‘I'm not big on looking at legs’: Mick Malone shares his insights on sourcing horses

Cover image courtesy of Magic Millions

Mick Malone, the man behind the yearling purchase of multiple Group-winning juvenile Cool Archie (Cool Aza Beel {NZ}), was in action at the Magic Millions Gold Coast National Yearling Sale this week, picking up three more yearlings for a similar group of clients.

Four wins on the trot from a superstar colt is about as good an advertisement for your business as one can get, and that significance is not lost on Malone, whose attention cannot help but turn to the G1 JJ Atkins Stakes later this month.

“I spoke to (Cool Archie’s co-trainer) Chris Munce, he doesn’t even look like a 2-year-old,” Malone said. “He looks like a horse that’s going to develop more over time. He might just have a lot of ability.

“He’s just stood up and been very, very sound, even after his Sires’ win. Chris said he didn’t leave an oat and he bucked his brands off the next morning. He’s just that kind of horse.”

As he catches a breather in between the end of the sales season and the beginning of the breeding season, it’s the perfect opportunity to reflect on what the general manager of North Bloodstock has built since its launch two years ago, and how trust built over the last two decades has allowed him to do things a little bit differently.

Uncovering gold at the Gold Coast

The familiar names of racing magnates Neil Werrett and Max Whitby number among the list of clients that Malone went shopping for at the season’s last in-person yearling sale.

“Neil swears it was like I didn’t ask him to take a share in Cool Archie!,” Malone shared, “but he’s definitely going into these two.”

Two of Malone’s purchases on the Gold Coast were a colt and a filly by Newhaven Park Stud’s emerging sire Cool Aza Beel (NZ), who has burst onto the first season sire scene with the exploits of newly minted $1 million earner Cool Archie launching him into fifth place in the rankings. He secured Lot 1437 from Newhaven Park’s draft for $50,000.

Malone was already familiar with the family, having purchased the filly’s half-brother Cool Jakey (Pierro) for The Racing League in 2021; the rising 6-year-old recently clinched his sixth career victory at Hawkesbury’s standalone metropolitan meeting and looks like he’s got more in the tank.

“Cool Jakey’s been racing really well, and he just looks like a horse that's going to get a bit of black-type,” Malone said. “That will improve the pedigree immediately.

“She’s just such a good quality filly. I’ve had a bit of luck with Cool Aza Beel, and I love Snitzel as a broodmare sire. He’s doing such a super job, and he’s really showing his worth. So it just all made sense.”

The filly certainly has “crossed off the shopping list”, and it doubly makes sense to return to the same well that had served him so successfully in the past.

“The Kellys at Newhaven Park are smart operators, they do a great job,” Malone said. “They breed super racehorses, and there’s always a correlation with farms that produce a good horse; time and time again, they seem to get it right.

“When you find the horse you like and it's off a good farm, it doubles your efforts to want to buy it.”

Lot 1440 from Sutton Park was bought for $30,000, with his sire firmly in mind. Cool Archie’s purchase isn’t the first time Malone has patronised the stallion; he has personally sent five mares to the stallion since he entered stud. Newhaven Park recently announced that Cool Aza Beel will remain at his $16,500 inc GST fee for a fifth season - a fee that Malone expects may not be so cheap next year.

“I don't recall too many stallions that have become proven in Australia that didn't start off at a low fee,” he reasoned. “More often than not, it's the horse that makes their own luck that really makes it as a stallion.”

The third purchase - Lot 1327, a Street Boss (USA) filly out of a half-sister to West Australian sire Splintex and Listed winner Invictus Salute (Exceed And Excel) - cost just $10,000 from the draft of Highgrove Stud, and will be for a slightly different ownership group.

“I just can’t get over how cheap she was,” Malone said. “To me, she was an absolute bargain. She never has to race and she’s worth a lot of money. The weanling half-brother went for $280,000 last week.”

Great judges

Free from the restrictions imposed on trainers and syndicators at yearling sales means that Malone has more flexibility when touring the sales as a buying agent.

“I've got a lot of guys that support us very well in all different ways,” he said. Particularly in terms of budget; Malone has signed the docket for yearlings at every price point from $10,000 to $250,000, and even more for broodmares. “I don’t rush off and buy the expensive ones all the time, but I’m trusted to go and chase the horse that we want if I’m jumping up and down to try and buy it.”

When it comes to yearlings, the implicit trust of his clients means that Malone only looks at the parts of the horse that he wants to, which is typically above the stifle.

“I don't really get too carried away with conformation,” he shared. “People find it amazing, but I'm not big on looking at legs. I don't actually look at horses in front or behind, which everyone says is crazy.

“But my thoughts behind it are that I've looked at yearlings over the years with the best judges in the country - whether it be Moody, whether it be Gai’s crew, whether it be Mick Price or Paul Moroney - and the more I travel with different people looking at horses, the more I realise that a hind leg that Moody might like, Price doesn't. But they've both bought great horses in their time. A front leg that worries one great judge won’t bother another.

“I just decided that, if it's that variable, why would I let it play a role in my mindset? I want to like a horse. I even find myself hiding from their legs. I don't want to see an offset knee that puts me off when I just want to like the horse.”

Fluid movement is more important to Malone, as is an appealing pedigree.

“Some of the best stallions in the world produce a conformational trait that would put you off any other horse,” he said. “Danehills were back at the knee. Nobody wanted to buy them at first, and then all of a sudden, if they’re not back at the knee, you don’t want to buy it. We’ve learned to live with that trait.”

