Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Francis and Christine Cook’s first yearling cost $5000. She won the Gimcrack Stakes, and that was more or less the end of any hope that racehorse ownership might become a passing interest.
“The first horse that we bought at the sales was Warning Siren. She beat Olympic Bid on protest in the 1993 Gimcrack Stakes, and when you win the Gimcrack with the first horse you buy, then you’re hooked,” Francis Cook told The Thoroughbred Report.
Thirty-three years later, the Cooks have raced interests in 25 Group 1 winners, built a broodmare band of 22 under their Mystery Downs banner and collected the Australian Turf Club’s leading individual owner award for a third successive season.
On Saturday, Matthew Smith-trained mare Prima Bella (NZ) (Per Incanto {USA}) supplied the latest win in the G3 Toy Show Quality at Randwick.
The G1 AJ Moir Stakes is now under consideration for Prima Bella, but the result also captured something fundamental about the way the Cooks have approached ownership. Most of their horses are shared with other people, exactly as they want it.
“The thing about racing, as my wife says, ‘If you own one horse alone, it’s like one hand clapping.’ We’re both sociable people and we love enjoying our racing with other people. We’ve maintained a lot of friends over the years.”
Francis and Christine Cook | Image courtesy of O'Shea & Charlton Racing
The filly they couldn’t leave without
Prima Bella was a $320,000 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale purchase for Matt Smith from the draft of Sledmere Stud. Francis and Chris Cook were at the stallion parades on Saturday and unable to watch the race live.
“Chris and I were up at Darley at the time watching Too Darn Hot (parade) when the race was on. And trying to be very quiet and then we're both in tears!
“We picked her out at the Inglis Classic sale and she was a filly that Chris said we can’t go home without her. I'd already bought a number of fillies that we gave to Matt Smith and Lee Curtis to lease out predominantly to women for the women in racing bonus. So the bucket was a bit dry by then.
Prima Bella (NZ) as a yearling | Image courtesy of Inglis
“When she got to $300,000, I was going to walk away and Chris said, no, I'm not going without her. So we went to $320,000 and bought her with Matt Smith and we kept half and Matt sold down the other half.”
With earnings over $480,000 and a Group 3 win on her eight win record, she’s worth the extra bid.
“She didn’t race until she was three. And her 4-year-old year, she had knee chips so Matt gave her six months out, then another six months of work to get her back. That's why she's now had 15 starts for eight wins and it took till she was a 6-year-old to win a stakes race.
Prima Bella (NZ) winning the G3 Toy Show Quality at Randwick | Image courtesy of Georgia Young Photography
“This is the best she's ever been, and we knew that when she won the previous two races. I said to Matt after she won her previous race, we've got to we've got to try and get some black type for us. He said, well, I know the race, the Toy Show.
“And then Apocalyptic and Savvy Hallie entered, we said let’s cheer her home for third. Then she’s racing down the straight and Gai (Waterhouse)’s horse got in front of her by a head and I said, ‘hold on, make sure you run third.’ Then there was the holy sh*t moment when she came back and won.”
Prima Bella is the best foal to date from seven-time winner Brah Spring (NZ) Darci Brahma {NZ}). The family has a wonderful affinity with Per Incanto, since it also features multiple Group winner Evaporate (NZ), Group 3-winning Belluci Babe (NZ), and Listed winner Magnum (NZ), all by the same sire.
Evaporate (NZ) | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
G2 Bill Stutt Stakes winner Evaporate (NZ) (Per Incanto {USA}) is another that the Cooks have a share in. In fact, they have shares in twelve current racehorses by Per Incanto, including 3-year-old gelding Montresor (NZ) who won on Tuesday at Newcastle for trainers John O’Shea and Tom Charlton.
“I’m a Per Incanto freak. The oldest one is Rolling Magic who is headed to The Big Dance, and Evaporate has just turned five, most of the others are just turned three,” Cook said.
“With Evaporate, I looked at all the Per Incantos, not just the fillies, and saw this magnificent specimen, one of the nicest horse I've seen. And when the Hayes boys bought it, I was on the phone straight away to get the colours."
Per Incanto (USA) | Standing at Little Avondale Stud
A wall of Group 1 winners
Prima Bella has some way to go before joining the best horses to have carried the Cooks’ colours, but the list is already extensive.
“Between Warning Siren and Prima Bella, 33 years later, we’ve had shares in 25 Group 1 winners. We think 12 of those were with Chris Waller,” Cook said.
Among them was Preferment (NZ), who won four races at the highest level, while Zougotcha became a four-time Group 1 winner and Fierce Impact supplied three Group 1 victories for Matt Smith. Shout The Bar (Not A Single Doubt) won the G1 Vinery Stud Stakes and G1 Empire Rose Stakes, Gold Trip (Fr) (Outstrip {GB}) won the G1 Melbourne Cup and Sir Delius (GB) (Frankel {GB}) claimed the G1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
Few, however, produced a victory as audacious as Lasqueti Spirit (Beneteau) in the 2016 G1 VRC Oaks.
“The three of us, Brenton Avdulla, Lee Curtis and myself, all said in unison, ‘We have to lead or she can’t win.’ Brenton went out with one plan. It took him 700 metres to get to the lead, but then he put seven lengths on the field and kept going.”
Lasqueti Spirit led by an extraordinary margin before holding on to win by 3.75l at odds of 100-1.
