Ricky Surace is as passionate about racing and breeding thoroughbreds as ever, but he says something had to change to keep it viable.
The business model of Surace’s racing and breeding operation B2B Thoroughbreds, located in the Southern Highlands about 90 minutes south of the Sydney CBD, had been excessively hit by rising staff, insurance and transport costs.
And B2B Thoroughbreds isn’t a lone wolf in that regard.
Skyrocketing costs have hit all businesses, including that of racing stables and breeding farms, but the scenario prompted a rethink from Surace and his son Ricky Jnr.
At B2B Thoroughbreds’ peak, the Suraces had 35 broodmares on the books. Now they have 15, a band which includes Group 2 winner Rubisaki who they bought for $1.4 million earlier this year.
Surace Snr, who works in the construction sector, reasoned that it was more cost-effective to outsource the day-to-day management of his broodmares, weanlings and yearlings to Segenhoe Stud and Riverstone Lodge in the Hunter Valley.
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Surace pointed to a surge in transport prices taking mares to and from Scone to be served as well as the financial impost of staffing and insurance costs placed on his own thoroughbred farm.
“It obviously costs us more to get the mares up to the Hunter and our vets are a bit more expensive in the city, as you can appreciate, and then it’s very difficult to find staff. Then there’s insurance, that’s the big one. It’s gone up ten times what it was five years ago,” Surace Snr told The Straight this week.
“So, we sort of said that we'll come up with a new business plan to take them to the Hunter. That way they’re close to the stallions, and then we'll use our place as a spelling farm.
“It just works really well and we're going to the better stallions as well as we're only keeping really good mares. We'll keep building and culling the lesser ones down and we've already been doing that.”
B2B Thoroughbreds’ 65-hectacre property is now primarily being used as a private spelling farm for Surace’s growing racing team, which currently numbers 11, but father and son intend to quadruple that to about 40 racehorses over the next three to five years.
Their racing portfolio already includes promising Chris Waller-trained three-year-old Snitzel filly Lazzura, the Listed Woodlands winner at two who was placed in the Group 2 Furious at Randwick first-up this spring.
The contraction of B2B’s breeding arm has allowed the Suraces to take a slot in the $3 million Magic Millions Sunlight, a three-year-old race to be run on the Gold Coast for the first time on January 4 in the lead up to the season-opening surfside yearling sale.
They have already snapped up the unbeaten Nathan Doyle-trained Private Harry to contest the race in the B2B Thoroughbreds slot.
“Ricky Jnr said it'd be good if we could get one of these slots and just sort of race our own horses in it, but we didn't have one to race in it (for 2025), so he went out and sourced a horse and that was Private Harry which was done probably two months ago,” Surace Snr said.
“But we wanted to see him do it again (at his second start) which he did.”
A good day for Newcastle trainers on the home track with @ndoyleracing bagging a double with Private Harry and Irish Bliss while the @perry_racing1 Zoe Shark also won. Congratulations to all the winning connections! pic.twitter.com/2H80FL2h92
— Newcastle Racecourse (@newcastleraces_) November 2, 2024
As well as acquiring Private Harry for the Magic Millions Sunlight, B2B Bloodstock has also purchased a 2.5 per cent share in the colt for $25,250 via Inglis Digital, a transaction that valued the the then debut winner at more than $1 million.
He was initially bought by Kurrinda Bloodstock and Doyle for $115,000 at last year’s Inglis Classic Sale from breeders Rheinwood Pastoral.
Kurrinda Bloodstock’s Sean Diver suggested that professional punters and form analysts had quickly identified Private Harry’s talent as soon as he went to the barrier trials last January, backing up the opinion held by the colt’s trainer Nathan Doyle.
The colt did not race at two as connections “gave him a bit of time to balance out”.
Jockey Ash Morgan, who has ridden the Harry Angel colt to three barrier trial wins and race day victories this month at Newcastle and Hawkesbury, also has a huge opinion of Private Harry.
“Ash Morgan broke the maidens on (subsequent Group 1 winners) Chain Of Lightning and Stefi Magnetica as well as the likes of (The Gong winner) Gringotts and he rates this horse way above them,” Diver revealed.
“He's got to keep progressing, but he's heading the right way anyway.”
Private Harry is expected to have his next start at Rosehill on Saturday week in a three-year-old Benchmark 72 race over 1200 metres.
B2B Thoroughbreds, which has yearlings being offered at the Magic Millions and Inglis Classic early next year through Riverstone Lodge and Segenhoe Stud drafts, also sold two horses at last week’s New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale.
They parted with a Bivouac colt for $260,000 and a son of So You Think for $80,000.
B2B-bred yearlings will also be offered in the Inglis Premier sale in Melbourne next year.
Meanwhile, Kurrinda Bloodstock’s Diver and Doyle paid $100,000 for Private Harry’s half-brother by Anders at this year’s Classic sale, underscoring their early belief in the now three-year-old.
Named Lance Corporal, the two-year-old by Widden Stud-based Anders has been back in training at Newcastle for the past six weeks.
Breeder Rheinwood Pastoral will return to Riverside Stables in February where the pair’s half-sister by Captivant will go under the hammer.
Warwick Barr
