Daniel Robinson, son of Hong Kong jockey Philip Robinson, runs DPR Breaking. He grew up in Newmarket, England and was a flat and jumps jockey before weight made it too hard, and he transitioned into horse education.
An exciting new stage with a new farm
“Our business has just turned ten this year, and we’ve just bought our own farm. We are going to move there in a couple of weeks,” said Daniel Robinson, who came to Australia around 15 years ago. “We’ve done about 130 so far, with 5 more booked for next Monday, will probably hit 140.”
Daniel Robinson
“(The new farm) is lovely, really well located being only an hour from the major tracks in Sydney and was set up thoughtfully by warmblood breeders. It only needs a few tweaks to suit racehorses. It’s 70 acres, called Rebelwood, and backs onto a National Park,” added Ali Robinson.
Differences between England and Australia
“Breaking in England is done very differently. Basically some of the older lads in the yard do all the ground work, lunging and long reigning, then the younger lads who have more confidence, and more stupidity, jump on the horses. The first yearling I got on, I was like 13 or 14. What we did in England didn’t take a lot of horsemanship, it was more test crash dummy style,” said Daniel Robinson.
“(Here) our philosophy and process changes all the time. It changes for different horses too. The first thing we do is that we approach each horse with no direct line thinking. It’s more about getting to understand a horse’s characteristics and working out where they might struggle to move forward and assisting them there. If you ignore their initial insecurities, you get problems later, but working through them gives the horse more confidence.
“It’s more about getting to understand a horse’s characteristics and working out where they might struggle to move forward and assisting them there.” - Daniel Robinson
“We work out what the horse finds easy and hard, then use the easy things to help build up the hard things. We let the horse tell us when it’s ready, when we should saddle it, when we should move on. We want the horse to become braver and happier in their surroundings, to become more sensitive to listening to aids and taking direction.
“It sounds slow and thoughtful, but it never looks slow when you do it. Once they get confidence, it can go fast, and what we’ve found is that taking time at the beginning is the quickest way down the line.
Robinson has tweaked his methods over the years after working with so many young horses.
“I used to be under the mindset that I needed to get the saddle on the horse on day one because then I had more days with the horse under saddle, but now I realise that the longer it takes, the more confidence I’m building at first. Once the saddle does go on, then they progress quickly. It takes confidence to know you can delay, and that gives the horse confidence, which means the answer is good down the line.
Daniel Robinson jumping without tack | Image courtesy of DPR Breaking
“It’s best to wait and get it right the first time. We prepare the horse to be saddled, and we keep preparing until the horse is confident to go. If it’s being a biscuit about someone riding it, then we slow down until the horse is ready.”
DPR’s graduates
“When I was at Patinack Farm, I broke in All Too Hard. More recently, we’ve had Hawaii Five Oh, Lions Roar, Private Eye, and Think About It through here. I’m hoping that Linebacker can pick up a Group 1 this year too.”
Linebacker (NZ) (Super Seth) won two of his three starts at two, including the G3 TL Bailleu Handicap, before finishing his season running second in the G1 Champagne S. to Broadsiding (Too Darn Hot {GB}). He recently ran third in a trial.
Linebacker (NZ) | Image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
“We’ve had a few sent to us to help them out later too. Comin’ Through needed some manners, She Will Reign came to us for help with barrier issues, as did Madame Pommery.”
Comin’ Through (Fastnet Rock) won the 2018 G1 Doomben Cup, then was exported to Ireland via Hong Kong, before ending up in Poland. All up, he won 12 of his 64 starts, which is an excellent way to demonstrate his improvement in manners.
She Will Reign (Manhattan Rain) won the G1 Golden Slipper and the G1 AJ Moir S. among her six wins from 12 starts, and now she’s at stud in Japan where her first foal is Group 2-placed winner Danon Tornado (Jpn) (Heart’s Cry {Jpn}).
Gallery: Some of the racehorses race-educated by DPR Breaking
Madame Pommery (No Nay Never {USA}) won the G1 Thousand Guineas and was sold at the Magic Millions National Sale this year for $2.7 million to Coolmore Stud.
First season sires that have impressed
“We are normally lucky to see one or two by each sire, so they could be throwing to the dam. It’s hard to give an opinion (on a sire)," said Robinson.
