Behind the scenes breeders: Chris and Jane Barham

Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything

The Barhams’ journey into racing and breeding has been nothing short of spectacular, although for much of their early lives, the idea that they would become such established and respected thoroughbred breeders would have seemed like the kind of fiction that Stephen King would be proud to put his name to.

Besides her father’s interest in racing, Jane had no family ties to the industry, and Chris was much the same. In his own self deprecating words he is ‘just a chiropractor’, whilst Jane has fingers in many pies, managing a raft of businesses that range from practices and data centres, to commercial developments and multi-storey buildings.

So how did a couple with no previous experience of the racing and breeding industries come to be such prominent and successful players in the bloodstock world?

It all started with a popular book, some sound advice and a trip to the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.

“There was nothing generational, so we started with a really fresh slate,” Chris recalled. “It started with no preconceived ideas and not really any understanding of the horse game at all.

“We grew up in an era where Google and Wikipedia didn’t exist. If you wanted to understand something, you read a book, and from the book you got questions, and from the questions you went and talked to experts and successful people to try and get some advice.

“When we first started looking at the horse racing industry and breeding, what got us excited was a book called Horsetrader. We got to the end of the book and said, ‘Wow, this is something exciting and interesting, why not have a go at trying to get one of those $30-million stallions?’

“Everything starts with a plan and, naively, that was our first plan. It sounded pretty easy when you read a book, and that’s what we set out to do - to produce a world-class stallion.”

In order to do just that, the Barhams took the plunge and began to surround themselves with some of the industry’s shrewdest operators, including the likes of Ron Gilbert, Peter O’Brien and John Hawkes, all three of whom they feel deeply indebted to and speak about with glowing praise to this day.

The first step in producing their world-class stallion was to purchase their first horse, who would later go on to become their foundation broodmare. The horse in question, Legally Bay, just so happened to be a ripper of a racemare, winning the G3 Sweet Embrace S. on only her third career start before going on to place twice at Group 1 level during a glittering career for legendary trainer John Hawkes.

The Barhams' dream was off to the perfect start, but now came the whole new challenge of breeding. Thankfully, they were well advised.

“The horse industry is one of those amazing places where people give you advice pretty freely - they’re really helpful, and being naive, we sort of just went up to people and talked to them,” Chris said.

“We started going to the races and working out what sort of horse we wanted to breed, and talked to someone like John Hawkes and asked, ‘What are the best horses in your stable right now, what are you breeding to?’ He would say your Danehills or whatever, and that he would always breed to the best.

“So we started doing that - going to the best. We’re not that smart, but what we’re smart at is just listening and then doing what people say. We weren’t coming in to try and change the business, we really just wanted to be part of it, so we listened and we learned. We didn’t try to reinvent the wheel.”

A life-changing move

The Barhams were true to their word and in her first few seasons at stud, Legally Bay visited a smorgasbord of the best stallions in Australia, including Redoute’s Choice, Encosta De Lago and Lonhro.

Around that time, a horse by the name of Hinchinbrook was quickly establishing himself as one of the most talented colts in the country, and being out of a Snippets mare, it was recommended to the Barhams that Legally Bay visit Hinchinbrook’s sire Fastnet Rock in an attempt to yield a similarly talented individual. It was a piece of advice that, in the Barhams' words, would prove to be life changing.

The resultant foal turned out to be Group 2 winner and G1 Coolmore Stud S. runner-up Jolie Bay (Fastnet Rock), and a few years further down the line, Legally Bay went one better in the Flemington showpiece with her ninth foal, a colt by the name of Merchant Navy.

The Barhams had their stallion dream, and it all started with that $220,000 purchase of Legally Bay at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.

“Legally Bay changed our lives in so many ways - the people we’ve met, the places we’ve gone, how it has set us up into other businesses,” Chris said.

“We never felt like we fitted in at first, we were these kids that had come across this candy shop, and we were having a lot of luck, and there were people in there who were seventh generation - this was their livelihood and they understood every nuance of the thing.

