Cover image courtesy of Yarraman Park Stud
While the dizzying results of the Inglis Classic Sale have commanded so much attention this week, in the wings at Yarraman Park were twin brothers Lenny and Les Gilmore. On Sunday afternoon, just a handful of lots after James Harron’s $775,000 Extreme Choice splash, the brothers sold their only horse in the Sale from the only mare they own, for $140,000.
Lot 111 was a Hellbent filly from the Not A Single Doubt mare Never Doubt Me, and she sold to Snowden Racing and Will Johnson Bloodstock (FBAA). By the Sale’s highest figures, it was some way off the top shelf, but it was a life-changing result for the Gilmore brothers.
Lot 111 - Hellbent x Never Doubt Me (filly) | Image courtesy of Inglis
“It’s a millionaire’s game and for two people with just normal jobs, it does change your life,” Lenny said, and his brother agreed as much.
“You never expect to get that sort of money any time, let alone for little breeders like us,” Les said. “We didn’t expect to get anywhere near that sort of money.”
Never Doubt her
Lenny Gilmore has been the head gardener at Yarraman Park for 19 years. It’s a long innings with one of Australia’s most respectable breeding outfits.
His brother Les works in the newsagency in downtown Scone, and between them the brothers share ownership in the neat little mare Never Doubt Me, who lives at Yarraman Park.
Lenny and Les Gilmore | Image courtesy of Yarraman Park Stud
“Les comes out and helps me in the afternoons and on weekends,” Lenny said. “If we’re busy with the sales, we muck out on weekends and we’ll get stuck in in the mornings too. Les has always been interested in the thoroughbred side of things. He’s always had racehorses, and he had a couple of breeding mares before I ever went to Yarraman.”
The brothers picked up Never Doubt Me at the conclusion of the mare’s track career. That was in 2014, when she retired with 11 wins and seven placings from 38 lifetime starts.
Never Doubt Me had raced through the country circuit for four seasons, and she’d been precocious early on.
Never Doubt Me when racing | Image courtesy of Sportpix
She won in Scone, Tamworth, Ballina, Newcastle and Randwick, and also Kempsey, Grafton, Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie. By retirement, she’d banked over $220,000 in prizemoney, which wasn’t a bad return for her trainer Neil Godbolt, who had paid just $8000 for the mare as a yearling at the 2010 Inglis Winter Thoroughbred Sale.
“We’d asked Harry (Mitchell) a number of years back to look around for a mare for us to buy,” Lenny said. “He found Never Doubt Me, and we bought her privately when she was just finished racing. She first had a filly for us that didn’t pass the scope, and we didn’t make very much from her at all. We virtually gave her away and she’s gone on to win over $100,000.”
“She (Never Doubt Me) first had a filly for us that didn’t pass the scope, and we didn’t make very much from her at all. We virtually gave her (Taken On Chance) away and she’s gone on to win over $100,000.” - Lenny Gilmore
That filly was Taken On Chance by Hinchinbrook. She was passed in at the 2017 Inglis Classic Sale, and she’s in fact won closer to $130,000 with trainer Bevan Johnson.
Never Doubt Me then had a colt by Hinchinbrook, and that horse (now named City Hunter) burst all expectations when he sold at the 2018 Inglis Classic Sale for $240,000.
“That was an amazing result,” Lenny said. “Just amazing.”
Changes your life
After that 2018 result, the Gilmore twins suddenly recognised how good things could get. But equally, it’s not in their nature to get ahead of themselves or expect that lightning will strike twice.
City Hunter as a yearling | Image courtesy of Inglis
Never Doubt Me had a third Hinchinbrook foal in 2018 that fetched only $22,500 when selling as a yearling to Redgum Racing, so the 2019 Hellbent filly, Lot 111, could have gone either way.
“We knew she had the possibility of making some money because she was by Hellbent, and Hellbent is so popular as a first-season sire,” Lenny said. “He’s got some really good young horses coming up, and I think the hype around his prospects with his 2-year-olds helped very much getting this result this week.”
“We knew she (Lot 111) had the possibility of making some money because she was by Hellbent, and Hellbent is so popular as a first-season sire.” - Lenny Gilmore
Lot 111 will go to the Snowden team at Randwick, which has pleased the Gilmore brothers. Lenny said the filly was a lovely, uncomplicated individual heading into the Sale.
“She’s a very nice filly,” he said. “She was very forward and, at the yearling sales, they’re looking for early stock. Peter Snowden buying her was an extra nice result.”
Lot 111 has the same broad, white face as her dam. She’s not a big yearling, and Lenny said his pre-sale hesitations about her even making her reserve were based on her being little, like her mother.
Lot 111 - Hellbent x Never Doubt Me (filly) as a foal | Image courtesy of Lenny Gilmore
“I was worried that she wasn’t big enough or scopey enough for what they were looking for,” he said. “And I had no idea what the reserve was until she went into the ring. There was talk of $50,000 to $100,000 before she went in, and it’s a hard game. I’m too small a breeder, and I’m not at the sales often enough, to judge what they’re really worth.”
In the wings, Harry Mitchell was confident the filly would do well, but when she realised $140,000 it was beyond the brothers’ wildest dreams. In an everyday sense, the result changes their lives.
“It makes life so much easier,” Lenny said. “I’m just a gardener and the wages are decent, but to get that sort of money you can go on a holiday or improve the house. Without it you’re looking for a loan, so absolutely, it does change your life.”
“I’m just a gardener and the wages are decent, but to get that sort of money ($140,000) you can go on a holiday or improve the house.” - Lenny Gilmore
Lenny said both he and Les are especially grateful for the Mitchell family's support all these years. He said without it, he and his brother wouldn't be small breeders, or breeders of any kind, really.
At Yarraman Park, Never Doubt Me has a second Hellbent filly on the ground that will head to the sales in 2023. She’s a bit scopier than her full sister, by Lenny’s reports.
The mare was put to Graff last spring, and it was a mating that was suggested by Harry Mitchell and welcomed by the Gilmore brothers.
“Harry said we should think outside the box with her, and Graff is a big, strong stallion that will suit Never Doubt Me,” Lenny said. “She probably lacks a little bit in the hindquarter, where he will throw that into her. If we could get a colt by Graff, we could end up getting a real good sale-ring result eventually.”
Gallery: Lot 111's full sister, Hellbent x Never Doubt Me '21, images courtesy of Lenny Gilmore
Graff, the Kitchwin Hills resident and genuine Group 1 weight-for-age competitor, stood his debut season last spring at $13,200 (inc GST).
He covered 119 mares, among them a half-sister to the Oaks winner Personal (Fastnet Rock), as well as the Gilmore’s good little mare Never Doubt Me.
