Archive for category: Industry News

With a return of just under $1 million for the four mares that went through the ring at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale, Bennett Racing has again proved that the residual value of race fillies cannot be underestimated.

Group 3-winning mare Zou Dancer (Zoustar x Investigates) was the highlight of Bennett Racing’s consignment, which were all sold by Newgate Farm.

Having been bought for $150,000 at the 2019 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, Zou Dancer was sold for precisely four times that figure on the opening day of the broodmare sale, giving her owners an outstanding return on their initial investment – particularly as she earned $230,000 on the racetrack.

The highlight of her racing career came at Flemington last February, when she demolished a smart field of fillies – which included subsequent Group 1 Kennedy Oaks winner Personal – in the Vanity Stakes.

Whilst she may have struggled to reach those same heights again, that five-length victory and her pedigree page suggested she would be a very popular proposition as a broodmare, and so it proved with a price tag of $600,000.

“I’m obviously delighted with the results,” said Bennett.

“We had fairly high hopes because the interest in Zou Dancer had been strong, but we were pretty excited to see her sell for that sort of money.

“It gives the owners a very nice return on their investment, hopefully they put it towards a share or two in some of our other horses and it should also help us attract new customers when they see what they could potentially make for a filly at the end of her racing career.

“Part of our business model is to buy fillies with a view to selling them on as broodmares, and this year in particular I think we’ve found some super value at the sales. We bought the three-quarter sister to the highest-selling lot at the weanling sale. They’re both by Zoustar, we picked up our filly at the Inglis Easter Sale for $160,000 and the weanling went for $750,000 last week, so whilst there are no guarantees in racing it’s a very good sign moving forward.”

The next highest seller at the broodmare sale for Bennett Racing was their city winner Royal Obsession (Written Tycoon x Royal Season), who handsomely repaid her owners when she was sold for $230,000 to Yulong, with Mr Zhang and Sam Fairgray identifying Tagaloa as her ideal match.

Eureka Farm will send Bennett Racing’s mare La Croft (Foxwedge x Croft) to their first-season sire Jonkers after paying $90,000 for her, whilst Hot In Paris (Sizzling x Paris Blu) went for $30,000 in a private sale.

Anticipation was high ahead of the Magic Millions Gold Coast National Broodmare Sale, and the opening day didn’t disappoint with Yulong Stud splashing out a combined $7.1 million on Tofane and Away Game.
Persistent rain did little to dampen the enthusiasm of bidders in a feverish ring at the Gold Coast, with four-time Group 1 heroine Tofane (Ocean Park x Baggy Green) fetching $3.1 million before Away Game (Snitzel x Elusive Wonder), a winner of three Group races for Ciaron Maher Racing, topped the sale at a mind-boggling $4 million.
A date with Yulong’s super sire Written Tycoon now awaits Tofane, who was originally scheduled to be sold at this sale 12 months ago before connections chose to press on with her racing career for one more campaign.
That decision bore spectacular fruit after Tofane added a trio of Group 1s to her CV, starting with back-to-back victories in the Stradbroke Handicap and the Tatts Tiara at Eagle Farm last June, before a dominant display saw her land the C.F. Orr Stakes at Caulfield in February.
Those wins elevated her value as a broodmare into the stratosphere, and it is anyone’s guess how much the potential progeny of a match between Written Tycoon and Tofane would fetch at a future yearling sale.
Yulong’s Chief Operating Officer Sam Fairgray, who is on the TBV Board, was understandably delighted to secure a mare of Tofane’s status and he revealed that she may continue her racing career before embarking on her new life as a broodmare.
“[Yulong founder] Mr Zhang has really liked her for a few years and we’ve tried to try to buy her on several occasions, so it’s great to finally get her today,” said Fairgray.
“I’d say Written Tycoon will be high up on the cards, but after the sale, we’ll sit down and have a look at what we do.
“We might give her a couple of runs through the spring and breed her, so she’s no certainty to go to stud this year. She showed in the last year that she’s getting better as she gets older, so if she’s still got an interest then we may race her on.”
Another figure in the room who was rightly proud of Tofane’s head-spinning sale price was her trainer, Mike Moroney.
Moroney put the polish on the daughter of Ocean Park throughout a 29-start career which yielded more than $3.5 million in prizemoney for an ownership group led by Rupert Legh of Chautauqua fame.
The Kiwi admitted to experiencing mixed feelings when witnessing his prized asset go through the ring, but after a stellar racing career Tofane had more than paid her way even before she became the eighth-most expensive Australasian broodmare in history.
“I actually got pretty nervous before she went through, it almost felt like a Group 1 race today,” he said.
“I thought she’d make $3 million but until the hammer drops, you’re never sure. But she looked fabulous and when you combine her race record with her looks, it’s no surprise she made as much as she did. If she was a human she’d be a model, she’s just got everything you look for in a mare and she’s very feminine.
“We thought she’d make around $2.5 million if we sold her last year, so she’s only gone for $600,000 more after three Group 1 wins, but there’s always a ceiling on these things plus she’s earned more than $2 million on the racetrack in that time and taken her owners on an amazing ride. She thrived on travelling and the owners loved following her around the country, so the last year has been hugely enjoyable but all good things come to an end.
“I’m really pleased she’s gone to Yulong, we knew they were very interested in her and I’m really happy she’ll stay in Victoria and be served by Written Tycoon. I don’t know if I’ll be able to afford her progeny in future years, but I’ll definitely be keeping my eye out for them. Alabama Express went to Yulong and Rupert [Legh] also sold Grunt to them, so we have a good association with them. Who knows, I may even qualify for a discount!”

