Scott Seamer has spent much of this week parked alongside Stable Q, Box 6, at the Magic Millions complex on the Gold Coast. Lot 1828, a Capitalist filly, is the former jockey’s sole representative at the National Yearling Sale, and she’s been busy.
From Kimigayo (Show A Heart), who is a half-sister to Gold Anthem (Made Of Gold {USA}), the dam of Starspangledbanner, and a second dam in National Song (Vain), who was a half-sister to matriarch Circles Of Gold (Marscay), Lot 1828 has a robust page.
She’s also a third-generational foal for Seamer.
“I bought National Song when she was about 12 or 13, and we bred a few fillies out of her and kept nearly all of them,” Seamer said. “We had a full brother to this filly sell last year, and Greg Hickman has him at Warwick Farm. He had his first start last Wednesday.”
"I bought National Song when she was about 12 or 13, and we bred a few fillies out of her and kept nearly all of them." - Scott Seamer
That horse is 2-year-old gelding Fenton, who debuted at Canterbury last week in the juvenile race won by Cape Breton (Vancouver). Fenton was drawn wide and finished strongly for jockey Keagan Latham, just 2.93l in arrears of the winner.
Colonial lines back in vogue
The decision by Seamer to use Capitalist two years in succession with Kimigayo is looking a good one.
“He’s done very well,” Seamer said. “Capitalist has done everything he’s been asked to do so far with his progeny on the track, and it looks a pretty bright future for him.”
Seamer said Lot 1828 was an interesting example for him of the swing back towards fashionable Australian pedigrees.
“It’s been changing every five to 10 years since I came into the commercial side of breeding,” he said. “The colonial Australian horse wasn’t really the go. It was more the European horse. But now it’s swung around back to the colonial steeds, so for myself it’s been quite good owning National Song. She’s not with us anymore, but we kept four of her fillies.”
"The colonial Australian horse wasn’t really the go. It was more the European horse. But now it’s swung around back to the colonial steeds, so for myself it’s been quite good owning National Song." - Scott Seamer
National Song was bred by Widden Stud in 1992, and passed away only a handful of years ago. She had 15 foals, among which Kimigayo was her last.
Lot 1828 was originally catalogued for the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale in February, but circumstances prevented her making it to Sydney.
“A few days before she was supposed to leave, she got a temperature, so I couldn’t send her,” Seamer said. “She was ready to rock and roll in February, but that’s just what can happen with livestock. They can get sick and all you can do is regroup and go from there.”
Keeping it real
Pragmatic Seamer is a man of the land.
He has farmed horses, cattle and macadamia nuts from Fernleigh, in Northern NSW, and, if the name rings a bell, it’s because he was one of the brightest stars in Australian riding at one time.
Scott Seamer won a litany of Group 1 races, including the Melbourne Cup, Caulfield Cup, Queensland Oaks, Mackinnon S., Golden Slipper and New Zealand Oaks, and his most famous partnership was with the brilliant mare Ethereal (NZ) (Rhythm {USA}) through 2001.
“I stopped riding on New Year’s Eve in 2011,” Seamer said. “I had a fall at Doomben, and I hit my head a bit and was concussed for a good six months after. I just thought I’d had enough then.”
Scott Seamer and Ethereal (NZ) after winning the 2001 Caulfield Cup
Even as a professional jockey, however, Seamer was a hobby breeder. He’d always had a mare or two, so that when he hung up his riding boots, he just delved a little deeper into commercial breeding.
These days, he and his wife Louise keep up to 10 mares, some at home in Fernleigh, in Northern NSW, and others with Julie Harris at Holbrook Stud. It’s a small number, but it suits the couple just fine.
They produce an average of six foals each season, working closely with Holbrook and also Eureka Stud in the Darling Downs, where Seamer holds a share in Spirit Of Boom.
Seamer has five weanlings at home by stallions Merchant Navy, Extreme Choice, So You Think (NZ) and Spirit Of Boom, and he said his stallion choices are heavily influenced by price.
“With Capitalist, that was the most that I would pay, $40,000 or $50,000 a service fee,” he said. “When they go up any higher than that, that’s enough. I don’t play in that league. And you’ve got to have luck on your side. If Capitalist hadn’t been any good, this filly (Lot 1828) might not have been looked at as much as she has.”
Seamer’s filly is catalogued to sell at Magic Millions on Wednesday afternoon, a little after 4pm AEST.
She got a respectable upgrade last weekend when her close relative Achiever (Pride Of Dubai), a granddaughter of Circles Of Gold, ran fourth in the G1 Queensland Derby at Eagle Farm for Denise Martin’s Star Thoroughbreds.
