Sandblom takes shine to the West with standout Perth colts
One of the east coast’s biggest breeders will switch his attention to the west tomorrow when he offers the only horse by leading freshman sire Capitalist (Written Tycoon) and a Deep Field (Northern Meteor) half-brother to one of the state’s best mares at the Magic Millions Perth Yearling Sale.
After breeding and selling two of the country’s most exciting two-year-old colts, Inglis Millennium (RL, 1200m) winner Profiteer (Capitalist) and the unbeaten Stay Inside (Extreme Choice), who both produced blistering displays in Sydney earlier this month, Newgate Farm partner and Kingstar Farm principal Matthew Sandblom’s focus is on what will unfold in Western Australia
Willow Dale Farm will consign the two Sandblom-bred yearlings, the Capitalist colt being the first foal out of Munjai (Trusting), a three-quarter-sister to ATC Breeders’ Plate (Listed, 1000m)-winning sire Whittington (Tale Of The Cat),
“The Capitalist we sent over to Perth, Magic Millions actually asked us (if we would) as they’d really appreciate having a Capitalist in the sale because I don’t think there were any at this point,” Sandblom told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday.
“Henry (Field) and I, who bred him, decided to send him over there and I think he’s a real standout as a type. He should be well appreciated over there.”
The growing reputation of Capitalist – a yearling sales standout sire at the Magic Millions and, more recently, at the Inglis Classic – was only enhanced at yesterday’s Randwick barrier trial session which saw the return of the Newgate-China Horse Club syndicate-raced Captivant and the performance of a Mark Newnham-trained colt, Russian Standard.
“Capitalist has really got a kickalong and he’s getting an awful lot of trial winners at the moment, so there will be a few more winners coming out soon,” added Sandblom.
“Captivant won his heat this morning and then there was Russian Standard, the Capitalist-Real Stolle, who was impressive, too.”
The other eastern seaboard-linked Willow Dale Farm-consigned colt is a son of Deep Field who is the half-brother to the four-time stakes winner Dance Music (War Chant) who Sandblom bred in partnership with Perth businessman Neven Botica.
Sandblom’s Hollymount Stud races Dance Music with Botica, while Simon Miller also trains the three-year-old half-sister, recent Pinjarra maiden winner Dance Shoes, a daughter of Kingstar stallion Bull Point (Fastnet Rock).
“Because of Neven, the Deep Field colt is Westspeed eligible and he’s a nice horse,” he said.
“We thought the mare was a good cross with Deep Field because he would give the foal a bit more size. Dance Music is not very big and I have a Bull Point over there out of the mare who has won and she’s not very big either.
“He’s also the first colt out of the mare and he looks a ball of muscle type. They tend to come into their own as three-year-olds, but he might go a bit earlier.”
Sandblom added: “I am getting plenty of feedback on both colts and particularly the Capitalist, being the only one in the sale. He is getting lots of looks.
“The Deep Field, we like him as a horse and if we don’t get a reasonable price we will probably keep him and race him over there but he is certainly for sale.
“They are two nice horses to have and they should be among the leading ten per cent of what’s over there, I’d say.”
Education entrepreneur Sandblom has closely observed, as well as participated, in the surging Australian yearling market so far this year and predicts the Perth sale to continue the trend.
“WA, from what I hear, is absolutely booming. They haven’t been as affected by Covid. The mines are all going gangbusters and lots of other things are, too, so realistically the WA economy is as healthy as any in Australia,” he said.
“People can’t travel to other sales, so if they want to buy a horse, Perth’s where they are going to buy them. it should be reasonably strong.”
As for reasoning why demand for bloodstock has skyrocketed on an already high benchmark, Sandblom said: “When I speak to my accountant who deals with lots and lots of different businesses, he says, ‘there’s hardly anyone not doing well unless you’re in one of the sectors which has really been whacked like tourism’.
“Everyone else, between all the various government programs and the fact that people aren’t travelling, is spending money. With people buying furniture at a rate of knots, Gerry Harvey will have his best year in history, I think, after talking to him up at the Gold Coast.
“It’s a fairly domestic business, horses, and people are looking for entertainment options and they can’t travel and do other things.
“They are buying a share in a horse or upping the ante and buying a couple of horses.”
Newgate investment starting to pay off: Sandblom
A major backer of Henry Field’s Newgate Farm as well as running Kingstar, Matthew Sandblom is riding the wave by virtue of the rising success of young stallions Deep Field, Capitalist, Extreme Choice, Flying Artie and Winning Rupert.
The latter quartet have all sired first crop two-year-old winners racing this season and Sandblom has been responsible for breeding two of the biggest stars, Profiteer and Stay Inside.
“When we launched four stallions in the one season, a Golden Slipper winner (Capitalist) as well as a Blue Diamond winner in Extreme Choice, a Coolmore winner in Flying Artie and Winning Rupert as well, this really is our best shot of getting a top-quality stallion,” Sandblom said.
“We’ve worked our way up to getting these stallions and now we’ve got four very good horses in one season.
“They are all very fast, precocious sprinters so you would be worried at this time of year if you didn’t have some good horses out there.
“But I think it’s even exceeded our expectations. Extreme Choice has a lot of horses getting to the track and they are all metropolitan class horses who are competitive and look like being competitive in some of the better races.”
While breeding Profiteer, who Newgate Farm and partners have since bought back into, Sandblom also co-owns an Extreme Choice colt in Tiger Of Malay who is trained by Stay Inside’s trainers Michael and Richard Freedman.
“With Tiger Of Malay, he didn’t trial super impressively (in October). He ran second from memory,” he recalled.
“I know Henry was a bit doubtful whether he should have been running in a race straight away but Michael said, ‘no, he keeps improving every time I put him on the track’ and he was right. He was backed in from 20-1 and won easily.
“He trialled better this time with a couple of good horses around him in Remarque and Shaquero and I watched Stay Inside’s first trial, having bred him, and I said to Michael, ‘what do you think?’ and he thought he went pretty well. His second trial was nice and he went to the races and blitzed them and did it again the second time.
“I don’t know if it’s the way the Freedmans train, but they definitely leave a bit in the tank. They do improve from trial to race one, to race two, so it will be interesting to see if Tiger Of Malay is on the same sort of trajectory.”