Welcome to TDN AusNZ’s ‘It Takes A Team’, brought to you in conjunction with the Australian Stud and Stable Staff Awards supported by Godolphin. Here we highlight and celebrate some of the heroes of our industry. The strappers, riders, stud-workers and people behind the scenes of our champions. The people who are up late into the night foaling or up at the crack of dawn for trackwork, working tirelessly to keep our industry running.
Today we speak with Andre Anderson, who works with the stallions and yearlings at Waikato Stud. Today we learn about Andre's day-to-day routine, how he got started in the industry and get the low down on his most recent pinhook success at the National Bloodstock Yearling Sale.
TDN AusNZ: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you got started in the industry?
Andre Anderson: I got started through my family, originally I wasn’t interested in horses, I had a few dairy farming jobs and I guess I just got bored of that so I followed in the footsteps of my sisters Katrina and Hayley. I started working at Haunui Farm around seven years ago doing a yearling preparation there, then ventured over to Widden Stud to pursue a stallion opportunity and everything that has happened from there is just history.
Andre Anderson when working for Haunui Farm
TDN AusNZ: What is your role now and what does it involve? What does a normal day look like for you?
AA: I’m with Waikato Stud now, and have been here for three years. I mainly work with the stallions and help out with the yearlings when needed.
Typically in the heat of the breeding season my day would start at 5.45am getting the stallions ready for their 6am services before heading to the breeding barn. Once those breedings are done, the stallions are turned out into the paddocks while we skip the boxes before helping out at vet work. The vet work entails catching up with what mares are in foal or nearing a date in the breeding barn. The stallions are then brought back in for the mid-morning session, then back out until the afternoon which they then are worked on a treadmill, (each stallion has their own fitness regime). By this time it is time for the third breeding session of the day, then they are put to bed ready for the next day.
Once the breeding season starts to slow down and more focus is put on the yearlings and Jaimee (Gowler) and I spend more time in the yearling yard.
A typical day at the yearling yard would start at 6am where all the yearlings are brought in from the paddocks with breakfast waiting for them inside, they have a good groom, followed by hand walking. There is always a handful of yearlings who are roller broken, they're hand walked with a roller to help strengthen their neck and top-line. Deeper into the prep we have parades, and in the afternoon they are all turned back out into their paddocks and fed.
Andre (right) with some of the Waikato Stud team
TDN AusNZ: What excites you most about your role?
AA: I suppose on the yearling side it would be watching them progress and develop. You always get a kick out of it when they eventually go through the ring and onto their next chapter in life.
And the stallions, well I don’t really consider them horses, they’re more like your workmate. They’re all such different characters and all have different quirks.
TDN AusNZ: Who is your favourite stallion on the farm at the moment?
AA: It would have to be Tivaci, he's a gentle giant that acts like a 2-year-old, and at the same time he can be as stubborn as an old man! He can come across as big and imposing but it’s all a facade, he loves the cuddles and attention.
TDN AusNZ: Do you have any mentors who have helped you along the way?
AA: My sister Katrina. The things she’s faced on the track (running), no matter how many setbacks she has had, she refuses to lay down and give up, it's inspiring! I’d love to apply her attitude towards my goals and anything life throws at me really.
TDN AusNZ: You recently had great success pinhooking a Gavelhouse purchase at the New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale, can you tell us how that came about?
AA: Yes ‘Florry’ (Lot 794), well I always liked him as a weanling, and when he was put up on Gavelhouse I was really interested from the start. So I purchased him outright for $3500. My friend Andrew Swales from Widden Stud said he was really interested and Anna Poyhonen she actually foaled him down, so she had a really strong connection with him right from the start. So we went thirds in him.
He changed so much throughout the yearling preparation, it was unreal, his attitude and his physique. He definitely didn’t miss out on Christmas lunch that’s for sure!
Andre with his pinhook 'Florry'
TDN AusNZ: How were you feeling setting him for the Sale and during the Sale?
AA: It was a rollercoaster of emotions. I was excited, scared, nervous, but mostly excited because he was very popular at the Sale. It felt like it was almost a guarantee of selling him for what we wanted, ($40,000), but on the morning of the Sale I was still quite nervous.
Half an hour before he went through the ring Pam Gerard who runs the New Zealand-side of Ballymore Stables turned up to have another look at him, and she had a good 10 minute look and he was scoped and x-rayed and there was word that they were going to be bidding on him.
"When I was waiting in the box before going into the ring I was so nervous, it was like I was leading through my first horse again." - Andre Anderson
When I was waiting in the box before going into the ring I was so nervous, it was like I was leading through my first horse again. I was having to try and control my breathing to relax myself, but once we got rolling around the ring all of my nerves were gone and I was just enjoying the moment.
Anna followed me up to the ring and was standing ringside, I caught her eye a few times and she was getting all teary-eyed, once we hit $60,000 my smile was just getting bigger and bigger with every bid, I was grinning from ear to ear. After the fall of the hammer, as I was leaving the ring I let out a big woohoo! It was an unreal experience and I just can’t wait to do it again.
I'm excited to follow his career, Pam was lovely and said that I could go and see him in Matamata where he will get broken in before he heads over to Melbourne.
Lot 794 - Tivaci x Florist (NZ) (colt)
TDN AusNZ: What is one piece of advice you would give to someone looking to make their start in the industry?
AA: Learn off anyone and everyone. When I first started I didn’t know anything! I was very raw but you know I’ve picked up things from everyone. So I'd say learn from as many people as you can and then take what works and put your own twist on it.
TDN AusNZ: What is your favourite time of year in the industry?
AA: I’m a big fan of Australian racing so it would have to be either the Sydney or Melbourne carnival.
TDN AusNZ: What are you looking forward to most once travel opens up again?
AA: Getting back over to Australia and seeing my sister who is in Melbourne.
