A day on the Riverina roads with Magic Millions
They say what happens on a road trip, stays on the road trip and that could well ring true when a journalist is allowed on a tour with a rising bloodstock consultant and a knowledgeable veterinarian with worldly experience and considered views on all manner of topics.
ANZ Bloodstock News on Thursday spent a day on the road traversing the Riverina with Magic Millions’ Dane Robinson and veterinarian Dr Kim Rose who were viewing potential candidates for the auction house’s 2021 yearling sale series.
This week’s southern NSW stint for the pair was an entree of what is to come for the Magic Millions bloodstock team, and that of rival Inglis, over the next few weeks. It will gather pace in the next fortnight when inspections at large commercial stud farms in the Hunter Valley are in full swing.
Thursday’s inspections started at Mundagil, near Deniliquin, necessitating a 5.30am start for Robinson and Rose who had only reached Wagga late the previous night. Thankfully, this writer was not asked to attend the early leg of the trip even though it was later revealed that the Jerilderie bakery and accompanying Ned Kelly history lesson was well worth the effort.
I caught up with the pair at Noel Penfold’s Murray Cod Thoroughbreds, a property about 15km east of Wagga, for the second leg of the trip at a much more gentile time of 11am. They are there to look at an attractive Tosen Stardom (Deep Impact) filly who is likely to be put through a sale ring next year.
The Riverina is noted for its rich agricultural land while its “capital” Wagga has a long history of producing sports stars and successful business people.
“Little Barry” Bowditch, as the boss of Magic Millions was referred to by those Riverina breeders who have known him since he was a boy, spent his formative years in Wagga.
Referred to as the City Of Good Sports, Wagga is also the town where Test cricketers Mark Taylor, Michael Slater and Geoff Lawson, AFL Brownlow Medallist Paul Kelly and premiership hero Wayne Carey grew up in.
Wagga also lays claim to rugby league identities Peter Sterling and the Mortimer brothers Chris, Peter and Steve as well as Wallabies legend and former captain Nathan Sharpe as well as that of businessman Geoff Dixon, the former Qantas chief executive, and well-known racehorse owner Richard Pegum who also called the city home for a time.
It soon emerges that there is a photo of Bowditch displaying his exploits on the rugby league field as a youngster when John Keough, the third vendor we visit, was calling the shots as coach. The said photo is yet to surface, but perhaps Bowditch can add an extra tick or two to Keough’s sale-bound yearlings before selections are finalised to ensure that it doesn’t enter the public domain.
We also inspect a few Rich Enuff (Written Tycoon) yearlings who are by a sire who has made an encouraging start to his stud career with seven individual first crop winners. The Woodside Park Stud stallion certainly stamps them, that’s for sure, as there was no issue distinguishing his stock in the paddock.
Keough, a matter-of-fact Wagga businessman, owner and breeder, reveals that his prized mare Lycra Lass (Shamardal), the dam of the stakes-placed Colin Little-trained Vegas Knight (Declaration Of War), is due to foal soon to Smart Missile (Fastnet Rock). “That’s her in that paddock there,” he says.
She will return to Twin Hills this year to be covered by Hallowed Crown (Street Sense) after Keough sold a colt out of Lycra Lass by the same sire at the Inglis Classic sale earlier this year for $155,000 to Gold Coast trainer John Morrisey.
Keough, who gives us a good push for a mare he races called Sumdeel (Dundeel) being a future city winner, also asks about the merits of first season Widden Stud sire Zousain (Zoustar) as an option for one of his mares this year.
“Matty Comerford (also a Wagga export) gave him a big rap, but would he say anything different?” Keough ponders. Over to you, Matt. We can split the commission.
Earlier on in our travels a Supido (Sebring) colt catches our eye. A later foal, he is well developed and moves athletically. The Adelaide (or Classic) sale could be an option for him.
He was a surprise packet early in the day, while at another farm an Overshare (I Am Invincible) colt created some conversation, as did a son of Toronado (High Chaparral) who has some substance.
A Winning Rupert (Written Tycoon) filly at Riverdene had a good profile and a Territories (Invincible Spirit) filly from Riverina Downs appeared to be “a natural runner”.
Trying to look at horses objectively and not letting personal biases take hold is one factor Robinson, still early in his bloodstock career, says he is mindful of.
He has to think about what type of buyers the horse is most likely to appeal to. Pedigrees will be assessed at a later date. This is about rating the yearlings’ conformation.
It is the reason why the sales companies usually have at least two consultants inspecting the horses because judging them is subjective. It can be easy to miss something or be too harsh on a perceived fault, particularly when they are looking at such a large volume of horses in a short space of time.
Rose, a highly respected veterinarian from Western Australia, assists Magic Millions with post-sale scopes as well as some pre-sale yearling inspections and will remain in NSW until the end of the month to help complete the process.
He makes an interesting point, to me at least, about the preparation of young horses and not having them too heavy at this stage of their development.
“You don’t see fat kids running fast,” or words to that effect he says. There were many words of wisdom from the Doc throughout the day, not least that Thailand has largely escaped the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic because of their culture, where bowing and acknowledging people rather than hugging and kissing, is custom.
