Changes at Cornerstone Stud as Sam Hayes takes on new challenge

Hayes is now formally the Executive Director of Cornerstone, with the stud’s bloodstock manager Sam Pritchard-Gordon taking up the role of General Manager, as Hayes takes on a new venture establishing TOOP+TOOP Rural with the leading Adelaide real estate company.

Hayes had been contemplating a career change, or expansion, for some time and believed that having one of the best teams now in place at Cornerstone with Pritchard-Gordon and Stud/Operations manager Ross Fuller, the time was right to take a step into that journey.

“For a large part of my career, I probably saw myself retiring into a role in the family horse business,’’ Hayes said. “With Sam PG coming along, he has his own experience of running his own operation for eight or nine years. The difference between being an employee and having your own business, there’s some real life experiences that he had that meant that I can step back a little bit.

"I guess I wouldn’t have thought about it if we didn’t have a great team here that could manage it without me. Because running a horse business isn’t for the fainthearted," added Hayes.

TOOP+TOOP Real Estate are rated at the very top of their industry in South Australia and are one of the most highly acclaimed in Australia, said Hayes.

The Toop family approached Hayes late last year when he had mentioned that he might be looking for things to do while keeping the farm.

“Emily, my wife, and I thought it was a good fit. They’re the number one real estate agency in South Australia. They’ve got the real estate know-how and I guess they were after my rural network and my ability to get along with people and sell things. So that’s how it all came about,’’ Hayes said.

“We understand what it means for your farm to be your biggest asset,’’ Hayes said. “That’s been the case for my grandfather, my uncle and myself.

“We’ve had horses that have come and gone that have been worth a lot of money but the constant of all of that is the farm.

“And a lot of our clients, people who breed horses, obviously a large percentage of them are from the country, especially historically, so we have been travelling around catching up with mare owners for 20 years. I have gotten to know a lot of people and a lot of communities and that will be helpful as we launch TOOP+TOOP Rural.’’

TOOP+TOOP Rural is a new business Emily and Sam are starting with Genevieve Toop and her husband Bronte Manuel. Sam will be targeting for sale specifically rural properties, focused on selling farms that you can run a business on and vineyards.

Cheering on the horses still

Racedays could see Hayes with one cap on his head and another in his pocket, he jokes, but with horses and racing running as deep as ever in his blood, he’s adamant the passion for the industry will be on show often.

“Sam Hayes at the race track now has a cap on his head and one in his pocket,’’ he said. “On racedays I’ll definitely be selling horses first and foremost, or cheering for the horses we’ve bred.

“But if someone wants to come up and sell a farm, my TOOP+TOOP Rural business card will be in my pocket. The beauty of the two businesses is that they complement each other very well.’’

Still to live at Cornerstone, Hayes will remain involved in the stud business, mostly with the sales side of the business.

“Sales particularly, and yearling sale time, and I will still be doing client relations,’’ he said. “We have 20 trainers on the farm Monday and I will be helping to host them. The beauty of this new business is that it affords me the flexibility to step in and out of Cornerstone when I want to.’’

Cornerstone Stud now has two stallions at the farm, Valentia and Sir Prancealot (USA), whereby in the past they have had up to five stallions, requiring two people to sell nominations.

Gallery: Stallions standing at Cornerstone Stud

“Me and Sam (Pritchard-Gordon), we work really hard to get mares, from interstate quite often when there’s so many quality stallions across Victoria and NSW, but with two stallions and both of them proven now that is sort of less workload for Sam,’’ said Hayes.

“So Sam will be helping to get mares to those stallions and he’s been working with us to improve our own broodmare band over the past two years so that all carries on.’’

There’s no real change to the process and the outcome for Cornerstone that is already in play, Hayes saying the operation is moving towards being 'a little more boutique' with less quantity and more quality.

“We’re ultimately trying to get our staff numbers back. They got up to as high as 18 and we want to get that back to 12 or 13, overall across the business,’’ he said. “We want to maintain our turnover like all businesses, sell better quality yearlings and reduce our costs.’’

All up at Magic Millions Adelaide

Cornerstone Stud will send everything they have got to offer this year to the Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale on March 15 and 16, with a draft of 30 yearlings, and they will be taking a bit of the Barossa with them to the Sale Hayes says is relaxed, has great horses for sale and is probably the most approachable Sale in the country.