“I remember Jane said the day that she felt like she fitted in was the day she heard Gai Waterhouse whisper to someone, ‘Oh there’s Jane Barham, find out what horses she’s got in the sale because they’re good breeders’.”

“I was like ‘holy s***!’,” Jane interjected, before Chris continued:

“Now people come over to you at the races and they don’t know you from a bar of soap in terms of what your business is or anything, but you’re a horse owner, and it’s a whole conversation that we would never have had. Some of those people are our best friends now.

“I can’t imagine not thinking about horses hour after hour during the day. It does change your life.”

On top of the world

After winning the Coolmore and cementing his status as one of the most valuable colts in the country, the connections of Merchant Navy embarked on a plan equal in ambition to the one the Barhams first arrived at the Easter sale with all those years ago.

He was sent across the other side of the world to contest the prestigious G1 Diamond Jubilee S. at Royal Ascot, where he prevailed by the narrowest of margins to provoke scenes of jubilation that were broadcast to a truly global audience.

The Barhams were at the pinnacle of world horse racing with a son of the first ever yearling they bought, and the mere mention of the fact is enough to give Jane goosebumps.

“Everything about that experience was amazing,” she said, struggling to put the enormity of the occasion into words.

“The biggest memory of the day was before the races, we went walking with a friend we have made through horse racing, Col McKenna, and we were crossing London Bridge. We looked back over to Big Ben and he said, ‘It’s a long way to come for a little girl from Toowoomba’. It was a real pinch me moment that we even had a horse there.

“It was a photo finish and when they called seven it was absolute bedlam in the mounting yard. Australians celebrate so differently to the British and I think they were a little aghast at our raucousness, but it was just pure joy. God it was amazing.

“When you win a big race, for days you’re just in this euphoric state, but this was just another level. We were breeding these horses and no one knew about it at home, then all of a sudden it was all over the papers and in the news, councillors and mayors were making comments - it was just so surreal.

“We got there because of the people who were involved with the horse - great horse people with great attention to detail. I believe that if it was just little old Chris and Jane Barham who owned that horse, I don’t know if he’d have got as far. It still leaves me speechless.”

Less than a year later, the Barhams were left similarly bereft of words, only this time it was in the sales ring and not on the racetrack. The time had come to sell Merchant Navy’s younger brother at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, and he duly fetched an eye-watering $2.3 million to the bid of Aquis Farm.

It was another fairytale chapter in the story of Legally Bay, the gift that kept on giving, but whilst the Barhams were delighted to have bred such a sought-after colt, the relief didn’t come until he proved his mettle by winning a Listed race as a 3-year-old.

“There is so much pressure on those horses and there’s so much pressure on you when you’ve sold a horse for that price,” Jane said. The best thing about that sale was when he won a Listed race.

“It was just such a good day. I was just so relieved that he stepped up.”

That relief comes from a desire to not only breed a good sales horse, but one that is capable of delivering on its price-tag, according to Chris.

“We breed to the best to produce a product that is capable of getting into Magic Millions or Inglis Easter from a pedigree standpoint, but we want to produce a product that wins races,” he added.

“We’re not breeding to produce something to sell and nothing else. We’re really conscious that if Gai Waterhouse or John Hawkes do buy a horse off us, that they trust the product.

“I think that’s the thing that gives you the best kick. People start to trust that they can invest with you, they can trust that you will continue to improve the product and build the family.”

Keeping feet on the ground

Having bred a dual hemisphere Group 1-winning stallion and a $2.3 million yearling from their very first broodmare, the Barhams would have been forgiven for thinking that thoroughbred breeding was somewhat of a walk in the park.

Instant success has often been a precursor to rapid expansion and premature growth in the racing and breeding industries, but luckily for the Barhams, they have been well advised by some of the industry’s biggest players, something that they will be eternally grateful for.

“John Hawkes said don’t go big and Peter O’Brien said the same - keep the quality of mare there and take your best to the best, so we kept it small,” Chris said.

“We had people protecting us all the way along. We were literally these naive little kids in an industry that can suck the life out of you in a heartbeat, and we’ve seen that now over time.”

