Darby hoping to keep up the momentum after a strong start

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Syndicators celebrating memorable day at Randwick and predict more success to come

Darby Racing had one of the finest days in their 16-year history on Saturday but its founder believes the best this season could be yet to come.

Scott Darby’s syndication company was seen at its characteristic best at Randwick. A $30,000 Inglis Classic purchase – Within The Law (Lucky Vega) – made it two from two in the Inglis Nursery (RL, 1100m) and then Robusto (Churchill) – a horse Darby picked up second-hand – won the $2 million The Ingham (Gr 2, 1600m).

Both prepared by Bjorn Baker, Darby’s main trainer among a half dozen used by the syndicator, the pair showcased what have become Darby’s strengths in recent years.

In 2016, Darby bought She Will Reign (Manhattan Rain) for just $20,000 at Classic and saw her become a dual Group 1 winner, including of the Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m).

A year before her, they bought Yankee Rose (All American) at the same sale for just $10,000 and watched her run second in the Slipper and become a dual top-tier victor, in the ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) and Spring Champion Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m).

Both were then sold to stud in Japan in multi-million dollar deals.

In another aisle of the buying market, Darby has also reaped notable success with tried horses of late.

They bought Robusto on Inglis Digital in September for $160,000 after the five-year-old had had 29 starts for six wins and eight placings for Chris Waller. In five starts for his new connections, Robusto has now earned $1,215,250, after Saturday’s victory in the race bearing the name of his original owner-breeders, Ingham Racing.

It came a year after Darby bought the then three-year-old colt Caballus (I Am Invincible), also on Inglis Digital, for $315,000. A $1 million yearling buy for Coolmore’s Tom Magnier, Caballus had won one of five starts for Waller. In his first two starts for Darby and Baker, the son of I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) won a Rosehill Benchmark 72 (1100m) and Randwick’s Eskimo Prince Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m), before placing third in Flemington’s $1 million Inglis Sprint (1200m).

While he’s now spelling after an unfulfilling spring campaign, he’ll be back in the autumn after a gelding operation Darby hopes can “make him the next Overpass” – the $75,000 Inglis Easter buy for the syndicator who’s now won two Group 1s, two Quokkas (1200m), and $9.7 million and counting.

The Baker-trained Overpass (Vancouver), also successful in the $2 million Sydney Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) in October before his second Winterbottom Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) triumph, has contributed richly to an already lucrative season so far for Darby Racing. But the group’s owner is confident much more is to come.

“Last season was a record for us in terms of prize money, and the season before was our best for wins,” Darby told ANZ Bloodstock News. “This season we’re tracking for our record season on both counts.

“Our horses earned a little more than $10 million last season and we’ve already got $6.5 million this season, so I think we’ll eclipse that.

“And two seasons ago we had 104 wins, and this season we’ve got 40. So we’re a touch behind on that score at the moment, but we’re building momentum.”

While Darby is naturally wary of tempting the racing gods – ‘We’ll see what the rest of the season holds’ – he has cause for optimism given the number of two-year-olds either waiting to return or debut for the navy and white.

Within The Law, who’s risen to $26 in Golden Slipper markets, represents the tip of the iceberg among the 30 yearlings the syndicator bought early this year – with six colts in particular causing excitement.

As Within The Law won her second Inglis race in the Nursery – following the Banner (RL, 1000m) at Flemington on debut – equally eye-catching was the second half of a Darby quinella in Cobra Club (Cool Aza Beel), a $70,000 Classic purchase trained by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott.

His stablemate Tremonti (Hellbent), bought for $180,000 from Magic Millions Gold Coast, is spelling after his debut victory in Flemington’s Maribyrnong Trial Stakes (Listed, 1000m).

A third Tulloch Lodge runner in Crown The King (Time To Reign) – another who cost $70,000 at Classic – is nearing a return after his debut second over 1050 metres at Doomben in early October.

The Peter Snowden-trained Raging Force (Cosmic Force), a $150,000 Classic buy, won impressively at Kensington’s first official two-year-old trials before going shin sore after a debut sixth in the Breeders’ Plate (Gr 3, 1000m).

Further up the Darby buying scale is Galaxy Titan (Tassort), a $260,000 Magic Millions Gold Coast buy, in tandem with De Burgh Equine. He is spelling after going shin sore following a jump-out win, but has earned the highest of praise from trainer Michael Freedman, according to Darby.

And Nitro (Deep Field), a $270,000 Magic Millions Gold Coast buy, is spelling after running second for Snowden to subsequent Golden Gift (1100m) winner North England (Farnan) at the Kensington trials.

“He trailed out six to eight lengths off them in that trial and flashed home to run second, so we’re pretty keen on him,” Darby said. “There’s plenty of talk about a lot of our two-year-olds from the trainers, so there’s hopefully plenty to come from them.”

