The Ciaron Maher and David Eustace-trained Hitotsu, having his first run over further than 1600 metres, unleashed a stunning turn of foot over the final 400 metres of the 2500-metre Classic to win by 1.75l, and announce himself as a potential future star.

In doing so, he became the third Arrowfield Stud-bred Group 1 3-year-old in the past month, while stamping his sire Maurice's resume by becoming his first elite-level winner in Australia.

"It was a terrific result, I have to say. He's been a promising horse all the way through and it’s an amazing performance by the trainers on that program, to get him to win so easily," John Messara told TDN AusNZ.

Under Messara's guidance, Arrowfield has led the way with shuttling Japanese stallions to Australia, forming a relationship with Northern Farm which has brought some of the best bloodlines from that country to Australia.

Earlier in October, the Arrowfield-bred Profondo, a son of Deep Impact (Jpn), who was conceived in Japan and foaled in Australia, powered to an outstanding win in the G1 Spring Champion S. at just his third start.

Hitotsu is somewhat more experienced, having his sixth start on Saturday, but given he had never been past the 1600 metres before in his career, the way in which he put his rivals away was reminiscent of what his fellow Arrowfield graduate had done earlier in the spring.

His final 400-metre sectional of 23.14s was faster than Home Affairs (I Am Invincible) (23.28s) ran in winning the G1 Coolmore Stud S. over 1200 metres.

A milestone for Maurice

Maurice, who after a run of six stakes placegetters got his first Australian-bred stakes winner last week with Mazu in the Listed Brian Crowley S., has now moved top of the race to be crowned Champion Second Season Sire, among a crop of stallions widely rated as the best in a generation.

That the son of Screen Hero (Jpn) would experience success as a stallion would be no surprise to those who saw him on the racecourse. Nicknamed the 'Beast From The East', he possessed freakish ability winning six Group 1 races across Japan and Hong Kong from 1600 metres to 2000 metres.

Arrowfield identified him as an ideal prospect to shuttle to Australia and became a small shareholder in the horse.

"I know that Maurice has an amazing cardiovascular system. He has an unbelievable pair of lungs and the view was that if we bred him right, and everything clicked, he could throw a horse with extraordinary powers," Messara said.

"Our partners Northern Farm keep a close watch on their horses and test their horses all the time for recovery, lung capacity and everything else. Maurice is one of their best out of thousands tested.

"We knew that if he can pass on his physiology, and while it may be a bit oversimplified, what is under the bonnet, to any of his progeny through a good mare, then we have got ourselves a top liner."

The Redoute's nick

There is no shortage of 'good mares' at Arrowfield and so Maurice was always going to get every chance in that regard.

Hitotsu is out of Redoute's Choice mare, Love Is Fickle, a half-sister to two stakes winners who was initially purchased by Arrowfield as a yearling. She was unraced and Hitotsu, her third foal, was sold for $100,000 as a yearling to Wendy Kelly through Arrowfield's draft at the 2020 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.

Subsequently privately purchased by a group led by Ozzie Kheir and put into training with Maher and Eustace for this campaign, Hitotsu is Maurice's second winner out of a mare by Redoute's Choice.

"He needs no introduction in that department, Redoute's. He's a freak of a broodmare stallion. He's as good a broodmare stallion as he has been a normal stallion," Messara said.

Redoute's Choice, also the damsire of Profondo and G1 Caulfield Guineas winner Anamoe (Street Boss {USA}), is a dominant leader in the current Australian Broodmare Sires' race, having won that title on two previous occasions.

A shared success

One of the first phone calls Messara made after Hitotsu's win on Saturday was to Northern Farm, to celebrate a milestone for their stallion.

"They were thrilled when I told them that the horse had won the Derby," he said. "Maurice has had a very big month, with his first Group 1 winner in Japan (Pixie Knight) as well.

"That is the other thing which is striking about this horse. When you look at the fact he had that winner over 1200 metres, which ran 1:07.7s, which is low-flying, and then he's had this horse win over the 2500 metres here, it shows the potential versatility that he may be capable of producing."

