Industry Mentors: Garry Cuddy

Cover image courtesy of Bronwen Healy

Garry Cuddy has an uncle to thank for an early taste of the racing world, which was to determine his future career path in the bloodstock world through to his present role as Spendthrift Australia’s General Manager.

Cuddy had extensive thoroughbred experience both at home and overseas before the late thoroughbred visionary B. Wayne Hughes came calling seven years ago with an offer to head up a new Southern Hemisphere venture.

Industry visionary Hughes, who sadly passed away this year in August, purchased Spendthrift in Kentucky in 2004 and, ever driven to succeed and push boundaries, later expanded the business to Australia and Cuddy was chosen to manage the Victorian operation.

That was in 2014 when the then 27-year-old Cuddy got the top job on the recommendation of his first full-time employer and great mentor Vin Cox.

But more of that vital association later, and back to the beginning when a young Cuddy had his eyes opened to the Sport of Kings by a family member.

The apprenticeship

“Neither of my parents were into racing, but my uncle was and still works in the industry. When I was a kid, he took me to the races and that’s really where it all started,” Cuddy said. “I would spend school holidays with him on the farms.

“We’d muck out boxes, do feed runs, help out in the vet crush, hold foals and do just about everything.”

His uncle, Peter Boyle, worked at Byerley Stud, Segenhoe Stud, Baerami Thoroughbreds and Emirates Park and now runs Cornwall Park in Victoria.

"The first Golden Slipper I attended with my uncle was Merlene's, and that raceday left a lasting impression on me because Octagonal also won and became a horse I followed very closely.

"John Hawkes, his trainer, became someone I admired greatly. Since then I'm fortunate to have formed a relationship with John, as he trains a large quantity of the Spendthrift horses, and he's a person of exceptional integrity that I have a huge amount of respect for."

Cuddy was born and raised in Revesby, Sydney, and at the end of his secondary education, he was focused on a thoroughbred career. To that end, he made an approach to Cox and successfully gained employment.

“After high school, I got a job with Vin and spent eight years working for him in the bloodstock agency. It was very well publicised by Vin that he paid me very little when I first started, and came to work for the love of it,” Cuddy said.

“I had sat down with my parents and went through it all. It wasn’t a matter of what the paycheck was because it was looked at as an apprenticeship.

“I had mates from school that went to university and others did apprenticeships as sparkies and plumbers and those kinds of things. This was me doing my apprenticeship in the industry that I had a passion for, so it worked out really well.”

And it was an all-encompassing apprenticeship that enabled Cuddy to gain experience and hone his skills in all facets of the business.

“We spent a lot of time on the road travelling up from Paddington to the Hunter Valley to look at clients’ horses, stallions, yearling inspections and booking nominations,” he said.

“I did a lot of work on recruitment of mares privately out of America, watching trials for horses for Hong Kong and Asia. It was everything the professional bloodstock agent did.

“It was pretty much a full-service business and I was very grateful to Vin, and still am, for everything he did for me.”

Key global experience

Among the American purchases of that time by Vin Cox Bloodstock were Ballet D’Amour (USA) (Stravinsky {USA}) and Roses ‘N’ Wine (Can) (Broken Vow {USA}), the respective dams of Group 1 winners and sires Russian Revolution and Hampton Court.

“We bought Hampton Court’s mum off the racetrack in Canada for John Muir and Russian Revolution’s dam for Mr and Mrs Backshall,” he said.

“Ballet D’Amour is Russian Revolution’s mother and Mr Backshall asked me to find him something from that Fanfreluche family. It’s exciting when you’re able to buy a mare like that and that he could breed a Group 1 winner out of her. She’s also the grandam of Home Affairs.

“We spent a lot of time getting private deals done through building relationships, plus many hours doing the research on particular families.”

Cuddy also broadened his horizons by accompanying Cox to Keeneland sales and the November Breeding Stock Sale in Kentucky.

“It was an all-round education. Something I learned early on from Vin – this industry is about people first and horses second. That’s a key element,” he said.

“I wouldn’t be where I am without having had Vin as an influence on my career.”

Cox was later to head up Magic Millions before his current role as Godolphin Australia’s Managing Director and Cuddy moved to bloodstock.com.au at Inglis for a two-year stint before Cox’s influence was in play again.

Cox was in Kentucky on a buying trip and during a conversation, Hughes revealed his plans for Australia.

“Vin and Chauncey Morris were in Kentucky and were talking to Mr Hughes and each of them thought that I was the person to put forward for the role,” Cuddy said.

Morris is the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association Executive Director and formally served as chief executive officer of Thoroughbred Breeders of Australia (TBA).

The approach to Cuddy came via an out of the blue phone call from Spendthrift General Manager Ned Toffey.

“Seven years ago I was in Kentucky for my interview and I started with them in November 2014, and here we are now,” Cuddy said. “I moved to Kentucky for a couple of months and worked at Spendthrift. Ideas and plans were put forward and we bought the farm in Australia the following April 2015.”

The emergence of Spendthrift Australia

Cuddy enjoyed a close relationship with Hughes, who proved to be a mine of information and advice and an invaluable mentor.

“I haven’t come across too many people that I would put much higher up the pedestal than Mr Hughes. He was a marvellous man with a great mind,” he said.

“He changed the landscape in the Kentucky breeding industry and he will always be remembered for that. He was the first stallion owner to put his hand up and look after the little person.

“Whether you were a billionaire or a hundredaire, Mr Hughes would happily sit and talk about breeding and their mares and work out which way to go with them.

“That’s how Breed Secure eventuated and became such a success and such a wonderful tool down here for us to be using to assist breeders at the yearling sales.”

Breed Secure takes the service fee of a stallion out of the proceeds once the foal sells at auction, with protections for the broodmare owner. This risk-free option provides breeders with a mechanism to continue breeding their mares, even in times when cash-flow is a major challenge.

“The beauty of Breed Secure is that if you take a hit in the sales ring, we take it with you. Yet if you succeed, you get the profit,” Cuddy said.

"Eric (Gustavson) and Ned (Toffey) are two others in the Spendthrift team that I have learned an extraordinary amount from over the last seven years. They took a punt on me as a young guy and have guided my development from both a business and personal perspective since then."

Spendthrift Australia is home to Group 1-winning stallions Omaha Beach (USA) and Vino Rosso (USA), Group 2 winners Dirty Work and Gold Standard and Group 3 winners Overshare and Swear.

Gallery: Spendthrift stallions currently standing at stud in Australia

Cuddy is more than satisfied by the progress the operation has made, but there is no room for complacency.

“We’re not at the top yet, we’ll take where we are for now. We’re happy with how things have panned out this far,” he said.

“It’s exciting times for us with a high-quality roster and hopefully over the next couple of years we can progress. We’ve got some top-quality racehorses here, which is fantastic."

But at the end of the day, as any pedigree purest knows, the blood shines through. The pair that had the most influence on Cuddy's career?

"It all comes back to my parents," he said. "They set the benchmark in life values and work ethic, and are the two greatest mentors any person would wish to look toward for life guidance."