Day two of the Magic Millions National Weanling saw the first weanlings from both I AM IMMORTAL and ROYAL MEETING hit the ring, an exciting period for the Victorian breeding industry.

Of course the day also saw some of Victoria’s big time stallions in WRITTEN TYCOON, SHAMUS AWARD & TORONADO present some beautiful types.

A colt by SHAMUS AWARD (lot 204) went through the ring early, realising $210,000 for Victoria’s Sullivan Bloodstock, purchased by Suman Hedge Bloodstock.

Lot 238 saw Darley Victoria’s BLUE POINT produce a filly, sold to Suman Hedge Bloodstock from Victoria’s Three Bridges Stud for a whopping $220,000.

Spendthrift Farm produced a slashing chestnut colt (lot 243), out of a half-sister to the Group One Blue Diamond Stakes second place getter in Reemah, selling for $220,000.

Swettenham Stud’s main man in TORONADO produced a colt (lot 268), selling to Merrick Staunton for $200,000, produced by Taghadoe Stud.

I AM IMMORTAL caught the eye on the track and has certainly captured attention in the barn, producing a colt out of Insurgent (lot 277) selling for $40,000, presented by A List Stud, now in the care of Cornerstone Stud.

Lot 345 saw a son of ROYAL MEETING sell to Baystone Farm for $160,000, coming from Silverstream Consignment. A great start to the young sire’s career.