Maurice returned to Arrowfield Stud this season having missed the 2020 season due to logistical complications because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Standing at $44,000 (inc GST), he has been welcomed back with open arms by Australian breeders.

"This horse is a physical Adonis. He's got this physiological super engine and he's a complete outcross. He might as well be from Mars in that regard," Messara said.

"Now he's working with Redoute's Choice, which is kind of the dream. When you get all of those things together and they happen to click, you might get something pretty special and I think we saw that yesterday."

Japanese success flows

The virtues of the Japanese bloodlines have become apparent in Australia both in terms of the breeding barn and the racetrack in the past decade. Sparked by the historic Japanese-bred quinella of the G1 Melbourne Cup in 2006, there have been 12 Group 1 victories in Australia by horses with the (Jpn) suffix.

There are seven Japanese-bred stallions on an Australian roster this year, including Maurice and Arrowfield's new Japanese addition, Admire Mars (Jpn), while Yulong's first-season sire Tagaloa, a G1 Blue Diamond S. winner, boasts a heavily Japanese-influenced pedigree.

Momentum has definitely grown behind these horses, with Messara saying that there was also more support from breeders, which helps underwrite investment.

"We are finding that there the Japanese horses are far more respected now. They have won in Australia and won some good races," he said.

"They are tough and hardy animals and we've had a very fruitful relationship with our partners there. We are also getting to know what might work."

Cover image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan

Across its 22 years of operation, OTI Racing has enjoyed incredible success across the world, with around 60 individual stakes winners, including nine individual Group 1 winners.

In just nine starts, I'm Thunderstruck has elevated himself to be among the very elite of that collection, winning a G1 Toorak H. and then collecting a huge pay cheque in Saturday's feature race at Rosehill.

Having only debuted in January, I'm Thunderstruck, who is trained by Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr, is now the winner of over $5 million and Henderson feels that his very best is still ahead of him.

"You don’t like to be glib about it, but he could be the most exciting horse that OTI have had anything to do with, from what we have seen so far," he told TDN AusNZ.

"We have had some lovely horses, like Gailo Chop, which we had from a young age, right through to win three Group 1s, but this fellow has an x-factor about him. He's strong, he's tough and he's got a real will to win.

"Hughie Bowman rang me last night and he thinks he could be very special. We hope he is right. What we have seen so far, we couldn't ask for more."

The Golden Eagle's introduction as a rich new race for 4-year-olds in 2019 was greeted with a fair degree of scepticism, but on results alone, it can already lay claim to being a race won by only elite horses.

All three winners, Kolding (NZ) (Ocean Park {NZ}), Colette (Hallowed Crown) and now I'm Thunderstruck were Group 1 winners before their Golden Eagle success and the first two have gone on to claim subsequent Group 1 glory, with Colette winning Saturday's G1 Empire Rose S. at Flemington.

"It's the best race for 4-year-olds in the country, but outside of that, for OTI, it’s terrific for our owners," Henderson said.

"Our guys put good money into these horses and this gives them a fantastic payday. We don't have a stallion here with his horse, he's just a very high-class horse, and for our owners to get the return they did yesterday was just great for them.

"He's had less than 10 runs for that $5 million. It just shows what a great state the Australian thoroughbred industry is in, financially."

The Kiwi connection

OTI Racing may have built its reputation for racing and sourcing successful horses out of Europe, but it's from across the Tasman Sea where a lot of its biggest successes in Australia have come from.

Six of its nine Group 1 winners, including I'm Thunderstruck, have been sourced out of New Zealand, with respected bloodstock agent Phill Cataldo playing a major role.

"We have had five Derby winners and Phill has been involved in purchasing three of them as well as Aloisia who won the Thousand Guineas," Henderson said.

"We were always buying horses that were showing some promise as young horses in New Zealand. Invariably they come out of these trials over there and I'm Thunderstruck was typical of one of those.

