Hijack Hussy

I must say I felt a bit nostalgic when I stayed at Yarraman Park for the Scone Cup weekend. 20 years ago in 1997 on the Friday morning of the Scone Cup Bill Mitchell and I drove around the farm and also visited Arrowfield Stud and Wakefield Stud and discussed setting up a syndication company. By the end of that morning we shook hands and Prime Thoroughbreds was launched. I stayed in the ‘Major’s Cottage’ on the farm that weekend and enjoyed the company of Bill’s father Major James Mitchell. I have spent many nights in this comfortable cottage since. Sadly Bill’s father James is no longer with us but has left a great legacy for our industry.

The transition to working in the thoroughbred industry after 20 years in the Army wasn’t easy but Bill Mitchell and his brothers made me feel welcome and their incredible knowledge of the industry combined with my determination to succeed made for a good recipe. On the Sunday of that weekend Bill purchased our first horse a Celestial Dancer colt for $15,000. He went on to be our first Sydney winner. His name was Let’s Jive.

Since then we have syndicated in excess of 250 yearlings and won over 700 races. When I get a spare day I intend to go through and update our statistics from day one. They are impressive. Interestingly the yearlings I purchased in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 have won 125 races and we should pass the $6,000,000 in stakes earnings in the next week. These 61 horses cost $3,515,625 (Average $57,633.19) and have won 125 races. The combined earnings on the track total $5,977,967 to date with 25 of these horses still in our racing team including some very valuable horses. In total 57 of these raced with 48 having won as I write this. I am expecting to get 53 winners from these four crops of yearlings which is exceptional and I believe unmatched by any of our competition.

GREAT NEWS OUT OF VICTORIA

It was great to hear the announcement of the increases in stakes money in Victoria from 1 August 2017. This will be the second major increase in the state this year and takes the total on offer to $214,000,000 a $40,000,000 increase since 2015. This sees both NSW and Victoria offering terrific incentives for participants to race horses in their states. Not to be out done we have seen a lot of work being done in the other states to increase the returns to participants in the sport. As for the other states I am expecting some exciting news out of Tasmania in the next few weeks. SA has a very lucrative carnival running, WA offers great incentives for their locally bred horses and there is plenty happening behind the scenes in Queensland. This is all positive stuff.

From our perspective the big increases in Saturday stakes money for three year old racing in Victoria where the minimum on offer from 1 August 2017 will be $120,000 is good news. Our team of horses are mainly educated as two year olds with us aiming to have them really ready to go as three and four year olds. We want our owners to have more than a couple of days at the races and for them to enjoy racing their horses for two or more seasons if they have the ability.

The Integrity Department at RVL deserve a special mention. We all want to see our horses competing on a level playing field. You may remember a couple of years ago the stewards were overt raiding stables and being quite positive in trying to stamp out illegal practices being used by a small group of trainers. This approach drew some criticism at the time but if you look at racing in Victoria today we hardly see any trainers charged with improper conduct relating to the administration of illegal substances. The aggressive approach taken at that time worked and the cheats were put on notice that their wayward practices wouldn’t be tolerated. This is the way it should be. It may surprise you but the best group of form analysts in Victoria work for the Integrity Department and they are constantly on the lookout for trends that may suggest all isn’t right and that a stable might be going off the rails.

THE BREEDING SCENE

I have been in the Hunter Valley speaking with many of the people whose opinion I value and also making my own mind up on which sires to send the mares I manage to this year. It’s a tough year and a bit confusing with so many first season sires on the market. I have made my choices with the mares going to Casino Prince, Husson, I Am Invincible, Rubick and Sizzling. I loved the progeny of Sizzling I inspected this year and purchased two of them. They are cracking types of horses. I can’t wait for one horse in particular to go to stud next year. He is a cracker. You will know who he is after I have booked some of the mares I manage to him. Only time and race performances will prove if I have made the right decisions for these mares but I’m confident the sires they have gone to should suit the mares and produce nice types of horses and after all we are trying to breed athletes that make pedigree pages.

