As the COVID-19 outbreak in Sydney evolves, the bloodstock industry is following reactions by Queensland officials closely to determine how plans may need to be adapted ahead of the Magics Millions Sale which begins on January 12.

Border closures have been swift from each state, with Sydney travellers banned from entering Queensland without spending two weeks outside the hotspot region.

Many buyers have already conducted on-farm inspections throughout New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Queensland, and with many horses not departing for the Gold Coast until the end of the month, there is still a window of opportunity for additional parades to take place.

Nervous wait

Jo Griffin, whose Lime Country operation sits just an hour and a half outside of central Sydney, told TDN AusNZ on Sunday afternoon that it was simply a matter of waiting, hoping and adjusting plans as required.

“All we can do is sit tight for now,” she said. “Come Tuesday morning I think we might have a better idea of where things stand, so we’ll wait and see what happens between now and then.

“Of course, our very strong preference would be to physically go up to the Gold Coast for the Sale. Obviously it would be a big blow if buyers from central Sydney are unable to get up there, but even if that’s the case, people can go there from every other state in Australia, as well as regional New South Wales. That’s going to be extremely valuable for that buying bench up there on the Gold Coast.

“It’s an anxious time. We’ve had so many on-farm parades this year, and we’ve been gearing up for a big Sale. We definitely want to be heading up there this year if it’s at all possible, rather than whatever the alternatives might be."

On-farm inspections popular

Bhima Thoroughbreds' Mike Fleming was confident that the number of inspections conducted on-farm over the last several weeks meant a lot of the major central-Sydney based buyers had already physically inspected many yearlings in the catalogue.

"We've been flat-out the last few weeks with on-farm parades, probably the busiest ever before a Magic Millions Sale," Fleming said. "The biggest challenge has been keeping groups small so that individuals can have a proper look at each horse.

"Given that we're still over 10 days from departing for the Gold Coast, there is still ample time to inspect the drafts on-farm.

"We also make a special effort to provide comprehensive information and thorough videos so due diligence can be completed from afar. As per every sale, each yearling will have interactive 360 videos, full background information, ownership, x-ray and scope reports and pedigree reports available freely for buyers."

Fleming was confident the team at Magic Millions and the adaptability of the industry would ensure the latest COVID-challenge would not pose too much of an issue.

"We've shown before, and will again, that we are a resilient industry that can adapt to evolving situations. It’s just a matter of waiting for now and seeing what happens over the next few days.

"Magic Millions will be working very hard to help ensure the Sale proceeds as smoothly as possible for vendors and buyers alike, no matter what curveball is thrown their way."

NSW-vendor locations

Total: 946

Other vendor locations

Total: 327

Cover image courtesy of Willow Park Stud

John O’Shea

Multiple Group 1-winning trainer John O’Shea is in the midst of a purple patch, with his 35 winners this season coming at an impressive strike rate of 21 per cent – his highest in a decade. Earlier this spring, he won the G3 Tibbie S. at Newcastle with All Saints’ Eve (NZ) (Sacred Falls {NZ}).

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A walk with Peter Liston

O’Shea was impressed by a number of potential new recruits for his in-form stable last week, and even more impressed by the way the touring group was welcomed throughout the Hunter.

“It was a very enjoyable few days,” he said. “We were treated to a lovely dinner at Arrowfield, which was simply outstanding. The quality of the hospitality was almost as good as the quality of the horses!

“I thought the yearlings were a really good, even bunch of horses. I was very impressed with the overall standard, and now I’m looking forward to the sales.”

When asked which of the first-season sires made the best impression with their yearling progeny, O’Shea provided a very quick and emphatic response.

“Hellbent,” he said. “Definitely Hellbent. I thought he was, by far and away, the most impressive of the first-season sires. But Pariah was another one who caught my eye. He seems to have left some very nice types as well.”

Andrew Williams

Young bloodstock agent Andrew Williams, whose roll of honour features the six-time Group 1 winner Verry Elleegant (NZ) (Zed {NZ}), believes the signs are highly positive in the countdown to the 2021 yearling sales season.

“The horses all look great, and there seems to be a lot of positive talk and interest leading into the sales,” he said. “Every farm we went to, there seemed to be plenty of people either coming or going. A lot of them were from Melbourne – no doubt they’re just happy to be able to move around again!

“I think it could be a particularly good year. The climate has been beneficial for the farms, and you can see the results of that in these really good, well-grown horses.

“It’s a busy trip around, but we saw pretty much every horse in the Hunter that’s going to the Magic Millions Sale. It’s great to get a good gauge on the horses early, and work out in advance what we need to do to drum up a bit of business.

“There are a lot of very nice horses out there, including the progeny of some of the first-season sires. The Hellbent yearlings at Yarraman Park looked fantastic, and we saw some very nice horses by Russian Revolution around the place as well.”

