Cover image courtesy of Tattersalls
“There won't be a major Australian stable without a presence at the sale,” said Tattersalls Marketing Manager and Associate Director Jason Singh, pointing out the massive success story that is horses purchased for Australian owners.
“Over the last three years horses bought at this sale have won 47 stakes races in Australia,” he said, “and that is the reason Australians come here to buy horses.”
“Every Saturday you can see what the UK and European horses are doing and not all of the winners are coming from the top end of the sales; there is success through different ranges of the price scale.”
It was a timely conversation with Singh on Geelong Cup night, that very day the emerging stayer Onesmoothoperator (USA) (Dialed In {USA}) racing away to a big win in the G3 Geelong Cup at his Australian debut, shortening in markets for the G1 Melbourne Cup.
He is a graduate of the 2021 sale, purchased by DPA Bloodstock for 65,000 gns (AU$134,000).
A good example, Singh said, of the sort of horse on offer at this sale.
A great source of talent
“It is a great source of talent,” he said, noting that it has always been a popular sale with its placement at the end of the flat season.
He looks back at the beginnings of Australian involvement, surprised that the sale was not discovered earlier on the back of the achievements of such horses as At Talaq (USA), Almaarad (Ire) and Jeune (GB) in major races.
Jason Singh | Image courtesy of Tattersalls (Laura Green)
“If we go right back we see Colin Hayes winning big races with horses from Europe. That was 40 years ago so I am surprised that more interest in buying horses from here was not generated at the time.”
It was, he said, Chris Waller, who really set the ball rolling.
“He started coming over, teaming with Guy Mulcaster, in 2006 and he was the first Australian trainer to make regular visits. The first year he bought half a dozen relatively cheap horses and was winning Saturday Sydney races with them.”
“He (Chris Waller) started coming over, teaming with Guy Mulcaster, in 2006 and he was the first Australian trainer to make regular visits. The first year he bought half a dozen relatively cheap horses and was winning Saturday Sydney races with them.” - Jason Singh
On the back of that early success Waller or his representatives have returned to Tattersalls, since then purchasing from the sale the likes of Foreteller (GB) (Dansili {GB}), Stand To Gain (Ire) (Hawk Wing {USA}), Moriarty (Ire) (Clodovil {Ire}) and Shraaoh (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}).
Purchased for 100,000 gns (AU$206,000) in 2010, Foreteller had won a Listed race in France and he proved to be a great addition to the stable; in Australia winning eight races including the G1 Makybe Diva S., the G1 Ranvet S. and the G1 Underwood S.
Foreteller (GB) (outside) | Image courtesy of Sportpix
Secured for 105,000 gns (AU$216,400) in 2009, Stand To Gain had won a couple of races in France, adding to his tally a variety of local races including the 2011 G1 Sydney Cup.
A 90,000 gns (AU$185,500) buy in 2011, Moriarty had won at York at Newbury and he did his new connections proud with 11 Australian victories including the G1 Kingston Town Classic as well as three Group 2 events, a Group 3 and three Listed races.
Moriarty (Ire) | Image courtesy of Sportpix
Purchased by agent Stephen Hillen for 30,000gns in 2017, Shraaoh had won races at Newcastle and Goodwood, adding to his tally the 2019 Sydney Cup.
Kings Will Dream (Ire) (Casamento {Ire}) is another success story for the sale; originally trained in Australia by Darren Weir, the 2017 7500 gns purchase for Highflyer Bloodstock won for Waller the 2019 G1 Turnbull S.
Waller's success set the ball rolling
“Waller's success is where it really all started for Australians and the Horses-In-Training Sale,” Singh said.
“It has always been the largest sale of its kind with between 1500 and 1750 horses each year and we attract buyers from over forty different countries.”
Guy Mulcaster on the grounds at Tattersalls Park Paddocks | Image courtesy of Tattersalls
“With no significant breeding operations in the Middle East, the sale makes sense for buyers from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Dubai and it is great that it is also of such great appeal to Australians.
“With no significant breeding operations in the Middle East, the sale makes sense for buyers from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Dubai and it is great that it is also of such great appeal to Australians.” - Jason Singh
“The sale is supported by a great variety of vendors with such large operations as Shadwell and Godolphin and you can find 80/90 rated type horses who still have plenty of miles in their legs.”
