The 'big wet' that has hit Queensland saw Bob Frappell on a feed run on Sunday morning, enabling him to assess the damage caused by around 300mm of rain that has fallen in the Greenmount region in the past three days up until midday on Sunday.
"It’s very wet. We are just doing the feed run now. It’s very, very wet. It's worryingly wet and you wouldn't want to get that much rain again," Frappell told TDN AusNZ.
"We've got fences down at the back, the creek across the back has broken its banks. We will fix it up in a few days, but it would be nice to stop now."
The sunny disposition is helped by the fact that one of the farm's residents, Worthy Cause, now has the status as a Group 1 producer, thanks to Hinged's brave success for trainer Chris Waller and jockey Brenton Avdulla.
It was a success which owned a great deal to Clear Mountain Fairview, with Frappell the breeder of Hinged's dam Tints (Tycoon Ruler) and having had a close working relationship with the filly's breeder and part-owner, retired Toowoomba dentist Dr Kim McCasker.
"She's by Worthy Cause out of a Tycoon Ruler mare, you don't get any more homebred than that," Frappell told TDN AuNZ. "It’s really good, it’s so exciting. We all rode her home. She must be a tough horse to have all our weight on her back!"
"She's (Hinged) by Worthy Cause out of a Tycoon Ruler mare, you don't get any more homebred than that." - Bob Frappell
The Frappells also stood Tints' sire, Tycoon Ruler, and Worthy Cause's addition to the roster in 2017 was as a replacement for that stallion, who was coming to the end of his career.
"He was getting old and he had such a fiery temperament. He was about 17 and he didn't have a strong long-term future. He was a great horse for us, but I needed something else and Worthy Cause fitted the bill," he said.
Bob Frappell
Worthy Cause, a son of Choisir who was trained by John Zielke. was a horse that impressed Frappell in his racing days, where he claimed five racetrack victories, including two at stakes level.
"He was a good horse. He came third to Winx in her first win of her streak and he's a really nice animal to deal with. He's got a nice temperament and he's a good-looking horse," he said.
A delayed start
However, his progress to stud was not straightforward. Frappell was keen to stand him but had to hold fire due to an existing injury, which saw Worthy Cause require 12 months of rehab at Clear Mountain Fairview.
"He had torn the tendon off the bone in the front fetlock. Zielke rang me and said, 'Do you want to buy the horse?'. I liked his breeding and I rang three or four other guys, and said, 'I've been offered a horse, would you like to come into a partnership?' " he said.
"He (Worthy Cause) had torn the tendon off the bone in the front fetlock. (John) Zielke rang me and said, 'Do you want to buy the horse?'." - Bob Frappell
"I got a vet check on him and the vet asked me what I wanted to do with him and I said I wanted to stand him, and he said, 'He won't be standing this year, he's stuck in his box'.
"The vet said it was a bad injury, he will probably get through it but it would be 12 months before he wasn't lame. They sent him up here and I looked after him and when he got over his lameness, I paid the price and I'm glad I did!"
Among his book of 40 mares in that first year was one that Frappell knew particularly well, Tints, who he had sold to McCasker for $10,000 five years earlier. She returned that 25 times over in terms of prizemoney on the track, winning 12 races.
"They sent him (Worthy Cause) up here and I looked after him and when he got over his lameness, I paid the price and I'm glad I did!" - Bob Frappell
"She was a great racehorse. I bred her, I leased the mare (Zero Colour) off a guy, because he didn't want to spend the money breeding. She was a Danzero mare and I thought that will make nice foal with Tycoon Ruler," he said.
"We got this really nice filly, Tints, and the day before the Sale, she cut her fetlock, so she went through the Sale with a bandage on her. After the Sale, Kim McCasker offered us $10,000 and we sold her. I thought maybe I shouldn't have done that, but it’s paying us back now."
Defying the numbers
Worthy Cause has battled for traction in his early years at stud, serving books of 40, 30, 30, 30 and 28 in his first four seasons, before an uptick to 50 last year after he was crowned Queensland's leading first-season stallion of 2020/21.
Frappell said even getting 50 on a modest service fee of $5500 (inc GST) wasn't easy and is hopeful nominations will be easier with Hinged's success. The stallion has a terrific winners-to-runners ratio, with nine from his 14 to the track, highlighted by his first-crop filly, who has been his headliner ever since she won five of her first seven starts for Michael Nolan.
Worth Cause when racing (black and red cap) | Standing at Clear Mountain Fairview, image courtesy of Sportpix
It was her win in a 1600-metre race at Doomben last July that convinced Frappell that she a the real deal.
"The race that really impressed me was when she won over a mile in her 2-year-old year and she carried 59 and she didn't drew well. It was a really impressive win," he said.
"The race that really impressed me was when she (Hinged) won over a mile in her 2-year-old year and she carried 59 (kilograms) and she didn't drew well. It was a really impressive win." - Bob Frappell
Frappell wasn't the only one taking notice and an ownership group headed by Brae Sokolski and Ozzie Kheir purchased into her soon after, transferring her to Waller's stables.
"I said to Kim, if I'd known he'd wanted to sell her, I would have taken half. He rang me and told me I sold Hinged, do you care? and I said, 'No problems, it’s your horse'," Frappell said.
"He just retired. She'd won him $300,000 and that money he got for her will pay for more horses for some time to come. He's got the mare and he's got a full sister to her, Hue, and she's in work with Michael Nolan.
"Right now, I’d love to own half of her, but I don't own any of her and I'm still pretty happy."
As well as the 2-year-old Hue, Tints produced an Easy Rocking filly in 2020 who is now a yearling, while she visited Worthy Cause last year, having missed to him the previous year.