In terms of the Hunter’s hospitality, Williams is a repeat customer at Newgate Farm.

“I’d say Jim Carey at Newgate provides the best hospitality in the area, but I’m probably a bit biased,” he said. “Guy Mulcaster and I stay there every year. He looks after us very well and is a fantastic host.”

Peter Moody

Just a few months into his rekindled training career, popular racing identity Peter Moody has been quick to make an impact. He has already trained 17 winners, including the G2 Bill Stutt S. with Glenfiddich (Fastnet Rock), who also placed against older horses in the G1 Memsie S.

Moody took time out from a family get-together on Sunday afternoon and provided a glowing report on his experience in the Hunter.

“It was a great trip, I really enjoyed it,” he said. “We got around and looked at about 600-odd horses. It was a really good cross-section of yearlings and a nice overview of what we can expect in the sale ring.

“I wouldn’t really want to try to single out any particular standouts. They were all really well presented, and there were lots of really good-looking horses, which bodes well for the Sale.

“There seems to be a bit of buoyancy around in the industry at the moment, despite the fact that we’re all in such a strange time in our lives at the moment. It’s very encouraging.”

Annabel Neasham

Formerly at the helm of the Sydney arm of the Ciaron Maher and David Eustace operation, Annabel Neasham has made a flying start to her solo training career this season. She has already had eight wins and 13 placings from just 29 starters to date.

Still being at the launching stage of her career made the Hunter trip a bit of a frenetic week, but one that was well worthwhile.

“I didn’t want to miss any trackwork, so it was a bit manic and I was going up and down every day,” Neasham said. “But I still managed to make it to most of the farms and see their drafts, and it was a really good trip. I’m glad I did it, with the travel restrictions that seem to be coming in now.

“The hospitality was fantastic. It’s hard to say who was the best, but Kitchwin Hills looked after us very nicely. A few of us hit a few golf balls around – not me, but it turns out Will Johnson can hit a golf ball pretty well.”

Like some of her colleagues, Neasham was impressed by the progeny of first-season sire Hellbent.

“I was particularly taken with the Hellbents, he seems to be leaving some very nice horses,” she said. “The progeny of Impending looked good too – they’re very nice walkers.”

Because of her previous role with the Maher stable, Neasham was also keen to see the first yearlings by G1 Coolmore Stud S. and Diamond Jubilee S. winner Merchant Navy.

“I had a lot to do with Merchant Navy during his career, and this was the first time I’ve had the opportunity to see his progeny,” she said.

“A lot of them were really nice types and reminded me of him. I’m looking forward to following their progress and seeing a few more of his progeny in the future.”

John Sargent

Expat New Zealander John Sargent is in unfamiliar territory this season, not being able to return to his homeland. He is a multiple Group 1-winning trainer on both sides of the Tasman, with a lot of his big-race success coming through relatively low-priced purchases from New Zealand.

“It’s a bit different this year, not being able to get over to New Zealand, it’s definitely caused some real changes to this whole process for me,” Sargent said.

“But I’m glad I went on the tour of the Hunter last week. It was a very good few days, we saw a lot of lovely horses and it was a trip that was well worth doing. Now we’re just hoping we’ll be able to get up to Queensland to be there in person for the Magic Millions Sale.

“The studs all did a great job of looking after us, it was great hospitality all of the way around. If I had to pick one that was the best, I’d say Newgate – they took us out for a very nice dinner.

“A lot of the studs have put together some extremely nice drafts this year. This trip was a great chance to have a really good look at some of the first-season sires. I thought Pariah had some particularly nice yearlings, and Hellbent was another one that impressed me.

“Arrowfield and Coolmore both had terrific drafts, as you’d come to expect from them. It’s definitely made me very keen to try to buy horses at the Sale, and hopefully we can get up there in person.”

Hailing from New Zealand, Lance Forbes has been around high-quality horses from a young age, with his first job being at the large operation of Cambridge Stud.

“I started off when I was about 13-years-old and on my school holidays I used to go to Cambridge Stud and work on the broodmares and the yearlings for bit of pocket money,” Forbes told TDN AusNZ. “I also used to ride growing up as well, so I always had an interest in horses through showing and things like that.”

Things really kicked off when Forbes was offered a job by Bruce Harvey to work at a breeze-up sale in Hong Kong, and he has been full-steam ahead in the industry ever since.

“I finished school and I was at a crossroads about whether to go to uni or not,” Forbes said. “I was working a ready to run sale for Mana Park when Bruce Harvey came up to me and offered me a job to do the Hong Kong breeze-up sales.

“I took that job and ended up staying there for three and a half years and Bruce was a really good mentor to me, he pretty much taught me the majority of what I know.

