Cover image courtesy of Inglis

Harron on the Bell for Extreme colt

A price of $775,000 smashed the highest price paid at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale when an Extreme Choice colt from Murtle Turtle (Murtajill) stepped off centre stage at the Riverside complex in what has proved to be a perfectly executed plan by Bell River Thoroughbreds' Ferguson family.

James Harron Bloodstock's colt partnership went well past the previous record, the $625,000 paid for the Capitalist colt, the unraced Capital Theatre, from the Kitchwin Hills draft to George Moore Bloodstock and Team Moore Racing, last year.

It was an outstanding return on the $220,000 that Bevan Smith and Ferguson Bloodstock had paid for the colt at the Magic Millions National Weanling Sale last year, when offered by Kenmore Lodge.

“It’s really exciting, it’s really rewarding," said James Ferguson immediately after the sale of Lot 100 to James Harron was sealed.

“We all know that we all work hard and put in the hours to get these results but to pull off a plan that we had in place, not only for me and the family itself, but the staff that we have at home also, they’re the backbone of our business," added Ferguson.

“Mum (Georgie) did the shortlist and I remember I was still at home, then when I got there off the farm she said there’s only one that I want to buy and that was him," Ferguson said. “She told me she knew that in the first two strides of seeing him."

The colt's dam, Murtle Turtle, was twice stakes-placed and has produced three winners, Hurtle (Capitalist) Time For Love (Deep Field) and the recent Warwick Farm winner California Deeply (Deep Field).

Murtle Turtle, who produced a Shalaa (Ire) colt last year before visiting Pierro, now resides at Merricks Station, who purchased her for $180,000 in 2021.

Choice option

But it was the sire which attracted Harron, with Lot 100 one of just 14 colts from the third crop of Champion First Season Sire, Extreme Choice.

Extreme Choice's remarkable start to his career has seen him produce six stakes winners from just 33 runners to date, highlighted by G1 Golden Slipper S. winner Stay Inside.

“There are very few of them around and we really wanted to add one to the group for our colts partnership. We had a good look at him, I was really impressed by the horse and I am delighted to get him," said Harron.

“You start to learn about certain breeds and I think he was very typical of what we have seen of the good Extreme Choices. He had a really masculine head, fantastic depth of girth, medium size, but a very good-moving horse.

“He’s got a wonderful attitude and that’s all you keep hearing from people about the good Extreme Choices, just how wonderful their attitudes are. Not A Single Doubts, his sire, were also very unflappable types of horses and trainers love them."

Harron said the colt could have gone to any sale in Australia and done very well.

“The fact that they’ve brought him here, I guess it was nearly a full circle for them, having bred, offered and sold Extreme Choice here (at Classic), so I am sure it was part of their plan to get back here where they’ve had that success," Harron said.

Harron also purchased the third highest-priced lot of the day, with his colt partnership going to $375,000 to secure Lot 122, a colt by Capitalist from the draft of Newgate.

Harron purchased Capitalist himself as a yearling and has proven quite the fan of his early crops, buying nine yearlings across 2020 and 2021.

This colt is out of the three-time winner Onemoretequila (Onemorenomore), a daughter of Listed winner Tequila Knowledge (Knowledge) out of the family of Italian Champion Mariella (GB) (Sir Gaylord {USA}).

Harron also paid $210,000 by another sire he had purchased as a yearling, Pariah, with Lot 211 a colt offered by Redbank North/Huntworth Stud out of the prolific winner Rose Of Falvelon (Falvelon).

Growth upon growth

Inglis CEO - Bloodstock Sales, Sebastian Hutch, said the record start to the Sale had been very satisfying and was growth that was hard to imagine possible given it comes on the back of 23 per cent growth at last year’s Classic Sale.

“There were some really important horses sold today, obviously a new record price for the Sale and that was a particular objective for the Sale,’’ he said. “We felt like we could break the record.

