'It’s been a really successful period and long may it continue'

Cover image courtesy of Magic Millions

By the looks of Saturday’s performance, the son of Zoustar is far from the finished article. After being slightly slow out of the gates, the colt was forced to race at the back of the field, but unleashed a powerful burst of speed to eventually cross the line 1.75l ahead of his closest rival in Pure Paradise (Capitalist), who was incidentally, like Sunsource, purchased by Becker.

The agent signed the docket for Sunsource alongside his trainers at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale earlier this year, paying Widden Stud $370,000 for the youngster and he is now raced by the leading ownership group headed by leviathan owner Ozzie Kheir, who Becker acts as bloodstock manager to.

“He is a big, strong horse and he was quite a forward yearling at the sales. He is the type of horse that Trent and Natalie love,” he said.

“I have been working with them (Busuttin and Young) for the last 12 months and getting a real feel for the horses that appeal to them and they do like a really big, strong colt that they can really train and he really fitted that criteria.

“He was a really good-moving horse and obviously very well bred. He was also very well prepared at Widden and it was no surprise to me that he was one they really wanted to focus on at the sale.”

Sunsource is out of the winning, Group 3-placed Sebring mare Patricia Dawn, making him a brother to Dawn Of An Era, who has won three times in Japan.

Patricia Dawn herself is a daughter of Listed winner Summer Girlfriend (USA) (Forest Camp {USA}), who was brought to Australia after being purchased by Vin Cox Bloodstock at the 2007 Keeneland November Breeding Sale for US$180,000 (AU$269,700).

Hot property

Zoustar’s stock was hot property on the Gold Coast last January finishing the sale with an impressive average of $427,326 having had 43 of his yearlings sell for an aggregate of $18,375,000 and Becker believed this, alongside his pedigree, meant the $370,000 he paid for the colt he now classes as 'well bought'.

“I think comparatively at that sale last year, it was a very strong sale, and I think for the type of colt he was and his pedigree I thought he was bought quite well for the money,” he said.

While the youngster's precocity is clear, Becker said he expects him to improve with age and believes anything he achieves as a juvenile will be classed as a bonus, with the future very much taking a front seat.

“He is definitely a horse where there is more to come. He is obviously up and about now, but he will be able to train on so how far we go with him as a 2-year-old we’re not sure,” he continued.

“With these 2-year-olds you take it run by run, but he looks like the sort of horse who might be better at three and has a lot more furnishing to do as well, so it’s quite exciting.

“I think the way he worked through the line shows that he is a really good horse and he did that on raw ability after missing the start. The second filly gave him a nice lead into the straight, but the way he worked to the line tells you he’s got a lot of class.

“The feedback from the jockey (Daniel Moor) was that he felt the horse was going to be a Guineas horse, so to do that at two was a huge bonus.”

Touch of star quality

Becker is aware that the opposition in Saturday’s race is a far cry from what he may face in the R. Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic on the Gold Coast, but he has confidence the 2-year-old has a touch of star quality which can only stand him in good stead going forward.

“You need that touch of class if you are going to go on and win a Magic Millions, because the opposition is only going to get better, but what he did has got everyone in the ownership excited and we’ve got another one heading to the Magic Millions having won it last year with Coolangatta. To go back there with another representative is obviously very exciting,” he said.

Becker said they have yet to map out a route to the $2 million race on January 14, but he is likely to have one start in Brisbane around Christmas.

With the spring racing in Australia slowly winding down, there is never better a time for reflection and if Becker was to take stock of the last few months he would have to be a very harsh critic not to feel a sense of pride in the results.

The purple patch

Even on Saturday, the good results did not just stop with Sunsource. Becker was celebrating once again a few races later at Ballarat as Direct (Siyouni {Fr}), who he bought with the gelding’s trainer, Lloyd Kennewell for $400,000 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in 2020, booked his ticket to Queensland with a victory in the Magic Millions 3YO and 4YO Classic.

Meanwhile, earlier in the spring he enjoyed success with horses he has had a hand in sourcing for Kheir and his clients, including the Chris Waller-trained Soulcombe (GB) (Frankel {GB}), who made a statement on his first start in Australia when landing the G3 Queen’s Cup, while Zennzella (Snitzel) - a $350,000 Magic Millions purchase for Becker and Kennewell - won the G2 Wakeful S. for Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, before running a solid fourth in the G1 VRC Oaks.

Gallery: Some of Mathew Becker's successes throught the spring

Reflecting on the results Becker said, “It’s been really satisfying to see the results come. This group in particular is great and I specifically work very close with Ozzie and we talk a lot.

“Of course, he is a very successful businessman and he is very busy, but he is very passionate about his horses and if he has five minutes of downtime we are talking about horses.

“We are always looking for them, whether it’s tried horses in Europe, which is a big passion of his and it is something I have really focussed on in my business over the last few years.

"With a horse like Soulcombe to come out and do what he did in the spring carnival that saw him rocket to Melbourne Cup favouritism that gives the group so much to look forward to for next year - that was a big thrill and we were all excited about that.”

Kheir and his clients, with the help of Becker, also purchased a 25 per cent share in Pier (NZ) (Proisir) at the conclusion of his 2-year-old career and they were repaid for their faith in the horse when he landed the G1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas a few weeks ago.

“We are always looking at the New Zealand tried-horse market as well and of course we had Pier who won the New Zealand 2000 Guineas a few weeks ago,” he said. “It is a highly competitive market that we like to operate in and to get a Group 1-winning 3-year-old was fantastic.”

Outside the box

Becker said one of the secrets to the ownership group's success is that Kheir and his clients are not afraid to think outside the box.

“The important thing that sets Ozzie and the group apart is that they don’t pigeonhole themselves into one set of ideas, it really is a team and I am only one small part of the team,” he said.

“I think that is part and parcel of the success, because the horses have all been sourced differently, by different trainers and agents at different sales, we do keep an open mind with that, which is great because it gives everyone the opportunity to have success with a very large, high-profile group of owners, which is great for their business and that can only take it forward, like it has done with mine.”

In terms of the recent success, on a personal level, Becker rates Zennella’s surge through the ranks as one of his most cherished triumphs, given his association with the filly since she was a yearling.

“Zennzella was particularly special for me because we picked her as a yearling and had her the whole way through,” he said.

“She is only just getting started, she’s very immature. She came off a maiden and into a Group 2 and she was nearly there in the Oaks, we’re really looking forward to her in the autumn campaign.”

However, there is no time to rest on the laurels, with the yearling sales just round the corner the hard work starts to find the next superstar and with Becker’s track record in the past few years it is well worth keeping a note of the horses he assigns his name next to on the buyers’ sheets at various sales in 2023.

“The yearling sale season is brilliant because I get to work with some brilliant trainers and we see what appeals to them and then we try to go and buy what we think will suit the group,” he said. “It’s a lot of work, but it is something we enjoy doing.

“The whole thing has been brilliant and everybody in the group is just so excited about it all and that’s why I’m in the business. I love to buy good horses for good people. It’s been a really successful period and long may it continue.”