Baddock at the helm of Strawberry Hill: a new era for Singo

At the beginning of this year, the wheels were spinning for change at John Singleton’s Strawberry Hill Stud. It had been a long time since anyone new had overseen the operation, and then quietly, along came Andrew Baddock.

The Mudgee local had spent 36 years as the manager of Gooree Park Stud, and, after a stint at Edinglassie, in January he was wiling away his time at home, managing his own stock on his Mudgee property. The opportunity to be involved with Strawberry Hill came along “quite out of the blue”.

“In January I got a call from Dr John Peatfield, who’s been doing some work for John Singleton the last couple of years, telling me there’d been a change in the direction of management at Strawberry Hill, and would I come onboard,” Baddock said, speaking to TDN AusNZ. “After a bit of negotiating, I was appointed as consultant to John’s racing and bloodstock interests.”

Baddock took the role formerly filled by Duncan Grimley. He hasn’t relocated to Strawberry Hill, instead remaining in Mudgee and going to and fro the famous Central Coast property.

“In a way, it’s similar to what I did at Gooree,” he said. “I’m overseeing the racing operation, but also the bloodstock. I had to employ a new manager at Strawberry Hill, along with new staff, so a lot of the horses had to vacate until we started over, and all that happened back in January.”

The new manager at Strawberry Hill is Wayne Pepper, who used to work alongside Baddock at Gooree. Pepper, a son of Neville Pepper, has been in the industry all his life, and he and Baddock have known each other a long time. He assumed the role previously held for 17 years by Bridie Sparkes.

For Strawberry Hill, the staff changes were a whole new system after nearly two decades of no changes at all. Baddock now oversees the breeding lists and makes suggestions on what is kept and not kept at Strawberry Hill, and he has input into Singleton’s racing string. And, after the best part of 40 years in the racing and bloodstock business, he has an armoury of relevant experience. The obvious question for Baddock, five months into his new role, is how he deals with the big personality that is John Singleton.

“I really enjoy working for Singo,” Baddock said. “He’s the old-school Aussie knockabout, the ocker. He’s a bit like your Paul Hogan; there’s never a dull moment. But he loves the racing and breeding industry and he’s been very successful in life, and not just in horses.

“I didn’t realise how many businesses he was in with radio stations, hospitality and the like. But I was used to that, working for Gooree for so many years with Eduardo Cojuangco, and I’ve always found with those sorts of guys that you need to be a straight-shooter. Tell them how it is, be straight up and down, and have a solution for them.”

Like Singleton, the Cojuangco family had a few arms during Baddock’s tenure. Along with thoroughbreds, there was wine, cattle and overseas interests. Singleton moves similarly, but he has also earned an at-times explosive notoriety in dealing with people.

“I don’t find too much pressure in that respect, probably because of my days at Gooree,” Baddock said. “Honestly, it might be very daunting if you hadn’t done it before. At the end of the day, guys like John want a game plan and they want success. I know how much these guys are worth and the circles they move in, but it’s pretty simple. Like anyone, they want results.

“The main plan is to keep things simple and keep them honest. Put forward your opinion with respect, and if there’s a problem, I’m there to come up with a solution. It’s as straightforward as that.”

Sharpening things up

Since January, Baddock has been reassessing the situation at Strawberry Hill. It is well-known that the operation has some of the finest bloodstock in the country, but he’s not looking to reinvent the wheel, at this stage.

“We have a lot of horses with Gai, and John’s had a lot of success with Gai over the years,” Baddock said. “Equally, I’ve had a great working relationship with Gai over many years. We understood each other and had a great system in place when I was at Gooree, and we’re going to get a similar system going at Strawberry Hill.

“John’s had some great horses, and a lot of staying horses. I’d just like to focus more on the 2-year-olds right now and get them up and going for him. We want to sharpen things up a bit.”

One of the obvious agendas right now is the 3-year-old colt Hawaii Five Oh, a son of I Am Invincible from Gerry Harvey’s brilliant mare Aloha (Encosta De Lago). Hawaii Five Oh is a full brother to Libertini, who was a triple Group-winner before she died last year, and he won the G3 Hawkesbury Guineas last month for Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott.

Hawaii Five Oh is running in the G3 Fred Best Classic next weekend, with an eye on the G1 Stradbroke H. on May 31.

“If he can win the right race, he could be a stallion,” Baddock said.

Hawaii Five Oh is raced by the jaunty trio of Singleton, Harvey and radio personality Ray Hadley. In a way, they’re the old firm of Sydney racing and Sydney radio. The colt is very smart, with all the credentials required of pedigree, and, in six starts, he has been out of the placings only once.

I thought that was the end

As he did at Gooree, Baddock will wear many hats at Strawberry Hill.

He’ll have roles at the races, at the sales and on-farm. There will be media phone calls and dealing with Singleton himself, but so far, none of it has bothered Baddock. He’s an easy-going character.

“Singo’s horses are my focus now and I’m concentrating on their programs,” he said. “I might make suggestions about where they go or how they’re handled, but I’m always aware that when you’re dealing with your Gai Waterhouses and Chris Wallers, you’re dealing with Hall of Famers.

“When I look back at Gooree, I didn’t realise at the time that when I was dealing with the likes of Tommy Smith and Bart Cummings; they were the Bradmans of racing. You don’t realise who you’re dealing with until you look back over time and realise you were dealing with the absolute top-notch in history.”

Baddock is older now than his decades spent at Gooree. As such, he’s not running around as much behind mares, or travelling horses to meetings in Sydney and Melbourne. He does a lot of his new job from home at Mudgee, taking calls and emails. At this stage, he’s getting to Strawberry Hill every two to three weeks.

The farm’s mares will be heading to Coolmore shortly for the breeding season, while the racehorses all spell at Strawberry Hill. The yearlings and weanlings remain on the property too between preparations, and it’s a well-oiled machine.

“I didn’t think I’d get this chance in my career again,” Baddock said. “I had a long stretch at Gooree, and then a stint at Edinglassie, and after that I took a step back and ran a few horses with my partner at our own property.

“I honestly thought that was the end of me and the big farms, and then I had Singo knocking on the door. So it’s all happening again and I’m glad I said yes. I love dealing with him. He’s a character and you know where you stand with him.”

Baddock thinks lightly back to the headlines of Singleton rolling around the mounting yard with Bob Hawke, or that infamous stoush with Waterhouse over More Joyous.

“In a day of political correctness, we need those characters, and I find Singo a real character,” he said.