Tyreel to move to Vantage Hill, Tartan yearlings to Kia Ora

Cover image courtesy of Tyreel Stud

Two farms with consignments head to the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale next month, Tyreel Stud and Tartan Fields, have been caught in the COVID-19 hotspots in NSW and are relocating their yearlings in order for inspections to continue.

Tyreel Stud will relocate its 11 yearlings to Vantage Hill in Scone, while Tartan Fields’ eight-strong consignment has moved to Kia Ora.

Owner and Director Linda Monds of Tyreel Stud, which is located in Agnes Banks and is subsequently part of the Greater Sydney red-zone according to the Queensland government, told TDN AusNZ that they will move their yearlings on Thursday morning with inspections to begin from Saturday, December 26.

“Myself and two staff members will be going there as of tomorrow, we’re departing here tomorrow morning and we’ll settle them in with inspections to start from Boxing Day,” Monds said on Wednesday. “We have a draft of 11 and we’re in the middle of filming them all.”

It’s less than ideal to be moving around the yearlings at such a crucial time of year but Monds said she was just grateful to Blair and Nikki Richardson who own the the breaking and pre-training facility at Vantage Hill, for giving them a place to reside their yearlings before they head to Queensland.

“Whilst it’s not ideal to have to remove them from where they’ve gotten used to and their environment, we did not take the move lightly as far as research into facilities and the property that we’re relocating to,” Monds said.

“We spent a lot of time looking into it and to be able to relocate them to Vantage Hill, I’m very happy with where they’re going.

“The staff that are with these horses all the time, they had a big say in where we were going as well. So we all talked about it and consulted and the decision was that Vantage Hill was the best possible property we could relocate them to.

“I’m very comfortable with the facilities and I am extremely grateful to Blair and Nikki Richardson for welcoming us and giving us a property for the 14 days. They could have easily said no and they’ve got plans themselves.

“It’s their quiet time of year, but I think they spend a fair bit of time getting it ready for the next lot of breakers to come in in January. The fact that they were willing to take us on board, I will be forever grateful.”

The best we can

The racing industry has experienced numerous curveballs this year, with the Sydney outbreak one final spanner to throw in the works before the end of the year, but Monds credited everyone involved in the industry for pushing through and doing the best job they can.

“The situation that the whole of NSW finds themselves in and Magic Millions as well, with uncertainty, the only thing we can do is make decisions as of the moment,” she said. “As the changes come in, we make more decisions to do the best that we possibly can.

“These yearlings have been programmed for three years and the events that have occurred are out of everyone’s control.

“I just think to remain professional and level-headed about what we have to do will just help the horses. If we’re calm, they’re calm.

“They will be going with all the staff that they’re used to having with them, and we will welcome any inspections up there. I’m just hoping we get the inspections but I think Magic Millions are working extremely hard to get people up to the Hunter to have a look just in case we don’t go to a live sale.”

Tartan fields no stranger to pre-Sale adversity

Leading into the 2020 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, Hamish Esplin and Tartan Fields were forced to evacuate the farm due to bushfires. Then ahead of the Inglis Easter Sale, the draft also relocated to the Hunter Valley in order to facilitate ease of inspections ahead of the sale.

This year, they have had to evacuate due to Sydney’s outbreak of COVID-19 and with the farm being located in the NSW Central Coast hotspot, the yearlings have moved to Kia Ora Stud.

“We’re in a bit of an odd position in that we’re in the Central Coast council area which is considered a hot spot area by Queensland so we’ve had to move our horses today,” Esplin said on Wednesday.

“They’ve just all gone, we’ve got five in the main sale and three in the second session, they’ve all gone to Kia Ora.

“Kia Ora have very kindly helped us out and I’ve had to send two of my staff. It’s not so much the horses that are the problem, it’s the staff, as you need to be sufficiently clear of the hotspot to enter the state, unless they change the border controls.

“But if they don’t, in order to get my manager and other staff member across, I’ve had to move them out and into the Hunter so they will be staying at Kia Ora and they’ll prep them there for the last couple of weeks and optimistically, we’ll be travelling up to the Gold Coast on the 5th of January, as originally planned.

“I think that’s what most people are trying to do and that’s the short term plan until something changes.”

Describing the last 12 months as ‘strange’, Esplin was prepared for such border closures and is thankful for the bigger farms in the Hunter Valley helping out with such little notice.

“We’ve had the strangest 12 months that I’ve ever encountered. This time last year, we were dealing with significant bushfires and we had to evacuate our farm twice,” he said.

“And then Easter rolled around and COVID-19 hit and we had to move our horses to Vinery Stud so we could sell the horses at Easter online.

“I sort of had in the back of my mind that this might happen, so I had vague plans as to how I was going to deal with it, and I’m lucky I did because here we are.

“If I didn’t have options such as big farms in the Hunter Valley or the Sales companies helping you out, then really you’d have no chance of being able to participate in these auctions.”

Banding together

Throughout the COVID-19 period, the racing and bloodstock industry has banded together to help one and another in various scenarios.

