‘It’s the 64-million-dollar question’: Blaxland on spotting toughness over looks

Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything

Blaxland purchased G1 AJ Moir Stakes winner Baraqiel (Snitzel) with Bennett Racing under his Blue Sky Bloodstock (FBAA) banner for $150,000, and G2 Furious Stakes winner Apocalyptic (Extreme Choice) was purchased by Blaxland along with Michael Freedman Racing and MyRacehorse for $400,000.

Apocalyptic fulfils her early promise

Apocalyptic (Extreme Choice) become stakes winner number 15 for her sire when she won Saturday's G2 Furious Stakes.

“With my bloodstock work, I help Anthony and Sam Freedman and sometimes Michael Freedman. It was exciting seeing Apocalyptic win yesterday, as I bought her with Michael in 2024. I was actually on the farm working yesterday and I thought that we had a couple of good runners that I should keep an eye on them,” said Blaxland.

“It was very exciting. I don’t go to the races very much anymore but it was nice to watch those two win. Last year, Michael thought early on that Apocalyptic was his Slipper horse, so he’s always had a huge opinion on her.”

Michael Freedman did win the G1 Golden Slipper last season, but with Marhoona (Snitzel), while Apocalyptic had just the one start at two, running second in December to Gallo Nero (Wootton Bassett {GB}) who went on to place in the G2 Spirit Of Boom Classic. Saturday’s G2 Furious Stakes win was Apocalyptic’s second race day appearance.

Baraqiel and Artorius bought at the same time

Baraqiel, a 7-year-old gelding trained by Leon and Troy Corstens and Will Larkin, added his first Group 1 win in Saturday’s G1 AJ Moir Stakes, and took his record to eight wins from 12 starts with earnings over $1.12 million, a long way ahead of the $150,000 Blaxland and Freedman paid for him in 2020.

“We actually bought him with Anthony Freedman at the same sale as we bought Artorius. It’s interesting, one is at stud and the other is still out there winning races,” said Blaxland.

“The horse changed trainers at some point in his career. It’s an amazing effort by Baraqiel and an incredible effort with multiple setbacks and really a testament to Troy and his team for sticking with him. We always knew that he had a serious engine.” Baraqiel changed stables in 2023 before he’d been seen in public either at a trial or at the races.

TTR spoke to Malua Racing about Baraqiel’s injury rehabilitation after he won the G2 McEwan Stakes in October 2024.

When asked if he could remember what Baraqiel was like as a yearling, Blaxland laughed. “He’s somewhat plain in the head. I remember he had an incredible physique with good scope and good action, and I remember Anthony saying something like, well he’s not pretty but he looks tough.

“I have been buying yearlings for 20 years but I reckon I've learnt more buying them with Anthony Freedman in the last seven or eight years than anyone. He’s an incredible judge.”

The pair purchased Artorius from Vinery Stud’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale for $120,000 in 2020, the same sale that they purchased Baraqiel for $150,000 from Arrowfield Stud. Artorius, winner of the G1 Blue Diamond and G1 Canterbury Stakes, retired to Newgate Farm in 2023 and his oldest crop have just turned one.

“We’ve had a few (Artorius progeny) here at Newington Farm. I’ve been quite impressed by them. Artorius was always a beautiful horse. He was a little backward as a yearling. He came back here and was broken in by Greg Bennett at Fenwick down the road from Newington.

"We had him from straight after the sale and had him until June, and he changed a lot. He came as a boy and left as a man.

“His progeny have probably been mated to be quite precocious. He was a bit behind the eight ball as a yearling himself but it’s certainly not what I’m seeing with his progeny who, so far, they are more forward than he was initially, but like I said, he changed a lot through the education process.”

Temperament the key to a good horse

Blaxland’s Newington Farm educates around 120 yearlings each season and looks after approximately 70 spelling racehorses at any one time and spoke how there is one factor that he’s seen in most good horses. Temperament.

“After Stay Inside and Artorius won their Slipper and Blue Diamond respectively, they came back here for a spell. Anthony and Michael Freedman each decided to send their colt up to us to spell because we’d had them here as yearlings, and they wanted to give them six to eight weeks with the Queensland sun.