Covid had an impact on how Australians have utilized the sale, agents having to be used in lieu of travel and with nice horses still sourced during that time “it gave Australian buyers confidence in our local agents.”
Who are still being used, Singh noting that “it is quite a difficult time for Australian trainers to get away.”
Singh, an Australian who has called Newmarket and Tattersalls home for 24 years, is looking forward to seeing representatives from down under at this year's sale, including Waterhouse and Bott's Bloodstock Manager Claudia Fitzgerald who spoke to us before flying out on Thursday evening.
Claudia Fitzgerald chatting with the media at the 2023 edition of the sale | Image courtesy of Tattersalls
“I first went to the sale in 2018, then of course Covid hit but I have been over there the past couple of years and I just love it,” she said.
“There is such a large offering and a great variety of horses for Australians to choose from.”
Lightly raced up-and-comers
“We look at the lightly raced three and 4-year-olds, horse with good bone and size and clean x-rays; that is really important to us.
“We like horses who have shown form over 1600 metres to 2200 metres who we think we can stretch out to more ground.”
“We like horses who have shown form over 1600 metres to 2200 metres who we think we can stretch out to more ground.” - Claudia Fitzgerald
Fitzgerald has noted how the Northern Hemisphere purchases can improve once they get to Australia.
“Once they spell and get that bit of sun on their backs they can really explode, they can change quite dramatically.
“Their stable has had great success in this sale in the last couple of years,” Jason Singh said, pointing to the big race wins recorded by Royal Patronage (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) and Just Fine (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire})
Royal Patronage (Fr) | Image courtesy of Sportpix
A dual Group winner in England, Royal Patronage was purchased by Waterhouse and Bott with Johnny McKeever Bloodstock for 300,000 gns (AU$618,200) just last year; at his local debut taking out the G2 Tramway S. in early September and finishing third in three classy assignments since.
“His owners have been having an absolute ball,” Claudia Fitzgerald said of the 6-year-old who contested Saturday's G1 W.S Cox Plate.
Last year's G1 Metropolitan H. winner Just Fine, who recorded an all the way win in the G3 Bart Cummings at Flemington a few weeks ago, had won three races in England before the same team purchased him for 300,000 gns (AU$618,200) in 2022.
Just Fine (Ire) | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Fantastic prizemoney
“These are not small amounts of money but with such fantastic prizemoney on offer in Australia horses like that are not expensive in the grand scheme of things,” Singh said.
Waterhouse and Bott have previously trained nice horses from the sale; G1 Sydney Cup and G2 Brisbane Cup winner Knights Order (Ire) (So You Think {NZ}) a 250,000 gns (AU$515,200) purchase with McKeever in 2018 whilst the G1 Sydney Cup and triple Group winner The Offer (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}) was secured for 200,000 gns (AU$412,100) in 2012.
Annabel Neasham is another to have shopped successfully at the Horses-In-Training sale, her winners sourced there including her wonderful galloper Zaaki (GB) (Leroidesanimaux {Brz}) who as purchased with Blandford Bloodstock's Stuart Boman for 150,000 gns (AU$309,100) in 2020; retiring earlier this year as the winner of over $11 million.
Zaaki (GB) | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
The G1 Melbourne Cup bound Fancy Man (Ire) (Pride Of Dubai), third in the recent G2 Herbert Power S. and sixth in the G1 Caulfield Cup, was a 675,000 gns (AU$1.39 million) purchase for the same team in 2022 whilst the G2 The Q22 winner Fawkner Park (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) was a 120,000 gns (AU$247,300) buy in 2022.
The stable have also cheered on stakes victories with Spirit Ridge (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) as did his original Australian trainer, the now Hong Kong-based Mark Newnham. The triple Group 3 winner was purchased for 100,000 gns (AU$206,100) by De Burgh Equine and Darby Racing in 2019.
The Australian-born Stuart Boman has loved following the careers of the horses he has been involved with purchasing, noting that "I have close family connections to Australia and I love everything about it.”
Meaningful Australian success
“I get a lot of enjoyment from having horses succeed in Australia, it means more to me than anything else.”