“Really, we’re putting all our eggs into the Adelaide basket and we’re not travelling interstate this year with the Cornerstone drafts,’’ Hayes said.

“I'm excited about the Sale overall. We don’t have a second session this year, it’s all premier book. I’m not just excited for Cornerstone but also seeing what the interstate and other locals are bringing,’’ Hayes said. “Looking at the diversity of the catalogue…obviously, I haven’t seen all the horses yet but I am getting a gauge from Magics and I think there’s a lot to look forward to.’’

Cornerstone Stud had an interest in two yearlings that went to the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in January, with a Harry Angel (Ire) colt selling for $400,000, a fantastic result by Hayes’ assessment.

For Magic Millions Adelaide, the Cornerstone goal is to get it’s average in the next two years up to $70,000, and soon after to $100,000.

“If we have a draft of 25, we want to be selling $2.5 million worth of horses in Adelaide,’’ Hayes said. “A draft with high numbers, we also want to be one of the highest averaging drafts as well.

“On the individual horse side, I think our Sale-topper last year sold for $425,000. I don’t think we’ll beat that this year but we’ve got a Lonhro colt out of a mare called Love Struck, who may go close,’’ he said.

Cornerstone will also be bringing the hospitality, wine and food from their renowned home patch of the Barossa Valley with them to Magic Millions Adelaide.

“Historically we’ve had a marquee with Mill Park but we’re both doing our own marquees this year. We think that the more hospitality in Adelaide for buyers the better,’’ Hayes said.

“We’re partnering with three wineries up here to showcase their wine and their winemakers are coming down on different days to get around, pour a few wines and have a chat. Trying to bring a bit of the Barossa to Adelaide and also with the food offering."

Something for all tastes

Hayes said different sales throughout Australia and New Zealand had been creating their own identities in recent times, and well before the challenges of the COVID pandemic had dictated some of that need too.

“I think New Zealand led the way heavily with sort of a food and wine offering and making sure the buyers from overseas were well looked after,’’ Hayes said.

“Of course Magic Millions has got it’s own atmosphere on the Gold Coast where people are still in holiday mode almost, able to relax and go for a walk on the beach in the morning and then go to the Sale.

“I think Adelaide is definitely a place where people relax,’’ he said. “Naturally we want to be selling horses worth $250,000 but on the Gold Coast, the average is $290,000. When the average is $60,000 or $70,000, the Sale has a different atmosphere about it. Not every bid is worth $50,000 or $25,000… likewise, you can buy Group 1 winners out of Adelaide.’’

Hayes said Cornerstone Stud, and the South Australian industry more generally, were pretty proud and parochial about Adelaide and the Barossa and liked to make sure people have a good time while in Adelaide and equally go to the right restaurants and buy good horses at the same time.

“Definitely, it can be very daunting going to some of these eastern states sales now. For a young trainer or an owner just wanting to get started, Adelaide’s an incredibly approachable place with good horses,’’ Hayes said.

“Potentially not the pedigrees of some of the horses in some of the bigger sales, but a great place to put your toe in the water and you can still buy a Happy Trails or a very good horse.

“Adelaide’s a good place to get to know people.’’

Some challenges remain

Hayes said the Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale had worked through some challenges and was now looking strong to enjoy some great times. But there remained some industry challenges in South Australia which, like other smaller states, faced the real prospect of falling too far behind NSW and Victoria in the racing and breeding industry.

“It’s going to be very hard to keep pace. The gap might widen a little bit,’’ said Hayes. “South Australian Racing has done the right thing by supporting grassroots prizemoney when they could first start to afford to put some injections in.

“I think the next step for SA Racing is the challenge of making our black-type races as much or more than a normal Saturday race in Melbourne or Sydney. We’ve got a lot of Listed races that have fallen below that now.

“There’s a few challenges for the industry in terms of our Pattern and making sure we protect black type in every state. There’s challenges for each of the smaller states to make sure they’ve got enough prizemoney to maintain their black-type status because that’s critical for the breeding industry in each of those small states,’’ Hayes said.