Adele Amour provided Woodside Park Stud owner Eddie Hirsch will another winner when three-year-old filly Adele Amour, out of Group 2 winning mare Divine Rebel, picked up her third win from 10 starts for Pakenham trainer John Sadler.
The filly has won all three races at 1400m and has been placed at 1300m and 1600m.
“It was a really good win,” Woodside Park Stud’s Mark Dodemaide said.
“She was ridden a bit more quiet, dropped back and she was really good.
“John Sadler has always had an opinion of her.
“She is out of Divine Rebel who Eddie bought on the Gold Coast for $80,000 when she was in foal to Hinchinbrook but that horse had a few issues.
“But then she had Adele Amour and she has got a Hallowed Crown colt and she is in foal to Foxwedge.”
Before being bought by Hirsch for $80,000 at the 2017 Gold Coast National Broodmare Sale, she was sold for $450,000 at the 2011 Australian Easter Broodmare Sale.
Divine Rebel (Don Eduardo x It’s My Sin), now 17-years-old, won six races for trainer Michael Moroney and a group of high profile owners headed by Rupert Legh. The mare started her racing career in New Zealand and her greatest triumph came in successive races, winning the Listed Epona Stakes (1900m) and then the Group 2 Chairman’s Handicap (2600m) at Randwick.
And she twice finished second in the Sydney Cup, beaten less than a length both times.
While the Hirsch family celebrated the victory of Divine Rebel, they are also looking forward to the breeding season where their Woodside Park Stud now has five stallions on the roster – Vancouver (Medaglia d’Oro), Foxwedge (Fastnet Rock), Delaware (Frankel), Rich Enuff (Written Tycoon) and Tosen Stardom (Deep Impact).
Vancouver and Delaware are the new boys on the block for Hirsch and his stud and Dodemaide is sure they’ll attract plenty of interest from breeders.
Vancouver was purchased by Hirsch from Coolmore, where he began stud duties in 2016, earlier this year.
“Vancouver’s oldest are only four,” Dodemaide said.
“He has nine Stakes winners, five Group 2 winners and from his first crop, he is leading third season sire from that crop.
“We all know he won the Golden Slipper and is a good looking horse and they paid a fortune for him but we own him 100 per cent and he is doing quite well with nine Stakes winners already and if a Group 1 popped up, he’d be the flavour of the month again.
“You only have to look at Shamus Award. A couple of years ago when he came down, he wouldn’t have been going as good as what Vancouver is going now at this stage.”
While Dodemaide said Vancouver, who will stand at $15,400, was an ideal VOBIS horse, he believes the stallion is also capable of producing progeny that will get over more ground.
“He is a son of Medaglia d’Oro,” he said.
The Group 3 winner Delaware, a son of wonder racehorse and sire Frankel, was purchased by Hirsch in America last September and is an exciting addition to the stallion roster at Woodside. The horse has just been retired from racing.
“Frankel was the quickest horse ever to get to 50 Stakes winners and is up to 95 and is on schedule to be the quickest to get to 100,” Dodemaide said.
“It will most likely only take him a month to get up to 100.
“Under normal circumstances with a stallion like Frankel and his profile and being a champion sire in Great Britain, there would be a dozen of his sire sons in Australia.
“The trick to them is a lot of them tend to excel at 2000m and beyond which doesn’t always suit the Australian market.”
But Dodemaide said Delaware was different.
He said Hirsch had always been a big Frankel fan and was at the stallion’s final race at Ascot in the UK in October 2012 when he ended his career of 14 races with victory in the Group 1 Champion Stakes (2000m) to remain undefeated.
“Eddie has been a Frankel fan and what we tried to do was to find a Frankel that would suit us in Australia,” Dodemaide said.
“Delaware won a 1200m race as a two-year-old at Deauville which is like winning at Caulfield. And as a spring three-year-old in the lead up to their Guineas he won a Listed race by five lengths on speed with a real good kick.
“And then he won a Group 3 race (1600m) which was virtually a mirror image when he was on speed and kicked away. He got beaten in the Guineas and didn’t have much luck but got knocked down.”
Bred and raced by Juddmonte, Delaware was sold and finished up in America where he holds the Aqueduct track record for 1600m on turf with a time of 1:33.67 seconds.
“So at least he is a quick one,” Dodemaide said.
“He is just a nice running horse that might even get a two-year-old.
“While is a son of Frankel, he is out of an Oasis Dream mare and Oasis Dream upset Choisir in the July Cup after he’d won those two sprint races at Royal Ascot.
“And Oasis Dream is a very good stallion as well.”
Dodemaide said Oasis Dream is the broodmare sire of Cox Plate winner Sire Dragonet and Melbourne Cup winner Twilight Payment.
Foxwedge, bought by Hirsch from Newgate Farm in 2019, has covered more than 100 mares in each of the past two breeding seasons. His fee remains at $11,000.
Dodemaide said it was a case of dealing in facts with Foxwedge.
“It’s all about facts,” he said.
“He was the third top-priced colt at Easter and a very good looking horse. He goes to the races and runs in those good three-year-old races and beats Hay List and Buffering in the William Reid.
“There are a lot of horses and things that are going to do something, but now that he is at stud and he is only 13 and he is up to 24 Stakes winners and five Group 1 winners.
“No matter which way you want to spin it, every part of his career he has done the job. He is very good looking, a good racehorse and a proven sire.
“And he again is a good VOBIS horse.”
Dodemaide said they chased Foxwedge and when he first came to stud in Victoria he’d sired 11 Stakes winners – he now has 24.
Dodemaide said that Rich Enuff continues to make an impact on the track and at the sales.
“He has got that two-year-old Bubble Palace that has had two starts for two wins and they reckon it’s a gun,” he said.
“And even last week at the sale at Sydney to prove it, a lady (Fionnuala Timoney) bought the dam (Tiz My View in foal to Hanseatic) online for $15,000 and eight months later put her in the sale and made $350,000 last Sunday.”
Dodemaide said Rich Enuff was good value at $8000 and was a stallion that might produce a spike for breeders.
“He had one that made $200,000 at Classic and one made $170,000 at Premier and one made $140,000 at Adelaide,” he said.
“He also had four in at Premier and they averaged $92,500.
“Where there is smoke there is a bit of fire and there are a few trainers that are quite happy.’’
Tosen Stardom’s service fee remains unchanged at $7,700.
Dodemaide said they never expected too much as two-year-olds from Tosen Stardom, winner of the Group 1 Toorak Handicap (1600m) and the Group 1 Mackinnon Stakes (2000m).
But the Matty Williams trained Stardom Awaayts, from the stallion’s first crop, came from last to finish fourth in the recent $1m The Showdown (1200m) for two-year-olds at Caulfield.
“Matty told me that his horse will come back and believes he will be a nice miler at three,” Dodemaide said.
Bred and offered for sale by Noorilim Thoroughbreds, Williams paid $70,000 for Stardom Awaayts at last year’s Inglis Classic Yearling. The gelding’s dam, Awayeed (Hard Spun x Nufoos), raced 22 times for three minor finishes.
Tosen Stardom served 87 mares last season.

