Bennett sees shades of Artorius in stallion's first crop

The breaking in season at Thenford Farm in the Southern Highlands is almost done, but the work has been nonstop since the first yearlings stepped into the roundyard in January. Overseen by Greg Bennett - who laid the career foundations for horses like Makybe Diva (GB) (Desert King {Ire}), Ha Ha (Danehill {USA}), and Typhoon Tracy (Red Ransom {USA}) - the facility has started a bumper crop of 160 yearlings so far in 2026.

“Our last three years have been very busy,” Bennett said. “We broke in 150 last year and we are up 10 from that.”

For Bennett and his team, being very busy is a good problem to have. The operation also provides rehabilitation services, as well as catering for the spelling and pretraining of some of Sydney’s best horses, including Mazu (Maurice {Jpn}), Apocalyptic (Extreme Choice), and Marhoona (Snitzel). Jokers Grin (Maschino) is amongst the current pretraining cohort.

“The demands are always high on everyone,” Bennett said. “The biggest thing to keep in mind when you have so many horses coming through is keeping staff focused, because it’s pretty constant. We haven’t stopped since January.”

Trusting the process

How quickly they arrive at Thenford may vary, but what doesn’t is the simple step by step process that Bennett applies to every yearling that his team breaks in. The 30-day program starts on the ground, where the yearlings are mouthed and long-reined in the roundyard before graduating to their first ride.

“From the time we start mouthing them to their first ride, it’s probably about eight or nine days, as we don’t work them on weekends,” Bennett said. “We mouth them the first couple of days, then they go on the walker with a bit in, then we move to long-reining. We only long-rein in the roundyard - we’re not looking to stop, just that they can turn left and right.

“Then once we have got them flexing and bending and listening, we ride them and we finish the mouthing process off on their backs. They will get long-reined three, maybe four times, and then we will saddle them. They will be ridden generally three or four times off the pony, then they will be pretty good either on their own or with another baby. But I’m never far away with the pony.”

Bennett admits he doesn’t do much of the breaking in himself any more, but is almost always part of the process when riding the pony.

“I have good people who do that (riding the breakers),” he said. “I’m very involved in the groundwork and on the lead pony. We start all our babies on the lead pony and I will do 90% of that, depending on what else is going on that I need to manage.

“But I have a really good core group of young people doing the breaking in, like when I was in Queensland, and three very good riders. It’s full on, but they all work hard.”

Thenford is set up with increasingly larger areas to ride the yearlings in to give them confidence at each step of the process. From the roundyard, they move to a bigger ring, then to the dressage arena, before moving to the farm’s 800-metre training track and 1250-metre uphill woodchip track.

“The woodchip runs round the edge of the property and it’s where they learn to work together in pairs and stretch their legs a bit up the hill,” Bennett said. “So after a 30-day period, they will usually have had 20 to 21 days of being long-reined, ridden, and they’re into the jockey pad and ready for the starting gates.”

Giving them space

Most of the yearlings will return to Bennett for a second preparation before heading to their trainers around the country, and Thenford Park is able to cater for the break in between.

“There’s some yearlings that will go to the track after being broken in and we won’t see them again, but the majority of them spell with us then come back for a few weeks of pretraining before they reach that stage,” said Bennett.

“There are some more immature ones who may come back to us three or four times for little preparations to bring them along.”

The operation leases the 350-acre Woodpark Stud for spelling, situated a short 30-minute hop down the road from their main base at Thenford Farm.

“Transporting young horses is an expensive pastime and it can often be very stressful for them,” Bennett said. “It gives us somewhere close by to let them have a rest without the stress and risk of travelling further away.”

It keeps both the clients and the horses happy and close by ahead of the next stage of their career.

Sires who have impressed this year

Bennett has had a hand in the career of numerous top names in racing, and it is the first crop of one graduate of his program, Artorius, that have been impressing him in their breaking in process this year.

“I have broken in a lot of Artoriuses,” Bennett said. “They have shown themselves to have great temperaments, good attitudes, and a lot of athleticism. They are very nice horses to work with, and they have all handled the breaking in process well.”

Bennett started Artorius when based at Fenwick Farm in Queensland - a property that also produced Stay Inside, Sunshine In Paris (Invader), and Shaquero (Shalaa {Ire}) around the same period.

“Artorius was a beautiful horse to break in himself,” Bennett recalled. “He's certainly throwing that athleticism and his relaxed attitude to life into a large percentage of his stock, which is good to see. I can certainly give him a good rap.”

Arrowfield Stud’s triple Classic winner Hitotsu and Twin Hills’ G1 Blue Diamond Stakes winner Daumier had also left an impression on Bennett with their first yearlings.

