‘I’m not going to miss this' - how Hedge got hold of Elliptical

Cover image courtesy of Bronwen Healy

It was something of a relief for Suman Hedge of Suman Hedge Bloodstock (FBAA) when Elliptical won on Saturday, as he’d run into some very smart 3-year-olds during the spring.

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That campaign saw him twice place at the elite level, finishing runner-up in both the G1 Caulfield Guineas (1600 metres) and the G1 Spring Champion S. (2000 metres), but on his return to racing this year Hedge admitted he was guarded about the horse’s chances, despite beginning in Group 3 company.

“We went into the race fairly circumspect about it,” Hedge told TDN AusNZ. “He was first-up over 1400 metres and there were some horses in the race that had shown some ability - and a couple of them had runs under their belts so they probably had a fitness edge on him.

“Then, when he drew wide as well, we knew we’d probably have to go back and be ridden for luck. We were of the opinion that if he ran in the first four or five and run home strongly we’d be quite satisfied.

“He didn’t really have all the favours in running, he had to go back, then he was three deep and he was facing the breeze for a large part of the race.”

But those factors proved no barriers for the classy colt, and a well-timed run under Blake Shinn saw him win by a head in good style.

Rewarding some loyal clients

Running in Hedge’s maroon silks, Elliptical was secured by the bloodstock agent at the 2021 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in conjunction with Blue Sky Bloodstock (FBAA) and Anthony Freedman Racing.

After he was knocked down for $380,000, Hedge set about syndicating 50 per cent in the colt, whilst his trainer took care of the other half. For Hedge’s part, he is now owned by a variety of clients who supported the bloodstock agent over the past few years, with many inspired by a previous success with the same stallion.

“Some of those people were in Victoria Quay, so we had success with that Dundeel filly and when we were looking at this colt it obviously resonated a little with them. Lightning has struck twice for them,” Hedge reflected.

Bought by Hedge alongside McEvoy Mitchell Racing at the 2019 Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale for $250,000, Victoria Quay went on to win the G2 Wakeful S., with Hedge re-purchasing the mare for $600,000 when she was relinquished at last year’s Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale.

With his elite-level placings, not to mention his latest success, Elliptical has well eclipsed the return Hedge was able to provide his clients with Victoria Quay, as the colt’s earnings now stand at over $1.1 million - but, for all that Hedge is grateful, it’s a game of fine margins at the top.

“There’s a good spread of people in him, and it’s been amazing to run second a couple of times and be over a million, but there’s a bit of difference between the first and second prizemoney in the Spring Champion and the Guineas - I think he’d have had over $3 million had he won both of those.

“It’s been a bit bittersweet, in that we’re very grateful to have a nice horse and he’s done extremely well, and he’s been well-placed and ridden, he’s just run into one better a couple of times and by small margins - it’s been character building.”

All that's required

Looking back on his spring campaign, Hedge attributes his poor luck in part to Elliptical’s demeanour, describing him as a “playful” colt, who only does as much as he needs to.

“He’s been a bit challenging in a couple of his races,” Hedge recalled. “In the Caulfield Guineas he was down on the inside and he got to the front and couldn’t see Golden Mile down the middle.”

Whilst Hedge admitted that Golden Mile (Astern) was the likely winner regardless, he said the running of the race was somewhat regrettable, since Elliptical loves to have a target to aim at.

“When he’s got something in front of him he really stretches his neck and competes, but once he gets to the front he just floats. It’s a bit of an art to get him there at the right time.

“In the Spring Champion he probably got to the front a bit too early, he just needed something to take him a little bit further into the race.”

Whilst such close defeats are never easy to take, it's clear, according to Hedge, that the form lines have stacked up well - though there’s a big hurdle facing Elliptical in the Australian Guineas next month, by way of a horse he’s yet to cross.

“If you really analyse Elliptical’s form it’s pretty much the 3-year-old form from the early spring to now it’s been the prominent formline, and there’s four or five of them that are really nice horses and they’re all coming from those same races.”

“I do think that Jacquinot is the benchmark at the moment though, he’s done it against older horses and been competitive at a really high level.

“He’s certainly the benchmark 3-year-old at the moment, and if he’s able to do that at a mile and run as strongly as he has over the shorter distances then he’s a bona fide champion. I guess we’ll hope it’s more of a test and that we can finish strong over him.”

A lesson learned

As it turns out, things haven’t been straightforward for Hedge since the beginning of his journey with Elliptical. When he first set eyes on him as a weanling, Hedge “just loved him.”

Thinking he’d sell for under $100,000, he was forced to sit tight when he made double that figure at the Magic Millions Gold Coast National Weanling Sale in 2020.

“Jim Carey bought him, who’s a great judge, and I was gutted,” Hedge revealed. “I was disappointed to miss him because I really loved his movement and everything about him.

“When the chance came to buy him as a yearling, I thought: ‘I’m not going to miss this.’

“I’d made a mistake previously with Ellsberg; I loved him as a weanling, and Peter O’Brien bought him, only paying $50,000 for him. Then he ended up making $280,000 as a yearling and he’s just been a star.”

Hedge explained that the “elite weanlings” he sees tend to develop into the best racehorses - but that it’s a double-edged sword when it comes to the yearling market.

“It’s funny, because the weanling market now, being so exposed, the prices are out there.

“I go around with trainers and they say: ‘That one made $200,000, forget that’, and put a line through them straight away because they feel they’re going to be too expensive.

“If they’re a nice weanling and they’re a nice yearling, they’re probably going to make a very good racehorse. It actually enhances my interest in the horse if they were an expensive weanling.”

However, that doesn’t mean Hedge is about to start buying weanlings to race…

“It’s more that I liked this horse a lot as a foal, and then I liked it again as a yearling. So, the horse has just exuded quality all the way through.

“It does frustrate me a bit, trainer’s attitudes towards horses that have been through a sale. I feel like it shouldn’t even enter your mind, because when you look at a horse that hasn’t been through a sale you’re just valuing it at what’s in front of you, and you’re judging that against what’s in the sale.

“Whereas, if a horse sells for $200,000 as a weanling, people mark it in their book, they look at it, and it influences the way they go about the bidding process.

“We pinhookers hate those lists which are put out there - we loathe them. We understand why they’re there, because it’s useful content which there’s a demand for.”

Carey concurs

Having forked out $200,000 for Elliptical as a weanling on behalf of an in-farm partnership, Newgate Farm Stud Manager Jim Carey evidently held the horse in the same regard as Hedge from that early stage, and was a little disappointed not to see him make more when they returned to the yearling sale.

“He wasn’t cheap, but he was a beautiful weanling bred by great people Damian and Deb Gleeson,” Carey told TDN AusNZ. “I went to see him ahead of the COVID-affected Magic Millions sale when he stopped over at Amarina before he went up the coast.

“I remember looking at him, ringing Henry (Field) afterwards and saying: ‘I’ve seen a lovely looking colt and we need to buy him.’

“I’m delighted Suman bought him, he’s a great judge and he had a lot of interest. I thought he might make a fraction more, but fair dues to Suman, he put his neck on the line and bought a nice horse.”

Carey explained that he too is wary of trainers putting a line through expensive weanling purchases, but feels that some precedence in successful pinhooks sold by Newgate help negate that factor.

“I see it a bit as well,” he said. “We’re lucky, obviously Stay Inside was a Newgate pinhook as well… (And) we’re very much a selling farm - we brought 88 yearlings to the sales this year and we’ve sold 88.

“A handful of them were pinhooks and we didn’t win on all of them, but it’s the bigger picture. It’s giving the market confidence and getting people bidding on your horses.”