Travel industry entrepreneur joins forces with McDonald
A milestone birthday was the trigger for travel industry entrepreneur Dennis Alysandratos to turn his involvement in the racing industry as a punter into becoming an owner for the first time.
Melburnian Alysandratos, who is Consolidated Travel’s managing director, teamed up with Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winning trainer Clinton McDonald to buy a filly by first–season sire Ole Kirk (Written Tycoon) for $360,000.
Bred by Gilgai Farm’s Rick Jamieson, who also bred and part-owned Vinery Stud’s Golden Rose (Gr 1, 1400m) and Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) winning sire Ole Kirk, Alysandratos’s maiden foray into ownership is the second foal out of the unraced Tune Doubt (Not A Single Doubt), who is a half-sister to Jestajingle (Lonhro), the dam of Group 3 winner and Group 1-placed stallion Bruckner (Snitzel).
McDonald, whose Group 1-winning two-year-old Hayasugi (Royal Meeting) remains on target for the Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m), said the filly looked much like her second dam Jestatune (Rory’s Jester).
“We thought she was the filly of the sale, which everyone says when you buy a nice horse, but she was a filly we looked at three or four times and she never changed her attitude,” said McDonald, who signed for the horse alongside agent Shane McGrath.
“She throws back to the Rory’s Jester side, I think, looking at her, which we were very keen on.
“She looks like a filly that we can get to [the Inglis Banner] on Cox Plate day and then hopefully onto another Blue Diamond and a Golden Slipper.”
An old school friend of Alysandratos recommended McDonald as a trainer that would suit the rookie owner’s requirements.
“So, I have been a punter up to this point. I’ve always held the position that it’s cheaper to back them than own them. But when you turn 50, you start to think differently and I’m looking for the social aspect [of racing],” Alysandratos told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“I wanted to be with a smaller, boutique stable because I wanted the ability to go down with the family and see the horse whenever I wanted to and the smaller stables appealed to me for that reason.”
Alysandratos also intended to bid on the following lot – a $120,000 Shamus Award (Snitzel) filly – but in all the emotion of owning his first racehorse, he, McDonald and McGrath missed her go through the ring but he’s glad he didn’t miss the daughter of Ole Kirk whose first crop have sold up to $1 million so far this year.
“[McDonald] pointed her out as his number one pick and my 13-year-old daughter said, ‘don’t come home without her’, so it was a matter of not hitting my ceiling with the bidding,” he said.
“We were going to have a crack at 35, which was the one straight after, but with all the excitement and everyone congratulating us, we missed it.”
Jestajingle, the half-sister to Tune Doubt, has a sister to Widden Stud’s Bruckner set to sell this morning as Lot 314 through the Blue Gum Farm draft.
Later, McDonald and McGrath upped the ante for a filly by dual-hemisphere supersire Justify (Scat Daddy), paying $460,000 for the Twin Hills-bred and sold yearling who possesses the same cross as unbeaten Golden Slipper favourite Storm Boy.
Fellow Justify Group 2 winner Learning To Fly and New Zealand Group 3 winner Star Of Justice are also out of Fastnet Rock (Danehill) mares and the Hyasugi team’s new acquisition is out of the unraced Cavaco (Fastnet Rock), herself a sister to Australian Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Rock Classic.
Twin Hills’s Olly Tait paid $110,000 for Cavaco at the 2021 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale when she was in foal to Royal Meeting (Invincible Spirit).
“Three years ago we decided to send a mare to Justify and here we are now, so it’s a long road and as we know with breeding horses, it doesn’t always go your way,” Tait said.
“Fastnet Rock has crossed well with Justify, although we didn’t know that at the time when we sent the mare to Justify. We’ve got lucky there because his two best horses in Australia are out of Fastnet Rock mares.”
Leading trainer Ciaron Maher, who bought 11 at last year’s Premier sale, made a low–key start to the Premier sale when he bought a $60,000 Too Darn Hot (Dubawi) filly, but rival trainer Mick Price was more active, taking home four lots for a spend of $850,000.
Price and training partner Michael Kent Jnr are on track to at least match last year’s Premier Session haul when they bought ten yearlings.
Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young bought six yearlings and Lindsay Park’s Ben, JD and Will Hayes signed for five.
The aggregate of $26.124 million was almost on par with last year, while the average of the 187 horses sold fell two per cent to $139,701. The median declined by $5,000 to $105,000 compared to the opening session of 2023.
“We expected demand for the popular horses to be strong and that certainly felt the case, but it’s been a selective market all year and the expectation was that it would be more pronounced here,” Hutch said.
“That’s how it has played out to an extent, but the day has ended with a close to 74 per cent clearance, compared to 76 per cent last year.
“All things considered, I think most vendors would reflect on the results and think things were better on the horses they expected to do well with and as challenging as they thought it would be the others.”
The second Premier Session will start at 10am.
Sale statistics – day one
2024 2023
Catalogued 280 270
Offered 252 243
Sold 187 (74%) 185 (76%)
Aggregate $26,124,000 (-1%) $26,375,000
Average $139,701 (-2%) $142,568
Median $105,000 (-5%) $110,000
Top Lot $625,000 $1.1 million