While Darby’s ideal yearling price cap is $350,000, they’ve displayed a happy knack for succeeding with the far cheaper buy. Yankee Rose, She Will Reign and Within The Law cost $60,000 combined. The prize-money return on them is more than $5.8 million so far – which of course doesn’t count the several million the first pair made in broodmare sales.

“We’ve had great success at Classic by buying just nice athletic types of, mainly, fillies,” said the 51-year-old Darby, who was a strapper and tried his hand at training before starting Darby Racing in 2008.

“You hone in on the athleticism and the type of horse it is, then you look at the pedigree. If it’s by an unfashionable sire, you might get it cheaply. Yankee Rose was by All American, and She Will Reign by Manhattan Rain, who weren’t all that popular.

“With Within The Law, she’s by Lucky Vega, who’s not unpopular but was unknown out here,” he said of Yulong’s six-year-old, who sits a narrow second on the two-year-old and first season sires’ tables, behind Kia Ora’s Farnan (Not A Single Doubt).

“We didn’t know a lot about Lucky Vega at the time, except for him being a Group 1 winner overseas. But Within The Law had enough depth to her pedigree, and we certainly thought that on type she was better than average.”

Yearling sales are of course the conventional place to go to build a stable. But in evolving its team of some 120 horses – spread across the three eastern states and through a growing base of almost 3,000 owners – Darby Racing has also been an astute player in the tried horse market. It’s a strategy Darby compares to that of a manager in another sport – strengthening a squad by bringing in proven performers.

“I liken Darby Racing to a football team,” said Darby. “You’re always looking to not only buy yearlings and two-year-olds but to buy those older horses who still have plenty of racing left in them,” he said.

“It’s not easy, but predominantly in the tried horse market, we’re looking to bolster our top-end team.”

Aside from “a lot of vetting to make sure they’re sound”, consideration and research must be conducted to evaluate where used horses sit in their careers, Darby said.

“We always have a look on Inglis Digital,” he said. “There’s always some higher class horses there. Perhaps they’re being cast off by big breeders or big studs because they’re not quite up to their mark.

“The hardest bit with tried horses is that the biggest questions owners ask is, ‘What’s wrong with it and why are they getting rid of it?’

“So you’ve got to go through the process with them; places like Coolmore will spend $20 million to make $30 million by finding that proper Group 1 colt. They’ll then offload the ones who don’t quite fit their model.

“The Coolmores and Newgates are looking for an elite Group 1 horse, but if we can buy a good Saturday metro horse for a fraction of the price, then that works well.

“There’s still plenty left in the horse for buyers like us, and you’ve got things like gelding up your sleeve, too, to turn them into a better racehorse. With Caballus, there were some ideas that he might make it to stud, but he had a couple of issues and was starting to feel his manhood a bit. So we’ve gelded him now, and he’s had a small operation on his throat, and we’ll try to turn him into the next Overpass.”

Darby said one key method was to target well-bred three-year-old colts put up for sale who “might have cost a million as a yearling but we might pay a couple of hundred thousand”.

“Usually, when you sell on, there’s got to be something in it for the next owner,” he said.

Robusto, as a five-year-old gelding, was a different case.

“Chris Waller and the Inghams probably felt he’d reached his mark, being a five-year-old stakes-placed metro horse,” he said.

“But he vetted up very sound, and we just thought he was a lovely horse for owners to jump straight into and compete in quality Saturday races.

“The other thing in the back of my mind, we find Bjorn Baker just finds an extra couple of lengths with tried horses. It’s something I’ve noticed over the years, whether it be Caballus, Alegron, or all these tried horses.

“That was the idea with Robusto. A week after we bought him he was racing in a Newcastle Group 3, so it was a very quick turnaround.

“And then to win a Group 2 worth $2 million in your first prep – that’s just fairytale stuff.”

Darby celebrates his partnership with Baker, which has also recently spawned the likes of Ozzmosis (Zoustar), the $250,000 Gold Coast purchase who won last year’s Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) to clinch a stallion deal with Newgate, and Malkovich (Choisir), the $240,000 Inglis Ready To Race buy who won two stakes races and almost $1 million.

“We do spread our horses around but Bjorn is our number one,” he said, “and the success we’re having with him is just becoming legendary at the moment. I’m not sure quite what to put it down to, but it’s working. It’s just one of those partnerships that clicks.”

In a hot field for syndications, Darby is confident he and his six staff members can stand out from the crowd.

“It’s an extremely competitive market. We’re not only competing with syndicators, you’re competing with every trainer,” he said.

“When we first started, yes trainers were syndicating horses, but not to today’s level. With social media, every knows the trainers syndicate as well.

“And there’s a lot of syndicators out there doing a great job bringing people into racing, so you’ve got to compete at the highest level to make yourself known.

“I’m proud to say our record is right up there with the best. We also have a more hands-on approach with our management. Whilst we leave a lot of the decision making to the trainers, we’re very much involved in the background, firstly selecting the horses, but also managing their career and different paths they take.

“I’d say that sets us apart – our expertise in managing a horse.”