For long time breeder Mike Hirst, the win of Jimmy The Bear over 1400m at Flemington last Saturday was a by-product of his passion to breed a VRC Derby winner, a feat he went agonisingly close to achieving with Southern Moon in 2019.
Hirst is hoping that the Patrick Payne-trained three-year-old can continue to add to his impressive record of three wins and a second from six starts
“We are hoping he can keep going the way he is going,” Hirst said.
“He has sort of shown that maybe he is not at the top class but I think for this time of the year he’ll go all right.”
Hirst warns that the background to his aim of breeding a Derby winner is a lengthy one and includes sourcing a specially bred mare and stallions by Sadler’s Wells.
“I had this breeding theory around this mare called Lalun who won a Kentucky Oaks (1955) and was the dam of Never Bend and Bold Reason who ran second and third in the Kentucky Derby,” he explained
“And Never Bend is of course the sire of Mill Reef and Riverman, and Bold Reason is the dam-sire of Sadler’s Wells, so I was trying to breed a Derby winner.
“I thought I’ll try and find a mare who is a direct descendant of Lalun and I spent a lot of time on the stud books back in 1990-something and there were only three in Australia and one of them was a two-year-old filly in Rockhampton and it hadn’t had a start.”
A quick phone call was made to connections, with Hirst saying he knew they paid $11,000 for the then unraced filly at sales but he was willing to pay $20,000.
He was quickly told no and that the filly was going to be a really good horse.
“It had its first start and ran fourth and I rang him up and I said I’ll give you $15,000 and he said no, no, it’s going to be good,” Hirst said.
“I said all right and I think it ran sixth its next start and I rang back and said I’ll give you your $11,000. He said no and I said all right but I want to buy it and every time you run it and if it doesn’t win I’m going to take $1000 off the price.”
The connections soon changed their minds and Hirst bought the filly, which had one third in seven starts, for about $3000.
Named River Royal, she was by River Of Light (USA) and out of Royalty Plus (USA) which was by King Pellinore (USA).
“I just started to breed her to stallions that had Riverman or Bold Reason in them so I could get sort of start getting back to Lalun,” Hirst said.
“I have sort of stuck with that family throughout and from a $3000 mare she gave me a Grand Annual winner in Awakening Dream (Aristotle) and Prince of Scribes (Runyon) who won a Moonee Valley 3000m stayers cup and then on it goes on through her and her offspring.”
Hirst said he went close to getting a VRC Derby winner with Southern Moon (Puissance De Lune) which finished second in the 2019 edition of the Group 1 race.
The gelding’s dam South Street (Street Cry x On Southbank) was also bred by Hirst and won a Terang maiden. On Southbank (Festival Hall) was the second foal out of River Royal.
Unfortunately, Southern Moon never raced after the Victoria Derby which was his sixth start and retired with $436,750 in the bank.
A chip in the knee was fixed and didn’t cause any problems but then he injured a tendon, followed by another tendon and despite 12 months of rehabilitation, he broke down again last week after two months back in work and was immediately retired.
Jimmy The Bear continues to fly the flag for the family.
The gelding is out of Belvedere Road (Street Boss x On Southbank).
Hirst has also bred a full sister to Jimmy The Bear, but the broodmare missed to Nostradamus in 2019 and Puissance De Lune in 2020 but is now in foal to Omaha Beach.
“The full sister is a two-year-old and is just sort of kicking things off with Ben O’Farrell who is just a new trainer who manages my farm,” Hirst said.
“Her first foal by Nostradamus, a colt, had something wrong with his hock, and he is just in the back paddock keeping the weanlings company.”
Trained by Mitch Freedman, Belvedere Road won four races, including a dead heat for first at Sandown.
Hirst said he’d bred more than 50 horses and rates his best as Southern Moon and Tubular Bells (Palace Music x Ann’s Belle) who won his first five starts and then ran a narrow second in the Adelaide Cup and then won his next start at Caulfield. He won six races from his nine starts.
His farm is at Mannerim, between Drysdale and Ocean Grove.
“Ben O’Farrell is the farm manager down there and he has got a breaking and training business which he runs from there,” he said.
Hirst is deputy chairman of the Racing Victoria Board and says racing is a great passion and for him, it’s enjoyable to be able to contribute.
Hirst grew up playing football for Frankston YCW in the Mornington Peninsula League. In 1978 and 1979 the team’s fullback line comprised Jimmy Bruin, who later played a lot of games for Frankston in the VFA, and was the changing ruckman in the back pocket. Hirst was at fullback, while Micky “The Bear” Wright was in the other back pocket.
“So the horse was named after those two – Jimmy and The Bear,” Hirst said.
“I gave each of them five per cent and they are thrilled. I didn’t get along to Flemington on Saturday unfortunately as I had to be interstate but Jimmy and The Bear went along and they had a ball.”
Hirst was managing director of the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank for nine years.
He sits on a few boards in Victoria, including AMP and admits it keeps him busy.
“I put a couple through the sales,” he said.
“My intention has always been to breed to sell but being so busy with work and all that it’s hard to get everything done.
“I am probably more set up to sell to Hong Kong. I sold Jimmy The Bear to Hong Kong before he ran in that Listed race (the Amanda Elliott) at Flemington for $400,000 but he didn’t pass the vet test.
“Southern Moon, I got offered $2 million from Hong Kong for him after the Derby but he chipped his knee.
“It costs a lot of money to do this sort of stuff and believe me, I am down the drain so if you can sell one or two a year for that sort of money then it pays its way.
“Although Jimmy didn’t pass the vet test, he has now won $200,000 so he has only got to do that a couple more times.”
Hirst said the great part of racing was doing it with mates.
“I have raced a lot of horses with Andrew Payne over the years and when he was not that old, he was in his early 20s, he was training a hose for me called Prince Of Scribes,” he said.
“He was a handy horse, Ciaron Maher used to ride him in trackwork as he was working for Andrew and ended up taking a share in him.
“I owned the horse outright and before he had a start Andrew rang me and said this horse goes all right and said are you sure you want to race it by yourself.
“I told him I’d had that many that went terrible so why would I want to put them into something that goes good he said it’s bloody hard to have fun on your own.
“And he was right. I put a few of my mates in him and we had a ball.”
Hirst has eight broodmares and is still hopeful that he’ll have another VRC Derby runner.
Southern Moon’s dam South Street has been back to Puissance De Lune three times, and also has a colt by Jimmy Creed, and is in foal to Ghaiyyath.