“Fundamentally, you’re just happy to see people who support the Sale achieve some fantastic results and similarly have, almost without exclusion, all the biggest names in Australian racing participating at the buying side of things.’’

The clearance rate sat at around 85 per cent at the close of play but Hutch expected that to rise significantly as buyers looked for opportunities. He added the momentum from Classic 2021 was coming through.

“From a pragmatic perspective, to achieve any growth in this Sale with the same number of horses again, on the back of the year when you’ve grown 23.6 per cent was going to be difficult. But at this stage, we’re on track for genuinely significant growth in the Sale again. It’s a tremendous compliment to where the market sits.’’

Hutch made special mention of the record breaking Extreme Choice lot from Bell River Thoroughbreds.

“The Bell River draft is a very significant draft for this Sale. They have a great history with Inglis and it just seemed very fateful that they’d have an Extreme Choice colt that they’d bring to Classic with their best-ever draft at this Sale with the stallion having demonstrated himself to be a special stallion," he said.

“Having sold the horse themselves as a yearling and him going on to be a super star racehorse and a super star stallion and to now have a colt of his break a record at Classic, that took a huge amount of faith on their part to support the Sale in that manner."

Bon bids for Classique repeat

Bon Ho secured The Everest winner Classique Legend (Not A Single Doubt) out of this Sale five years ago, paying the top price of $400,000 and he was forced to edge to $550,000 to secure the one he liked most this time around, Lot 263, a Deep Field colt from the draft of Newgate Farm.

Ho has been a major spender across Australian yearling sales in the past few years. With Deep Field proving such a success in his home base of Hong Kong, he won out in a determined battle, with the colt to be trained in Australia by Will Freedman.

"He was the best-looking horse at the Sale for me and there were some very good trainers as underbidders so I’m very pleased to get him. He was recommended to me by William Freedman, so he will be trained by William," he said.

"The market is very hot, the good-looking horses fetch a very good price. It’s very good for the vendors but for the buyers like myself, we have to pay more than our budget for the better ones," he said.

Ho's Legend Racing had paid $650,000 for Group 3-winning 3-year-old Tiger Heart (Better Than Ready) at the Magic Millions Online Sale on Thursday and took its weekly spend into the seven-figure range, with $550,000 on this colt and another $220,000 on a Dundeel (NZ) colt, Lot 225, in partnership with Avenue Bloodstock.

The Deep Field colt, bred by SF Bloodstock and Hollymount Stud, is out of multiple stakes winner Spellbinder (NZ) (O'Reilly {NZ}), who was also Group 1-placed and has produced the recent winner Spellcatcher (Extreme Choice).

Spellbinder was purchased by Newgate for $200,000 in 2018 and had a Tassort colt last year before returning to the same stallion.

Stallion ambitions with Vinnie colt

Baystone's Dean Harvey purchased the top-priced I Am Invincible colt on the opening day, with Lot 140, who was offered by Yarraman Park Stud, headed to Victoria to Troy Corstens, secured for $480,000.

Harvey was buying as part of a partnership with Sean Buckley's Ultra Racing with a long-term view to the colt's potential as a stallion

"He's (Buckley) got Shamus Award going really well at the moment, and he's looking for other colts to suit some fillies by Shamus Award," Harvey said.

"He's by the premier stallion in the country from a great family, so he fit the bill exactly for what he is looking for."

Lot 140 is out of Pierro mare, Pierro Moss, who is an unraced daughter of Listed winner Upon This Rock (Fastnet Rock). She is a blood-sister to Group 1 winner Comin' Through and is closely related to multiple Group 1 winner Criterion (NZ) as well as Kingstar Farm stallion Bull Point.

"Troy Corstens will train him," Harvey confirmed. "He'll head off to Kolora Lodge in Queensland, make the trip up there, get broken in and come home and start off with Troy. Hopefully we are winning the Millennium next year."