"We spotted him in a trial and he was very impressive. We made an offer, young Michael Kent knocked me off, and he said, 'Why don’t we race him together?' "

Henderson has been working on sourcing top prospects out of New Zealand to race in Australia for many years, even before OTI was set up in 1999.

"I know we are known for buying horses in Europe, but 60 per cent of horses we race are out of New Zealand and it’s been the way for me for 30 years, going back to Doriemus, who won both Cups in 1995. He was exactly the same sort of process. Those sorts of horses have been the foundation of OTI over the years," he said.

A market of opportunity

I'm Thunderstruck is one of a host of current elite horses which have been sourced out of New Zealand either through the trials or early in their racing career. Having shopped in this market for such a long time, Henderson has seen the ebbs and flows and says that there are still opportunities to be found.

"When you look at horses like Verry Elleegant and the like there are some really serious horses coming via that path. I think in terms of profile, New Zealand is undervalued," he said.

"We buy a lot out of France and England and in terms of value, New Zealand is clearly better. You couldn't walk out of a Tatts sale at Newmarket with anything decent for under $300,000. You can still buy a pretty nice horse in New Zealand in that price bracket."

What is often evident with that profile of horse is that while they may not always boast the most fashionable of pedigrees, they have the grounding to ensure that they can continue to improve. Henderson thinks one of the biggest assets they have is the early education they receive.

"The New Zealand training culture is still such that these horses that require a bit of time are given it," he said.

"You take a guy like Shaun Clotworthy over there. He and his wife Emma are good young trainers, they are developing some beautiful horses to come across here. They had one that won at Flemington yesterday (Justacanta) and they have one that they race with us that will be in the Queen Elizabeth next Saturday. They are terrific horse people to get horses to develop a career."

Cup dream still burns

OTI Racing's colours have featured regularly in the G1 Melbourne Cup and Henderson's outfit went within a whisker of victory 13 years ago when the Luca Cumani-trained Bauer (Ire) (Halling {USA}) was beaten by Viewed (Scenic {Ire}).

On Tuesday, it will be represented in the ownership of two horses in the famous $8 million handicap, Future Score (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}), trained by Cumani's son Matt, and Selino (GB) (Champs Elysees {GB}), who will carry the colours of co-owner Qatar Racing.

"Selino, who won the Sydney Cup, he's got the outside gate, so he will have a challenge. He’ll be up against it, but at least we know he can run two miles. He might have to run two and a half from that barrier," Henderson said.

"Future Score, with Matty Cumani, he's a lesser level, and he's the sort of horse that will give his owners a great experience by having a horse in the Cup. You'd hope he finishes in the top 10."

Winning the great race is not as much of a focus for OTI as it once was, but there is still a desire to find horses which might fit the profile.

"The desire does still burn brightly and we have the reputation of chasing Melbourne Cup horses but that was moreso the case 10 years ago. The business is far more rounded these days," he said.

"We are more focussed on middle-distance horses, but the Cup is the Cup, so it’s always an aim. However when you look at these big money races like The Everest or the Golden Eagle, or for me, some of the classic European races, like the Arc and the English Derby and so on, we are very keen to give our owners the experience of racing in those as well."

Cover image courtesy of Sportpix

The first Tuesday in November rolls around each year like Christmas, the greatest of occasions for the city of Melbourne. Since 1861, the great two-mile handicap that is the Melbourne Cup has planted itself on everyday Australians, a race for everyone and anyone that tunes in at 3pm AEDT.

This year, the field has proved more local than most. In the absence of an overseas invasion (excepting the return of defending hero Twilight Payment (Teofilo {Ire}), the race is largely colonial, dotted with popular locals.

There’s Verry Elleegant (NZ) (Zed {NZ}) shooting for the ultimate target, and Derby winner Johnny Get Angry (NZ) (Tavistock {NZ}) for football legend Denis Pagan.

At the head of affairs, Incentivise (Shamus Award) is one of the shortest-priced Cup favourites in recent memory.