A perennial source of quality racehorses, Victoria’s Larneuk Stud has unveiled its lineup for spring: a diverse quartet whose own sires have produced 534 stakes winners of $750 million.
Heading up the team is Lope de Vega’s multiple Group 2 winner ENDLESS DRAMA who is poised to cover his second book of mares at Larneuk. Embraced by breeders in 2021, the Apollo Stakes winner and Group 1 Stradbroke placed sprinter/miler covered an impressive book in his initial book and, according to Larneuk Stud’s Neville Murdoch, took to it like a duck to water.
“Fortunately, local breeders got to see him finish third behind Winx in the Apollo and then win it the next year, along with a terrific third in the (Group 1) Stradbroke, but he was also a dual Group 2 winner across the pond in New Zealand and, earlier in his career, multiple Group 1 placed the United Kingdom behind absolute superstars like Gleneagles and Belardo,” Murdoch points out. “Breeders know all about his sire Lope de Vega too, courtesy of Santa Ana Lane, Gytrash, Vega Magic and co., but he’s been on absolute fire over the last 12 months with Vega One winning the Group 1 (Kingsford Smith) in Brisbane … 24 stakes winners since last May … and 200 winners – incredible. And we’ve got one of the few sons of his standing in Australia. Absolutely can’t wait for his first foals because if they’re anything like him we’ll be over the moon.”
Endless Drama’s fee for 2022 remains unchanged at $8,800 … excellent value for a stallion of this calibre.
Also gearing up for his second season at the picturesque Larneuk is Snitzel’s proven performer, WANDJINA, who has likewise been far from idle since shifting south.
Typical of so many stallions, Wandjina appears to be doing his best work after relocation to Victoria. A Group 1 Australian Guineas winner who already had runs on board with progeny such as Group 2 winning 2YO and Golden Slipper placed, Mamaragan, Wandjina’s ‘tally’ since his arrival at Larneuk includes Group wins to Wandabaa, a Moonee Valley stakes win for Express Pass, a stakes victory for Tiger Road, multiple stakes placings for Tramonto, stakes performances for Wolf Moon and a host of city winners.
At $6,600, there are few better value stallions in the country.
Speaking of excellent value, stakes producers CLUSTER and WOLF CRY both stand at $3,300 in 2022.
A Group 2 winning son of Champion Sire and sire of sires, Fastnet Rock, Cluster has a penchant for producing early comers – as Group 2 Silver Slipper runnerup, Rocket Tiger and stakes-placed 2YO Gee Gees Darl would testify.
Meanwhile, WOLF CRY – a multiple stakes-placed 2YO by Winx’s sire Street Cry (134 stakes winners) – has done an exceptional job despite limited runners, which include stakes-placed 2YO, General Wolffe and the Group placed 2YO Wolves.
For further information, phone Neville Murdoch on 0418 105 706.

LARNEUK STUD 2022 FEES
Endless Drama $8,800
Wandjina $6,600
Cluster $3,300
Wolf Cry $3,300

For a bloke who raced harness horses because he couldn’t afford a thoroughbred, Paul Dugan has experienced some pretty good luck since switching codes.
The move to thoroughbreds came when Dugan said he could afford it after becoming a little bit more financially stable after making some wise investments.
“I have always loved thoroughbreds and they’ve always been my number one passion but it was an affordability type of thing that I got into harness at first,” he said.
“And then once I got a little more financially secure I got into some thoroughbreds.”
Dugan has had some big results in the annual Victorian Owners and Breeders Race Day when Prince of Sussex won the inaugural running of The Showdown (1200m) – with a first prize of $522,500 in 2019.
The gelding was then sold to Hong Kong, where he races as Lucky Express, for $1.7m.
Dugan, again in unison with Mornington trainer Matt Laurie, raided the rich VOBIS meeting at Caulfield last month when Chartres picked up the $275,000 first prize on offer for the VOBIS Sires Guineas (1600m) for three-year-olds.
Both Prince of Sussex and Chartres are by Swettenham Stud stallion Toronado.
Dugan paid $145,000 for Prince of Sussex at the 2018 Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale and bought Chartres direct from the gelding’s breeders who retained a quarter share.
“We only had Prince Of Sussex for three runs, and he won two lucrative races,” he said.
“It’s tempting to keep them because it’s hard to get a good horse and there is a lot that can go wrong with them.
“And when they are geldings, I suppose that attracts the Hong Kong buyers too.
“I just thought it was a lot of money to knock back. And a lot of my mates, I probably had five old school mates in him, and I thought if we sell and make a good profit then they’ll probably stay in the game for a while.
“And they have and they’ve followed me and bought a few other horses with me since then.”
Dugan owned the majority of Prince of Sussex.
His luck continued when he saw Chartres in the Inglis catalogue last year, but the horse was withdrawn when Covid disrupted the live auctions.
“I saw that it was bred at Swettenham so I rang Sam Matthews (stud general manager) and he said it wasn’t going through the ring,” Dugan said.

