A tenth Perth Cup for Peters who ends year among leading global owners
Prominent breeder has dominated Western Australian racing scene, feats that see him placed fifth on TRC worldwide rankings
Bob Peters has been breeding and racing horses for 48 years and enjoyed remarkable success during that time, particularly in his home state of Western Australia where he has won every major there is to – and multiple times, too.
To say the family’s famed cerise and white racing colours dominate WA racing would be an understatement.
They have become the most recognizable symbol of the sport there and on Saturday they came to the fore again with Peters and his wife Sandra collecting their tenth Perth Cup (Gr 2, 2400m) with homebred gelding Midnight Blue (So You Think).
It was yet another notable achievement on the track by the self-made racing identity and businessman.
“It’s satisfying if a plan comes together because it doesn’t happen all the time. We have won most of the big ones over here quite a few times. The Group 1s and 2s are what we chase and are most important to us,” Peters reflected, when speaking to ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday.
“I always concentrate on trying to win the good races. I suppose our breeding must have improved a bit because we have won quite a few of the Group races now.”
A humble and private person, Peters is not one to bask in the glory of all of his success but one thing he can justifiably be very proud of is the fact that Peters Investments recently ranked as high as fourth on the Thoroughbred Racing Commentary worldwide ranking of owners, ending the year in fifth spot on the who’s-who list of racing giants.
Sitting ahead of him are the powerhouse operations of world racing; Godolphin, Coolmore Partners, Shadwell Estate Company and Sunday Racing in Japan.
“A few years ago I had a call from a journalist in Sydney who asked if I realised we were so high in the rankings. I had never heard of it so he sent me the link and back then I thought it would be nice to get in the top ten.
“Now we are in the top five and they are big operations right in front of us. I don’t think we can get any further if you look at those that are in front of us,” he laughed.
The former chairman of the West Australian Turf Club is now 79 years old and his passion for breeding and racing horses burns as strong as ever.
Horses have been in his blood since he was a young boy growing up on a farm at Dalwallinu.
“When I was born my father was away serving in World War II and my mother was living on a farm and there was no fuel for the tractors or harvesters in those days so they were using horses,” Peters recalled.
“The horses would come in after a day’s work and they would put me on their backs when I was two-years-old.
“Riding was all I ever wanted to do. I didn’t want to stay at school, I wanted to be a jackaroo but I did well in exams each year so my parents insisted that I stay in school.”
Since then, Peters has gone on to be one of the most successful businessmen in Western Australia and, from a couple of tried horses and yearling fillies he purchased in 1973, managed to build his own thoroughbred empire.
“The interest was always in the animals and I had in the back of my mind we would get involved in thoroughbreds but I had to wait until I could afford it.
“I didn’t come from money. I had to make my own way in the world, it’s not like I inherited anything,” he said.
Peters has one of the most prized broodmare bands in Australia and is extremely thankful for the likes of early acquisition Miss Margaret (Marscay) and Antique (Metal Storm) for enriching it.
The former raced in Peters silks to become a winner of the South Australian Oaks (Gr 1, 2500m) and Chrysler Stakes (now the Cantala Stakes) (Gr 1, 1600m), while she is the dam of Karrakatta Plate (Gr 2, 1200m) winner Confront (Bluebird). Antique, meanwhile, has produced two stakes winners as well as Arcadia (Redoute’s Choice), the dam of Peters’ multiple Group 1 winner Arcadia Queen (Pierro).
“What I have found over the years is that it’s all about families and foundation mares and that’s where most of our success comes from,” Peters said.
“Most of the ones we breed are from the lines of half a dozen mares. In some cases, we are racing the fifth generation.”
Peters sold Arcadia Queen at last year’s Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale to Arrowfield Stud for $3.2 million. At the time the decision may have signaled an intention to slow down his bloodstock interests but, he said, it is quite to the contrary.
“I try for it not to happen but my broodmare band seems to continue increasing in numbers because we have a few fillies and mares retiring to join the band. I’m trying to control it but it seems to get away a bit.”
For all his success in the West, Peters still has plenty of unfinished business on racetracks across in the East, with the Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m) the race he desperately wants to win.
The leviathan owner had his first runner in the weight-for-age contest in 2020 when Arcadia Queen finished fifth behind Sir Dragonet (Camelot).
“The Cox Plate is the best race in Australia, it would be nice to win it. We might get there. We have had a couple of runners so we will see what happens.”
For now, the autumn carnival is his more immediate goal with Cantala Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Superstorm (Sebring) and Group 3-winning mare Inspirational Girl (Reliable Man) both firmly embedded in Victoria with the Danny O’Brien team.