Cover image courtesy of Darren Tindale
With a CV that can now boast two stakes wins from just five starts, he’s an exciting prospect for Jarred Magnabosco, the man behind Best Bloodstock. He sat down with TDN AusNZ after the dust had settled from last week’s success.
It’s a relatively new venture for Magnabosco, for which he assembled a select group of clients that were inspired by his dedicated analysis, and the skills he learned in his previous trade.
“I worked for a bookmaker over the last 15 years, and I’d become quite a form analyst,” Magnabosco told TDN AusNZ. “There were a lot of traits of studying form and doing video analysis which correlated with studying pedigrees.
Ben Hayes and Jarred Magnabosco with Tijuana after purchasing him as a yearling
“I’m definitely not a syndicator. I try to keep it as a boutique operation and I’ve got about a dozen really good clients that have seen from infancy that I really take pride into what I do, studying pedigrees, looking at form and watching replays.
“I’ve been really lucky to have some good people behind me.”
It’s evidently a background which lends itself well to the bloodstock game, as Magnabosco revealed that his first season of buying in 2021 quickly yielded incredible results.
“We bought four yearlings that year and as 2-year-olds I got two stakes winners and all four won a race – with Tijuana winning the ANZAC Day S. and with Ciaron Maher I bought into El Padrino, who won the Inglis Nursery.
“We bought four yearlings that year (2021) and as 2-year-olds I got two stakes winners and all four won a race...” - Jarred Magnabosco
“I don’t have the traditional background of other bloodstock agents… My mum’s side of the family were all jockeys, and my uncle rode in the 1985 Melbourne Cup.
“So, it’s racing that’s always been in the blood and I’ve been heading to the sales for the last eight years, taking notes off different people and I thought 2021 was the year that I had all my ducks in a row, and I wanted to have a crack on my own.”
Doing things on his own has meant applying the lessons he learned when working for a bookmaker in his approach to the bloodstock world. The depth to which Magnabosco searches for value is the prime example.
“There’s so many opportunities when you’re looking at a pedigree page… I’ll look at the dam and what she did on the racetrack, she might have been Listed-placed but there could have been instances in her racing career where she might have been unlucky in runs, and she could have had an upgrade.
“So, you’re trying to find that by doing video analysis, and you’re trying to find opportunities in some dams who were better than they’re page suggests. There’s been a massive crossover for me from being a form analyst to now being a bloodstock consultant.”
A quick return
With Tijuana being his very first yearling purchase, Magnabosco’s decision to branch out on his own was quickly vindicated, and it doesn’t look like the success will stop soon.
After sealing a perfect two-from-two juvenile campaign with his victory in the Listed ANZAC Day S., Tijuana returned this season in the G3 McNeil S. (1200 metres), where he finished third behind Jacquinot (Rubick) and Aft Cabin (Astern).
Tijuana winning the Listed ANZAC Day S. at Flemington
He ran on from the back in the field to finish 3.25l behind the leader that day, and it looks a mighty performance with the benefit of hindsight after seeing Jacquinot win the G1 Golden Rose S. last weekend, and with Aft Cabin successful in the G3 Caulfield Guineas Prelude the weekend before that.
That performance looks even better since it’s now apparent that it’s a distance well short of his best, and even more so when you consider that he was far from primed for the race.
“He wasn’t fit at all, and we never expected him to run the way he did – he hit the line really well over 1200 (metres),” Magnabosco revealed.
He then went to Flemington to contest the Listed Exford Plate (1400 metres), again finishing third after he was pounced on late by Berkeley Square (Territories {Ire}) and Fast Witness (Star Witness).
With the step up to 1600 metres for Friday night’s Stutt S. looking sure to suit, Tijuana was sent off the $2.30 favourite, and he didn’t disappoint. Ensuring he was in a prominent position so as not to risk being shuffled back, Mark Zahra began to build his run with 400 metres to run.
With clear room, they hit the front entering the home straight and certainly weren’t for catching.