This colt was bred by Gall Bloodstock, who were the original owners of his sire, I Am Invincible, who was purchased out of this Sale in 2006. They secured Pierro Moss for $80,000 through the Inglis Australian Broodmare Sale in 2019.

It was Baystone's only purchase of the day in its own name, although it did pay $90,000 for a Maurice (Jpn) filly, Lot 156, in partnership with Paul Preusker.

"It’s been really strong, I expected it to be strong after the first Sale in January, It was always going to follow on from that. They are well sought after, the top lots, and it carries through to the middle market," Harvey said.

Ridgmont and Ryan make their mark

A new vendor met an emerging buyer for the day's top-priced filly, Lot 215, with Blake Ryan Racing paying $360,000 for an American Pharoah (USA) filly out Snitzel mare Royal Fashion, the first offering from Ridgmont Farm.

Director Andrew Dunemann said the farm’s first sale could not have gone much better.

“It was awesome, getting $360,000 for our first-ever horse was pretty exciting. There were a lot of illustrious underbidders as well," Dunemann said.

“I just hope now the horse can go and put Blake on the map as a trainer. He’s a good guy and a great horseman and I know he’ll be selling shares in it.

“You don’t get a better physical than what she was. If she can’t run, you probably give the game away."

The filly, whose dam, Royal Fashion, was Group 3-placed and is a half-sister to stakes winner Alpine Eagle and Every Faith (Not A Single Doubt), was very popular.

“She had 30 x-ray hits and she was out at least 200 times over the five days and averaged 55 inspections on the last three days," Dunemann said. “You look at her and she was just basically a Snitzel. A lot of people came down and said she was the best-looking Snitzel they’d seen in a long time."

Ryan, who specced the filly on his strong impression, said the purchase of Lot 215 felt like a statement for his stable.

"I came here and I saw her and I thought I don’t want to go home without her," he said.

"A young trainer like me, I need a sharp filly that is hopefully going to put us on the map and get us there early, hopefully, she can be a Gimcrack or Millennium filly next year."

Price is right for Dundeel colt

Earlier in the day, Mick Price went to $320,000 to secure Lot 40, a colt by Dundeel (NZ) out of Lures (Flying Spur), the sister to Group 1-winning mare Alverta, from the draft of Arrowfield Stud.

“He’s a lovely colt and you’ve got to pay," said Price. “Annabel Neasham was chasing me up being the underbidder, so you’ve got a good judge on him.

"I love buying Arrowfield horses because they keep producing Group 1 horses off that farm, and he’s got a good page on him. I think he’s a racey, running, later 2-year-old, early spring 3-year-old type. He looks like he’s going to be a 1200 to 1600-type colt and I think he’s got a lot of quality and a lot of athleticism about him."

Price said he would have his eye on Dundeel colts across the Sale.

“I dig the colts in particular, Super Seth being a lovely colt, and Castelvecchio…so I’m going to chase a few Dundeel colts," he said.

“I’ll be trying to buy a good Group 1 colt. But I couldn’t have done much better in this Sale to buy off that farm, by that page, out of that stallion for that particular type of colt. Pretty happy, so we’ll get him sold, get him done, get some colours on him and away we go."

Day 2 of the Inglis Classic Sale starts at 10am (AEDT) on Monday.

Top lots

Top buyers

Vendors by aggregate

Vendors by average (3 or more sold)

Sires by aggregate

Sires by average (3 or more sold)

Gus Roland is joined by Gary Portelli, Bevan Smith and Jock Ferguson to discuss the first day of selling at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale, after a massive pinhook result to top the day and strong competition putting buyers under pressure.

It was all part of the plan, said James Ferguson after the sale. Maybe not to eclipse the previous Sale record of $625,000 set last year with the Capitalist colt now known as Capital Theatre, but certainly to make some serious profit from the progeny of the star sire bred on their farm.

