Buy of the Weekend: Getting a return for owners in this economy

Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything

Danny O’Brien Racing paid $80,000 for G2 Moonee Valley Vase winner True Rebel (Rebel Dane) at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale from Silverdale Farm’s draft. With two wins from four starts, the 3-year-old gelding has already returned over $300,000 to his connections with potentially a bigger paycheque ahead after Saturday’s G1 VRC Derby.

“You’ve got to love a Group 2 winner during the carnival. Fantastic,” Silverdale Farm’s Rob Petith said.

“He was always a lovely horse. A tough, workmanlike horse with a beautiful action.

“He was a great shape when he was born, plenty of size and scope and strength and quality to him, so much so we sent the mare back to Rebel Dane the following season and got a full brother.”

The full brother, who is now a 2-year-old, was bought by Hannover Lodge for $70,000 from Silverdale Farm’s 2026 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale draft.

A relaxed attitude will get him the Derby trip

As the debate about the G1 VRC Derby continues every year about the distance, the results from the race keep showing that it often takes a class horse to win the race, rather than an out-and-out stayer.

Last year’s winner Observer won the G1 Australian Guineas in the autumn, while Hitotsu added both the G1 Australian Guineas and G1 Australian Derby. Ill-fated Riff Rocket (American Pharoah {USA}) was probably more a stayer than those two, winning the G1 Australian Derby in the autumn before sadly dying of colic.

New Zealand-based VRC Derby winners and sires Ace High and Tarzino (NZ) are both having big springs, with Tarzino responsible for Saturday’s unbeaten G1 Spring Champion Stakes winner Proxima Dea, while Ace High is the sire of exciting 3-year-old gelding Blind Raise (NZ). Tarzino won the G1 Rosehill Guineas in the autumn, and Ace High won the G2 Hill Stakes as an older horse and often knocked around against Winx (Street Cry {Ire}).

For the Danny O’Brien stable, it’s temperament that will get True Rebel across the line in the Derby.

“He’s a no fuss gelding that we gelded because he got a bit heavy, which you can probably see on his body type and his pictures, but he's got the best attitude,” Danny O’Brien’s racing manager Jack Howard said.

“He just stood there all day at Flemington and didn't care that there was a lot going on. He could lead himself around the parade ring if he wanted to and then came back and wasn't really sure what the fuss was about.

“I'm looking forward to Derby Day, because there are those horses that can get a bit stirred up at Flemington on a big day and I don't think it'll faze him at all.

“Everyone this week is looking forward to the Derby and seeing if he can tick the box at 2500 for the first time. It’s an unknown, but it’s the same for every other colt or gelding in the field.

“He's pulled up well and he's a very easy horse to deal with through his breaking in, and everything from there, and he's got a great group of owners. Not all of them were there this Saturday, but they're all planning to be there on Saturday for the Derby.”

Coming back to the same well

Silverdale Farm sent Spirit Medium (Helmet) back to Rebel Dane after the arrival of True Rebel, and a similar viewpoint led the O’Brien stable to inspect him at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in 2025.

“We purchased the half-sister the year before and did like her and thought she had some ability, so we went back and looked at the next one. Danny liked him. For the price, Danny was comfortable to buy him. He’s ticked every box the whole way through,” Howard said.

The stable paid $60,000 for Half Scotch (Toronado {Ire}) in 2024, and she was an unraced 2-year-old when they bought True Rebel. She’s placed five times from nine starts since then and while she might not have the record of her younger brother, she’s now a half-sister to a Group 2 winner so has plenty of residual value.

Value buying is key in this economy

The O’Brien stable tends to buy at a price point that they consider is good value for their ownership groups. True Rebel was at the lower end of that range at $80,000, but with $300,000 in the bank, he’s already provided plenty of value.

“He's well in front and that's something that Danny likes to look at, not breaking the bank (at the sales). Horses like him get a really good return on their investment early and the owners can now enjoy the ride,” Howard said.

It’s not just the potential for a return for their owners, but Howard also mentioned the rising cost of living as a pressure facing many of their owners.

“We tend to buy up to $220,000 because after that it gets very difficult to move horses on unless you’ve got the big owners behind you. If you pay $150,000 or $1.5 million at the sales for a horse, it costs the same amount to train them. If you can keep the initial investment under $200,000 or so, then if you win a race or two, the owners are breaking even and the initial outlay isn't as scary for people to get involved in horses,” Howard said.

“You want your owners to be able to purchase shares in their horses and be able to sustain the ownership and enjoy that aspect of it, and at that price range, it’s a lot easier to get a return on their investment.”

