All hat, some cattle for the second year of the Thoroughbred Stud Cutting Challenge

Cover image courtesy of Kia Ora Stud

In April last year, the inaugural Hunter Valley Thoroughbred Stud Cutting Challenge took place at Scone’s White Park Equine Complex. It put some of the breeding industry’s most recognised faces in western saddles, and demanded they compete aboard quarter horses in the sport of cutting cattle.

It was a huge success, so much so that the event is back for a second year. This Friday evening at 6pm AEST, it will take place once again at White Park.

Some of last year’s faces have returned for a bite of the cherry, including Tom Magnier, Mick Malone and Antony Thompson, plus defending champion Tayla Gilmore from Godolphin. Nick Hodges is also back for Riversdale Farm.

Gallery: Some of the participants in this year's Thoroughbred Stud Cutting Challenge, images courtesy of NSW Cutting Horse Club

Entering the fold for the first time are Liesl Baumann from Cressfield Stud, Adam White for Vinery, Niamh O’Brien for Newgate and Sally Gordon for Arrowfield Stud. Ridgmont’s Jakub Vitek is also fresh blood, as is Belle Howard for Kia Ora Stallions.

In a new twist, this year’s lineup is split into two teams representing Magic Millions and Inglis. Team Magic Millions is captained by Josh Gibson, a former AFL player turned cutting-horse specialist, while the Inglis squad is captained by broadcast personality Lizzie Jelfs.

“Anything that involves riding horses is something I’ll jump at, so I was really pleased to get an opportunity to be part of this,” Jelfs said, speaking to TDN AusNZ.

“I haven’t grown up in Australia so this discipline is very new to me. I’ve had to learn the basics of cutting pretty quickly, but I’ve been blown away by how amazing and how well-trained these horses are.”

Cutting horses are traditionally quick-footed, determined and well-bred. They select a steer to ‘cut’ from a mob of cattle in the arena, and they compete against the clock to keep that steer isolated from the herd.

In the saddle, the best cutting riders interfere very little, and it’s a masterclass in rider balance.

“Basically, I think you leave them alone and try not to stuff it up,” Jelfs said.

Watch: One of the Stud Challenge training days

The positive agenda

Last year, the driving force behind the inaugural Thoroughbred Stud Cutting Challenge was the cutting-horse trainer and master farrier, Link Baumann.

For 40 years, Baumann had been a farrier in the Hunter Valley districts and he was well-acquainted with thoroughbred farms, so there were few issues when it came to getting an inaugural crew together in 2021.

Working alongside Sledmere’s Catriona Murphy, he brought one of the two major cutting shows south from Tamworth (the Autumn Spectacular), and the Thoroughbred Stud Cutting Challenge was added as a fun, celebrity-lined local feature.

However, there was also an agenda behind it.

The Stud Challenge aimed, as it still does, to promote a new frontier for retired racehorses, one that traditionally isn’t looked at for off-track thoroughbreds. In last year’s event, two retired racehorses took part as turn-back horses, whose responsibility it is to shuffle the steer back towards the competing rider.

These two horses were donated to the event by Godolphin and Sledmere, and two more thoroughbreds were donated again this year. It’s a unique opportunity for the breed to demonstrate its trainability and athleticism, which are two critical attributes of a good cutting horse.

“Welfare in this sport (racing) is everything,” said Kitchwin Hills’ Mick Malone last year. “Just imagine if you have three events like this a year for thoroughbreds, worth $3000 or $4000 to the winner, and then a final at Scone worth $20,000 to the winner. You’d have every cutting person buying four or five geldings off the track just to compete.”

Magnier confident

Overwhelmingly, the Stud Challenge has been a fun, competitive event for local farms to be part of. It’s a testament that so many studmasters have returned and, by most accounts, they’re taking it seriously.

One of those is Coolmore’s Tom Magnier who, in ochre, fringe-lined chaps and Cuban heels, looks fresh off the set of Yellowstone.

“They’re putting out the betting later today and when I see that I’ll decide how much training I need to do,” he said. “It’s been minimal to date, although the opposition is a lot stronger this year than last year, and Godolphin (Tayla Gilmore) is into $1.80.