Trained by Peter Moody, the 5-year-old gelding has a picket-fence of nine straight wins since May this year, the last three being the G1 Makybe Diva S., G1 Turnbull S. and G1 Caulfield Cup in that order.

He’s an extraordinary Australian, a knock-kneed little foal bred on the Darling Downs by Steve Tregea’s Windemere Stud, and he’s chasing rare air on Tuesday.

Should Incentivise win the G1 Melbourne Cup, he will be the first horse since the mighty Ethereal (NZ) (Rhythm {USA}) in 2001 to achieve the Caulfield Cup-Melbourne Cup double in the same year.

The Cups double

Ethereal’s story is still going, exactly 20 years since her famous Cups victory in 2001.

At Pencarrow Stud in the Waikato, where she was bred, born and retired, she is 24 years old today, the centre of a breeding empire that has had so much success under the Vela family.

“She’s the epitome of why Pencarrow is breeding,” said Leon Casey, long-time stud manager of Pencarrow. “Horses like her are what you do it all for, aren’t they?”

Through 2001, Ethereal executed one of the greatest seasons in the recent history of Australian racing.

She won the G1 Queensland Oaks in May, then was third to Northerly (Serheed {USA}) in the G1 Yalumba (Caulfield) S. early in the spring. She won the G1 Caulfield Cup by a nose to Sky Heights (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}), and then the G1 Melbourne Cup, putting away a field that included Marienbard (Ire) (Caerleon {USA}), who won the Arc the following year.

Before Ethereal, the last horse to win the Cups double was Might And Power (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}), and before that horses like Doriemus (NZ) (Norman Pentaquad {USA}), Let’s Elope (NZ) (Nassipour {USA}) and Gurner’s Lane (NZ) (Sir Tristram {Ire}).

In fact, in 143 years since the genesis of the Caulfield Cup, only 11 horses have managed the Cups double, and only three of those have been mares.

“For Pencarrow, it lifted everybody when she won that double,” Casey said. “When you’ve got horses of her calibre racing for you, everybody’s work is a little bit lighter, and you can see the results of your investments and endeavours.

"And, as a breeding operation, you’ve got other members of the family around you to look forward to, be it sons and daughters coming through. It was just wonderful to have a mare of her quality representing us back then.”

The family factor

Ethereal retired to Pencarrow in the spring of 2002, a last-race winner of the G1 BMW at Rosehill. Tie The Knot (Nassipour {USA}) was in that field, and it brought to a close a career that boasted four Group 1 wins and nearly $5 million in prizemoney.

Ethereal had been bred and raced by the Vela family and, as a broodmare, she was simply returning home.

“At the time she was a yearling, we retained the vast majority of our fillies here at Pencarrow,” Casey said. “We were a newer stud, so we sold the colts and retained the fillies to race as broodmare replacements later on.

"As we’ve gone on and become more established, that’s changed a bit and we do sell some fillies now, but when Ethereal was coming through, that was the wisdom behind keeping her.”

Casey has been at Pencarrow long enough to remember most things about Ethereal. He foaled the champion mare on November 16, 1997, and he foaled her mother too, million-dollar earner Romanee Conti (NZ) (Sir Tristram {Ire}).

This is an old family for Pencarrow Stud, with the Vela family investing into it at Ethereal’s second dam Richebourg (NZ) (Vice Regal {NZ}). That mare was a winner of the 1984 G3 Tranquil Star S., and she got two stakes winners, namely G1 South Australian Oaks winner Grand Echezeaux (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}) and Romanee Conti.

The latter won six stakes races for the Vela family, including the G2 Queen of the Turf S. in Sydney and the G2 Hong Kong International Cup in 1993. Despite her Sir Tristram (Ire) sireline, Ethereal’s dam was placed in the G1 Telegraph H. over 1200 metres, so there was dash in the pedigree.

Some of it also came from Ethereal’s sire, the American Champion 2-year-old, G1 Travers S. and G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Rhythm (USA), a son of Mr Prospector (USA) standing at Cambridge Stud.