“We have four stables up by the house and they would go out into a paddock in the day with a nanny mate. We find it useful to have an old gelding to put in with these valuable colts, rather than have them looking over the fence at who else is on the farm. So they would go out in the day with their mate, then come in at night, and they were both valuable colts by then and had been sold to Newgate Farm.”

Stay Inside won the 2021 G1 Golden Slipper when trained by Richard and Michael Freedman, while Artorius won the 2021 G1 Blue Diamond when trained by Anthony and Sam Freedman.

“They would come in each day at 3 o’clock for their feed and they were stabled next to their nanny mate. One night there was the most horrific storm. One of those tropical Queensland storms with lightning, thunder, hail, the whole bit and it woke me up at one in the morning.

"I thought, gees I’d better go and check those two bulls. I’ve gone out there and the two nannies are up and about in their boxes, nervous and worried about the storm.

“The two colts were lying down asleep. I turned the light on, and they sort of threw their heads up and looked at me, like, what are you doing? And I thought that’s exactly why they are good horses. There’s certainly a lot to be said for temperament. It’s a huge factor, especially with colts.”

Newington Farm’s busy education system

Along with wife Kacy Fogden, Blaxland runs Newington Farm in Queensland. “We broke in around 120 yearlings this year, and I’d say about 30% are for Hong Kong. We’ve always had strong support from Hong Kong agents and trainers.

"We’ve done a bunch for Caspar Fownes, Willie Leung, Frankie Lor, and that’s a big part of it. We spell on average 70 and educate 120 and always have around 40 or 50 in educational pre-training.”

On the Hong Kong horses, Blaxland said that it’s a long process. “It often depends on the permit that the owner has, some horses can go straight to Hong Kong after being educated. They’ve still got to be vetted, but others take time. We’ve got horses here that we educated last year who are only now getting vetted to go up (as 3-year-olds).

“Some of them go to local trainers, like Peter Robl or Paul Shailer or Matt Dunn to win a trial. It’s not a straightforward process, but it’s certainly one that we enjoy. Kacy is obviously qualified, she did quite a few horses when she trained as Kacy Fogden Racing for Aquis Farm.”

Of this year’s cohort, Blaxland picked out three young horses to keep an eye out on. “There’s the Maurice colt out of Star Pupil which is obviously a half to Lady Shenandoah and Stronger. He’s going to Hong Kong to Caspar Fownes. He’s just a natural, a very exciting horse. He was the choice of Pip Bassingthwaite, our breaker’s assistant, he was her favourite.”

Sold by Arrowfield Stud for $550,000 at the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale, the Maurice (Jpn) colt was purchased by Caspar Fownes. Star Pupil (Starcraft {NZ}) was a maiden winner from five starts, but as a broodmare she’s been an outstanding producer leaving stakes placed Tiger Silk (All American) with her first foal and Group 1 winner and young sire Stronger with her second foal.

Her next two foals have been winners, Velorum (Not A Single Doubt) and Diligente (Pariah), followed by Group 1 winning 4-year-old mare Lady Shenandoah (Snitzel) who ran second in the G3 Concorde Stakes when resuming on Saturday and is on a The Everest pathway. The Maurice 2-year-old colt is her next foal and she is in foal to Snitzel.

“We had a Farnan colt who was our breaker Danny Parsons’ favourite. He’s out of Lusitania and is nominated for the Magics breeze up sales.” He is Lot 11 at the upcoming Magic Millions Horses In Training Sale for Silverstream Consignment.

Withdrawn as a yearling, the Farnan colt is from winning mare Lusitania (Sepoy) who is a half-sister to Group 1 winner Alinghi (Encosta De Lago) and to stakes placed Slice Of Paradise (Encosta De Lago), the dam of Group 3 winner and successful sire Beneteau.

“We had a Too Darn Hot for Mick Price, out of Whelk, who is a lovely horse. We did a couple of Home Affairs for Mick Price too that are pretty nice, and Anthony Freedman has one (Home Affairs) that we bought in January from Torryburn that they’re quite pleased with.”

