Victoria’s Maluka expands with Everest on the horizon
Anderson-owned farm heads to Avenel as their ‘Yearling Academy’ graduates eye off a lucrative spring
Successful Victorian farm Maluka Thoroughbreds has taken the next step in developing their business by relocating from Kilmore up to Avenel, placing them right in the heartland of the state’s breeding industry.
Luke and Mags Anderson’s Maluka Thoroughbreds has become particularly known in recent years for their yearling preparation, so much so that their ‘Maluka Yearling Academy’ has become synonymous with elite racehorses.
“It’s a combination of getting the right owners that are sending us the good horses to start with, and then what we do is take a very minimalistic approach to yearling preparation,” Luke Anderson told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday. “We don’t stress them young with walkers or lunge them and we just naturally raise them without too much pressure on the horses.
“We let them be horses. They have a lot of paddock time and not have pressure applied too early – that’s the trainer’s job, later on in life when their bones and joints are developed.
“It’s not just physical though but mentally also; letting them mentally be confident and comfortable in their environment and make sure they’re settled and happy.
“I think the perception is that you do more with them, to get them more forward and stronger to embrace the two-year-old racing system. We take a different approach with the aim of achieving a sound racehorse going forward.
“If you don’t put that pressure on them at the stage that we have them, when they get a little bit more mature and a little bit older and broken in and on to their racing career, every month counts. By the time they’ve gone through a yearling prep, they’ve only had 14 or 15 months on average of life.”
Graduates of the academy include Group 1 winners Gytrash (Lope De Vega), who last week secured a spot in the world’s richest turf race, The Everest (1200m), and Seabrook (Hinchinbrook), both out of their 2017 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale draft. That was only the third draft they had prepared for Oaklands’ flagship auction.
“To achieve those two Group 1 winners has meant a real lot,” Anderson said. “What we really want to do is cement ourselves in the Inglis Premier Sale as that reliable vendor that purchasers can come to, knowing that they’re going to get a product that’s got every chance of success. To get those early Group 1 winners helped to confirm those relationships and establish what we’re trying to achieve with the Maluka Yearling Academy.”
The Maluka Yearling Academy brand has been born from their success with just a handful of crops to race, with their graduates also including top Hong Kong sprinter Full Of Beauty (Darci Brahma), Irwin Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) winner Hard Empire (Hard Spun), and Group 1 performer Perast (Snitzel).
“It’s still in its infancy but I just wanted to get that branding out there that we are doing things differently,” Anderson said. “Going forward this spring we’re really excited about the different prospects that we’ve got heading towards the black-type races.
“It’s lovely to see the horses go on because you know that the owner, who has entrusted their yearling with us to raise and prepare for the sales, will profit from it through the broodmare.
“There’s nothing better than seeing a client who purchased the horses, seeing them at the next sales and they come to us really wanting to buy our product. I think those bonds are going to strengthen even more. Just with the economic times that we’ve got and the future ahead of us that’s a bit uncertain, I think it’s those relationships and that confidence that will stand us in good stead. We sell a product that is going to perform to the best of a horse’s ability.
“I think what we focus on when we’re getting horses and developing the drafts – we love athletic horses. Their walk and fluency is a major focus point with us in getting horses that we want to take to the sales.
“At the end of the day we’ve got to sell athletes. Sometimes they might not be perfect in front, but you know there’s something about them. It’s those sorts of horses we love to take to the sales.
“We really pride ourselves on race performance statistics. I think now, more than ever given the current climate that we’re in, purchases are going to have to be more prudent in the future with what people are selecting.
“And I think, from our perspective, we wanted to put an emphasis on the Maluka Yearling Academy. We do it differently. We’ve got our own philosophy and our own morals and we get results.”
A major part of progressing the academy into the future is the move to Avenel, with owner Peter Mills approaching the Andersons to relocate to his Nagambie Road property.
“We were contacted by the owner and he expressed that he was looking for somebody to take over the property and we were fortunate that he considered us,” Anderson said. “I had a phone call with him and it just worked from there.
“It’s a beautiful property that he presented to us and we’re very fortunate with the location we’re in – it’s a great place to raise horses – the fencing was absolutely immaculate. It’s a great climate and the perfect spot to be able to grow our business.
“It was lovely that he approached us. He obviously did his due diligence speaking to a few different parties and it was the perfect match for us.
“What we want to do now, seeing as we’ve got more land and the beautiful facilities here, is to expand on the broodmare side of things. We can take a few more broodmares on and we’ll continue the same type of yearling preparation that we’ve done this whole time, with the same numbers, in and around the low to mid-twenties, going to the Melbourne Premier Sale which is the sale that we focus on.