It’s a hard enough game without making it more difficult by prematurely depleting the pool of horses you want to look at, is his feeling. And if it doesn’t succeed? That’s how the dice falls.

“At the end of the day, we’re all just throwing darts. I don't need more reasons not to buy one because it's hard enough anyway.”

The luxury of trust and patience

It also helps that Malone has the luxury of patient clients, who are happy to give a horse the time.

“They’re great like that, there’s no pressure,” Malone said. “Obviously, you want to give the horse a chance to be a 2-year-old, but if they’re not that, it's okay. They’ve got a big picture outlook.

“They don’t often sack a horse, you know, they really believe in what they have purchased. They love racing, they love the game, and they love the horse.”

One such horse that amongst the stable of Malone’s clients is the Whitby-bred and raced Commando Hunt (Counterattack); while he showed promise as a younger horse, the now retired 7-year-old didn’t hit his straps properly until he was four, and achieved the Listed Scone Cup and $150,000 Muswellbrook Cup double as a 5-year-old.

“Commando Hunt’s a great example (of their commitment),” Malone said. “He’s retired on the farm now and he will be looked after for the rest of his life. People like Max and Neil, they put a lot in and they support the game long after the horse is retired as well.”

These are the kinds of people that share Malone’s vision for racing, and he is grateful to have found kindred spirits in the industry.

“Neil and Max have been clients of me and associate farms for 23 years, we’ve built that relationship up over a long time,” Malone said. “There’s been lots of mistakes amongst it all, but we’ve obviously done enough right and been trustworthy enough that they’ve stayed for as long as they have.”

Malone credits his wife Pauline Alix for ensuring those bonds remain strong.

“Pauline, my wife and partner in the farm, she talks to all our clients once or twice a week, if not three times, about their mares. She's got a great relationship with all of them, as well as their wives and family. We're very lucky to be in the position we're in.”

An economic toll

It’s useful having backers like that when you’re starting out, and it has allowed Malone to spend more freely at the broodmare sales as well; he stretched to $825,000 to secure dual Group 2 winner Yes Baby Yes (Dissident), in foal to Wootton Bassett (GB), at this year’s Inglis Chairman’s Sale.

“We're a new farm and we've got a lot of overheads and things going on, but we made a decision that we're going to try and own a leg in every mare we buy,” Malone said. “Down the track, I'd love to have 40, 50, 60 mares on the farm, where we own 10 or 20 per cent of each one. When we find a mare that we like, that's what we're trying to do, and then we've got great clients that trust us and absorb the rest of them.”

Not that all mares are forever - Malone is “very open to rolling with the punches”, and believes that a mare must prove herself worthy of remaining in the North broodmare band, particularly as the current economic climate seems all the more punishing for breeders who aren’t producing what the market wants.

“You’ve got to be honest with yourself about a mare. That’s one thing I would suggest to anyone; if your mare hasn’t produced two nice foals - or even one that is lacking certain things - just don’t keep going back to the well with these mares. You’ve got to find a mare that can give you a good type because that will drag you into the better part of the market, even if your mare is a bit short on pedigree.”

Even a maiden foal has to be up to snuff.

“I think a first foal can be just as good as a second, third, fourth foal,” Malone said. “They might be a little bit smaller, but you still want to see good quality.”

The economics have been plain to see at the sales this year, and Malone has seen the effects on both sides of the bench as both vendor and buyer. North Bloodstock’s second year of selling have been, on the whole, quite positive; they finish on an average yearling price over $160,000, having sold an Ole Kirk colt for $700,000 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in January and a Zoustar filly for $625,000 at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.

However, Malone has witnessed a slide back towards being a buyers’ market.

Gallery: Top lots from the North Bloodstock drafts at the 2025 premier yearling sales

“The buying bench is in a better position than what they have been,” Malone said. “The syndicators had to buy horses and it seemed like the market went up, and if they didn’t lift their spending with it, they’d miss out on horses.

“And since then, things have taken a turn back the other way. The buyer that wants to spend towards $100,000 can do so, as the better horses have come back down. So the horses worth $20,000 or so have dropped right off the market.”

Which will cause a further division in the stallion ranks as people grapple with changing their breeding strategies, Malone can foresee.

“There will be certain stallions that will just find it tougher, especially in the $8000 to $15,000 mark,” he said. “It’s just hard work, unless you get a belter of a type.”

Keep on evolving

Good types are in mind as Malone looks forward to the breeding season; his mating plans already completed, Malone admits they will not be straying much from the strategy that has already proven successful in the sales ring and on the track. Last year, North sold G3 Black Opal Stakes winner King Of Pop (Farnan) and $160,000 Max Lees Classic winner Gobi Desert (Too Darn Hot {GB}), as well as a $1.1 million Snitzel colt to Rosemont Stud and Suman Hedge Bloodstock (FBAA).

“We’ll definitely utilise first season sires, especially those standing on farms that have a good commercial drive, and there will be a mixture of your proven stallions,” Malone said. “Your mares need the level of pedigree to back up that kind of service fee.

“I don’t think (our strategy) has changed much over the years. Type on top is really important, as is broodmare sires. Matching sirelines that work is the most important thing to me and any success I’ve had has stemmed from that.”

Where will North’s journey head in the future? It must be difficult to not get excited about the thought of standing a stallion some day.

“When a horse like Cool Archie comes along, you start thinking about that a little bit,” Malone admitted. “I’ll never say never - I know what my wife would say very quickly though!

“I think you’ve just got to be evolving and be open to whatever comes. If the right horse was there, I would definitely look into it. And if Cool Archie wins the JJ Atkins on Saturday week - well, who knows? You never know what might happen.”