Two-Speed syndication: From million-dollar mares to Tasmania maidens for Star

Cover image courtesy of Tas Racing

A treble across two states on Sunday capped a season that perfectly encapsulates the Star Thoroughbreds model: from Group 1 success with Aeliana (NZ) (Castelvecchio) in the Australian Derby to dominant performances at Tasmania’s Magic Millions raceday, Denise Martin has continued to extract value - and stories - from both ends of the racing spectrum.

Two more Tasmanian rising stars emerged for Martin in juvenile Mazzini (Needs Further) and 4-year-old Earendel (Needs Further), while 3-year-old Tassron (Tassort) picked up his maiden win at Ballarat for Chris Waller.

Martin’s involvement in Tasmanian racing - where she typically buys two horses a year at the Magic Millions Tasmanian Yearling Sale and sends them to her brother-in-law Barry Campbell - has enjoyed a particularly good run in the 2024/25 season, with Magic Millions winners Durazzo (Needs Further) and Sanniya (Stratosphere) backing up their carnival wins with victories in the Listed Hellova Street Stakes and Listed Gold Sovereign Stakes respectively in late February.

Mazzini, who was on debut on Sunday when he smashed the field by seven and a half lengths at Devonport, is a full brother to the now eight-time winner Durazzo - leading to Tasracing Media & Wagering Manager Matthew Reid comparing them to AFL’s Daicos brothers.

“It’s only a maiden in July in Tasmania, so we are optimistic that he’s a real talent, but we’ll go along quietly at this time,” Martin said. A number of owners involved in both Tasmanian horses travelled south to enjoy the racing, and came home with a double - some even experienced a treble, if they were involved in Tassron’s ownership.

“They came back and they said to me, ‘what’s happening next weekend?’, and I said, ‘we’ll go along quietly’,” Martin shared.

Martin is excited with the progress made by Durazzo this preparation.

“He went from a Class One win last September to defeating the best horses in the state in February,” she said. “He’s a leading candidate for the title of best horse in the state.”

Owners to friends

Martin’s model of ownership has remained relatively unchanged in the three decades of Star Thoroughbreds’ operation. Ownership groups have grown from the original six per horse, but not by much, as Martin seeks to develop a community amongst her owners.

“I very rarely have 20 people involved in a horse, because I tend to have a fairly large pool of owners who've been with me for a very long time, who buy 10 per cent in most of our purchases,” she said.

“I'm happy to work with that arrangement, because it enables people to get to know one another. It also enables the trainer to get to know the owners’ names, and in most cases, some of the key riders who ride for Chris also get to know some of the owners in each of the groups, and it just makes the experience for those people a little more personal.

“In many, many cases, owners form friendships with each other and go on tours, cruises, get to know family members and friends outside of racing. The racing becomes secondary for us, the friendships come first.

“It's just been a model that I've had for a long time and it has reasonably well served us for an extensive period. There are times when I thought maybe I should offer 1 per cent shares, but I'm really comfortable with 5 per cent being the smallest share.”

When Darby Racing’s Scott Darby entered the game with a horse called Flaming (Beautiful Crown {USA}) - who won eight races and over $390,000 for connections, including victory in the G3 Bill Ritchie Handicap - Martin imparted some wisdom to him on the topic.

“Scott Darby had his first horse with me 20 years ago, and I said to him, ‘(you’ve got a) nice horse, a nice trainer, now you’ve got to look after the owners. It’s their discretionary dollar that decides whether they want to buy with you or not’.”

The element of friendship is something Martin continues to hold dear in racing; it’s remained a core tenet since her early days when the Star Thoroughbreds horses were trained by Gai Waterhouse.

“When I established Star Thoroughbreds, Gai had just started, and we were together for 20 years. We were a bit like Thelma and Louise, as I say to people! I loved my association with her, and I love my association with Chris, which is different but equally wonderful.

“When people ask, ‘why did you want to do it?’ Number one. I wanted to see if I could. And number two, I wanted to create something that I hoped would be successful and respected and would have longevity.

“Who knew it was going to last over three decades, and who knows where Aeliana will take us in the next six months. I’ve said to Chris, ‘I haven’t highlighted the Caulfield Cup or the Cox Plate, you say wherever and I’m there’.”

Small state problems

While Martin’s biggest wins come on the mainland, it’s in Tasmania that she continues to find quiet value - and proof that opportunity still exists off the beaten path.

For three years running, Star Thoroughbreds has purchased the top lot at Magic Millions Tasmania; Mazzini cost $145,000 - $45,000 more than the next top lot. Tasmanian native Martin recognises the disparity between the island state and those on the mainland, particularly the eastern states that struggle far less with prize money and investment.

“The population is only small, so naturally turnover and participation in ownership is always going to be limited by the sheer weight of numbers,” she said. “I buy two horses here a year and, very fortunately, we’ve been really successful. If you want to be extremely successful (with a Tasmanian horse) then you have to do what The Inevitable did and at least travel to Victoria.

“But it’s always going to be difficult due to the physical location. You can’t just drive down the freeway to get there. It (Tasmanian racing) won't ever be a big player on the national stage because you can't be with that number of people involved.”