“When I spotted it, it was at the Premier Sale (catalogue) and he was quite a striking looking horse and he did remind me a bit of Prince Of Sussex.
“And when I went through the mare’s breeding and watched her races, it took me a little bit and Sam quite liked the horse as well and the breeders wanted to stay in which was quite good.
“The breeders kept 25 per cent of it and I took the rest and divided it between mates. Pretty much all of the Prince of Sussex people are in Chartres.
“It was only $40,000, so it wasn’t expensive.”
Professional pedigree analyst Kristen Manning and her co-breeders bred Chartres off a $22,000 service fee on a share foal basis with Swettenham Stud Principal Adam Sangster. The much in demand Toronado will stand at $88,000 this year, up from $49,500 last year.
After having success on the track, Dugan decided to buy a couple of broodmare mares which are kept at Swettenham Stud.
He admits the bug has well and truly got him with his “two and a half” broodmares.
Dugan owns half of Rainbow Girl and is the outright owner of Freeze The Charges and Ever And Ever.
Along with some mates, Dugan raced Rainbow Girl (Pierro x Free Spirited).
“We kept her to breed from and she had a Toronado colt which we sold as a weanling,” he said.
“She is in foal to Ghaiyyath.”
He bought the unraced Ever and Ever (Shooting To Win x Whateverwhenever) in foal to Toronado.
Dugan soon learnt that breeding is a tough game and admits doesn’t know he long he’d do it for.
“It’s not that easy,’’ he said.
“I more or less do it so I can race the horses with my mates, not so much to sell them.”
Dugan and his mates had a vote to decide whether to keep or sell the weanling Toronado colt out of Rainbow Girl, with the economics winning out.
He said being a first foal, the colt was a little small but they decided that the sale would pay for the next service fee and also the upkeep of the next foal until it is a two-year-old.
“So we’ll get the next one for free,” he said.
“It was a good opportunity and if it comes out and becomes a champion then we still have the mare. So there is no real downside.
“The one (Ever and Ever) I bought in foal to Toronado lost the foal after four or five days but I had a free return and she is back in foal to Toronado.
“I’d only been in the breeding game at that stage for about a year and then to lose one sort of knocked me around and I thought do I want to do this anymore.
“I can understand why people get frustrated with it and it can cost you $80,000 or something to get them to the sales and they are getting sold for fifty or sixty.”
While there are lots of stories where yearlings are sold for $300,000 or $400,000, Dugan said there are plenty of examples where they don’t make what they cost to get to the sales.
Dugan said Freeze The Charges (Ad Valorem x Deep Freeze) had a foal at foot by Exosphere when he bought the mare, but he finished up by losing the foal.
“It hit me pretty hard,” he said.
“I lost two in probably a year and a half. It is a tough game.”
Freeze The Charges has a colt by I Am Immortal and is in foal to Rubick and is so impressed with what I Am Immortal has produced that he’ll probably go back to the stallion this year.
Dugan said he hadn’t bred that great horse yet, the thing that every breeder wants to do.
He is hoping that Rainbow Girl might give him that horse.
Also trained by Laurie, the six-year mare had eight starts for two wins and two seconds. She was beaten half a length in the Listed Crockett Stakes (1200m) at Moonee Valley.
“She was a really good mare but we didn’t see the best of her because of a throat injury,” Dugan said.
“We thought she could have been a Group horse.”
It’s a similar story with Chartres’ dam The French House (Dylan Thomas x Deraismes) which was also poised for better races, also after eight starts for a win, a second and a third, but injury halted her career.
Dugan said he did have an enquiry from Hong Kong about Chartres and while he referred the agent to Laurie, they are keen to keep the horse.
“Everything is for sale of course but we want to keep on racing him,” he said.
“I cashed out once and I don’t want to do it again, but how can you say you won’t do it when they come to you with a ridiculous offer.
“It would probably be harder to let him go because we have made our money once.
“And this horse has made his money. You can’t buy that enjoyment they give you when they win a nice, lucrative race.
“The VOBIS Sires was a good race and was probably his target for six months.
“The horse has done an amazing job. When I bought him I thought he wouldn’t race until he is mid-three sort of thing which he is about now, but look what he has done.
“He was a November foal as well.”
Chartres won his second start, a two-year-old maiden (1206m) at Sale which Dugan said was amazing for a Toronado juvenile.
Although Chartres was unplaced over 1600m in the $500,000 The Coast (1600m) at Gosford last Saturday, Dugan said the three-year-old had done his job this preparation.
Now retired, Dugan was a printer at Southdown Press which produced many publications, including Best Bets and The Truth.
“This is just a little hobby,” he said.
“Breed a couple of and race them with my mates. I don’t want to sell too many of them.
“They basically pay me to get them to that stage.”
Dugan said his only provision is that he sends his mares to Victorian stallions and will support Swettenham as much as he can.
And with two big pay days from VOBIS races, it’s no wonder he is a massive supporter of the scheme.
“I love the VOBIS scheme and the VOBIS Gold,” he said.
“The VOBIS Sires Guineas which we just won, it was such a restricted race for good prizemoney. You are crazy if you don’t target it.”
There’s no doubt more and more trainers and owners will continue to target the big VOBIS races that offer bigger pay days.

No one has to tell owner and breeder Mark Schiavello about the highs and lows associated with breeding and racing horses.
It’s been a mixed bag for Schiavello and his co-owners with the horses they’ve raced over the past few weeks.
Schiavello and his crew bred Mynumerouno from a mare they raced (Splash of Moet ), and the three-year-old was one of the fancied runners in the $130,000 Super VOBIS handicap (1100m) earlier last month.
The gelding was eased out of the Caulfield race after suffering a bleed, earning an automatic three-month ban.
Then, a few days later, another horse that Schiavello bred from Splash Of Moet tore a suspensory ligament in track work and was retired.
Not all was lost.
A Victorian bred So You Think colt that Schiavello bought for $70,000 at the 2018 Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale on the advice of bloodstock agent Kevin Dagg has certainly helped restore some faith for all those involved.
The now five-year-old gelding Regardsmaree scored back-to-back wins in just seven days with a victory last Saturday in the Listed Anniversary Vase (1400m) at Sandown.
Just seven days earlier, Regardsmaree won the VOBIS Gold Sprint (1200m) at Caulfield.

