Not long after racing had resumed at Randwick, following the shocking outbreak of Equine Influenza, a conversation took place at Darley’s Kelvinside office that had global ramifications and altered the fabric of the Australian bloodstock landscape.
The Darley business was growing in Australia, it had put down a marker by acquiring the outstanding Exceed And Excel towards the end of his racing career. As Exceed and Excel’s first 2-year-olds hit the track in 2007, Olly Tait and Alastair Pulford had been idly discussing the possibility of acquiring his paternal half-brother Commands, owned by Bob Ingham and standing at his Woodlands Stud, when Pulford boldly suggested that they should acquire all of the Ingham stock. An acquisition of this size would require extensive due diligence, and the global Darley leadership would need to be briefed.
"It wasn’t ever very difficult to brief John Ferguson,” Pulford recalled.
“I remember going to Dubai… Ferg’ just quizzed me on all the local prospects, and where they were at and what they were doing and he knew about them before I did!”
Alastair Pulford | Image courtesy of Darley
“He kept well abreast of what was going on in Australia, obviously he was in touch with Olly and probably Henry Plumptre on a daily basis.”
The Ingham family was the closest thing Australia had to an equine aristocracy, but Tait sensed an opportunity too good to miss.
“The time was right for Darley and Sheikh Mohammed, a really unique asset albeit a very, very large one,” he remembered.
“You ask a question, all they can say is no, and they didn’t.”
Due diligence
Once the parties agreed to explore the transaction, the Darley team had to take stock of what they were buying.
Henry Plumptre was a consultant with the Darley operation at the time.
“Within a week or two, we were given leave to look around the all the Woodlands properties and come up with a valuation on the bloodstock,” he recalled.
“Within a week or two, we were given leave to look around the all the Woodlands properties and come up with a valuation on the bloodstock.” - Henry Plumptre
It was the human element already engaged in the Woodlands operation that actually made it more straightforward.
"An important part of the due diligence, (was) that I knew Trevor Lobb well, I knew Peter Flynn, a number of people in the organisation,” said Tait.
“I could see how this could work… I didn’t know Peter Snowden at the time, but very quickly I could see that would be a good fit.”
Henry Plumptre | Image courtesy of Cambridge Stud
The acquisition took place so quickly that the two parties were able to conduct the deal in almost total secrecy and announce to a shocked bloodstock world as the postponed Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale took place in March.
“Did we go and see every mare? No we didn’t, did we look at every foal? No we didn’t,” admitted Plumptre.
“What we did, was we looked at the bloodstock schedule and we put a broad-based valuation on those pedigrees.”
Bob Ingham reinvests
The Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale signalled a rebirth for the former leader of the Woodlands empire, Bob Ingham. Freed of the monolithic portfolio of stock he and brother Jack had built over the decades, he immediately began building a leaner enterprise, starting with some blue-blooded yearlings.
“He was having the time of his life, because he loved a horse sale,” said Inglis General Manager Bloodstock Operations (Auctioneer) Jonathan D'Arcy. “I remember Jack and Bob would sit there and we’d finish the three days of sale in years gone by, and they’d both say: ‘Best three days of the year, better than Christmas’ they just loved a horse sale!”
Bob Ingham | Image courtesy of Racing Victoria
Ingham had also engaged a new trainer, an upstart from New Zealand named Chris Waller.
“He was sitting up… beside Mr Ingham,” remembered D’Arcy, “and I think he just couldn’t believe these horses that were making a million and a-million-and-a-half, all these lovely Encosta De Lago fillies… they were going to go into his stable… he must just have been thinking, 'Wow!'”
The podcast also examines the ongoing legacy of the 2007/08 season.
