Well,

2016 did not start off in the way I intended. Went to the Magic Millions sales on Gold Coast and spent 4 days with Clarry Conners and Craig Rounsefell – trying to pick up some bloodstock to boost my brand. The weather was hot and humid which didn’t make matters easier.  We looked at over 1000 prospects in these 4 days and walked away with nothing! Coming into the sales, I had targeted 25 hopefuls based on the page. After going through all the lots – Clarry and Craig had shortened this down to 5!!  One thing I do respect about these two great horsemen – they are incredibly experienced and dead honest!  I have have owned and been around horses for over 20 years, but when being around these guys is still an education.

The Game plan was to get a couple of early maturing types which would jump out of the box in September and get some wins on the board for Regal Bloodstock. If you are thinking of setting a business up as a Syndicator in Racing –  Make sure you have plenty of money to put up front and make sure Racing is a huge passion. It is a tough gig!  Being a new company, I don’t have the luxury of just picking something ‘nice off the page’ for our first colt and selling to trusting clients. I cant take the gamble of my horses hitting the track and going belly up (as Maree Conners so eloquently puts it). I need mine hitting the track running and getting into the prize money and showing of the company colours!  So….. some tough decisions early.  The lots we came down to – Lot 608, Lot 847, Lot 914 and Lot 1009.  Lot 1009 was later pulled out as it was back in the hind. One famous Syndicator did end up taking this one – but this had too many cons with regards to conformation and this gave it a miss.  The ranking  was Lot 608, lot 847 and then 914 a distant third. On the page, Lot 608 was fine without being spectacular. However, he was a fantastic looking specimen. Perfectly built, great eye and a standout for me. A perfect first colt for us. I was prepared to go up to 120k for him. I knew he wouldn’t be the easiest for a new company to sell at this price, but i would be prepared to take most shares and race myself if i had to! Well…. he went for 170k!! I was blown out of bidding early on.

A close second to him, was a spectacular filly Lot 847 by Dream Ahead. My goodness,  i did like this one. Let me just say – watch out for this filly. She is very nice. I had quite a few visits to her and absolutely loved this filly. Clarry also was very keen and made a few passes. Again, she was not from a super popular sire in Australia and i knew i would be buying her at a price which would not hold much attraction to people – unless they viewed her in the flesh. Oh well, again it was not to be! I went up to $120k for this filly – until Clarry  put up the flag and said that – this was enough. Went to some Korean guy that was bidding via telephone. It was just between us two… from about 55k through to 120k. Lucky guy! We decided to pull out on Lot 914 and decided to focus on Inglis Classic Sale in February. Both Clarry and Craig Rounsefell have struck big during these sales. Last year at these sales Craig picked up a filly for 20k which turned out to be Lady Sniper. So far this filly has amassed over $306,000 in the first few months racing, which includes winning the Inglis Sprint and Gosford Guineas!.