Rowe On Monday: Curtis aims for redemption, Maher’s French addition, FBAA recognition and racing's double blow

This week’s Rowe On Monday checks in with Lee Curtis after Bauhinia’s impressive win at Wyong, looks at Ciaron Maher’s new French acquisition, reports on recognition for Tony Cavanagh, and reflects on the passing of two major figures in the racing and bloodstock industries.

Curtis seeks redemption for Private pain

Racing has a way of keeping you grounded. 

In the early 2000s, things couldn’t have been going better for Sydney trainer Lee Curtis.

His Group 1 sprinter Mistegic was making his way through the grades, winning two Group 2s in Melbourne and The Galaxy in Sydney, and stablemate Private Steer had won her maiden by 10.3 lengths and was placed in the Flight Stakes with it all ahead of her.

“There was a stage there where I had Mistegic, I had Private Steer and I had another good horse called Prince Of Play,” Curtis recalled.

“I had ten horses in work at Rosehill, and I had three of them in the barn and I thought, ‘wow, what a legend I am. Jeez, I'm a genius’.”

Private Steer would, as history shows, go on to win the Group 1 Stradbroke as a three-year-old and the All Aged and Doncaster at four, but for trainer John O’Shea instead of Curtis. 

Mistegic, who took Curtis to Hong Kong for the Group 1 sprint in 2002, raced on until 2004 but he was plagued by issues later in his career while Prince Of Play ended up winning three races.

Even now, almost 22 years on, Curtis would prefer not to talk about the circumstances of Private Steer leaving his stable and joining O’Shea at Randwick just days after the filly was beaten into 10th in the 2003 Magic Millions Trophy as 11-4 favourite.

At the time, Private Steer’s managing owner Avo Damirdjian told the Sydney Morning Herald: "The owners made a decision on Sunday. We've got no real problems with Lee Curtis. We just feel the horse needed a change. John is very hard working and his results are speaking for themselves right now."

But last Wednesday, Curtis publicly referenced Private Steer for the first time in a long time. 

He compared her to Bauhinia, a three-year-old daughter of Hellbent who is on her way to the Gold Coast for next month’s $3 million Magic Millions Guineas.

The Curtis-trained Bauhinia made it two wins from four starts in a track record-breaking win first-up in the Magic Millions Wyong 3&4YO Stakes over 1200m.

“What they've got in common is that they're pretty … quiet at home. They just fit in, they're nothing, you know, they just go out and work unless you really ask them to do it, they don't do it, but then they come out on race day and they turn it on,” Curtis said.

“And that's where I kept saying she has the x-factor, because you are asked the question, ‘can this horse win?’ and of course they're going to win because they're just bloody good horses. 

“I'm not comparing these sorts of horses to Winx, but Winx had it. And the most telling thing, if you watch the Winx story (documentary), Chris said that because she tried so hard, he had to rein her in a certain amount. 

“He couldn't just keep sending her out because she would effectively kill herself because she's just so much guts and courage.”

Curtis, who these days trains in partnership with his wife Cherie, has enjoyed major success since those heady days of the early 2000s, none more so than when jockey Brenton Avdulla’s daring front-running tactics saw his filly Lasqueti Spirit take out the 2016 VRC Oaks. 

The emergence of Bauhinia gives cause for a little extra excitement around the Curtis stables. 

The filly, part-owned by prolific racing industry investors Frank and Christine Cook, could right the wrong of Private Steer on the Gold Coast more than two decades ago and put connections well in front on the $300,000 they paid for her as a yearling in the 2023 Magic Millions sale.

“I think she was Lot 63 and so we got her early, but we loved her,” Curtis said.

“We'd been trying to buy a nice Hellbent filly for a couple of years and kept getting blown out of the water. We loved her and she's been very good ever since.

“She needed a bit of time, but the Hellbents aren’t two-year-olds.”

A daughter of Western Australian Listed winner Like A Butterfly, who was runner-up in a WA Derby, Bauhinia is likely to go into the Guineas second-up with a barrier trial in between.

A long-time trainer at Rosehill, Curtis has watched from closehand as Chris Waller became the dominant force in Sydney racing and the larger stables have continued to scale up.

