Cover image courtesy of Inglis
Selling his farm on the banks of the Goulburn River near Nagambie earlier this year, Crabtree entered into an arrangement with Noorilim Farm just half an hour or so up the road with 11 of his broodmares becoming residents at the Carrick family property.
The arrangement is a 50/50 split of sales profits in return for the mares having a cost free home for Crabtree, and it has immediately paid dividends for Noorilim with a Stay Inside filly fetching a record breaking $650,000 to the bid of Damon Gabbedy's Belmont Bloodstock Agency (FBAA).
He was bidding on behalf of Crabtree, who was delighted to buy out his new partners with the filly impressing him from the start.
Lot 120 - Stay Inside x Sheidel (filly) | Image courtesy of Inglis
“As a purchaser I simply could not go past this filly,” Crabtree enthused. “I looked at everything else here and I just thought that she was the stand-out horse.
“I would've been happier to pay a couple of hundred grand less,” he laughed, “but when you've got a horse you think is almost priceless, you have to back your judgement.”
“When you've got a horse you think is almost priceless, you have to back your judgement.” - Rob Crabtree
Do I want her? Yes I do!
“I had to stand back, independently as a buyer and think 'do I want her?' And I did; it was more than wanting her, it was that I couldn't let go of her," Crabtree said.
“It was more than wanting her (Lot 120), it was that I couldn't let go of her.” - Rob Crabtree
Whilst the primary motive for the purchase was buying a great type of filly, there was also a degree of sentimentality with Crabtree looking back fondly on the day the bay's dam Sheidel (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) won the G1 Oakleigh Plate in Dorrington Farm's red and white colours.
“That was an extraordinary day for our farm,” he recalled. “We won the Blue Diamond with Catchy and the Oakleigh Plate was the very next race!”
Lot 120 - Stay Inside x Sheidel (filly) | Image courtesy of Inglis
Partnered by Joao Moreira, Sheidel was a tough winner of that Group 1 dash, a race in which her daughter's grandsire Extreme Choice was third.
Moreira was a fan of Sheidel, who he also won the G3 Begonia Belle Stakes on, noting that “she is fairly small in size but you can tell she's got a massive heart”.
The winner of another 14 races including two Group 3 races and four Listed contests, Sheidel has not always had the best of luck at stud, making her daughter all the more valuable to Crabtree.
Losing her first two foals, Sheidel missed and slipped at her next two seasons with the yet to race two-year-old Blue Shield (Blue Point {Ire}), a member of the Mick Price & Michael Kent (Jnr) stable, her only other foal.
A pretty special filly
“We lost one who was just too big,” Crabtree said. “He was 82kg and had to be taken out of her, it was horrible. So to get a nice filly out of a mare like that is pretty special.”
Crabtree is a massive fan of the filly's sire, Newgate Farm's Stay Inside, saying that “he could be anything".
“I do think he could potentially be one of the best stallions we have seen. He won the Slipper and I don't think everyone is really quantifying the Extreme Choice factor as yet.”
Stay Inside | Standing at Newgate Farm Stud
"I do think he (Stay Inside) could potentially be one of the best stallions we have seen." - Rob Crabtree
There will be no pin-hooking of this sale topper with Crabtree excited to race her.
“I have sold the farm, I've moved on, I don't have the ongoing costs, I am a simply a racer of horses now,” he said.
Robert Crabtree | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Though he does have this nice arrangement with Noorilim, one which also suits the farm's Peter Carrick, who was very excited to hear that the price was an Inglis Australian Weanling Sale record.
“I love holding a couple of records!” he chuckled, noting that Noorilim Park broke the Inglis Melbourne Premier Sale filly record in 2023 when a daughter of I Am Invincible and Special Lover (NZ) (Pins) fetched $1.1 million.
Racing as Socrazyinlove, that Tony Gollan trained filly is showing promise, being a lightly raced winner who was not far away when fourth in Listed company last spring.
Noorilim's very first Australian Weanling Sale
Meanwhile the Stay Inside filly is part of Noorilim's very first Australian Weanling Sale draft, one which saw them represented by five (all but one of which sold) on day one with another four to go through the ring on Tuesday.
They kicked off the sale with Lot 82, a Harry Angel (Ire) colt out of Rock The Sea (NZ) (Fastnet Rock), Baystone Farm purchasing the close relation to Newgate Farm's G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes winner Ozzmosis for $180,000.
