Steve Talks To Scott Darby
Does that make them geniuses, extremely lucky or blessed? “Absolutely blessed,” says Darby principal and founder Scott Darby. “You can only have so much luck and while we believe we’re good (at what we do) I’m not sure we’re that good.”
Who’s to say that it wasn’t the case and the strength of faith of the Darby boys is well known. Michelle Payne had her saddle blessed at the Racing Mass on the Sunday before winning the Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) on Prince Of Penzance (Pentire) and I recall the ‘pacing priest’ Fr Brian Glasheen blessing Northerly (Serheed) the day he won his first Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m).
Divine intervention aside, I fancy most observers would consider a degree of good, speculative judgement has contributed to the Darby team’s success.
Of course, all the rain falls down – amen – on the works of last year’s man – as Leonard Cohen wrote. So, can they do it again?
Well, in one sense, they’re almost dreading it! “We fear there might be a host of people waiting to inundate us if we pick up a nice one around the $20,000 mark at Classic this weekend,” Scott Darby said.
Darby says the team’s yearling selection is largely ‘instinctive’. “It’s instinct at first, liking what you see. The analysis comes later as we’re always reviewing what we do.
“I think we have had a knack for picking an early runner. We like fillies. As is the case with humans, females seem to mature a bit quicker and obviously we’ve done well with several of the cheaper fillies we’ve bought…and we don’t mind buying one by a stallion who, for whatever reason, doesn’t seem to be in vogue. We’re happy to take a chance on a left field stallion but most of all we just want to buy something that looks athletic.
“We’ll be back doing our best this year. Classic’s a really good sale where you can find some value and it’s not too daunting numbers wise so we are able to look at every single horse,” Darby said.
Darby recalls the purchase of She Will Reign who will defend her Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) favouritism and reputation when she runs, next Saturday, in the Silver Slipper Stakes (Gr 2, 1100m) at Rosehill Gardens.
“We really liked her and thought she’d make much more than she did, although she wasn’t overly correct in front. I think her breeder Garry Bachell was very disappointed at the time but he stayed in the filly and now it feels a bit like a lotto win for everyone,” he said.
She Will Reign is the first foal of the Charge Forward (Red Ransom) mare Courgette and the team had some ‘intel’ as Darby Racing’s racing manager Mark Holland broke her in for her initial trainer Gerald Ryan in 2009, after she was purchased for $25,000 at the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale.
“Yankee Rose went through early in the sale the year before,” Darby said, “All American wasn’t the flavour of the month at the time and she was passed in. We thought she’d make $30,000 or $40,000 and we’d filled our quota but after a prompt from Clarrie Conners that she’d been passed in, we investigated further.
“We rang Antony (Thompson) from Widden Stud and he said they wanted $15,000 and we offered them $10,000 and he said ‘leave it with me’ and came back and said ‘she is yours’.”
Darby says the acquisition of these two outstanding females has certainly been good for business.
“For sure they’ve generated a lot of interest. It’s been really ridiculous this year after I’d say we had three or four years of steady growth,” he said.
The boys dabbled at the higher end at Magic Millions this year, chasing that elusive stallion, prospect and paid $310,000 for the More Than Ready (Southern Halo) – Jolie Bay (Fastnet Rock) colt and he’s ‘already three quarters sold’ according to Darby.
“Our average spend would be in the $50,000 to $80,000 range but we’re not locked into one end of the market or the other. There always seems to be a lot of people out there with an interest in buying a share in a horse but you have to remember that most people are price driven,” he said.
He says the world is changing in terms of marketing. “In the early days it was about TV but now Facebook and Twitter and websites are all important in promoting the business,” he said.
Darby Racing has much to look forward to in 2017 with the ‘trending’ She Will Reign and with the Cox Plate third Yankee Rose who is gearing up for a new campaign, on the water walker, at Washpool Lodge in Queensland which has been the occasional home to many stars of the turf including Black Caviar (Bel Esprit).
“I’m really excited about her,” Darby said. “She had a chip taken out of a knee shortly after the Cox Plate last year and she’s really come on. A month after the surgery she began to blossom and has continued to thrive. I’m not sure she was right at her top last spring despite the fact that she ran so well. Her coat was never quite right through the spring. We’re really looking forward to her this time in.”
The Classic Sale kicks off at 5pm tonight.
TO BE FAIR:
Many other yearling buyers/syndicators have secured a bargain, over the years, at all sorts of sales. And, of course, the bottom line is return on investment so the high priced colt later sold to stud may well outstrip the ‘cheapie’. Will endeavour to look at the best ROIS in the weeks ahead.
I quickly polled a few other yearling buyers as to their bargain purchases – but probably left a lit bate with most snowed under with inspections.
Apologies. Can always contact me with any snippets or issues at steve@moranracingmedia.com.au
CAULFIELD TODAY:
Suspect we try an each way parlay formula 2 and 3 on three races. Race 7 numbers 4 and 12 – Malaguerra (Magnus) and Divine Prophet (Choisir). Race 8 number 4 Tonopah (Rock Hard Ten). Race 9 numbers 9 Prussian Vixen (King Of Prussia) and 10 Ameristralia (Fastnet Rock).