“So we’re looking to do that little bit more of an expansion. We also love raising the weanlings, so once they get weaned they can come to us and we can take them right the way through the preparation.”
One of Maluka’s biggest advocates is trainer Gordon Richards, who purchased Lightning Stakes (Gr 1, 1000m) winner Gytrash for $40,000 from the farm’s 2017 Premier draft. He also has high hopes this spring for Maluka graduate Crown Mint (Hallowed Crown), twice Group-placed as a two-year-old earlier this year, while another of Richards’ purchases from the Andersons was Listed runner-up Charossa (Myboycharlie).
“I’ve always picked places that I know produce their horses well and look well,” Richards told ANZ Bloodstock News. “You can talk to them and they are very down to earth people and I love going to look at their draft every time the sales are on.
“They present them well. They really do. I couldn’t speak more highly of Luke and Mags, they are very good people to deal with. There’s a lot of trust involved and I know I can go and talk to them and they’ll be honest in their assessment of the yearlings.
“I work around the $40,000 to $50,000 mark, I might be a bit of a chicken but I don’t want to pay too much money for a horse in case it turns out no good and I’ve got owners that lose money. I bought another one from them this year for $60,000 by Tarzino, and around that mark you can’t go wrong.
“So far, they’ve turned out really good!”
For Anderson, he places much of the credit with his wife Mags, stating that her background in New Zealand gave the couple the perfect grounding ahead of launching their own operation.
“It was perfect that Mags was yearling manager at Cambridge Stud for ten years,” he said. “She was there during Zabeel’s heyday and she raised multiple sale-toppers that went on to win Group 1 races. There are so many horses that are sold for big prices and then don’t necessarily perform on the track.
“Mags managed Don Eduardo, Viking Ruler, St Reims, a raft of top-quality horses. She learnt her trade with two of the greats in Sir Patrick Hogan and Marcus Corban. It was a great advantage for us starting out because her reputation in the preparation of yearlings was second to none and we were able to get clients through that.”
Gytrash to lead Maluka spring assault
For both trainer and vendor, the next couple of months could result in the ultimate success story as Gytrash chases victory in The Everest. The five-year-old became just the third horse secured for a spot in the $15 million contest last week when Inglis selected the chestnut to run in their slot; he joined Nature Strip (Nicconi) and Classique Legend (Not A Single Doubt) as confirmed runners.
“I’ve driven Gytrash up here myself and he’s come through the trip really well,” Richards said, with his star sprinter entered to trial at Warwick Farm tomorrow. “He got off the float bucking his brand off. He really handled it well and I couldn’t be happier.
“He’ll run against a few other contenders for The Everest in the Concorde but you’ve got to come up against them at some point.
“I couldn’t be happier. We’ve just had dinner with the Inglis people and I’m over the moon to be part of a deal with them. They’ve looked after us very well since we’ve been here. They’ve put the money up and now we’ve put the horse up so it’s over to us now to do it, but I’m very happy and looking forward to it.”
There may not be a vendor’s sling for an Everest winner, but the fact that a Maluka graduate will line up in the rich October feature fills Anderson with pride.
“It’s a wonderful story,” recalled Anderson. “Gytrash was sent to us by John and Mark Corcoran from New Zealand. They’re respected horsemen in their own right over in New Zealand and they wanted to sell a horse in Melbourne.
“The story that Gordon bought him for $40,000 and then the journey that he’s taken him on, it’s just a brilliant story I think. To be in The Everest is just an amazing achievement and a great training effort.”
And Gytrash may be just one success story among a strong group set to fly the Maluka flag this spring.
“We’ve got a really good crop of current horses going around at the moment,” Anderson said. “Horses such as Tavidance and Bless Her, they are doing really well. Gordon’s got Crown Mint, which he bought for $40,000 from us. We sold him on behalf of a great friend of ours, Peter McIntrye, and he’s already run a place in the South Australian Sires’ Produce at just his fourth start and he may head on a Derby path, so he’s going to be one to look forward to.
“Then there’s another one, a Redwood filly called Yosemite that Robbie Griffiths trains. She had one start in the autumn as a two-year-old and it was a really promising run and she’s just going to get better over further.
“That was a great crop, the one that’s just turned three, and I can’t wait to see how they all perform.”
Before too long, though, the Maluka Yearling Academy will be firing up again, preparing the next potential top-liner for their moment in the Oaklands spotlight early next year.