MAGIC MILLIONS NATIONAL SALE

I’m looking forward to the Magic Millions National Sale on the Gold Coast which commences on 25 May and goes through to 9 June. This is a massive sale. I will be attending the broodmare sale where Awasita, Hijack Hussy and Strike For Victory are catalogued to be sold. These horses will be sold on 30 May and the sale is expected to be very strong. Hijack Hussy in particular has been very popular and it will be very interesting to see what she fetches through the ring. She is a stakes winning mare by super broodmare sire Hussonet out of a very well related Redoute’s Choice mare. Awasita had a good racing career winning five races and $276,710 in stakes money. She is by Commands out of a ½ sister to Magic Albert which makes her an attractive breeding proposition. Strike For Victory isn’t as well performed on the track but was a fast filly and is now a ¾ sister to the WA Sires Produce winner Debellatio.

It is a good time to sell mares with so many first season sires on the scene and shareholders needing good mares to give their new boys the best possible opportunity at stud. If any of our readers wish to discuss purchasing one of these mares feel free to call me on 0433762700.

A SOLID WEEK ON THE TRACK

The good performances continued with our two year olds with Kissing Game running a terrific race on debut at Canterbury. She is a very progressive filly and by Yarraman Park’s Champion young sire in Hinchinbrook. Honolulu Lass also by Hinchinbrook ran home strongly for third at only her 2nd start and is ready to step out to 1400m which should be ideal. She had almost 12 months off with a hoof injury and has been taken along quietly.

 On Saturday we finished up having just the two runners with both putting in nice performances. The Wasp was terrific in the Listed Denise’s Joy Stakes where she copped interference as she was accelerating about 125m from the post. It cost her a stake placing. She is a very progressive horse. Raido had no luck and couldn’t get cover in the run but was brave and should be placed to advantage in the coming weeks. He is only a couple of thousand dollars short of earning $200,000 which is a good effort.

ON THE TRACK – THE WEEK AHEAD

We have a very busy week in front of us. Reneged resumes tomorrow at Warwick Farm and will be improved by the outing. Tye Angland takes the ride. He was gelded after his last run and has had a couple of nice trials heading into his race at Warwick Farm tomorrow. Go Arrivederci resumes at Balaklava. We have used the Balaklava Racetrack quite a bit in the past with good success. It is a big spacious track with a nice run home. Let’s hope it continues. Savoureux is nominated for the Listed Bright Shadow Stakes at Doomben. I’d love to win this race. I remember Bright Shadow well. She was by Smokey Eyes who was a great sire in Queensland and later a wonderful broodmare sire and Bright Shadow was a great race mare. As a child growing up racing and rugby league were the main points of discussion whenever our family and friends got together.

Hussy’s Glow is nominated at Flemington on Saturday and there are other options for her. One Invincible Cat is nominated to have her first start at Newcastle. She is another of our two year old team which is coming together nicely. Invincible Al and Honolulu Lass are nominated at Bendigo with Honolulu Lass also at Mildura. Husson Boots is set to run at either Ipswich or the Sunshine Coast. A lot will depend on the weather in South East Queensland. Unfortunately more rain is predicted. We are likely to have two of our juveniles run on 23 May with Kissing Game set to go to Kembla Grange where she will love the big track and Zelsignoret is scheduled to have her second start at Seymour. Both these fillies put in excellent efforts at their debuts and will only be having their second start. Two of our other youngsters scheduled to run include Black And Tan at Cranbourne on 26 May and Casa De Lago on 31 May at Racing.com Park.

We had a couple of nice horse’s trial at Newcastle last week including Not Surprising and Chalmers. Chalmers will need another trial with Not Surprising probably not far off heading back to the races.

SOME NICE YEARLINGS TO CONSIDER

I am pleased to write this crop of yearlings are the nicest I have ever purchased and I can’t wait to get them to the races. Our horses are running very well and as Kris Lees said to a media personality a few years ago ‘Joe doesn’t need to pay for advertising on television, his horses do it for him’. The last of our yearlings is being broken in and the reports coming from the breakers have been terrific. This is easily the most expensive group of youngsters I have purchased. It is very exciting.

I didn’t buy any yearlings at the Scone Sale, nothing really grabbed my attention. Once again as has been the trend this year the sale set new records. The strength of our industry has been extaordinary and to be honest I can’t see it coming back in the near future. Stakes money is up in almost all the states and territories and the demand for tried horses particularly in provincial and country NSW is the strongest I’ve witnessed in my 20 years in the industry.

To view the current yearlings available with Prime Thoroughbreds CLICK HERE