“I’ve also heard that Josh Gibson has a lot of horse-power beneath him for Magic Millions, so I better pull the finger out and start practicing, I suppose.”

Magnier is part of Team Inglis on Friday night, and the fact of his leaving his training so late is probably an element of his supreme confidence. And, if looking the part counts for anything, he’s already home and hosed.

However, he’s had to defy swirling rumours of secret lessons with Link Baumann and covert importations of champion quarter horses off the Yellowstone set. All this, he admits, is just his competition getting nervous.

In addition, Magnier has managed this year to frighten off his fellow studmaster, Henry Field of Newgate Farm. Last year, Field was an inaugural competitor, tying for second with his Coolmore nemesis. This year, he’s nowhere to be seen.

“Henry got lucky last year when he was level second with me,” Magnier said. “But one of the judges on last year’s panel was apparently a shareholder in one of the many, many horses Henry bought that year, and this year unfortunately he has nobody on the panel. He said he was going to France but apparently he’s been seen around the Hunter Valley, so that was all lies.”

In Magnier’s words, Field “lost his bottle” and it’s now up to Niamh O’Brien to carry the Newgate honour on Friday night. Her competitors are merciless, if Magnier is anything to go by, but there is plenty riding on the Stud Challenge for the Coolmore master.

“Paramount are my sponsors this year and if I come in the top three I’ll get a gig next season on Yellowstone,” Magnier said. “Maybe don’t tell anyone this but I’ve actually been training with Rip Wheeler.”

Defending champion

Magnier’s fighting words are in stark contrast to the subtle, polite tones from defending champion Tayla Gilmore. Competing once again for Godolphin, Gilmore won the 2021 event aboard the roan quarter horse Playin With Pepto.

“I keep pretty quiet,” Gilmore said. “But honestly, I’m more nervous this year than I was last year because there’s that pressure of being expected to win again.

“After a training day that we had recently, I can see that people have definitely upped their game this year and they’re coming in hot. They had a lot of comments to try and psyche me out, but we’ll see how we go.”

Despite her success last year, Gilmore isn’t a western competitor by discipline. She’s a dressage rider, which requires a very different seat and very different aids. Therefore, she’s as out of her league as the best of them, albeit with quiet achievement in her corner.

She also believes firmly in the good of this event, which aligns well with the Godolphin principles of aftercare and retirement.

“We’re very interested at Godolphin in thoroughbreds becoming part of the western disciplines,” Gilmore said. “They’re often overlooked in those fields so it’s great to have two thoroughbreds back in it again, and hopefully next year it might turn into the thoroughbreds competing in a snaffle-bit class or something similar.”

Social event of the year

In the lead-up to Friday night, each of the 14 competitors has received training with a cutting expert. If they didn’t know already, they’ve learned the nuances of a western saddle and the darting, low-range athleticism of the competitive quarter horse.

For returnees like Gilmore and Magnier, they’ve probably had time in the saddle since last year’s event, while Sally Gordon of Arrowfield Stud had ridden just a handful of times since leaving school and taking up the challenge of Friday night.

Each of the riders has gone to performance-horse trainers like Warwick Screen, Hugh Miles and Lynda MacCallum, so they’ve had the best of exposure to the top end of this competitive sport and, now two years on the trot, it’s likely that the Stud Challenge will be a permanent fixture in the social calendar.

“It think it’s an event that’s going to get bigger and bigger and bigger,” Magnier said. “It’s a great showpiece for all the farms in the Hunter Valley to get together. We compete in the salerings and on the racetracks, but this is a great event to get together and have some fun.

“We all have staff that have come from all over the world for the breeding season and they’re very busy, so this is a night out for everybody ahead of the covering season. It’s a great chance for us all to meet and, at its simplest, it’s just a fun competition.”

For Jelfs, who carries the weight of Team Inglis, just getting to the event with the right wardrobe will be a win. An English rider by definition, she put away the jodphurs but her Ariat boots didn’t go down well among the jeans, buckles and Stetsons.

“They were all quite relieved when I showed up later on in different boots,” she admitted. “Looking the part is half the battle, isn’t it?”