Breeding racehorses has never been high on Noel Greenhalgh’s list of priorities but the prominent owner tells Warwick Barr that he is now taking a measured approach to the bloodstock side of the industry.
Spring and the stage it sets for the titans of racing will always be central to Noel Greenhalgh's commitment and passion for the thoroughbred.
As one of Australia’s most invested racehorse owners, Greenhalgh has enjoyed, more often than not, the spoils that this time of the year can bring.
None have been better than Gold Trip’s win in the 2022 Melbourne Cup as part of an Australian Bloodstock syndicate.
It was a crowning moment for the Irish-born Greenhalgh more than three decades after he arrived in Australia to play soccer.
However, another side of the thoroughbred industry that coincides with spring is gradually shifting Greenhalgh’s thoroughbred interests beyond the racetrack.
Breeding will never be all-consuming for Greenhalgh but with Gold Trip standing his first season at stud and some mares ready to foal, he is expanding his horizons.
“I've got four or five mares with foals due so it's just evolving,” he told The Straight.
“But I enjoy the racing side of it rather than the breeding, but certainly (breeding) has become too lucrative not to be playing.
“In the past I’ve sold out these mares because of the lucrative monies on offer but now we’ve started to hold onto a share in a couple.”
Warwick Barr
Madam Rouge, runner-up in a Stradbroke Handicap and a Group Two winner, is one example of how Greenhalgh is retaining an interest in some of the mares he raced in partnership.
Her first foal, a filly by I Am Invincible sold for $1.7 million at this year’s Gold Coast Magic Millions yearling sale and Greenhalgh will be part of the ownership group.
“We’re just starting to see the benefits of these really good mares we’ve had,” he said.
“The state of play with the money around for well-bred yearlings makes it hard not to play in that sphere.”
Zougotcha is the latest high-class racemare as the winner of three Group 1 races to carry Greenhalgh’s predominantly lime green silks with a dark green shamrock.
She will resume in the Winx Stakes at Randwick on Saturday in the first Group 1 race of the new Australian racing season, which is top-heavy with runners from the Chris Waller yard.
Greenhalgh concedes her return will be overshadowed by the presence of her Waller-trained stablemates Fangirl and Via Sistina but it would be foolish to say she won’t be in the finish.
“Obviously there are a couple of very, very high-profile mares in there that might seem to be ahead of her in the rankings,” he said.
“But she'll be closer to the front than the others, you would think, and she's a very, very dogged, hard mare to get past, so we'll see what happens.”
Greenhalgh caught the racing bug from his late father-in-law and says it’s best not to put a number on the horses he shares in ownership, which are mostly trained by Waller and Ciaron Maher.
It’s an approach that spreads the risk in a high-stakes game.
“We started out owning them outright and then the whole model didn't work,” he said.
“I mean, if you bought a horse completely outright and it happens to be slow you've done your money cold, haven't you?
“So if you buy 20 per cent of five of them, you've probably got more chance of getting some decent out of them - that’s the logic.
“And that's been the fun part. The people that you meet, the people that you get involved with, that's been one of the most enjoyable parts of it.
“You try and run it as a business. But it's hard to make coin out of horse racing. I mean, you're in it more so for the thrills and the enjoyment that it brings.
“That’s the model works for us at this point.”
"You try and run it as a business. But it's hard to make coin out of horse racing. I mean, you're in it more so for the thrills and the enjoyment that it brings." - Noel Greenhalgh
Greenhalgh won’t be in Sydney to watch Zougotcha start another racing campaign.
Instead, he will be holidaying in Sicily but says that might be a sign Zougotcha is ready to run well.
“When Unforgotten won the Australian Oaks we happened to be in Rome on that particular day,” he said.
“So maybe there's a bit of an omen there that we're in Italy again and we're running a Group 1 race with our mare.”