“That was very emotional. We get emotional when our horses win a Group 1 or when they win at Scone. That’s just our nature.”
The ATC owners' award
Francis and Christine Cook won the Leading Individual Owner (By Wins) at Australian Turf Club Courses in 2025/2026, and it was the fourth time they’ve picked up the award. They’ve won the last three seasons in succession.
“We won it in 2018 as a dead heat with Ray and Helen Aurisch. And now we’ve won it in 24, 25, and 26. It's a great award, a great acknowledgement of owners. Owners themselves seldom get much press,” Cook said.
With so many horses, and so much success, the Cooks are heavily involved in the whole selection process beginning with the yearling sales.
“I spend a lot of time on pedigrees and catalogues when they come out. I do all the backgrounding myself. When I first started, Chris thought I was reading War and Peace, and it was a sales catalogue. She learned that happens every year,” Francis Cook said.
“When I first started, Chris thought I was reading War and Peace, and it was a sales catalogue. She learned that happens every year.” - Francis Cook
After making their shortlist, they inspect everything on the list and make notes, just like any other buyer.
“For a number of years, we did it with Brett Howard but since his retirement we’ve been doing it ourselves. I give Chris the list. She goes and pulls them out of the box and …”
Chris interrupts, “It’s the Cooks tour.”
Francis laughed and continued to explain how they use their notes to review the list and then talk to trainers about their choices.
“If we buy fillies outright, they usually go to Matt Smith or Lee and Cherie Curtis, and they have built up a clientele of people who lease them. They enjoy coming into the lease, where they don't have to outlay any capital. We lease them on a three-year deal and renew if they are doing well,” Francis Cook said.
Shout The Bar | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“I loved Shout The Bar. I must have inspected (her) half a dozen times. The trainers that I was with weren't as rapt as I was. I went to put my hand up at 200 and Gai beat me to it. Brett Howard said, keep your hand down, go and take the major share and get your colours on her.”
Shout The Bar (Not A Single Doubt) cost Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott $200,000 at the 2018 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale from Newhaven Stud. Among her five wins was the G1 Vinery Stud Stakes and G1 Empire Rose Stakes. She was sold at the 2022 Inglis Chairman’s Sale for $2.7 million to Tom Magnier.
“The ones I got a major share in are ones I've seen in the flesh and I’ll get into them very quickly. Later in the year (after the yearling sales), trainers and agent might contact me if they have something they think I’ll like and we’ll take a small five or 10% share. That’s how we got into Sir Delius and Gold Trip.
“That's how we won a Melbourne Cup and that's how we won Queen Elizabeth.”
It’s a horse first process, and then the horse stays with the trainer who did the bidding.
“We buy the horse. We've got over 20 trainers spread around because we’re focussed on the horse first. We're with all the major trainers and some of the minor trainers too.”
Building the next generation
It’s not just racehorses that the Cooks own with 22 broodmares under their Mystery Downs brand. They attended last weekend’s Hunter Valley stallion parades and several stallions caught their eye.
“The first season sires, there’s only two we are going to. We would have used Tentyris but couldn’t get in. We're using Delacroix and Lead Artist. The rest are going to proven sires or sires on the way through, like Hellbent, Shinzo, Broadsiding, Toronado, Switzerland, Exceedance,” Cook said.
Exceedance | Standing at Vinery Stud
“We bought a share in Exceedance so we have a couple of mares going to him each year. I think he’s a marvellous animal. And I think he's one of those that can outperform, you can get a really good horse. We have a 3-year-old called Wild Atlantic that won a trial the other day. And we know that Michael (Hawkes) is quite excited about Wild Atlantic.”
Wild Atlantic (Exceedance) won a trial at Rosehill on August 21 over 900 metres.
“We’ve got a good Tiger Of Malay called Obambulate with Trent Busuttin. We saw him (Tiger Of Malay) at the parades and thought he was looking good. Obambulate. Chris found the name and it means wandering aimlessly and I interpreted that as prowling. He’s hopefully heading for the Coolmore.”
Obambulate (Tiger Of Malay) was a $75,000 weanling purchase by Newgate Farm’s Jim Carey, and was on-sold by Newgate at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale for $140,000 to Busuttin Racing. The 3-year-old colt has won his last two runs in succession.
Obambulate as a yearling | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
“We have a mare in New Zealand in foal to Super Seth, Linebacker’s sire, so we’ve got a foot in the Super Seth camp,” Cook said. They also have racing shares in Group 1 winner Linebacker (NZ) (Super Seth).
“Certainly loved Maurice, and Native Trail was a nice surprise.
“City Of Troy and Delacroix, and of the younger horses we love In The Congo. He's got a great pedigree, he's a beautiful horse. I think we're racing about three of them. One has a great name, Africa.”
Africa was a $150,000 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale purchase from Vinery Stud and is a half-brother to last season’s G1 Sistema Stakes winner Lara Antipova (Russian Revolution).
In The Congo | Standing at Newgate Farm
Whether Africa becomes another Group 1 horse is unknowable, and the Cooks have been in racing far too long to pretend otherwise. But after 33 years, there will be more catalogues, more shortlists and many more editions of “the Cooks tour”.
Their method remains recognisable: study the catalogue, back their eye, stay loyal to the horse and leave room in the ownership for somebody else.
After all, one hand clapping has never held much appeal.