“There were a number of American horses coming in at that time, even if they were in the minority,” Casey said. “Rhythm was a well-regarded stallion and had a great pedigree and great performance, so even though American horses had a different style of racing, I think Ethereal inherited a lot more stamina than you might have expected of that stallion.”

Life after racing

Ethereal bred at Pencarrow until her last foal in 2014, 11 seasons in New Zealand reaffirming her valuable family.

Her first foal was the Giant’s Causeway (USA) filly Uberalles (NZ), who was fantastic early in her career with a win and three placings through her first four starts, including a third in the G2 Great Northern Guineas at Ellerslie.

All up, Ethereal foaled a single stakes winner in Seraphim (NZ) (Rip Van Winkle {Ire}), who won at Listed level in 2018, but this fact alone doesn’t define her career as a broodmare.

At Pencarrow, she has four of her daughters on the farm, and her sale ring record is just as interesting.

Only two of Ethereal’s foals made it to auction, among them Aetherius (NZ) (Stravinsky {USA}), who sold to David Ellis for NZ$1.3 million at Karaka in 2007. The only other was Imperium (NZ) (Encosta De Lago), also picked up by Ellis for NZ$425,000 at the same Sale in 2013.

“One of the interesting things about Ethereal was that she was a very competitive racehorse and very impatient,” Casey said. “As soon as she retired she chilled right out, and she was always a very good mother and very easy to deal with once she was away from the racetrack.”

Gallery: Ethereal (NZ) in 2019 at Pencarrow Stud | Images courtesy of Pencarrow Stud

Heaven sent

Queensland trainer Sheila Laxon remembers this side of Ethereal only too well. Laxon, at the time a resident of New Zealand, broke in the mare at Pencarrow Stud and trained the horse throughout her glorious career.

“I remember the elite little creature that she was,” Laxon said. “She was terribly important to herself, and she did what she wanted to do. You just tagged along in an attempt to get what you wanted out of her. She was a huge personality.”

Laxon said Ethereal was a real individual and, 20 years later, she has high praise for the mare still.

“She thought she was the best, and so it proved to be,” the trainer said. “And it was important to me to nurture that attitude, because they know when they win and they get even more superior. She was just a super-intelligent horse.”

During the Ethereal years, Laxon had about 20 horses in her yard. She was a globetrotting, hands-on trainer in every sense, and she knew her star mare inside out.

Laxon’s formative training years were in her native England, where the training styles are very different to Australia, so she brought a unique touch to Ethereal’s campaigns from 2000 to 2002. Riding her in work and handling her on the ground, Laxon realised just how smart the mare was.

“She had the most incredible of brains,” she said. “She knew what she was there for, and we got on so well, more than any other horse I’ve broken in. I think our rapport happened right from the beginning and it just carried along, and I was there for the ride.”

Laxon was at Pencarrow when Ethereal got her name, and confesses she suggested it, even if she couldn’t pronounce it properly.

“At the time, it was a pretty dark point in my life and she became a blessing to me,” the trainer said. “It was as her name suggested, that she was sent from the heavens.”

History made

Ethereal’s Melbourne Cup win made Sheila Laxon the first female to ever train a Cup winner and, since then, there’s been only Gai Waterhouse with Fiorente (Ire) in 2013.

The victory was nearly 10 years to the day after Laxon had a crippling race fall that left her unconscious for eight days, and when she woke up, she was in a mixed psychiatric ward, unable to speak or write and therefore unable to communicate.

“Ethereal changed my life entirely,” Laxon said. “It was extraordinary that after such a dark time in my life, when we thought I’d never recover, she came along and I became Australia's first female trainer to win a Melbourne Cup. That, in itself, was a huge story for people in bad situations.”

Laxon remembers all the fine details about Ethereal like it were yesterday.

She said the mare was only half-fit for her Caulfield Cup, weighing in at 452kg. At Macedon Lodge in the weeks following, the trainer was able to give her plenty of hill work, after which Ethereal was 474kg for her Melbourne Cup.