“I have also had a lot of Hitotsus as well, which I have really liked, and a few by Daumier. They have been very nice horses. He was a Blue Diamond winner like Artorius and they have given me the impression that they may well go early like their father.”

Bennett has fostered the kind of reputation in over 40 years of horse breaking that sees him break in many offspring of Snitzel, The Autumn Sun, and Home Affairs, and the latter continues to receive praise as his second crop prepare to hit the track.

“We had a lot of Home Affairs last year and we had quite a few again this year,” Bennett said. “They are also good horses. We have also had a couple of really nice Harry Angels and Anamoes. There’s been about a dozen Anamoes come through here this year and they have been very nice horses to deal with.”

As you would hope to see, when paying up to seven figures for the first crop of a stallion, especially one as well credentialled as Horse Of The Year Anamoe.

“Dollar value doesn’t always guarantee you success,” Bennett noted. “But generally the better stallions on the higher service fees receive the better mares, so you would certainly be hoping to get one of the better horses.”

A stallion who increased steeply in fee the year after his current crop of yearlings were conceived is Alabama Express, who also drew praise from Bennett.

“They’re very much the type of horse Redoute’s Choice would produce,” he said. “I have only had four or five of them, but they are very nice horses.”

Stars of the future

Given the volume of horses Bennett gets ready for the track every year, it could be hard to pick out a few standouts, but a handful put their best foot forward when beginning their training at Thenford.

“One of the ones that sticks out is the Stay Inside filly out of Ruru,” Bennett said. “She was a very good horse to break in and she has shown a lot of upside.”

Myracehorse, Belmont Bloodstock Agency (FBAA), and Andrew Williams Bloodstock (FBAA) combined to purchase the $750,000 Stay Inside daughter of Ruru (So You Think {NZ}), a half-sister to She’s Extreme (Extreme Choice), from Sledmere Stud’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale draft in January. She is the first live foal for the four-time winner and, now under the name Bellaru, is registered to Michael Freedman.

“We also had a very nice Extreme Choice filly out of Fashion Faux Pas. She is obviously quite a valuable filly and she was very good through the breaking in process.

"We have had half a dozen Extreme Choices this year and they are always nice horses to work with. You know when you get one that everyone is going to have a very big opinion of it and will have attached a lot of hope to it.”

Michael Freedman is involved again with the Extreme Choice daughter of Fashion Faux Pas (USA) (Flatter {USA}), having purchased her for $1.1 million alongside Emirates Park and Andrew Williams Bloodstock (FBAA) at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, where she was offered by Newgate Farm. She has been named Azyaa.

“There was another one that sticks out to me that is a Ghaiyyath colt,” Bennett added. “He won’t be a 2-year-old, but he will train on to be a much better horse when he is older. He came out of the Classic sale where Tony McEvoy bought him, and he was a very, very nice colt.

“I think the McEvoy stable will give him the opportunity to really furnish and grow into himself.”

McEvoy Racing and Belmont Bloodstock (FBAA) signed the docket at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale for the Ghaiyyath (Ire) son of Berg En Dal (NZ) (Dehere {USA})), paying $625,000 to take the colt home from Wentwood Grange.

Berg En Dal is a winning half-sister to Group 3 winner Leigh Valley (NZ) (Bianconi {USA}), dam of G1 Herbie Dyke Stakes victress Valley Girl (NZ) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}). The colt has subsequently been named Alligator Tears.

When reflecting on what makes individual yearlings stand out from the crowd when coming through his system, Bennett said, “you start 150, 160 yearlings a year, and realistically only 10% of them are going to be outstanding horses. All you can go on early on is their stride length and their attitude and their balance, and how trainable they are.

"You see what they have to offer and you can only hope that they keep on developing and maturing in that direction.”

Look to the future

Last November, Bennett and the Thenford Farm team participated in National Thoroughbred Week, putting on a one-day demonstration of what their breaking in process entails.

“It was very good, we had a good group of people come to the demonstration,” Bennett said. “There were about 40 or 50 people here and they were all really happy with what they saw, and they showed a lot of interest in what we were doing.”

Using several yearlings at various points of their progress, Bennett was able to give a snapshot of what each yearling undergoes in their time at Thenford Farm.

“I tried to compartmentalise my breaking in program so I could show them over an hour or so what we would achieve over 30 days with a yearling. People really opened up and asked a lot of questions, which was really pleasing.”

The next generation of Thoroughbred enthusiasts can only be won over by opening our doors, and Bennett looks forward to November again in 2026.

“I would be happy to get involved in the week again this year, and going forward,” he said.