“I get a lot of enjoyment from having horses succeed in Australia, it means more to me than anything else.” - Stuart Boman
Agreeing with Singh's sentiments that it was Chris Waller who really set the ball rolling in regards to the Australian involvement in the sale, Boman said that one others saw how successful he was, they were always going to follow suit.
Stuart Boman | Image courtesy of Tattersalls
Zaaki was a great buy for Boman who had worked with the Ciaron Maher stable, Annabel Neasham his point of contact.
“When she got her own licence she rang and said she'd got a group of people together to buy a horse.”
Whilst Waterhouse and Bott have enjoyed success buying younger, up-and-coming horses, Boman prefers to look at older, more established horses and that is the type he told Neasham to buy.
“I was already a fan of Zaaki,” he recalled, “I'd been following him all the way through and when the catalogue came out he was number one on my list.
“When he got to Australia he was not long off being seven but he hit the ground running. Annabel was always going to be a success story but he put her career on a good trajectory, having a horse like him running in the big races.”
“... he (Zaaki) hit the ground running. Annabel was always going to be a success story but he put her career on a good trajectory, having a horse like him running in the big races.” - Stuart Boman
Boman is busy working on this year's sale, joking that after 15 years of steadily becoming more and more focused on it that he could “win Jeopardy if the topic was the Horses-In-Training Sale!”
“It is a sale which keeps getting better and better,” he said, explaining that “Some horses are being sold by traders but the majority are from stables looking to make room at the end of the racing year for the next batch of horses.”
Opportunities for everyone
“That creates opportunities for everyone,” he said.
Boman maintains a data base that enables him to keep tabs on horses, noting that by the time sale day arrives the printed catalogue is out of date with “many horses racing right up to the week of the sale.”
“The data base keeps me organised and focused and I have a team of two or three people supporting me.”
What sort of horse Boman seeks depends on the needs of his client though he said that sometimes horses “just jump out as having the same profiles as horses we've had success with in the past.”
Auditorium at Tattersalls, Newmarket | Image courtesy of Tattersalls
He is big on racing and stride patterns, the movement and action of a horse that makes them more likely to be suited by the way Australian races are run.
He is mindful that “it doesn't always work, horses either take to Australian racing or they don't,” whilst always giving credit to the trainers who do best with European horses.
“There is a real skill in managing them, the trainers who win with these horses are those who are best at working out their nuances. It is no mistake that some trainers are having constant success; it comes down to horsemanship and knowledge.”
“There is a real skill in managing them, the trainers who win with these horses (in Australia) are those who are best at working out their nuances. It is no mistake that some trainers are having constant success; it comes down to horsemanship and knowledge.” - Stuart Boman
Other recent Australian graduates of the Horses-In-Training Sale include the G2 Herbert Power S. winner Herman Hesse (GB) (Frankel {GB}) (75,000 gns {AU$154,500}, 2020 Australian Bloodstock and Ronald Rauscher) and the G3 NE Manion Cup winner Post Impressionist (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) (54,000 gns {AU$111,300) 2021 Stevenson Bloodstock).
As well as the Listed winners Glentaneous (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}) (160,000 gns {AU$329,700}, 2021 Australian Bloodstock, Ronald Rauscher, Anthony Freedman Racing), Keats (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) (200,000 gns {AU$412,100}, 2020 Armando Duarte, Ballymore Stables Australia, Paul Moroney Bloodstock), Makram (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) (340,000 gns {AU$700,600}, 2021 Blandford Bloodstock, Lindsay Park), Monbaher (Ire) (Muhaarar {GB}) (45,000 gns {AU$92,700}, 2021 Badgers Bloodstock), Munhamek (GB) (Dark Angel {Ire}) (16,000 gns {AU$33,000}, 2018 Kilbride Equine) and Naval College (GB) (Dartmouth {GB}) (185,000 gns {AU$381,200}, 2022 Sackville Donald).
There are also Group 1 graduates from previous years; Fierce Impact (Jpn) (120,000 gns {AU$247,300}, 2017 Matthew Smith Racing), Harlem (GB) (Champs Elysees {GB}) (520,000 gns {AU$1.07 million}, 2016 SackvilleDonald, Astute Bloodstock) and Kingdom of Fife (GB) (Kingmambo {USA} (60,000 gns {AU$123,600}, 2010 Kern/Lillingston Ass).