“It could so easily have happened to us if we hadn’t had that advice to stay boutique and stay high quality,” Jane added.

“John Hawkes said to me every mare turns into three horses Jane, so I went ‘Right, we just can’t afford to have 20 mares, that would send us out the back door’.

“It was very tempting for us to go, ‘Haha, we’ve got this downpat’, but we had that amazing advice and we acted on it.”

With the words of John Hawkes and Peter O’Brien still ringing in their ears, the Barhams currently have shares in seven mares and 12 horses in work, which by their own admission is a few more than they initially anticipated.

The majority of their mares are kept at Segenhoe Stud in the Hunter Valley, including two daughters of Legally Bay, the apple of their eye, who they sadly lost in 2019. The Barhams have opted to retain a 2-year-old Zoustar filly out of one of those daughters, Jolie Bay, having sold her year-older sister, the currently unbeaten Joliestar (Zoustar), to Cambridge Stud for $950,000 at last year’s Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.

Jolie Bay has now produced three fillies in a row, and although they are pains to sell such valuable commodities, the commercial element to their breeding operation means there is a constant balancing act at play.

“As you go along you realise you have to protect the family yourself a little bit,” Chris said. “We’re reticent to sell the fillies, but we’re also boutique enough to know that we have to sell some, and we hope we sell them to people who are going to help build the page with us.

“It’s not so much how many mares you’ve got, you can have 20 mares but then you’re going to $20,000 stallions. There’s nothing wrong with that, but that’s not our business model, and it has been a plan all along to turn it into a business.

“We keep it separate to our other businesses, so it has to support itself, and we have been very lucky that we haven’t had to support it in any other way.”

Leaving it to the experts

By their own admission, luck has been something the Barhams have enjoyed plenty of since they first set foot on a sales complex, but according to Chris, their biggest stroke of luck has been meeting the people who have helped them along the way.

Ron Gilbert was a great early mentor who gave them ‘a leg up of 10 years within the first six months’, while more recently that mantle has been taken up by Segenhoe Stud principal Peter O’Brien, who has provided a constant sounding board whenever the Barhams have needed one.

As such, they are more than happy to continue listening to the advice that has served them so well up until this point, and going it alone has never really been a consideration.

“A lot of people think, ‘We’ll buy our own farm and do it our way’, but we always decided that the best of the best isn’t always about the stallion and mare, it’s also about the farm, the farm manager, the quality of the pasture, the best vet, etc.,” Chris said.

“That’s why we’ve never bought a farm. We’re aware of all those parts, but this way we don’t have to be an expert in them - we’re happy to leave that to the experts.

“We know it’s not us, breeding is a team game. It’s always going to have ups and downs, and it’s a reflection of who you are and your character as to how you accept that.

“You’re always learning in this game and if you ever think you know everything in horses then bloody hell, it’s time to stop.”

Thankfully, the Barhams have no intention of stopping, and their passion for breeding remains as strong as ever.

It’s easy to see why, too, given the overwhelmingly positive impact that Jane says it has had on her and Chris personally.

“Racing and breeding has been an amazing addition to our lives and it has been good for our relationships, both with each other and with other people,” she said.

“My dad was a real racing follower, but I never saw eye to eye with him until we had horses. Then I could sit and talk to him forever, which was so lovely. He’s passed away now and some of the best memories are that I could sit there and talk to him, and not fight with him.

“Racing and breeding brings so many different types of people together, with a common interest and love for the horse. It’s a leveller and it’s one of the things I love most about the industry.”

To say that something is life changing has become somewhat of a throwaway line, but in the case of Legally Bay and Chris and Jane Barham, it could hardly be more sincere.

What started as a dream born from a book about making stallions quickly turned into a perfect reality with Merchant Navy, and in the most ironic of outcomes, it was none other than Coolmore supremo John Magnier himself, one of the protagonists in Horsetrader, who ended up buying the stallion prospect that the Barhams dreamt of breeding.

It’s a tale the authors of Horsetrader couldn’t have scripted better themselves.