Schiavello, who works in the corporate industry, was a first time breeder when he decided to send Splash of Moet (Dash For Cash x Storm Tossed) that he’d raced in partnership to stud with Vancouver after the mare received a life ban after she bled for the second time.
Schiavello said they felt that there was some unfinished business with the mare, which had won four races, so the ownership group decided to breed from her.
Mynumerouno (Vancouver) was the second foal out of Splash of Moet. Her first foal, Essoess), was also raced by Schiavello and his mates and had won four races for Newcastle trainer Mark Minervini before suffering that suspensory tendon injury.
After winning on debut, Mynumerouno finished third at Sandown, put together three consecutive city wins, and won the $125,000 Blue Fox Gold Eldorado (1200m) at Echuca in March.
Schiavello said they’re hopeful of getting Mynumerouno back to the track.
“You just have to see these things out, and you can’t let them get you down,” he said.
“But he has been a ripper, and he owes us nothing, and hopefully, we can get him right.”
In the meantime, Regardsmaree’s prize money climbed past $650,000 with victory at Sandown last Saturday in the Listed Anniversary Vase as the $2.60 favourite.
Just seven days earlier, Regardsmaree was a $20 outsider when he won the $280,000 VOBIS Gold Sprint (1200m) at Caulfield for Flemington trainer Nick Ryan and jockey Billy Egan.
Bloodstock agent Peter Ford has kept a special interest in Regardsmaree and the unraced dam Rossa Mia (Testa Rossa).
Ford took over the business and bloodstock management of Hillside Parade Racing and Breeding, based in Nagambie, in 2014 for businessman Peter Arvanitis.
“When I started up Hillside for Peter Arvanitis, I bought her (Rossa Mia) as an unraced three-year-old filly,” Ford said.
“I reckon she cost $45,000 from memory.
“It’s great to see that she has produced a pretty handy one. I did the mating, too, with So You Think, so it’s pleasing.”
Ford said he was the huge rap for High Chaparral and his sons, including So You Think, Tivaci, Toronado and Alpine Eagle in Tasmania.
“They are kind of everywhere,” he said.
Ford wound up his association with Hillside, which had taken drafts to Melbourne Premier, several years ago. Arvanitis later sold his bloodstock interests.
“We were producing a good dozen or so yearlings a year,” he said.
“And in the last year, we sold about $2.2 million worth of yearlings.”
Ford said Ross Mia was a beautiful filly, and he was a huge fan of Testa Rossa as a broodmare sire.
Rossa Maria’s dam Malapert (En Costa Delago x Brazenne) produced Stakes winners Malasun (Red Ransom) and Stokehouse (Anabaa).
The last horse bred by Hillside out of Rossa Maria is the now four-year-old gelding Yulong Justify, a winner of four winners. He was sold as a weanling in 2019 for $110,000 and then sold the following year as a yearling to Yulong for $180,000.
A Rich Enuff chestnut filly (Lingjun Treasure), now an unraced three-year-old, out of Rossa Maria, fetched $10,000 last year.
Schiavello snapped up Rossa Maria, in foal to Star Witness, for $60,000 in the digital sale earlier this year after being informed by Gippsland Bloodstock’s Phoebe Grass that the mare was on the market.
“Phoebe looks after all our younger horses, the weanlings and yearlings and the mare Splash of Moet,” he said.
“She identified that Rossa Maria was up for sale in an Inglis Digital sale earlier this year and reached out to me and asked if I’d be interested.
“I sent a note to the guys, and we were pretty keen, and then we were fortunate enough to get her but probably had to extend because we thought we’d get her from anywhere from $30,000 to $50,000 and then we had to extend to $60,000.”
Schiavello said that with Regardsmaree’s current form, in hindsight, it was probably the right decision to buy Rossa Maria.
He said they’d always had great faith in Regardsmaree and thought that perhaps things didn’t go the gelding’s way in his last preparation when he managed to two thirds from seven starts. In his previous campaign, he won four races, including three in succession in the city, from six starts.
“The racing game can be brutal where they can write horses off, but I always thought that So You Thinks are not at their best and until they are five and six, and we have been quite fortunate where he has now come out and won a VOBIS Gold feature race, and now he has won a stakes race,” he said.
While Schiavello said they originally thought they’d perhaps get Rossa Maria for a little cheaper, it’s probably offset by the fact that they picked up Regardsmaree for a lot less than what they thought.
“I selected him with Kevin Dagg, who I use for all our yearling purchases,” Schiavello said.
“Kevin identified him for me and was on a shortlist, and we had a look at him, I think it was late on the Saturday before the sale started on Sunday, and we just looked at each other and laughed and said we’ve got no chance of buying this.
“Kevin looked at me and said if this thing can’t run, then I am not here. I remember it vividly just the way the horse walked with a nice loose action, athletic and a good temperament, too, which wasn’t overly accurate, but that’s what he was showing then.
“But he was a cracker.”
After the horse was knocked down to Schiavello for $70,000, legendary horse assessor George Smith rang Dagg that night and said he couldn’t believe they’d bought the yearling for that price.
Dagg quickly rang Schiavello and asked him to put a percentage aside for him to be involved.
Schiavello and his racing partners have an unraced two-year-old, So You Think with Ryan. They also have a full brother to Mynumerouno and a half-brother yearling colt by Rubick. Splash Of Moet, which is in foal to Spirit of Boom, will go back to Vancouver, who is now standing at Woodside Park.
There are plenty of options for Regardsmaree’s next race.
Ryan and Egan have both mentioned the Group 1 Goodwood Handicap (1200m) on May 14 at Morphettville as an ideal next assignment, while there are a couple of good races closer to home.