The record-breaking Extreme Choice colt sold as Lot 100 on Sunday was purchased at the Magic Millions National Weanling Sale for $220,000 from the Kenmore Lodge draft in conjunction with Bevan Smith Bloodstock.

“The plan was to buy the best Extreme Choice weanling we could get hold of,’’ said Ferguson.

“Mum (Georgie) did the shortlist and I remember I was still at home, then when I got there off the farm she said there’s only one that I want to buy and that was him,’’ Ferguson said. “She told me she knew that in the first two strides of seeing him.’’

Extreme confidence in sire

There is very little black type on the page and the best of that sits with dam Murtle Turtle (Murtajill). She was a 2-year-old winner and placed at Group 3 level. The plan was based on type and unwavering confidence in the stallion.

“To pull off the plan, it’s not just a matter of rocking up to the Sale. Mistakes have gone into this, to be able to pull off a plan. It takes experience and learning and getting better and better each year to be able to stand here today and that’s why it’s so rewarding,’’ he said.

“I remember as a kid, probably 15 years ago now, we sold a horse for $170,000 and that topped the Sale,’’ said Ferguson. “Inglis have taken this Sale to another level and that was reflected in the first 10 lots of the Sale. There were a lot of horses making over $100,000 and they’ve got the people here that have done the groundwork and are driving this Sale going forward.’’

Dad earns plenty of praise

Ferguson praised his father, Andrew, for his ability to pick stallions and said he and brother, Jock, had been fortunate to be able to learn off of him.

“Dad looks at the industry a lot differently to other people. He always had belief in the stallion and sort of most people would doubt that he could make it because he only had 30 in his first crop,’’ said Ferguson.

“But he’s sort of proven that numbers are irrelevant for a stallion and Dad backed his judgement, Jock and I did the research and did the groundwork to be able to do it.’’

More of a limited Choice to come

That groundwork has culminated in the Bell River Thoroughbreds Extreme Choice plan, a group of up to nine by the star sire to roll out over three years of sales. Already, the plan has returned a total $555,000 profit on Sunday at Inglis Classic and a $330,000 sale at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale for a filly from Show A Heart mare Heart Of Tier, selling to Gall Bloodstock.

Four Extreme Choice yearlings out of Bell River will go to sale this year, four next year and they have a mare in foal to the son of Not A Single Doubt and Extremely (Hussonet {USA}).

“We tried him with a couple of mares, two that we’re selling later this year,’’ said Ferguson.

Ferguson said what Extreme Choice was doing was phenomenal and was proving wrong the widespread thoughts in the industry that stallions have to have numbers on the ground.

“He got 30 in his first crop and has a Group 1-winning Golden Slipper winner that’s going to go to stud,’’ Ferguson said. “He’s got another colt that’s probably going to go to stud. He’s got the filly that’s probably going to be champion 3-year-old filly at the end of the season if all goes well with her.

“They’re a limited commodity and that was part of our plan. We’re lucky enough that we bred him and we’re still able to be a part of that journey in some way, shape or form.’’

Cover image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan

The navy blue, white and lime colours of Seymour Bloodstock have featured regularly in the winners' stall of major races in the past decade, but it was only relatively recently that they got into breeding their own horses.

A decision to buy into young Newhaven Park-based stallion Xtravagant (NZ) set the wheels in motion for success in Saturday's $2 million race, as well as the earlier stakes success of Xtravagant Star's now 3-year-old brother He's Xceptional.

"When we bought some shares in Xtravagant when Newhaven syndicated him, the Kellys identified some style of mares that they thought would be best to breed to him. We put Neil Jenkinson, the Queensland-based agent, onto the job and he found this mare for us," Seymour Bloodstock's Mark Pilkington told TDN AusNZ.

The mare was She's A Danica (Sebring), who until that point had passed in twice as a yearling and once as a broodmare when offered for sale. A granddaughter of multiple Group 1 winner Ballroom Babe (NZ) (Citidancer {Ire}), she was from the same family of sires Maschino and Hidden Dragon.