“It was a really impressive win,” Magnabosco reflected. “It wasn’t a surprise to us, and it wasn’t a surprise to the market as he came up favourite. We’ve known for quite a while that he’s a pretty nice horse and he’s only going to get better with age and with more runs under his belt.
“We’ve known for quite a while that he’s (Tijuana) a pretty nice horse and he’s only going to get better with age and with more runs under his belt.” - Jarred Magnabosco
“It was a good box to tick, but there’s a few more to tick off, especially the grand final run this prep in the Guineas in a fortnight’s time.”
With his background as a form analyst, Magnabosco couldn’t help but give an in-depth preview of Tijuana’s big-race target at this point. And his approach is realistic, as he refuses to get carried away despite having such an exciting prospect on his hands.
“Jacquinot goes to The Everest now, which takes the main challenger out of that race. It looks like Berkeley Square will go straight to the Caulfield Guineas. He beat us when we were second-up and had the big Flemington straight and good cover to dart his way through, but I’m not sure that it will be like that this time around, as a Caulfield Guineas is a high-pressure race and his racing pattern will have him a long way back on a tighter track. For me, the Godolphin colts (Aft Cabin (Astern) and Golden Mile (Astern)) are the horses to beat.”
Connections of Tijuana after winning the G2 Stutt S. at Moonee Valley | Image courtesy of Darren Tindale
Unearthing the value
Tijuana is the sixth live foal produced by Mexican Rose (NZ) (Volksraad {GB}) who claimed the Champion 2-Year-Old and 3-Year-Old Filly titles in Singapore. She was a 10-time winner, including three Listed events.
His second dam, Fairlight Down (USA) (Dayjur {USA}) was a juvenile winner in the UK and is a half-sister to four stakes winners, two of whom earned their chances as sires in Europe.
With her first three live foals all winners, and her fourth, Mexican Tycoon (O’Reilly {NZ}) Listed placed, Tijuana was a shrewd purchase for $100,000 by Magnabosco’s Best Bloodstock in conjunction with his trainers at the 2021 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
Tijuana as a yearling | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
With his background as a form analyst, Magnabosco was going to leave no stone unturned heading into his first solo yearling sale, and he picked up on a value angle which led him towards Tijuana.
“This was American Pharoah’s second crop in Australia, and I think the market probably wasn’t as keen in 2021 as they might have been in 2020. But when you actually look at the dams that he’d served in his second season it was a much better book.
“He was one of the best racehorses over the last 20 years, alongside Frankel and Winx, he actually had a Timeform rating at his peak of 138, which would suggest he is one of the greatest horses of all time and as a sire now he’s got stakes performers in all parts of the globe.”
American Pharoah (USA) | Standing at Coolmore America
Even though he was delighted to get the horse for that amount, Magnabosco never imagined that he would be rewarded as quickly as he was.
“When we purchased him, he was a really scopey type; we never thought he’d be a 2-year-old.
“He wasn’t pre-Christmas, but he was going extremely well (early on). Greg Bennett broke him in, and back in April 2021 he said, ‘Look Jarred, you’ve got a really, really nice horse here.’ When someone as renowned as Greg Bennett tells you that you listen.”
“Greg Bennett broke him (Tijuana) in, and back in April 2021 he said, ‘Look Jarred, you’ve got a really, really nice horse here.’ When someone as renowned as Greg Bennett tells you that you listen.” - Jarred Magnabosco
Whilst he made great steps early on, his handlers feel that there’s still more to come as the horse matures. Given that last Friday was his first try at a mile, Magnabosco is confident that we’re only just beginning to see the best of Tijuana.
“He’s a horse that keeps improving on type, and he’s always been earmarked by us as a mile to a mile-and-two-furlong sort of horse, like his sire.
“I’ve never seen a horse transform in the way he has, and that’s a real credit to the horse and a trait of a horse that’s going to be really progressive. Ben and JD Hayes… think he’s only going to continue to furnish as he gets into the autumn.”