“The Wootton Bassetts have been very nice, nice types and very mentally professional, laid back, not much phases them. I feel like they’ll be very trainable.”
“The Wootton Bassetts have been very nice, nice types and very mentally professional, laid back, not much phases them. I feel like they’ll be very trainable.” - Daniel Robinson
“Bivouacs have seemed nice, a little on the quirkier side, and we’ve had a couple of Farnans who seemed athletic.”
“Ole Kirk. We’ve had a few, they were a bit of a mixed bag, two were highly strung and two were naturally brave. One sticks to mind, very solid type and mentally mature for his age.” The colt out of She Shao Fly (Epaulette) was sold Gilgai Farm for $190,000 at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, bought by Nine9Park.
Ole Kirk x She Shao Fly (colt) | Image courtesy of Inglis
“We had an Anders filly at start of the year for Domeland, and she really was stamped to Not A Single Doubt. A very compact filly, more precocious than some we’ve had this year. We had one Hanseatic. He was a little bit quirky to start, then calmed down and it didn’t take long for him to move with a good attitude. Quite athletic, a nice horse.”
“We did two King’s Legacy fillies. One for Cressfield out of Progressive, a physically and mentally mature filly, and one for Torryburn out of Epitomise. She was an immature filly. Both moved nicely, and I have nothing negative to say about them, just had completely different personalities.”
Stand out types to keep an eye on
“We’ve had a really nice year with good horses generally. The ones from Magic Millions started very strong and they were just nice horses all through the year.”
“A Super Seth from Rosa Vernans ticked a lot of boxes. He’s one of John O’Shea’s, a great athlete, nice moving and a lovely type.”
“A Super Seth from Rosa Vernans ticked a lot of boxes. He’s one of John O’Shea’s, a great athlete, nice moving and a lovely type.” - Daniel Robinson
Sold by Bhima Thoroughbreds at the 2024 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale for $180,000 to John O’Shea Racing, James Bester Bloodstock and B Rogers, the Super Seth colt is from winning mare Rosa Vernans (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) whose first foal is a 3-year-old full sister named Super Rosa (NZ) who ran second on debut as a 2-year-old.
Rosa Vernans is a half-sister to three stakes winners, Group 2 winner The Juliet Rose (Fr) (Monsun {Ger}) who is the dam of Group 3 winner Mosaique (Fr) (Dubawi {Ire}), recent Group 3 winning 3-year-old Arabian Crown (Fr) (Dubawi {Ire}) and Listed winner Everest Rose (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}).
Super Seth x Rosa Vernans (Ire) (colt) | Image courtesy of Inglis
“The Vinnie out of Haut Brion Her is a very nice horse with a professional way about him.”
The I Am Invincible colt from Haut Brion Her (Zoustar) was sold by Three Bridges Thoroughbreds for $725,000 to Chris Waller and Mulcaster Bloodstock. He is the first foal for his dual Group 2 winning dam, who is a half-sister to Group 3 winner Karacatis (Hussonet {USA}) and Listed winner Shamillion (Shamardal {USA}). Their dam is Group 2-placed winner One In A Million (Redoute’s Choice) who is a daughter of Listed winner Happen (Zeditave).
I Am Invincible x Haut Brion Her (colt) | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
“Arrowfield sent us a horse out of Tides by Dundeel. He was a very nice horse, quite quirky for first two weeks, then turned into a professional and became really relaxed. Was very happy with the way he progressed through the system from the beginning through to his second pre-training session.”
Named Colombus (Dundeel {NZ}), the colt was a $1.5 million purchase by Dean Hawthorne Bloodstock and Alpha Syndicate from this year's Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.
Colombus is the third foal of winning mare Tides (Fastnet Rock) who is a full sister to triple Group 1 winner Shoals, and Listed winner Groundswell, from the Redoute’s Choice family.
“The Zoustar – Combat Queen filly was extremely athletic, moved nicely, very sensitive and a bit easily revved up, but is very athletic so can overcome that.”
Sold by Widden Stud for $250,000 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale to John O’Shea and James Bester Bloodstock, she is the first foal of winning mare Combat Queen (Pierro) who is a half-sister to Group 1 winner Mizzy (Zoustar) who is a daughter of Listed winner Missy Cummings (Magnus).
