‘It’s a game where you learn all the time’ – Ex-concreter Russo on the importance of solid foundations

The recent Adelaide carnival may have provided bloodstock agent Lenny Russo with some great results, but the one-time concreter is glad to see a more formal professional development pathway for the next generation.

Out of necessity while waiting for an opportunity, Lenny Russo worked as a concreter to pay the bills while summoning the self-belief to step into the world of a bloodstock agent.

It’s an unlikely passage on the way to earning a living in a business that is subjective by nature but highly rewarding if you get it right.

When Russo wanted to know more about the intricate aspects of buying and selling thoroughbreds under his Bluegrass Bloodstock banner, his options were limited. But they were not impossible.

Armed with a strong work ethic, an obsession with learning and a passion for horses, Russo created an opportunity for himself – and the clients who were willing to give him a shot. Good fortune has also played its part.

To that end, Russo will be forever grateful that he selected Malaguerra as a VOBIS Gold Yearling Sale purchase for $32,000 in 2013.

“When I started Bluegrass Bloodstock I used to fly around the sales and not buy any horses,” he told The Straight.

“Then the second horse I ever bought was Malaguerra at auction. I was lucky enough that Bruno Micalizzi gave me the opportunity … and that sort of was the catalyst.”

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Malaguerra won two Group 1 races and put Russo on a trajectory towards expanding a database of potential owners that would make his chosen vocation a viable career.

But he also sees the virtue of providing a more structured and educational gateway into the career for the next generation of agents.

The Federation of Bloodstock Agents Australia (FBAA), a membership body led by president Craig Rounsefell, has implemented a program that it hopes will encourage a new generation of equine talent spotters.

During six weeks starting in the Magic Millions National Sale week on the Gold Coast and ending with the Great Southern Sale in Melbourne, two young industry professionals will be mentored on the art of buying bloodstock by selected FBAA members.

This year Daniel Hickey and Joshua Buttenshaw have been selected.

Both are already well-credentialled industry workers with Hickey employed by Yarraman Park Stud and Buttenshaw has been learning his trade alongside leading Sydney trainer Peter Snowden.

It is an initiative that Russo, a member of FBAA, is firmly behind.

“It is a great initiative by Craig (Rounsefell) and the team there (at FBAA). That sort of thing was never around when I started,” Russo said. 

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Of his own volition, Russo tagged along at the sales with Tony Cavanagh, a founding member of the FBAA, in what he described as a “fantastic experience” without earning a formal qualification as an agent.

“Apart from that it was really just trying to meet as many people in the industry and hoping that once you sort of move into a sort of a buying capacity that you can get some clients,” Russo said.

“But for me, it was pretty tough. I worked full-time as a concreter for the first seven years after opening Bluegrass Bloodstock.”

He is gaining traction in his craft, inspired by the success of fellow bloodstock agent Sheamus Mills whom he first met when they were enrolled in a horse breeding course at what was then known as the North Melbourne Institute of TAFE.

Mills’ recent success with Group 1 winner Charm Stone and Listed winner On Display were well appreciated by Russo, despite the pair generally operating in different price brackets.   

“Sheamus has a knack for buying high-priced yearlings and getting them to increase their value by winning stakes races, so I’m pretty happy for him,” Russo said.

“He’s obviously worked hard at it, and he’s sort of created that sort of market for himself as an agent. That’s what he does.

“He buys those high-end fillies and what he’s been doing the last few years, I think they’re sort of acquiring a pretty good broodmare band.”

But Russo, who does a lot of the hard yards at Australia’s second and third-tier yearling sales, had his own run of recent success in Adelaide finding value purchases such as South Australian Derby runner-up Staturio and Regal Bloodstock-owned Regal Azmon, a Group 3 winner at Morphettville last Saturday.

Finding diamonds in the rough has become a forte for someone who had minimal knowledge of animal husbandry before turning up at TAFE.

“I didn’t even know how to put a head collar on a horse when I first started the course,” Russo said.

“But I got a scholarship from the diploma and that was to go to Cambridge Stud in New Zealand.

“I met some great people when I was working in New Zealand like Wayne Larson, who is a vet and a stud owner.

“And then when I worked in Ireland, learning off farriers and just trying to train my eye where I got to a stage where things that I’d looked at when prepping, yearlings and you’d follow them as race horses, and they’d be successful.”

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Russo says he discovers something about horses each time he attends sales or visits a farm.

“It’s a game where you learn all the time,” he said.

“Even when I am at home on a Saturday watching the races I can go through the yearlings that I’ve looked at in the previous season that are racing as two-year-olds. 

“And you can sort of critique yourself on things that you’ve said about that horse and try to work out why it is good.”