Whether it was to care for a horse for an interstate trainer throughout the spring or provide notes on a horse at a Sale to a buyer who couldn’t be there, and Esplin said farm-housing horses so they could continue to be inspected before going to the Gold Coast was just another example of that.

"The relationships in the breeding industry have always been the most important thing in my view,” he said. “If it wasn’t for our peers, and I’m not saying the big studs in the Hunter are my peers, but in terms of trying to sell yearlings, people have been amazing.

“Shane Wright at Kia Ora has very kindly helped us out this time and these friends of ours makes it a lot easier in very stressful times.

“We’re all in it together and everyone is in the same boat.

“Whilst it’s obviously a very tragic thing what’s happening, mainly overseas, at the end of the day the industry just has to roll on and I don’t think there’s many industries in the world that have done it as well as we have.”

Tartan Fields will offer five yearlings in Book 1 and three in Book 2 of the Magic Millions Sale, highlighted by a filly from the final crop of legendary sire Redoute’s Choice.

“I won’t go out on a limb and say it’s the greatest draft I’ve ever taken to the Magic Millions because every time I read a comment like that I think ‘how do you ever know?’,” Esplin said.

“I’ll tell you that in about three weeks time, but they’re a nice bunch of horses.

“Interestingly, with the last crop of Redoute’s Choice, we’ve got a Redoute’s filly who is probably the star of the draft.

Lot 763 is the filly by the late Redoute’s Choice and she is out of Semitone (Dubai Destination {Ire}), making her a half-sister to multiple stakes winner Slightly Sweet (Charge Forward).

“She’s a very nice physical, she’s got a very good pedigree and there are not many of the Redoute’s Choices left,” Esplin said of the filly.

“There are only about 20 foals and there’s 10 in the catalogue and only four fillies and everyone knows what a Redoute’s filly is worth.

“That’s our big hope, she’s prepped up beautifully and we’re very fortunate to have her.

“That year we tried three or four different mares to try to get a Redoute’s pregnancy and at the last go was this mare that produced this filly, so it’s a little bit special.”

Tartan Fields will also offer the only yearling in the catalogue by Kermadec (NZ), the sire of dual Group 1-winning filly Montefilia, as Lot 62.

“We’ve got the only Kermadec in the draft that happens to be a filly and she’s out of a very young mare,” Esplin said. “She’s a very nice physical type, I didn’t see Montefilia when she was a yearling but the association with that kind of filly I think is obvious.

“She’d be one of the better 3-year-old spring fillies we’ve seen for a long time, not many have done what she did. Our filly is a similar sort of profile, a middle to classic distance type of filly.”

“We’ve also got a very nice Carravaggio colt (Lot 488), I’m a bit of a fan of Carravaggio, he’s a big, tall, leanish type of American-bred sprinter, and this colt is very nice. Again, he’s out of a young mare.

“We’ve got a Real Impact (Lot 613) out of a very deep black-type family that usually sells pretty well. He’s an obscure proposition. He’s long, he’s lean, he’s a classic type horse.

“He’s not going to be for everyone but he’ll find his bracket somewhere, pretty cheaply I would have thought, for someone who wants to syndicate a sound, classic-type horse.

“And then we’ve got a very nice Xtravagant colt (Lot 32). We’re very big fans of Xtravagant and he’s the first foal out of an imported Curlin mare.

“He’s a big, strong, strapping colt and is very much in the mould of the Xtravagants that we’ve seen and bred before and I think he’s going to profile quite well and fit his niche. He’s not going to be sitting in the top-end of the market but there is a spot for everyone at that sale.

“And then at Book 2 we have three pretty nice horses. We’ve got a very nice Press Statement filly (Lot 1164), a Manhattan Rain filly (Lot 1209) and a Charge Forward colt (Lot 165) and they will round it out. They’re good little trainers horses.”

The Tyreel draft

As for the Tyreel draft, Monds said they will present a balanced draft of 11 yearlings, which is highlighted by two well-related fillies from the first crop of Hellbent, plus a close relation to a Champion filly.

“They’re beautifully presented,” Monds said. “We’ve got a really nice mix of yearlings in our draft, I think there’s going to be one for every level at the Sale.”

Lot 193, the filly by Hellbent out of Couredge (Show A Heart), is a half-sister to G3 Gimcrack S. winner Every Rose (Choisir), while Lot 305 is by Hellbent and out of Fimatino (Not A Single Doubt), making her a half-sister to this year’s G3 Breeders’ Plate winner Shaquero (Shalaa {Ire}).

“Definitely the Fimatino by Hellbent (will be an early 2-year-old),” Monds said. “She is an outstanding physical type. She’s a really nice mover, she’s a sensible filly and is just mature and possess strength and is just a really nice filly.

“The Couredge, again, she’s a really nice filly. She’s a really nice moving filly, as far as being early, possibly. She’s very, very athletic looking and is an attractive filly.

“They’re both very sensible with very good brains on them. They’re a little bit different to each other but they’re really nice.”