“They just had a small draft of yearlings and did a breeze-up sale in New Zealand as well, but the main focus there was doing the international sale in Hong Kong which was a great experience.”

Sunline Scholarship

Having returned to Cambridge Stud again after his time at Bruce Harvey’s Ascot Farm, Forbes was then awarded the Sunline Scholarship where he was able to gain valuable experience at farms across the world.

“I started working at Cambridge Stud again after my time at Ascot Farm with Bruce Harvey and I was Yearling Manager there,” he said. “In the off-season I was on the Sunline Scholarship, a New Zealand-based program that took me travelling around the world.

"I went to England and worked for Cheveley Park and worked for Goffs UK and Coolmore Ireland and Taylor Made in America as well.

"And then I came back to my job at Cambridge Stud and finished off the prep there. I always had an interest in Australian racing, and I think the opportunities in Australia compared to New Zealand are far greater for a younger person like myself.”

It was then while working for Bhima in Australia, that the job as Yearling Manager at Yarraman Park came up.

Forbes saw the job advertised and was encouraged to go for it by Yarraman’s General Manager Matt Scown, and he has been there ever since.

“I was working for Bhima at the Easter Sale and I’d seen that advert (for Yarraman),” Forbes said. “Matt Scown, who I used to play rugby with, said to me that I should go and have a chat to Harry (Mitchell), so I did and then ended up coming over two weeks later for an interview and I’ve been here ever since.

“I’m coming up to three years now and this is my third Magic Millions Sale in 2021.”

Despite working with horses from a young age, Forbes said he didn’t decide to pursue it as his career until much later on in the piece.

Goals for the future

Now in the ever-growing operation at Yarraman though, he said he loves his job and the people he has around him and has fostered some big goals for the future.

“Until I was about 17, I didn’t really have much interest in it at all,” Forbes said. “It wasn’t until I left school and started doing breakers and doing trackwork that I really fell in love with it. Just educating young horses, really tendered to my passion.

“I love being busy and I like to think that I thrive under pressure and I try and rise to the occasion wherever I can.

“We have a great crop of horses and from the day they’re born to by the time I get them (as yearlings), they’re well-handled horses from foals to weanlings and it makes my job a lot easier.

“We always have a great team of staff here at Yarraman and Harry and Arthur (Mitchell) are both extremely hands-on.

“They come in the morning and do a feed run and they’re pretty much there every single day to see what’s going on.

“Harry has always been good to me, we can always have a good chat about things and see how we’re going. He’s always someone I can talk to when I’m a bit unsure.”

Exciting lead-up

With less than a month to go until the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, this is one of the biggest times of the year for any yearling manager. Next year will see the first crop of exciting young sire Hellbent go through the ring, Yarraman's Group 1-winning son of their other resident Champion sire I Am Invincible.

"The Hellbents are a great group of yearlings with excellent quality," said Forbes. "We've obviously had a lot to do with his sire, and it's exciting to see how similar the Hellbents are to the Vinnies, being bay in colour, great walkers and plenty of quality. They look like speed horses too which should stand him in good stead for the sale ring."

He said the farm has been busy parading their yearlings and putting the final touches on them before they get set for Gold Coast sales ring, which is one of the most exciting periods of the year for Forbes.

“It’s a very exciting feeling,” he said, “It’s not even the big ones that get you buzzing the most, it’s some of the horses that you don’t expect.

"Last year we had a No Nay Never colt that our vet was a part of and we thought he would make somewhere around the $150,000 to $200,000 mark and he ended up making $575,000.

“That was probably the biggest thrill of the Sale, Bridget (Bester, vet) is an extremely hard worker and they just got blown away with the sale.

“Obviously we’ve had some pretty good horses, Gotta Kiss is probably the best horse that I’ve prepped at Yarraman so far. She was a Group 1 runner-up to Rothfire (in the G1 JJ Atkins) and she was just a Not A Single Doubt filly that tries her heart out every time, and that’s pretty much how she was when we had her as a weanling and as a yearling, she was very straightforward.”

Forbes has had an incredible grounding and said both the Harveys and Sir Patrick Hogan from his days at Cambridge Stud, have been the biggest influences on his career so far.

“Bruce Harvey from Ascot Farm and Maureen Harvey his wife, they taught me a lot to start off with,” he said.

“Obviously Sir Patrick Hogan was a huge influence for me. I loved working for Patrick because he was such a perfectionist and I think he stepped up my professionalism a lot.

“I probably wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for those two people.”

Going forward, Forbes’ main goal is to one day present his own consignment at the sales and with the support of the Mitchells at Yarraman, he believes he is well-placed to reach that goal.

“My goal pretty much since I turned 20 is that I want to have my own consignment and that’s something that I like to think I’ve worked hard towards,” he said. “Every day I always have that in the back of my mind that that’s what I want to do one day.”