The first colt they bred from her was He's Xceptional, who Pilkington describes affectionately as 'no Brad Pitt' in the looks department and who was offered through the Newhaven Park draft at the 2020 Inglis Classic Sale. He was purchased for $40,000 for Clarke Bloodstock on behalf of Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young.

"Trent initially couldn't sell all of the one he bought. He actually wanted to put him in as a Ready to Run Sale, but he decided to keep him and we kept a quarter of him," Pilkington said.

"Seymour has only really started breeding seriously in the last few years. Fundamentally, Darren loves his racing, so I think the trainers we have horses with are cognisant of the fact that we don't want them to be buying anything we aren't happy to race ourselves."

That turned out an excellent result with He's Xceptional becoming his sire's first stakes winner in the Listed McKenzie S. at Moonee Valley in August.

Worth staying in

Thomas and Pilkington had slightly higher expectations of the next Xtravagant yearling out of She's A Danica, a filly which was offered at last year's Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale, again through Newhaven Park.

"She was a beautiful filly set for the Melbourne Premier Sale. At the time, I suppose Xtravagant wasn't that sexy, so we put a reserve of $70,000 on her. Newhaven weren't that confident that she would sell, but she found a couple that liked her and McEvoy's bought her for $150,000," he said.

"In the post-Sale catch-up and elation, Darren and I decided that we had got double what she was worth in our mind, or at least what we would have sold her for.

"So they invited us to go back in and race with Tony McEvoy's partner Wayne Mitchell, who we have had done a few things together with over the years. That seemed a nice fit and worked out terrifically. We are all very pleased."

Xtravagant Star debuted in a 2-year-old maiden at Geelong on January 6, co-incidentally the same race that subsequent G1 Blue Diamond S. winner Artorius (Flying Artie) won on debut last year.

She led all the way that day, but on Saturday, was ridden just off the pace, in what Pilkington described as a 'ripping' Chad Schofield ride, being produced with perfect timing to win by 1.65l from race favourite Paris Dior (Pierro) and the previously unbeaten Sejardan (Sebring).

"She has really thrived in Sydney. She looked great. Her temperament was fantastic and she was just lobbing around yesterday like an 8-year-old gelding. A ripping good ride from Chad Schofield and you throw all that together and it makes for bloody a nice batch of scones," he said.

Filly follows in rich steps

Adding nicely into the recipe for Seymour Bloodstock is a sister to that stakes-winning pair was who foaled in September.

"I haven't seen her but John Kelly tells me she is very much in the mould of Xtravagant Star. She is a beautiful-looking horse and they tell me the one on the ground is the same again. She's A Danica is not necessarily any catwalk model, but the matings have been right," he said.

She's A Danica visited Fierce Impact (Jpn) at Leneva Park last year. He's another young stallion that Seymour Bloodstock have shares in and they have been keen to support him early in his career.

Unsurprisingly, Pilkington expects She's A Danica to head back to Xtravagant next year, given she has a 100 per cent stakes-producing record with the son of Pentire (GB).

"Right at the moment, I am scratching my head as to why we aren't racing more Xtravagants," he said.

"Ciaron Maher and Will Bourne bought an Xtravagant filly from Newhaven in the first crop that we bought half of. She races as Lavish Girl and she's won a couple and been stakes-placed.

"We were having a giggle over a coffee this morning saying we have raced three Xtravagants for three black-type horses. We probably should be buying some more."

Pilkington is of course well aware of the fact that the success of Xtravagant Star will only make that task harder. There are four in the current Inglis Classic Sale, with Kennewell Racing and Group 1 Bloodstock paying $45,000 for Lot 101, a filly from Newhaven Park's draft, on Sunday.

He said the success of the sire, and of his two stakes winners, is largely down to the horsemanship of John Kelly and his team at Newhaven Park.