“She wasn’t a very big horse at all, but I was able to get the miles out of her,” Laxon said. “I’d learned about riding racehorses in England, so I trained the English way and it stood me in great stead with her because I had her up the hills.

"It really was only in her last few starts that I galloped her, because the rest of the time it was just rounding up sheep and cattle and those sorts of conditioning exercises.”

Laxon won’t mark Tuesday’s big race in any particular way. She has a number of horses running at Eagle Farm, but at some point in the day she’ll lend a thought to the wonderful mare that put her on the map 20 years ago.

“It’s always great leading up to the Cup, because I do lots of talks and functions to tell the story,” she said. “Ethereal changed my life in so many ways, and it’s great that she’s still alive. I’ve been back to see her a few times, and she’s still the same. She comes up to the fence briefly and then moseys off on her own terms, just like I remember her.”

They talk about where they started out, the successes they have achieved, their shared passion for breeding and sourcing the best thoroughbreds, and their vision for the future.

Both men began their careers on the other side of the world, O'Brien in Ireland and Bester in South Africa, but they have both played major roles in the success of the Australian bloodstock industry.

Their careers have intersected many times along the way and they share a strong bond, despite some obvious points of difference.

O'Brien's passion for thoroughbreds is matched by his passion for the environment and his love of all sport, something that Bester has seen shine through over the years.

"Peter is passionate about a lot of things really, from not clubbing seals to not eating veal, and hugging trees. The non-racing things I'd say he is passionate about are sport in general as well," he said.

Beyond his expert eye for horses, Bester is renowned for his willingness to speak his mind on many things. But it is his passion for family which O'Brien feels is a driving force these days.

"In his youth, nothing held him back and he enjoyed the fruits of life. Now, he is a wonderful father, and so I would say now, his children and his wife Bridget are the things he lives for," O'Brien said.

The pair also share their experiences of working with great horses across the journey, O'Brien with the likes of Winx (Street Cry {Ire}) and Merchant Navy in recent times, and Bester involved with Group 1 winners Pinot (Pierro) and Virage De Fortune (Anabaa {USA}) as well as with the fantastically successful broodmare Hips Don't Lie (NZ) (Stravinsky {USA}).

The discussion covers of the most exciting stallions with their first runners this season, with an obvious focus on Merchant Navy, who stands at Coolmore, who Bester consults to, and who O'Brien raised and sold at Segenhoe.

"I have been talking to a lot of trainers. They all say the same things about the Merchant Navys. They come into the stable a bit nondescript and then just improve, improve, improve. They have great temperaments and want to be racehorses," O'Brien said.

"The common thing is that they are great winded horses, which he was himself."

Talking about the current second-season sires, one of the strongest stallion crops in years, Bester remains convinced that US Triple Crown winner American Pharoah (USA) can make a significant impact in Australia.

"You are going to think that I am biased, but I believe a horse like American Pharoah, he might come from behind and run past all of them I saw that because he is a proven sire who has shown all over the world he can get Group 1 horses on dirt and turf," Bester said.

The pair offers a masterclass on selecting stallions for matings as well as yearlings and broodmares, while Bester gives his forthright take on the decision taken in the United States to limit the amount of mares a stallion may serve in a season.

"It’s so typical of the society we live in today, with this regression towards communism and not allowing the free market to hold way, I think it’s an abomination!" he said.

It's a view that O'Brien agrees with, perhaps not with the same choice of language, and he says the timing of the breeding season also needs to be reviewed to move it two weeks earlier.

And if thrown the keys to run the thoroughbred industry, what would they do?

"A national body is in dire need. We need one voice. Everything will follow from that," O'Brien said. "The two biggest things for me would be welfare and people."

Bester agrees and would also like to see a more co-ordinated approach to the running of racing.

"I might like to centralise control a little, so there was more harmony between the different states. I'd also like to see one racing channel, I’d like to see one controlling body," he said.

As for their other plans, you'll have to listen to the podcast!