At Riverdene, where colts by Brazen Beau (I Am Invincible), another Supido and an Exosphere (Lonhro) filly catch the eye, we also get a close-up look at Canonbury Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) winner McLaren, the son of Exceed And Excel (Danehill) who will stand his first season at stud this year.
Bred by Gerry Harvey, he’s an imposing type who is sure to throw size and scope into his stock – he just needs support from the breeders. Sizzling (Snitzel) has also made Riverdene his new home and farm manager Amanda “Froggy” Elliott reports that there has been plenty of interest from the breed-to-racers ahead of the September 1 kick-off.
We head east to Tarcutta for our last stop of the day where we see Riverina Downs’ Mario Cesnik, who shows us around his 1000-acre beef cattle, sheep and horse property which is divided by Wokolena Road.
We cut across the bitumen which intersects Cesnik’s home block and paddocks where his mares and yearling fillies are grazing. It was hard to see if there was any oncoming traffic given its on a steep hill and a tight corner. Mario later discloses that he has indeed rolled the odd ute or two in his time down the now green paddocks.
“I remember Ian McPherson (from Inglis) was the first to come onto the place and he said, ‘geez, no wonder your yearlings look good’,” Cesnick says.
“They just develop natural muscle before you bring them in to try and build them up that little bit more. That’s our motto: we breed naturally to run hard.”
He says the yearlings we see will look vastly different in two to three months’ time.
“The bottom line here is, we’re behind Scone because it’s so cold. It’s only in October and November that they jump out of the ground whereas they start growing in August up in Scone because it’s not as cold,” he tells me.
“They are like wombats here at the moment, but you come here at the end of October and you won’t think it’s the same horse once they lose all their hairy coats.”
Cesnik’s brand is gaining recognition, too, with a Street Boss (Street Cry) colt making $200,000 at the Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale earlier this year. He also took a draft to Adelaide but elected to retain a Rubick (Encosta De Lago) filly to race after she was passed in as her stakes-winning dam Pinezerio (Danzero) is getting on in years.
Cesnik, 65, reveals that he had overnight rejected a massive six-figure offer for another horse he races, homebred mare St Edward’s Crown (Epaulette), who is the Listed-placed half-sister to Viridine (Poet’s Voice). She is set to run in race three at Caulfield today.
He admits to the discussions about parting with the four-year-old getting “a bit hot” on the homefront. His wife Jenni put her foot down and said no – she wasn’t being swayed by the dollar signs. They have a valuable mare who will sit atop the Riverina Downs broodmare band when her racing career comes to an end.
Instead, Jenni bought a Welsh pony from France for €3,000. It will cost another $30,000 to have the pony flown to Australia. Mario just shakes his head.
I tell Mario that I will use this anecdote when I get around to declaring to my wife that last week I also bought a share in a horse.
He says: “We are breeders, we’re not dealers. First off it was $250,000, which is not life-changing, and then it was $500,000 and there were a few hot air moments at home, I can assure you.”
At the recent Magic Millions National Sale, the Cesniks bought an O’Reilly (Last Tycoon) mare from Coolmore called Bint Cherokee who is in foal to Darley’s Harry Angel (Dark Angel) for $17,500.
“Peter Heagney when he was at Inglis and ‘Little Barry’ (Bowditch) said to us, ‘come Mario, work out your figures, do your homework, then sit there and watch,” he said.
“Anything that’s too dear for us we let go, but there’s some that fall through the cracks like Patina. She had a disastrous breeding record and we bought her in foal to Epaulette because we couldn’t go to Epaulette that year.
“When we came home, about two months later, we started getting phone calls asking what we were doing with the Epaulette filly (St Edward’s Crown) and what were we doing with the mare because Viridine came out and won a stakes race.”
The breeding industry is as much about relationships as it is the horses and the Cesniks have done well buying mares from Darley/Godolphin.
Cesnik praises Darley’s Adam Brayshaw for his assistance over the years while he has also received plenty of sound advice from the recently retired Steve Brien, the long-time manager of the Woodlands-Darley and now Olly Tait-run Twin Hills at Cootamundra.
“We do everything ourselves. We breed 12 to 14 mares a year and if we breed that we work on having ten for the yearling sales and it’s only extra income for the farm,” he said. “I love my broodmares, but I am not a yearling or a weanling person. I don’t have the patience for them but the girls, my daughter and my wife, like preparing them.”
The southern NSW inspections undertaken by Robinson and Rose, which started on the Wednesday, continued yesterday and they are set to join their colleagues Clint Donovan and Bowditch in the central west today before the next fortnight is spent viewing a large number of yearlings throughout the Hunter.
They were at Kooringal Stud early yesterday where Angus Lamont was expecting another three foals to have been born overnight by the farm’s first season sire Prized Icon (More Than Ready).
The few on the ground so far have impressed the young studmaster and gives cause for optimism about the dual Group 1 winner’s prospects.
It was an enjoyable trip for ANZ Bloodstock News to undertake and we thank Rose and Robinson, whose town name pronunciations will be “better for the run”, for allowing us to tag along.