The importance of the Victorian breeding industry and the role it plays in the local economy was again reinforced at the eighth edition of the Victorian Owners and Breeders Raceday at Caulfield last Saturday.
Featuring a nine-race card for Victorian bred horses, the meeting was highlighted by the $1m The Showdown for VOBIS Sired two-year-olds and the $500,000 VOBIS Sires Guineas for three-year-olds sired by VOBIS Sires.
The Showdown was won by the Anthony and Sam Freedman trained Kings Consort who is sired by Noor Elaine Farm stallion IIovethiscity and a homebred by Leneva Park’s Sarah Beaumont and her partner, Joel Walton.
Kings Consort was purchased for $32,000 by Anthony Freedman at the Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale.
Mornington trainer Matt Laurie and owner Peter Dugan again tasted success on the big day for Victorian breeders and owners with another horse sired by Swettenham Stud stallion Toronado.
Laurie trained Prince of Sussex to victory in the inaugural The Showdown (1200m) in 2019. Dugan then sold the Toronado gelding to Hong Kong, where it races as Lucky Express, for $1.75 million.
Dugan bought last Saturday’s winner of the Sires Guineas (1600m) Chartres (Toronado x The French House) from Kristen Manning and her co-breeders for $40,000.
Thoroughbred Breeders Victorian president James O’Brien said it was a day where Victoria’s quality thoroughbreds could be celebrated with breeders and owners.
He said the day was ‘wonderfully’ supported by Racing Victoria and with an increase in prizemoney, more people in the industry had started to target all the races on the card.
“I would love to see the Guineas get a million dollars and I think that would be exciting for the future,” he told RSN927 on race morning.
“It just gets better and better every year.
“The highlight is The Showdown and it is a two-year-old race and I think it is a great time to run a two-year-old race as its exclusive to VOBIS sired horses and it follows the Blue Diamond and Golden Slipper paths.
“It gives another option and I think it is timed really well in April.”
“If you look at the top 10 sires on the table in Australia at the moment, four of those will be standing in Victoria, including the champion stallion in Australia which is Written Tycoon.
“We have also got Toronado from Swettenham, Shamus Award, the sire of Incentivise, with Rosemont. Widden the longest historical family run stud in the world have ventured into Victoria and have bought down Nicconi, the sire of the highest rated sprinter in the world at the moment, Nature Strip.
“The Hunter Valley have four that will be standing, so we are on par.”
O’Brien said there was $23m on offer in Victoria through VOBIS bonuses and congratulated the support of Racing Victoria which announced last year that it would contribute an extra $7.5m dollars from August this year with bonus offers.
He said the Racing Victoria contribution would lift the total VOBIS bonuses on offer to more than $30.5m.
“The state government has also been tremendous in their support for thoroughbred breeders, and of course, it’s been highlighted by the opportunity to run in a million-dollar race like The Showdown,” he said.
“Anyone thinking of getting involved in racing, the opportunities out there are tremendous, and I would suggest buying a Victorian bred horse. We have got the pedigrees, we have got the right stallions, we have got the right dams and not only that, but we have got a tremendous environment.
“We have got the climate, the conditions, the pastures and the right people. Pedigree is one thing but bringing a horse up correctly in the right environment is essential.
“And then we have the support. There is tremendous racing in Victoria, great prize money and the $30.5m bonuses for just a Victorian-bred.”
Melbourne Racing Club chairman Peter Le Grand said his club had hosted the Victorian Owners and Breeders Raceday for the past eight years.
In welcoming guests to the committee room on Saturday, Le Grand said the meeting celebrated the valuable contribution of the owners and breeders to the Victorian thoroughbred racing industry.
“It supports those who breed, buy and own horses in this state,” he said.
“Today, there is more than $3m on offer in prize money and bonuses.”
Le Grand said the Victorian breeding industry brings in an economic impact and benefit to the state in excess of $200m annually.
“It employs over 5000 people in the breeding industry,” he said.
“134 stallions are located in Victoria, which represents 29 per cent of the industry across our great country.”
Le Grand congratulated O’Brien and TBV’s chief executive Charmein Bukovec for the enormous amount of work they had done to improve all aspects of the Victorian breeding industry.
Racing Victoria’s general manager of racing, Greg Carpenter, said 250 VOBIS Gold races were run throughout the year.
“If you have a VOBIS Gold horse, you win a share in a bonus of $20,000,” he said.
“From the first of August, those 250 races will also carry a $30,000 voucher to be either used with a VOBIS Sire or to help purchase a horse by a VOBIS Sire at the sale.”