Australasian buyers expected to be out in force at Tattersalls

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Purchasers from the southern hemisphere are set to make their presence felt at this week’s Autumn Horses in Training Sale 

This year’s Spring Carnival crescendo may only be a matter of days away, but this week sees some of Australia’s biggest and best operations turn their attention to targets further down the track. 

The five-day Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale starts on Monday, and among the hefty 1,638 entries are plenty of runners who possess the potential to line-up at the 2025 Spring Carnival and beyond. 

The Newmarked-based auction, the world’s largest horses in training sale, has long been established as an important outlet for top-end talent. Despite a relatively select number of purchases each year, the winners of 175 Australian stakes races have graduated from this particular auction. Even more eye-catching is that 21 of those successes were gained at Group 1 level. 

The roll of honour includes the likes of three-time Group 1 winner Fierce Impact (Deep Impact), back-to-back Australian Cup scorer Harlem (Champs Elysees) and the prolific Zaaki (Leroidesanimaux), to name but a few. The vast majority of these Group 1-winning recruits have been at their best over middle distances and further. 

Few have plundered the Autumn Horses in Training Sale quite so successfully as Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott. The training powerhouse won The Metropolitan (Gr 1, 2,400m) last year with Just Fine (Sea The Stars), while Knights Order (So You Think) landed the 2022 Sydney Cup (Gr 1, 3200m). The stable also struck in the same two races when Waterhouse was the sole licence holder, taking out the 2012 Metropolitan with Glencadam Gold (Refuse To Bend) and the 2014 Sydney Cup with The Offer (Montjeu). 

All four top-flight winners were sourced from Tattersalls with the help of Johnny and Susie McKeever of McKeever Bloodstock, who will renew their combined talent search with the stable at Tattersalls this week. 

“It’s very well known by now that if you want to win – or be competitive – in these rich middle-distance races then you really do need a European-bred horse,” Claudia Fitzgerald, bloodstock manager to the Waterhouse-Bott stable told ANZ Bloodstock News. “Tattersalls and private purchases from Europe are where we find our middle-distance and staying horses, and we’ve had great success doing that in the past.”

Royal Patronage (Wootton Bassett) continued that pattern of success having been plucked from last year’s Autumn Horses in Training Sale at a cost of 300,000gns. Despite that sum being towards the top of the market, the five-year-old has quickly won his purchase price back over the course of just one preparation, winning the Tramway Stakes (Gr 2, 1,400m) on his Australian debut before reaching the podium in the $1 million 7+ Stakes (1600m), Epsom (Gr 1, 1600m) and the Hill Stakes (Gr 2, 1900m). Given the purses on offer at the upper end of the Australian racing programme, this sort of return on investment is far from a one-off. 

“We find that the money we’re spending at the Tattersalls sales, you can make your owners’ money back within a couple of preparations, which is obviously the main aim,” said Fitzgerald. “We have Royal Patronage, who we purchased from Tatts last year. He’s been amazing for us this preparation and his owners have had a lot of fun with him already this year. Just Fine won a Group 1 for his owners less than a year after we purchased him. He also won the Bart Cummings recently and he’s heading to the Melbourne Cup this year. It’s a big thrill for the owners to have runners in those sorts of races, and we’re very grateful to have these types of horses in the stable.” 

With these sorts of results in the bank, Fitzgerald reports a high level of interest in this year’s buying mission from the stable’s client base. 

“I’ve been going to the Tattersalls sale since 2018 and, outside of Covid, we’ve been back every year,” she said. “There’s always been a huge amount of demand. We’re always really grateful that we have a lot of support from our owners, and it’s a sale we go to every year because we have that support behind us. 

“These horses fall in a really good price bracket for us. Private purchases from Europe are becoming quite expensive these days, but we try to buy [at the sale] in that three to four – sometimes five – hundred thousand guineas range, which is ideal. We find horses at that sort of price can be syndicated down quite comfortably.” 

The Waterhouse-Bott stable is far from the only operation planning on shopping at Tattersalls this week. Joining the regulars is Henry Dwyer, who is making his maiden visit to the Autumn Horses in Training Sale. Although Dwyer is a new face at this particular event, he is far from a stranger in Newmarket. Earlier this year he prepped sprinting star Asfoora (Flying Artie) from British racing’s headquarters before her famous victory in the King Charles III Stakes (Gr 1, 1000m) at Royal Ascot. 

“You look at the fields in Australia on any given Saturday and if you look at the mile-plus races, over half the runners are European-breds, so it makes sense to get amongst the party,” Dwyer told ANZ Bloodstock News. 

“My owners have been crying out to get some better-class staying horses for a while now. It’s very hard to source them in Australia, just because we don’t tend to breed them any more, so it makes sense that we head to Tattersalls and cherry pick a few that are already up and going. 

“We’ve got a few owners keen to play so we’ll see how we go, but I can’t wait. Being over there this year, I’ve made a number of friends and acquaintances that will hopefully be helpful in the process of trying to buy some horses. I very much enjoyed my experience earlier this year so I’m looking forward to getting back to Newmarket.” 