The Too Darn Hot (GB) 2-year-old colt from Whelk (Fastnet Rock) is her second foal and her first foal is the winner Super Paradise (Street Boss {USA}). This colt was sold by Vinery Stud for $150,000 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, purchased by Mick Price Racing and Star Blue Consultancy.

“We get a mixed bag, we get some who come here that were $10,000 and others that were a million dollars and everything in between. What’s interesting is that when you see them under saddle it can be quite different to at the sales and sometimes the cheaper ones look more natural than the big expensive ones.”

When asked to clarify, Blaxland said that it’s mostly just temperament. “It’s how the horse can handle pressure. That’s the big thing when you’re educating them, the level of pressure they can handle. We know that certain farms have horses who handle pressure a lot better than other farms and it’s got nothing to do with the size or prestige of the farm.

"Some are just easier to educate, and whether that’s the breeding or maybe it’s to do with the handling they get early on. It’s certainly a factor when you get to the early 2-year-old races, the best educated babies are more prominent because they're more seasoned and they know what they’re doing."

It's not just about the horses. Blaxland pointed to the staffing issues across the industry as a factor in the way they educate their horses. “We don’t like sending horses off to trainers until they are perfect, and often the riders that are available to trainers at tracks all around Australia are probably not of the standard they would like.

“They’ve really got to be bombproof when you send them off, and you’ve got to assume the horse will be ridden by the weakest rider that the trainer has available to them. We have experienced riders, but a lot of trainers don’t have that luxury, and they can only use who they have available so that’s a big challenge.

“Kacy will always pass on any quirks to whoever is training them, and it’s all about working with the horse, isn’t it? To try and get the best from them.”

It all comes back to temperament again. “At the broodmare sales just gone in June, they brought Schwarz up here for a parade and there’s 150 people here having beers and talking loudly, and this horse who hasn’t been here since he was a yearling just walked around like a 15-year-old gelding. It was incredible. These good horses, they act like there’s nothing to worry about.”

If temperament is so important, can it be seen at the sales? “I think you certainly look for it, but it’s a strange environment and these yearlings have come straight from a farm and you get only a brief glimpse of them. You’ll look at them once, twice, sometimes three times, and I don’t know if you can read too much into it.

"The on-farm inspections help (with judging temperament) more. If they play up at the farm, then you’d question their temperament. They should be calm there, whereas at the sales you can be more forgiving.”

Buying off good farms makes it easier

So if temperament is key but the sales environment makes it hard to judge, does it come down to factors like Freedman’s initial opinion of Baraqiel – he looks tough.

“It’s the 64 million dollar question, isn’t it. You do get a bit of an inkling. The older I get, I’ve realised there is one thing you can do and that’s buy from the good farms. It’s no accident that these good farms keep consistently throwing up these horses, Arrowfield, Widden, Mill Park, Gilgai, Coolmore, Newgate. It’s no accident.

“I got told one thing by Adrian Nichol (of BBA Ireland) when I was 25 and he said ‘you can make yourself look really good by doing one thing and that is only buying off the five or six best farms’. It’s not a steadfast rule but it’s a good way to start. Farms like Newhaven Park, they consistently produce good horses every year, and they might not all be Group 1 winners but they are good horses.

“We have a horse up here called Guarded Optimist. He’s no star but he’s won three straight at the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast, the blokes that own him, they get a huge thrill.”

Guarded Optimist (NZ) (Almanzor {Fr}) has a chequered sales history, initially sold by Carlaw Park at the New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale for NZ$150,000 to Brooks Farm, and then again at the New Zealand Bloodstock Ready To Run Sale where KB Bloodstock sold him to Freedman Racing and Blaxland Bloodstock for the same price.

He won on debut, then was put through the 2024 September Inglis Digital Sale by Anthony Freedman Racing where Blaxland's Newington Farm picked him up for a bargain $2250.

Since then, he's had 13 more starts for trainer Paul Shailer and won three in succession in July and August this year to push his career to four wins from 16 starts with earnings over $90,000.

“It’s a bit like golf. You can have a terrible round and a dry run, and then you hit a good one. You win a race which could be a maiden at Ipswich and it's like having that one great shot hit dead down the fairway and that’s what keeps you coming back. The highs are very high.”