In a similar way to the ecosystem surrounding country stables on the mainland, Tasmania suffers from young talent’s need to move away in order to grow. Martin points to Tasmanian apprentice Jackson Radley, who recently transferred to the care of Lindsay Park and rode a double on Monday at his first meeting since relocating to Victoria.

“He’s a shining light in the industry who’s come up through the grades from pony club,” she said. “That’s a great thing to achieve as a young rider.”

In another similar vein, the buying bench - both at the sales and for trainers selling shares - is much more limited than in a metropolitan setting on the mainland.

Martin feels that it will always be difficult to increase investment in racing in the state - particularly trying to measure up to mainland states - when a much smaller pool of finances is being pulled in so many directions. Her investment is small scale in comparison to her mainland syndications, but it remains an important link to her homeland.

She is also pleased to see greater investment in the breeding sphere, such as with the introduction of new stallion Bodyguard, who won the G3 Blue Diamond Prelude (colts & geldings).

“There’s a couple of mares we are currently racing (in Tasmania) that may be soon sold to somebody who might like to send them to Bodyguard, or some of the current owners might like to breed to him themselves,” she said. “It’s a small way we can support Armidale Stud’s new initiative.

“I won’t suggest at all that everything is perfect, but I think the people who are working to make it better are doing a reasonably good job.”

The breakout star

It was further north, however, where Star Thoroughbreds reached its greatest heights this season.

“Our year was highlighted, of course, by the wonderful result in the Australian Derby with Aeliana,” Martin said.

It would be impossible to skip over talking about tough 3-year-old filly Aeliana, the second Group 1 winner for her sire and the only filly to truly take on the boys this season. Her five-length romp home in the G1 Australian Derby was a well deserved victory after being denied by a nose by Broadsiding in the G1 Rosehill Guineas the start before.

“It was somewhat unexpected when we started the preparation with her at the beginning of autumn that she would reach that level,” Martin said. “I thought that she would be very competitive in some of the Group races, and she was, but I hadn't anticipated that we'd be watching that performance.

“When she was beaten in the Rosehill Guineas, my immediate thought was, ‘how many more? It’s surely my turn to win a Group 1’.”

While Martin had had the faith that her filly would be hard to beat, the result was beyond her expectations. The Rosehill Guineas result had been gutting; Aeliana had missed out on the G1 1000 Guineas in the spring by a similar margin to Another Prophet (Brazen Beau), and former Star Thoroughbreds galloper D’Argento had been pipped at the post by a heartbreaking hair’s breadth in the G1 Epsom Handicap by Hartnell (GB) (Authorized {Ire}) in race record time.

“I recall vividly speaking with Damien Lane the day after (Aeliana’s) race, and my comment was, ‘when you came out of the corner and she had already taken the lead, I thought at the time, I can't believe he's done that. He's such a measured, sensible rider!’,” Martin said.

“And he said to me, ‘she took herself there. I was just steering’.”

Putting owners into Aeliana, who cost just $180,000 at the New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale, and reaping the rewards has been one of Martin’s greatest joys this season, and it has made the wait worth it for a filly that was very immature when she arrived from the sales.

Martin shared a great belief in the opinions of breakers and trackwork riders to gauge where horses are at; they are the ones on the front line every day, getting direct feedback from the horses.

“I was talking to one of Chris’s (Waller) track riders today (Tuesday) that works with Aeliana, and I said to her, ‘I saw your video with Aeliana when she arrived back at the track last week, when did you think she would be a Group 1 performer?’

“She said, ‘well, when she won the Reginald Allen on Everest day, Chris asked me the next day if she would be a Group 1 performer, and I said, yes, absolutely’.”

Million dollar mares

A mare that has meant so much to Star Thoroughbreds and whom bowed out on a high at the beginning of this season was G1 Coolmore Classic winner Espiona (Extreme Choice), who sold for $4.15 million to Yulong, via agent Zhijun Zhao, in a boutique standalone online auction from Magic Millions at the end of last July.

“She earned in excess of $3 million on the track, so for a $190,000 yearling purchase at the sales, she turned into a seven and a half million dollar mare for her connections,” Martin said. “I have the photo (of her Coolmore Classic win) on the wall, where she defeated Pride Of Jenni. It was only when I brought the photo into the office to hang up that I realised that’s Pride of Jenni next to her! So that has become a very special Group 1.”

Star mare Olentia (Zoustar) may be offered in a similar fashion later this month, if connections decide against pursuing another season’s racing. The seven-time winner is a half-sister to stakes winner Malkovich (Choisir) and Wandabaa (Wandjina), and ran third in the G1 Tattersall’s Tiara at the weekend.

“She's close to a million dollar earner, she's by Zoustar, she's a magnificent physical specimen, and she has a terrific pedigree,” Martin said. “Clearly, she'll be highly sought after as well.”

The older horses leaving the fold make way for the syndicate's next stars, and Martin picked out two that she thinks can set themselves on a path to greatness this spring.

“We have other emerging talents, like Chatterley whose stakes-placed, and Karinska who will head to the Flight Stakes.”

Both fillies earned their names from the same owner; Karinska (Spirit Of Boom) is named for influential costume designer Barbara Karinska, and Chatterley (Snitzel) on account of her dam, Forbidden (General Nediym).

“The stable has the headline acts that people know, and then there are plenty of supporting acts aiming to be headliners.”