Cover image courtesy of Australian Bloodstock
It is the season of reflection, and for Jamie Lovett of Australian Bloodstock, the 2024/25 racing season has been a year dominated by tightening belts and scaling back enterprises. The syndicator has spent much of the season streamlining the business in hopes of riding out the current turn of the financial tide.
That is not to say that Australian Bloodstock hasn’t had its fair share of success this year - the colours have been borne to success by Vauban (Fr) (Galiway {GB}) in the G3 Sky High Stakes, Herman Hesse (GB) (Frankel {GB}) in the G2 Herbert Power Stakes, and Infancy (Wandjina) in the G2 Sapphire Stakes.
But Lovett’s focus has been on trimming down the company’s investments and bracing themselves. Only 10 yearlings were bought this season, plus a handful of tried horses both locally and internationally.
Jamie Lovett | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“It’s more been about purposely looking to scale our numbers back, just from an affordability perspective,” Lovett said. “Our model, where we normally race a lot of horses, is flawed with the cost of having a horse in training these days. By virtue of restructuring our model, we’ve got a lot less horses racing for us, so we are purposely treating this year as a rebuild.”
Taking stock of the costs
Australian Bloodstock typically has around 150 horses at a time in training, by Lovett’s count, but that number is to be dialled back this year.
“If you want to be in the game long term and if you're forward planning, you've really got to take stock of the costs,” he said. “We’ve got to really screw it (our operation) right back to a point where it’s sustainable, because with those current numbers, it’s not. We’ve been lucky to see all our yearlings this year, but we’re not putting a heap of horses on the market (to sell shares in) at the moment for this reason.”
Lovett’s approach at this season’s yearling sales was fairly conservative by his own admission; the team spent just over $1.4 million on yearlings, with a top spend of $475,000 for a Pinatubo (Ire) colt offered by Coolmore Stud at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale. For comparison's sake, in 2024, they spent over $2.7 million on yearlings and in excess of $4.5 million on yearlings in 2023.
Pinatubo (Ire) | Standing at Darley Australia
“I've been in business a long time, and I’ve been watching the participation rates of what we all call your mum and dad type investors,” Lovett said. “Because of the cost of living here in Australia at this point in time, their participation is going right down. Racehorses are a trinket. People who used to buy five per cent can’t afford that any more.
“Racehorses are a trinket. People who used to buy five per cent can’t afford that any more.” - Jamie Lovett
“So I just said to (co-Director) Luke (Murrell), ‘I think we'll just be very conservative this year’. We're very fortunate to be in a good position where we don't need to take risks. At our stage in business, I'm adverse to risk.
“I look at some of the other syndicators and fair play to them for being brave and buying more, but Jesus, that’s a lot of unsold horses. We’re not going into July and all my yearlings have been broken in and are looking to go to the trials in September.
"The people still selling them worries me - if you’re still selling yearlings now, you’ve got to be a bit concerned because it’s getting to a point where you give them a squeeze to see if they’re any good, and you don’t want to be selling them to people if they’re no good.”
Feeling the pinch internationally
“On top of that, the fact that the exchange rate has tanked means importing horses has suddenly become very unaffordable. We are trying to buy a couple of big horses (in Europe), but there won’t be a dozen coming down this year.”
“The fact that the exchange rate has tanked means importing horses has suddenly become very unaffordable.” - Jamie Lovett
With a voracious appetite for importing quality stayers, Australian Bloodstock has had a lot of good fortune attacking Australia’s biggest middle distance races, but the contingent attempting to emulate Gold Trip (Fr) and Protectionist (Ger) in 2025 will be a lot smaller. Relentless Voyager (GB) (Ulysses {Ire}) and Royal Supremacy (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) are the main standouts that have already landed on Australian soil.
It doesn’t help when your currency is, as Lovett puts it, “not worth a toaster”.
Relentless Voyager (GB) | Image courtesy of Australian Bloodstock
“I went to Deauville last month for the breeze-up sales and bought four horses with Ciaron Maher, but the market's so strong over there,” he said. “The buying bench in Europe and even America is just so much stronger than down here in Australia.
“Trying to buy them over there on top of the exchange rate and the cost to get them here, it's definitely going to be a challenging season for any of us trying to bring them across, because the traders over there and the vendors have just got so many other options. Saudi, Bahrain, the Americas, all of those are so strong at the moment.”
“The buying bench in Europe and even America is just so much stronger than down here in Australia.” - Jamie Lovett
Lovett has had the feeling of being a little fish in an international-sized pond.
“And some of those bigger owners just have unlimited resources. You only have to look at Royal Ascot, where all the big players were winners. I think the days are gone where we can buy the big horse, because they're just going to be sold to those guys.”
Deserving of a chance
When they're not buying, Australian Bloodstock is engaged in the breeding realm with a sizable broodmare band. Although not running in their colours, Lovett has enjoyed watching promising juvenile Wootton Lass (Wootton Bassett {GB}), who he bred, snatch a city win in March and show glimpses of stakes quality potential. Laguna Partnership and John Sargent purchased the filly for $375,000 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast National Yearling Sale.
Wootton Lass | Image courtesy of Georgia Young Photography
“She’s still got a bit to learn, but I’m hoping she can get into some stakes money next season,” Lovett said. “She’s the first foal from that mare, and I’ve got a good opinion of her.”
