a lot of the big studs and buyers jumped off him just because of his immaturity, but if you took him to a sale now with his pedigree and the way he looks now, I’d say he’d be that seven-figure colt,” Bennett said.
“He’s just grown so much and he’s turned into a lovely looking colt. I’ve never seen a horse improve so much after each prep out in the paddock, which is always a good sign.
“So we’re looking for those horses that are always going to keep improving really and an athlete, but obviously they’ve got to have that walk as well.”
“So we’re looking for those horses that are always going to keep improving really and an athlete, but obviously they’ve got to have that walk as well.” - Nathan Bennett
Despite the economic struggles faced by people across the globe this year, Bennett said his business has held up remarkably well and is hopeful that will continue into 2021.
“In March I was quite worried,” he said. “We still had some shares in some horses to sell and I was hoping that we could sell them.
“But I must admit how surprised I was once the lockdown was in full force, I thought not many people were going to want to spend money but I think it was the opposite.
“I think people still had money and they were watching the races and that was pretty much all that was on, so I think it was actually really big for the racing industry.
“We sold all of our shares quite quickly in the end and I haven’t had a horse to sell since September which has been a little bit painful because we’ve had a lot of enquiries but we’ve had no horses.
“Hopefully it continues that way. I know we’ve got a lot of expressions of interest so we’re hopeful we can go to the Magic Millions sale and buy a few that are pretty much filled by the time we’re walking out of there.
“At this stage, it’s looking quite promising for us but I just want to make sure I’ve got some horses to sell later in the year, rather than them all being gone by September because that's spring time, and if you’ve got a horse to sell and you’re having a bit of success, people do want to try and get involved so I’m hopeful that it continues like it did this year.”