Dwyer echoed Fitzgerald’s sentiments about the practical advantages of buying proven horses. 

“It’s still a bit of a lottery at the yearling and ready to run stage, whereas when you’re buying tried horses, be that in Europe or Australia, at least you know the product you’re getting,” he said. “While you might not have the upside of potentially buying a champion, you can buy very good city class horses that might go on to stakes level. Most of the good horses I’ve had have been tried horses from other trainers. 

“It’s a quick turnaround for owners too, especially if you’re trying to buy staying horses. If you’re breeding potential stayers, or buying them as yearlings, it’s a very slow burn to get to the stage where you can judge if they have ability or not.” 

The Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale may have a proven track record of producing the kind of talents who thrive in the southern hemisphere, but with so many lots catalogued there is a significant amount of work involved in sorting the wheat from the chaff. 

“I’ve been going through the catalogue since it was released earlier this month, looking at form, the distance these horses have been running over, their age and the number of starts they’ve had,” said Fitzgerald. “It’s quite an extensive amount of homework before you even get to the sale. There’s a lot of legwork and prep that goes into it, but when we get there is when you can really shorten the list down after you’ve inspected the physicals.

“From what I’ve seen so far there are definitely horses that are of interest in this year’s catalogue,” she continued. “It’s always a very extensive catalogue and it does take a while to get through, but I’m confident that we can come away with two or three, or potentially a few more, really top-class horses that can go through the grades in Australia and represent our owners in the big races.” 

Form analysis is a key piece of the puzzle. On this front, Fitzgerald said the team has something of a secret weapon: Rob Waterhouse. 

“Form is huge for us and we’re incredibly lucky to have Rob doing that for us,” she said. “I can’t reveal too much because it’s a very competitive market and everyone has their own ideas, but we’re very lucky to have Rob. He can give us an idea on form and then we can select a small list of what we should vet, what we can bid on and what we can buy.

“We don’t look too much into pedigrees but physical is another big factor; you want something that’s a good size, has good bone, moves well and is nicely balanced. They have to be very clean on x-rays and scope and not have had too many starts, that’s on the list for what we look for.” 

As well as a horse’s rating and the strength of form in the book, distance is another key consideration. Both Dwyer and Fitzgerald highlight that Australian training methods and the rhythm of racing in the southern hemisphere tends to see European imports stretch out further than they would on home soil. 

“If we want to buy a 2400-metre horse for Australia, we probably want a mile or 2000-metre horse from Europe, just because the tempo and race patterns tend to be a lot stronger there,” says Dwyer. “Horses that don’t see out a strong 2400 metres in Europe, that won’t necessarily be the case in Australia because they can go a bit slower in the run and use their turn of foot late on. The European stayers are probably a bit dour for Australia, but we’re looking for those 2000-metre type horses that might take us to some good races this time next year.” 

Dwyer has also been crunching the numbers and trawling through replays, but stresses the significance of how the horse stacks up physically – even if the form book tends to contain plenty of the more important clues.  

“I’ve been through a lot of the more highly rated horses and I was over there in the summer and watched a lot of the racing, so I’ve got half an idea of the form,” he said. 

“Sam Haggas is going to help me a bit and might put together a bit of a list of horses to look at. But, for all that the form is probably the main part of it, at the end of the day you have to like them physically as well as their form. You have to make sure you want to wake up every morning and see that head poking over the stable door! 

“It’s worked out well with my former vet, Rob McInnes, working in Britain for the year, so he can have a look at them for me and make sure they’re nice and sound and have no issues. I’ll watch the replays on the Racing Post website and we can put our heads together and work out which ones we want to take home, if we can afford them.” 

The latter point is particularly pertinent as, with Australian interests expected to be strongly represented, there seems a high likelihood that the various parties will land on at least some of the same lots. 

“It’s always really competitive at this sale with players from the Australian market,” said Fitzgerald. “And I know there are a number of agents travelling up representing the big stables, so it’s going to be very competitive again this year. Hopefully we can come out on top on a few.” 

Naturally there are practical challenges involved with working sales on the opposite side of the world beyond the obvious issue of jet lag. When significant sums are being spent, it is vital that all the relevant parties are on board with where – and how much – money is being invested. 

But with European important continuing to clean up in the major races, with Tattersalls Mare Sale graduate Via Sistina’s (Fastnet Rock) jaw-dropping Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m) triumph the latest case in point, it is easy to understand why the Autumn Horses in Training Sale attracts such a committed buying bench from far and wide. 

“This sale means a few early mornings for Adrian!” said Fitzgerald. “Trainers are obviously up pretty early anyway but he might have to get up slightly earlier than normal because I like to have him on the phone going into the sale to make sure he’s comfortable with what we’re bidding on and the prices we’re bidding at. 

“It’s a pretty full-on week for me and for Adrian as well because of the time difference, but I love this sale. It’s great fun and the complex is beautiful. We’ve had great success here before so I’m really looking forward to getting back and seeing what we can purchase for our owners.”

The Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale runs from Monday to Friday, with sessions starting at 9.30am local time (19.30 AEST).