From a breeding perspective, Lovett has thrown his support behind Australian Bloodstock’s latest G1 Melbourne Cup winner Gold Trip in his first season at stud; the son of Outstrip (GB) was visited by 65 mares in the spring at Lovatsville in Victoria.
“I’ve sent him some really nice, commercial mares because I think he deserves that,” Lovett said. “I'll probably have to race them or race them with some partners - it’s always hard to be commercial with Melbourne Cup winners - but I’ve sent him some nice I Am Invincible and Snitzel mares, that will put a bit of speed into the pedigree.
Gold Trip (Fr) | Standing at Lovatsville
“I'm just hopeful that he can leave horses that have got the toughness that he's got and obviously the ability, because you never know. You just got to give him a chance. If you just send rubbish mares to him, he’s got no chance at all.”
“You just got to give him (Gold Trip) a chance. If you just send rubbish mares to him, he’s got no chance at all.” - Jamie Lovett
Lovett is hoping that a few good sized books will help Gold Trip on the way to making his mark on Australian racing, but understands it’s an uphill battle. Australian Bloodstock’s other Melbourne Cup winner Protectionist, who died in 2023, suffered from small books when he returned to stand in his native Germany. His son Lazy Griff (Ger) ran second in this year’s G1 Epsom Derby, the significance of which isn’t lost on Lovett.
“If he (Protectionist) had stood at Coolmore and gotten 150 good mares, he would have been a superstar,” he said. “He has left a lot of good horses from very, very small foal crops. These (kinds of) horses just never get a chance, because you just didn't have the big foal crops behind him.”
“If he (Protectionist) had stood at Coolmore and gotten 150 good mares, he would have been a superstar.” - Jamie Lovett
They just don’t breed them any more
Lovett laments the lowering commercial desire for proper middle-distance horses across both hemispheres.
“They just don’t breed them any more," he said. "They don’t want them, even in the UK, they’re trying to shorten everything. Everyone only wants to buy a horse that can win at a mile. Derby winners, they’re looking to geld them now, they don't bother standing them.”
So You Think (NZ) looms back into view as a sufferer of the trend in the Southern Hemisphere, and Lovett agrees. Australian Bloodstock-raced middle-distance stallions like Mawingo (Ger) and Lucas Cranach (Ger) have both also suffered from widespread disinterest in their offspring; Melbourne Cup-placed, Group-winning Lucas Cranach left just 310 foals from eight crops, and G1 Doomben Cup winner Mawingo has 110 foals on the ground from 10 seasons at stud.
So You Think (NZ) | Standing at Coolmore Australia
“He’s (So You Think) an incredible stallion, there’s not a week that goes by where he’s not scoring winners,” Lovett said. “And yet you struggle to sell his offspring. Every trainer should just buy three of them, because they’re going for a third of what they should. He should be sitting up there at the top of the fees, when you look realistically at what he's done and what he's still doing.”
“Every trainer should just buy three of them (So You Think), because they’re going for a third of what they should.” - Jamie Lovett
The same adage echoes true for So You Think as Lovett has seen time and again with staying stallions across the world; nobody wants to wait.
“There’s no appetite for patience. It's such a shame. Some of those beautiful staying horses that come down from Coolmore (Ireland), they struggle to get mares, so they’ve got no chance to succeed. They’re royally bred, so if you could get them in the gene pool, it would be amazing, but they don’t get the foal crops to warrant it.”
Lovett pointed to Sioux Nation (USA), who visited Australia for one season and left just 39 foals behind, as a prime example. The stallion’s reception has been completely different in the north, but he has still managed to make an impact down south from a miniscule crop, producing G1 Queensland Oaks winner Socks Nation.
Socks Nation | Image courtesy of Trackside Photography
“He would have had no hope down here, but he’s going gangbusters up there (in Europe),” Lovett said. “It’s really frustrating. I doubt it will ever change in my time, because it seems like it’s going the other way, where everyone just wants to buy fast American mares and put them to horses who won at two but didn’t train on.
“Unfortunately the market dictates the trend, and then the trends just continue to go that way, because you’ve got to make money out of breeding. It's so expensive. If you don't follow the trends, you go broke.”
“You’ve got to make money out of breeding. It's so expensive. If you don't follow the trends, you go broke.” - Jamie Lovett
The colour of money
Is there any way we can meaningfully move the needle?
“The racing programming is not conducive to staying horses either, particularly for the 2-year-olds and 3-year-olds,” Lovett said. “(At this time of year) you struggle to find a race beyond a mile for the 2-year-olds.”
Lovett strongly believes more incentive is required to get breeders to sit up and pay attention to the middle-distance ranks again. In a breeding economy currently geared around the world’s richest juvenile race, the only currency that means anything is money.
“I would actively incentivise it,” Lovett said. “I'd make three lead-up races into the ATC Derby, three lead-ups into the VRC Derby, the same for the Queensland Derby. I'd make them all worth two and a half million dollars.
“Syndicators and buyers can't refuse the opportunity to race for ludicrous money.” - Jamie Lovett
"You’re racing for that money knowing it’s going to be quite weak until the gene pool strengthens up again, but with that kind of incentive, someone like me can say, ‘let’s go and buy five of these types, and give ourselves a chance of winning a Derby’.
“Right now, there’s no program for it. There’s lead-ups worth three or four hundred thousand, but let’s make them ridiculous, like they have done with the Everest and the Golden Eagle. That might change people’s thinking when they go to a yearling sale. Syndicators and buyers can't refuse the opportunity to race for ludicrous money.”
Program it and they will come.