"The horses that we have bred up at Newhaven have been great. They are such passionate thoroughbred people and the husbandry is second to none," he said.

Helena's Secret, who died in 2020, has been a terrific producer for Highgrove Stud, with seven winners from seven to the track, highlighted by Group 2-winning sprinter Thronum, the son of Snitzel who is a resident stallion at Widden Victoria.

Cythera, a $420,000 purchase by George Moore Bloodstock and the IRON syndicate at last year's Inglis Easter Yearling Sale, was her final foal and became her second stakes winner when debuting with a classy win in Saturday's Listed 2-year-old race.

G1 Irish Oaks winner Helen Street, the dam of Champion Australian sire Street Cry (Ire) and grandam of the star global stallion Shamardal (USA), is a pedigree-influence sought the world over and her maternal descendants have included four Group 1 winners and 18 stakes winners.

Among those stakes-winning descendants is Tears I Cry (USA) (Chester House {USA}), who Gilbert purchased for US$735,000 (AU$1.04 million) at the Keeneland November Breeding Sale in 2009.

"She was my first American purchase. She was in foal to Curlin, first season and the plan was when I started to buy some mares in America, to buy them pregnant, and get involved with the American market in selling yearlings," Gilbert told TDN AusNZ.

"That gave me more interest in the stallions out of there. I bought her, foaled her down over there and brought her back. The Curlin filly was put to a nursing mare. She went through the September Yearling Sale and she was the highest-priced Curlin of the year. She made US$700,000 (AU$990,000)."

A couple of years later, Gilbert was back in Kentucky when Tears I Cry's half-sister, Helena's Secret went through the Keeneland November Sale. He bought her in foal to Eskenderya (USA) for US$200,000 (AU$283,000) and the subsequent filly sold for US$240,000 (AU$340,000).

Her first Australian foal was Thronum, who was sold by Highgrove as a $300,000 Inglis Easter yearling to Sun Stud and who would go on to win the G2 Australia S. and place in a G1 William Reid S. for Lindsay Park before finding a home at stud.

Helena's Secret has continued to produce the goods for Highgrove Stud, both commercially, with her Australian yearlings averaging $317,000, and on the track, with every one of them a winner.

Rule Of Law (Snitzel), a one-time $450,000 yearling who has found a new lease of life after being on-sold through Inglis Digital, has been doing the job for the family of late, registering four consecutive victories for trainer Bjorn Baker over the summer.

On Saturday, it was Cythera's turn, becoming the first winner for the IRON syndicate, a revolutionary ownership model based around blockchain technology.

Secret of success

Helena's Secret may have died in 2020, but Highgrove Stud remains involved in that family through Sebring mare Secretly, who produced a Written Tycoon filly last September.

"That win on Saturday was a huge thrill for all of us on the farm," Gilbert said.

"I love that family and I can't get enough of it, with that Helen Street. She's such a powerful mare on pedigrees. Duplicating her has been very successful on a global scale.

"I couldn't be happier having Secretly in foal to Street Boss, which gives me that duplication."

It was another proven genetic combination that produced Cythera as she joined Invincible Spirit's (Ire) Group 1-winning son and Darley shuttle stallion Territories (Ire) as a stakes-winning descendant of Helen Street from that sireline.

Gilbert always held high hopes for Cythera as a yearling, as one of the better types out of Helena's Secret, and it was no great surprise to him that she made quick progress as a stakes winner on debut.

"I thought she might make a bit more, but I suppose every vendor says that. It was a good price but she was such a beautiful filly," he said.

"She has such great action for a filly. The Mitchell boys tell me that they (I Am Invincibles) don't all walk as well as her. She was a really good moving, big-actioned filly and she has bought it to the races."

Classic timing

The timing of winning graduates is always important and with Highgrove Stud offering seven horses through the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale this week, Cythera's victory was very much welcomed.

