Rowe On Monday – Canning Downs dispersal ‘a difficult decision’, Memo highlights Capitalist haul, wagering on yearling auctions, sales boom in South Africa

In this week’s Rowe On Monday, Tim Rowe talks to Jan Mackay about a decision to quit the breeding industry, reflects on a productive weekend for Newgate sire Capitalist, delves into the complex world of wagering on yearling sales and checks out the latest auction results from South Africa.

Canning Downs – more than a century of thoroughbred history

It may come as a surprise to many when Canning Downs principal Jan Mackay says that the well-known Queensland breeding operation was a loss-maker.

Mackay, along with her husband John Barnes, made the shock announcement last week that they would disperse their breeding operation at the property, the birthplace of Cox Plate, AJC Derby, Doncaster Handicap, Stradbroke and Caulfield Cup winners.

But the financial impost of breeding horses at Canning Downs, which also has last year’s Australasian Oaks winner Vibrant Sun and Saturday’s Gold Coast QTIS Jewel two-year-old winner Grafterburners on its honour roll, was not the reason for selling up.

Mackay, 73, and Barnes, 77, have been operating with a select group of 15 to 20 mares, a band that includes Vibrant Rouge, the dam of Vibrant Sun, and Coralina, the dam of the Kelly Schweida-trained two-year-old Grafterburners, but Barnes’ children do not wish to take over the reins of the thoroughbred business.

As a result, the Canning Downs-based mares will be offered through the upcoming Inglis Digital sale, which opens on Friday, while their current crop of weanlings will be sold at the Magic Millions National Sale on the Gold Coast in May.

“We certainly don’t make any money out of it, which isn’t the objective at all, but we knew at some stage that we’d need to reach this decision and now seems like a good time,” Mackay says. 

“A few people have questioned the timing because the market’s probably not as buoyant as it has been in the past, but with that hopefully there are opportunities for others.”

The Barnes family has owned Canning Downs since 1917, a mixed farming property near Warwick in South East Queensland, while Mackay and John Barnes have also enjoyed the ultimate success in Europe, breeding and racing the Martyn Meade-trained Group 1 winner Aclaim, who shuttled to Aquis Farm in Queensland for one season in 2022.

While Barnes and Mackay have made the difficult decision to disperse their thoroughbred interests – they will still race a few horses – for the immediate future the farm will remain under their ownership and won’t be put on the market.

“I think things are becoming more polarised in breeding. It lends itself towards bigger farms and notably with stallions and that’s not something we’ve ever wanted to be,” Mackay says of the Australian thoroughbred industry before later expanding on the volatility of the yearling market in particular.

“What you can achieve for some of your sales is amazing, but that’s a very, very small part of the market.

“There are a lot of breeders like us who are out there that are probably 70 per cent of the time selling yearlings for less than the cost to produce them.”

Mackay’s experience is a stark reminder that racing and breeding largely rely on passion as while the industry can be lucrative, it can also be a giant financial rollercoaster.

The euphoria of breeding and racing is unrivalled but Mackay admits there is also an emotional toll that breeders face every year with the inevitable heartbreak come foaling time.

“As a breeder, you’re not going along to the yearling sales as a buyer where you can choose what you like; you take what you’re given and they all don’t necessarily come out as a pretty package,” she says. 

“Often, foals have issues or you lose them. There are some tremendous highs, but having to pull a dead foal out is also one of those very tremendous lows. 

“We all have them, and maybe when you get bigger, you feel those losses less, I don’t know, but we’ve never really wanted to be really, really big.”

Barnes and Mackay split their time between the farm and residing in Sydney and they will miss having the young horses being born and coming through the ranks at Canning Downs.

“We just said this morning, ‘oh, it’s going to be, you know, pretty confronting when next we come up and there won’t be any mares or very few mares in the paddock, the only ones will be the retirees who’ve earned themselves their retirement here,” she says. 

“But it has to happen, you can’t put those things off forever.”

Heed the Memo – Capitalist’s big weekend

Memo led the way for her sire Capitalist on Saturday with her breakthrough Magic Night Stakes success at Rosehill, her victory ending a run of near misses for the talented filly.

But it wasn’t just the Peter Snowden-trained filly who shone the torch on Golden Slipper winner Capitalist who sired a further eight winners on Saturday, plus another on Sunday.

He also sired the Midway Handicap winner So Good So Gool, Ser Joh in Brisbane and Sunlight Power scored at Sha Tin, one of seven winners by the Newgate Farm-based sire in Hong Kong so far this season.

Memo’s Group 3 win was particularly satisfying for agent James Harron who of course bought and raced Capitalist and also purchased Notation, the dam of Memo, for $240,000 as a weanling.

“Memo’s victory was a particularly sweet one for her breeder, Rob Love, who retained a significant stake in this exciting young filly when she was sold to Snowden Racing for $350,000 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale,” Harron wrote on Monday. 

“Rob raced her dam, Notation, who was a JHB weanling purchase, while he has also been a founding member of the JHB Colt Partnership, which produced Memo’s sire, Golden Slipper winner Capitalist.”

Notation, a daughter of Fastnet Rock, had a Stay Inside yearling colt who was bought by Yulong for $380,000 at the Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale earlier this month. 

Fastnet Rock is currently Australia’s leading broodmare sire, with three-year-old Lady Of Camelot his flagbearer this season as she was last, as he chases back-to-back premierships.

Betting on the sales tied up in regulation

There’s not much corporate bookmakers won’t bet on, so you may be surprised about the regulations that prevent certain markets being offered or bets being taken in some jurisdictions.

The Straight has previously reported that Victorian regulators brought in laws stopping oddsmakers betting on minors, such as star sprinting sensation Gout Gout at the Stawell Gift.

Well, there are also regulations in place about what bookmakers can bet on when it comes to horse sales.

Senet Group, experts in gambling law and regulatory compliance, say bookmakers licensed in the Northern Territory and NSW are permitted to put up markets on Magic Millions or Inglis sales but a rival company registered in Victoria cannot.

Then there’s the complication of the NT and NSW bookies needing additional approval to take bets on those markets from punters based in South Australia.

Markets such as how many million-dollar yearlings will be sold at next month’s Inglis Easter sale and what the two-day auction will average, it could be argued, are compelling betting markets, particularly from those punters from The Straight.

Record-equalling price in South Africa

The appetite for quality bloodstock in South Africa shows no signs of slowing down with last week’s Cape Racing Sales producing a 9 million rand (A$781,452) colt, the equal highest-priced yearling ever sold in the country.

South African racing identity Greg Bortz, an integral figure in the turnaround of the industry in recent years, particularly in Cape Town, made the record-equalling purchase of the half-brother to Grade 1 winner Snow Pilot last Thursday.

Wreath Of Snow, as is customary in South Africa where yearlings are already named, the Drakenstein Stud-sold colt by Vercingetorix equals the price paid in 2019 by the late Sheikh Hamdan and trainer Mike de Kock.

De Kock, with his son Mathew now back by his side after a stint training in Australia with Robbie Griffiths, signed for four yearlings on day one while the Hong Kong Jockey Club was also active, buying one yearling.

Jonathan Snaith, brother to prominent trainer Justin, bought 23 yearlings last Thursday to be the leading buyer at Kenilworth.