On Sunday at Sale, 3-year-old gelding Tagged (Tagaloa) ran third for the stable in his second start. Howard noted him as another example, being a $40,000 purchase from Yulong’s Inglis Premier Yearling Sale draft. He’s another one where the stable reinvested in the family after doing well from the foal prior. They paid $70,000 the year before for Tagged’s full brother Our Chief, whose three wins have earned connections over $420,000.

“He’s potentially in a maiden worth $100,000 next. If you can do that with owners then they get more confidence in what we're producing, and they're more likely to reinvest in another horse at a similar price range.”

The whole point is long-term retention of owners.

“You want people to join in the game, enjoy the game and want to stay around, and the excitement you see on the owner's face on Saturday when they get a result, the joy and the happiness of it. That's the whole point of it.”

Full circle with Rebel Dane

Rebel Dane was raced by Silverdale Farm’s Grant Bloodstock and Carpe Diem’s Kenny Lowe along with partners. The son of California Dane won eight of his 40 starts, including the G1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes and G1 Manikato Stakes, but at stud, he was not popular with 28 foals in his first crop and 26 in his second. This dropped to single figures for his third and fourth crop before G1 Golden Slipper winner Fireburn arrived on the scene.

“Rebel Dane is a horse who is close to the hearts of Steve (Grant) and Kenny (Lowe) who bred True Rebel. They were involved in the ownership of racing Rebel Dane and were heavily involved in getting him back to the Hunter Valley to try and give him a better level of mare,” Petith said.

“Rebel Dane raced in 25 Group 1 races. It's quite incredible and showed how tough and sound he was. We bred his first stakes winner Subterranean, who was a pre-Christmas 2-year-old winner and went on to win the Ken Russell Memorial. And Fireburn was bred here on the farm.”

True Rebel comes from Rebel Dane’s sixth and biggest crop at 74 foals. He is his sire’s fourth stakes winner after Subterranean, Fireburn and Listed-winning 3-year-old filly Rebel Tuesday who won her stakes race last term at two.

“We’re going to be trackside for Derby Day. We've got Paradoxium, who we bred, running in the Coolmore and we've got Naifah, a filly that we purchased, running in a Group 3 race there as well. They'll definitely know that the Silverdale team are on the course.”

Paradoxium (Extreme Choice) was sold in the same draft at True Rebel for $400,000 to Bjorn Baker, Ridgmont, and Clarke Bloodstock (FBAA). Yulong has since joined the ownership of the exciting sprinting colt.

Silverdale Farm, along with Andrew Williams Bloodstock (FBAA), paid $400,000 for Naifah (I Am Invincible) at the 2025 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale. She was placed at two in the Listed Cinderella Stakes at the time and since then has added the G3 Proud Miss Stakes and Listed Gai Waterhouse Classic.

Knowing the family helps

Silverdale Farm purchased True Rebel’s dam Spirit Medium (Helmet) for $220,000 off Godolphin at the 2022 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale and she was in foal to Impending. That foal, Channelling (Impending), sold for $60,000, and has won twice earning over $100,000. Spirit Medium's second foal is the aforementioned Half Scotch and True Rebel is her third foal. At $80,000, he’s the most expensive of her four foals to sell as yearlings to date.

“We haven't had any major wins out of her in the sale ring results, and while we need those to keep us going, getting the results on the track are the most important part,” Petith said.

“To see a horse like this come through our systems and go to a great stable in Danny O’Brien, who is a very astute judge and great conditioner of horses, is fantastic. We're very proud to watch him win in dominant form there on the weekend, and no one will be cheering louder if he takes his position in the Derby on Saturday.”

Spirit Medium is a winning half-sister to Group 2 winner and sire Sessions, Group 2 winner Renaissance (Lonhro) and Listed winner Haunted (Lonhro).

Their dam Seances (Canny Lad), is a Listed-winning half-sister to Group 1 winner Unworldly (Quest For Fame {GB}) who won five of her six starts including the G1 Flight Stakes, and Group 2 winner Gordo (Brief Truce {USA}) who placed in the G1 Epsom Handicap.

“She's quite a nice type. It’s one of my favourite families. I started off with Woodlands, a long time ago now, and I clearly remember falling down Spirit Medium and Seances. It’s a wonderful family, with Unworldly. When this mare was offered for sale, there were some fond memories attached but it’s a lovely deep page, and she’s a nice mare,” Petith said.

“She’s scanned positive to Wild Ruler.”

And one last statistic from Silverdale Farm that ends with a mic-drop!

“Silverdale is sitting at just over 26% stakes performers to runners from all our Magic Millions horses we’ve sold over the years.”