"It’s thrilling. It’s such good timing at the start of a sale to get a stakes-winning 2-year-old, to breed one and have sold one," Gilbert said.

"This is where we make our money and you have to get decent money to keep paying all the service fees and bills of course. Runners and winners are the backbone of a farm really.

"It's very important that the farm's progeny keep putting them to the fore and winning races. Even better when they are stakes races."

Highgrove Stud sold one lot, an Exceed And Excel colt out of another American mare Simply Spiteful (USA) (Speightstown {USA}) for $180,000 to Gollan Racing and John Foote Bloodstock (FBAA) on Sunday at the Classic Sale and have six further lots to go through the ring over the coming days.

"It’s been very busy and I think we couldn't be happier with the way it's going," Gilbert said. "There are plenty of people here, the Sale has kicked off and I think it’s going along well."

Guy was recently handed an offer too good to refuse for his stables on the Gold Coast and decided it was time to hang up the boots.

"My place here, they came in and offered us good money for it. I decided it was time to pull up stumps and that was it. I had a talk to my family and I thought it’s a good time, considering I am only 67, to have a break and do the things that I want to do," he said.

Guy grew up in horse stables and his official role began when he was 13, when he was licensed to ride trackwork for his own father, Ray, helping out with smart horses like multiple stakes winner Sovereign Slipper.

"It was a good learning curve put it that way," he said. "I was in and around horses all my life."

Guy reflects on his father's death in 1992 and the whirlwind that saw him take over the family operation.

"The night he passed away, there were 60 horses, they had to work the next morning," he said. "I said to Max, 'What are we going to do? We can't just leave these horses in the boxes all weekend?' So we took the 60 horses to the track and we worked them. That was a tough morning," he said.

Within five days, Bryan was licensed to train, and went about running what had been his father's business with the blessing of his uncle, Max, who had been Ray Guy's right-hand man.

Bryan Guy's first Group 1 winner was already in the stable when he took over, All Our Mob (What A Guest {Ire}), who would win the 1994 G1 Stradbroke H.

"He taught me a lot that horse. He was such a kind horse, a lovely horse. His nickname was Mobster and he was a very kind horse," he said.

"He was my first runner on the following Saturday (after his father passed away), and he bolted in at Rosehill, which was very pleasing."

The day of that Stradbroke win in 1994 still very much sticks in the mind of Guy.

"It was a big day, I could tell you. My wife, had appendicitis and had her appendix out on the Friday. I had the two kids at home and cooked some breakfast for them. I jumped on a plane to Brisbane and the air hostess spilled a cup of coffee over me," he said.

"That night, it was a night you’d just remember forever."

Not long after that, All Our Mob left the stable after his owner passed away.

"When he went it was very heartbreaking, but it was either we give up then or we kept going," he said.

Another star that Guy trained in these early days was Ravarda, who was by a sire that Ray Guy had trained and Bryan had looked after, Rave Report.

Bryan had picked him out as a yearling for $10,000 and while he couldn't syndicate him, the colt quickly repaid him, winning the Listed Breeders' Plate at his first start. Later in his 2-year-old season, he would win the G1 Castlemaine S. at Eagle Farm, giving Guy his second Group 1 winner.

"He was a tough horse. He was really tough. I was probably too hard on him," he said.

At the end of his career, Ravarda's name was put up on the front gate of Guy's stables, a measure of the regard he was held in.

"He was a great horse to us. We owned five-sixths of him and when he finished racing, he had earned over $1 million in prizemoney," he said.

Guy, who would also train a G1 Queensland Derby winner, Eagle Way (More Than Ready {USA}), shares his insights on buying yearlings, and looking for gems among the catalogue.

He also speaks about the importance of the relationship with owners, working with some of the same people who had horses with his father in the 1970s. The key, he says, is integrity.

"Be honest with your clients. They come to you to train for them and all you have to do is be honest and courteous and try and be a friend and try and work on the business relationship," he said.