Monds said that she was an overall fan of Hellbent so far and that they have continued to support him off the back of what the saw in his first foals.

“I actually think he’s very consistent with what he’s throwing,” she said. “I’ve seen quite a few Hellbents and I’m extremely impressed. We actually went back to Hellbent off the back of a couple of foals that we had here on the farm and we’re supporting him all the way through.

“With every foal by Hellbent that we’ve seen, we have not seen a bad one yet so I’m very impressed. I think just having a stallion that you can go to that throws a constant type, you can breed to him with confidence.”

Lot 814 is by Zoustar out of Sous La Terre (Pierro), who is a half-sister to Solar Charged (Charge Forward), making her a very close relation to triple Group 1 winner Sunlight (Zoustar).

“She’s lovely,” Monds said of the filly. “She’s fairly typical of Zoustar but she’s got added strength and power.

“She’s got hind-end power and she’s got a really good hind-quarter, she’s a very strong filly.

“I’m really impressed with what that mare has given me, that’s her first foal and she’s a just a very impressive filly.”

Group 1 winners Behemoth (All Too Hard) and Montefilia (Kermadec {NZ}) plus The TAB Everest winner Classique Legend (Not A Single Doubt) all came from the paddocks of Tyreel, making for an extremely fruitful year for the farm.

A rollercoaster

With so much uncertainty happening around the world and within the racing industry, Monds could best describe her 2020 as a rollercoaster.

“It’s been a really, really strange year,” she said. “I think the beginning of the the new life that we have, the beginning of COVID-19, that was probably the most difficult time because it was something so new and fresh.

“But with the two sales companies that had sales planned, the way they carried out with the forever changes and how the industry has just embraced change constantly throughout the year, I end 2020 with extremely mixed feelings.

“It’s been a definite rollercoaster. We have had some amazing results on the track with Behemoth, Montefilia and Classique Legend and the horses that are coming off Tyreel and the horses that we're aiming to breed, the physical types and the genetics, they won’t be the last three champions you’ll see off this farm.

“But we’ve had very good sales results. I was very happy with our January Magic Millions results and in light of everything that happened prior to the Inglis Easter Sale, I walked away after that Sale feeling very satisfied.

“I think it’s a testament to the product that is being produced and it’s actually a testament to my staff as well. They are so committed and dedicated to the horses, to our brand and to my family.

“I’m going to cry in a minute but they really have just risen to every challenge this year and I’m just so grateful. For everything that they’ve had to go through and endure, life has not been easy for some of them either, they’ve got family away.

“So I think all-in-all, 2020, very mixed feelings. I’ve hated it one minute and I’ve loved it the next.

“We’re very fortunate, we’ve had some positives throughout the year. I'm very conscious of the fact that there’s a lot of people out there that haven’t had. In a wrap, I'm really, really grateful to supporters and supporters of our brand.”

With the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale already going ahead without international buyers on the ground, and now uncertainly around whether Sydney residents will be able to get there, Monds said she is only hoping that the Sale will still go ahead and that buyers get involved from wherever they are in the world

“I live in hope that the Sale will go ahead live and that’s what we’ve planned for,” she said. “I do hope that the buying bench will be there. We always knew leading into this sale that we wouldn’t have the internationals and I do believe that we have enough reputable bloodstock agents in Australia and there’s enough horses.

“I think with marketing, video footage, and consultation with those that can be on the ground at the sales complex.

“We’ve had a lot of inspections here and I believe over the next 14 days we’ll get a lot more. I think everybody is doing their homework and I think possibly it will be the same as what Easter was, people will be sharing their notes and talking about the horses.

“Whilst, I’m not confident with COVID-19, I’m confident that the buying bench will be still wanting to buy.

“I think they need to, I think our industry needs it to happen and it sounds like there’s a lot of people in a good position to be able to invest.”

It's all perspective

Overall, Esplin believes the figures at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale will come out quite strongly, especially at the top and middle ends of the market, but he is wary that the lower end could be in for a tough time.

“I think it all depends on your perspective and I think the same goes for horses in the yearling market, so to make a bland statement, I think the Sale will be good, that is on par or better than last year, but I think premium will do very well,” he said.

“The top 10 to 20 per cent of the market will be very strong, it’s been very strong this year around the world. There’s a lot of foreign money, there’s a lot of investors money and they want to race the top horses.

“The next sort of 50 per cent, I’m probably a bit more bullish than others, I think it will be quite good. The industry is proving to be very resilient, I think our racing is going very well, our programming is going well, we’ve got very good fundamentals and I think there is a lot of spare money around.

“The stock market is very high, people are making money but they’re not spending a lot of money because they can’t go anywhere.

“But I think the bottom half of the market will be difficult. It’s in an era where if you’re trying to breed a horse for anything under $30,000 to $40,000, it’s going to be very hard.

“That’s not to say you shouldn’t, they’re very important horses at that range, but it will be hard up there.

“There are a lot of horses to sell and we might have more gross money but I don’t know if there’s been the same expansion in the number of people buying.”