Gallery: Lots sold on Monday for Noorilim Park, images courtesy of Inglis
Lot 122, a Too Darn Hot (GB) filly out of Sheza Flyer (NZ) (Tavistock {NZ}) sold to Sledmere Stud and Cangon Stud for $120,000, whilst Riverstone Lodge and Suman Hedge Bloodstock (FBAA) went to $110,000 to secure Lot 129, a Blue Point (Ire) half-brother to the G3 Kindergarten Stakes and dual Listed winner Semillion (Shalaa {Ire}).
The latter was also part of the arrangement with Crabtree, as are another two of the Noorilim weanlings due to be sold on Tuesday; Lot 364, a Toronado (Ire) half-sister to the dual Group 2 winner Imelda Mary (NZ) (Ferlax {NZ}) and Lot 527, a Toronado half-sister to the Group 3 placed Charity Spirit (Cable Bay {Ire}).
Gallery: Lots that will be offered by Noorilim Park on Tuesday, images courtesy of Inglis
It's a partnership working well for both parties, one which was came to be after discussions between Crabtree and Peter's son Glen who was certainly on a high after such a successful opening session to the sale.
“It has been a great day for the farm,” he said. “Four very good results."
A popular girl
Glen Carrick was not surprised by the demand for the Stay Inside filly, noting that “she has been busy all week”.
“She has been paraded over 200 times and she had lots of x-ray hits. She was always going to get a good price and she had all the right people on her.”
Fully appreciative of the stellar record Crabtree boasts as a breeder, Carrick said that he considered himself “lucky to be the person he chose to go into partnership with.”
Peter and Glen Carrick | Image courtesy of Inglis
And very happy that the decision to sell the horses as weanlings has immediately proven successful.
“We have had success at yearling sales but we have decided to concentrate on weanlings,” he said. “We are at the top end of the market at these sales whereas at the later sales we'd be competing with the big boys with their best yearlings.”
“We are at the top end of the market at these sales (Weanling Sale) whereas at the later sales (Yearling Sale) we'd be competing with the big boys with their best yearlings.” - Glen Carrick
The lower risks of selling younger were also on Carrick's mind.
Noorilim Farm is currently home to around 80 horses, able to support bigger numbers when conditions are prime.
“But it is a bit dry at the moment so we are keeping the numbers lower,” Carrick explained.
Keeping the occasional filly (those who he thinks the market will miss or undervalue) to race, Carrick said that whilst he inherited his thoroughbred passion from his father Peter, he has a different angle.
“He loves to race, I love to sell!”
With mares in foal to the likes of Shinzo, Alabama Express, Ozzmosis and Harry Angel, there is much for Noorilim Park to look forward to.
And even more immediately with the farm taking six well credentialled mares to Thursday's Chairman's Sale. Four of those are Crabtree mares with Glen Carrick given the right to decide which ones end up going through the ring.
Noorilim Park Team with Robert Crabtree and Lot 120 | Image courtesy of Inglis
He chose four for the Chairman's, kicking off with Lot 8 Scandiva (Fastnet Rock). Served by Ozzmosis, the daughter of Dorrington Farm's wonderful matriarch Scandinavia (Snippets) is dam of the G3 David Coles Stakes winner Maximillius (Written Tycoon).
Served by Capitalist is Lot 44, the G1 Blue Diamond Stakes winner Catchy (Fastnet Rock) whilst Lot 81 is Meu Amor (Fr) (Siyouni Fr}), an imported Listed winner served by Home Affairs.
Lot 83 is Missy Cummings (Magnus), the Listed James HB Carr Stakes-winning dam of the G1 Canterbury Stakes winner Mizzy (Zoustar) and the recent G3 PJ Bell Stakes and Listed Twilight Glow Stakes winner She's Got Pizzazz (Zoustar); another mare served by Ozzmosis.
Gallery: Mares that will be offered by Noorilim Park at the Inglis Chairman's Sale 2025, images courtesy of Inglis
Buying mares from the Crabtree band has certainly proven to be a fruitful exercise for breeders, with Rick Jamieson one particularly notable beneficiary, having purchased from Dorrington Farm the unraced Helsinge (Desert Sun {GB); and we all know where that story went!
Also breeder of the G1 Galaxy Handicap-winning successful stallion Magnus, Crabtree still has a number of very nice types in work including last spring's Listed Debutant Stakes winner Miss Celine (Magnus) as well as She's Got Pizzazz.
Also going to the Chairman's for Noorilim Park is Lot 38 Blue Berets (I Am Invincible) out of the Group 3 mare Peace Force (Bernardini {USA}) served by Alabama Express and Lot 61 Furlanetto (Zoustar), a city winning half-sister to Listed winner Miss Hipstar (Star Turn).