Despite the competitive pressures, on the track and financially, Curtis has resisted what many observers would say is a necessity to compete in New South Wales - get bigger.

He has continued to operate his stable with 18 boxes and, as his record shows, Team Curtis is capable of mixing it with the best even without the numbers on their side. 

“I'm probably not as good at networking as some others and I don't think my shtick is good enough to say, ‘let's get more boxes and let's get more horses’,” he said. 

“I mean, boxes cost a lot to run. The costs for us are very expensive and the costs are going up all the time, which I know you guys (Straight Talk podcast) have been addressing in the show about what the costs are. 

“Feed bills are going up all the time and labour is a big problem. It's the elephant in the room, I think, for the racing industry.”

Arc runner Zarakem to join Maher

Prix de I’Arc de Triomphe contender Zarakem, a stablemate of Golden Eagle runner-up Lazzat, will continue his racing career in Australia under the care of trainer Ciaron Maher with the Cox Plate a possible target.

A winner of six of his 14 starts for French trainer Jerome Reynier, the stallion prospect was bought by Ecurie Benaroussi Sofiane at the Arqana Arc de Triomphe Sale for €500,000 (A$825,150) after the son of Zarak had won five races in succession.

Runner-up in the Group 1 Prince Of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot in June behind Coolmore’s Auguste Rodin, Zarakem ran sixth in this year’s Arc before running fifth in the Prix du Conseil De Paris at Longchamp on October 20.

Maher’s bloodstock manager Will Bourne confirmed the addition of Zarakem at the weekend.

Bloodstock agent Nicolas Bertran De Balanda told The Irish Field of Zarakem: “He’s very exciting. I think he can do very well over there as he will like the pace, he goes on every ground, and he’s shown some strong form.

“He ran very well in the Arc, very, very well.”

Due recognition for Tony Cavanagh

Anthony “Tony” Cavanagh was last week recognised as an Honorary Life Fellow of the Federation of Bloodstock Agents Australia (FBAA), joining David Coles, Les Young, Brian Muschialli and Tim Stewart as recipients of the award.

Cavanagh was a founding member of the FBAA in 1988 and provided distinguished service to the organisation and, more broadly, the bloodstock agent profession throughout his career.  

He was a highly respected bloodstock agent and was one of the members on the original Australian black-type committee. 

Aside from his personal achievements in the industry, which saw him breed and race 1985 Blue Diamond-winning two-year-old filly Let’s Get Physical, Cavanagh was also instrumental in the development of a significant number of Australian thoroughbred industry participants.

Among those industry figures he mentored are current FBAA members Jeff Gordon and Lenny Russo.

Cavanagh also purchased 2018 WA Gimcrack Stakes winner Agent Pippa after she won her first start as an October two-year-old on behalf of his client Rod Menzies.

“The FBAA and our members are proud of the organisation’s history in which Anthony Cavanagh played a significant role.  We are determined to build on this foundation and continue to set the standard for bloodstock agents in Australia and around the world,” FBAA president Craig Rounsefell said.’ 

An Australia Day ambassador, Cavanagh is also a co-founder of the Mullagh Wills Foundation, which honours the first Australian cricket team to tour England that consisted entirely of Indigenous players.

Vale Peter Heagney and Sam Kavanagh

It has been a difficult weekend for the racing and bloodstock industries with the deaths of trainer Sam Kavanagh and auction house identity, the universally admired Peter Heagney.

Both lost their lives to the insidious disease cancer.

Heagney spent more than five decades working in racing and bloodstock, serving for the last 25 years of his career at Inglis.

“Peter was one of the industry’s most respected and loved characters who left a lasting memory with everybody he dealt with,” Inglis posted on social media.

“Peter joined Inglis in 1994 and was one of Australasia’s consummate auctioneers of bloodstock, selling at Tattersalls, in China and Malaysia and every State of Australia.

He was a part of Inglis history as an auctioneer, senior manager, Director, mentor and friend to many.

“Our thoughts are with his wife Helen and the entire Heagney family.”

Kavanagh died on Saturday morning after a more than 12-month battle with cancer. During his training career, Kavanagh trained 95 winners, seven of them at Listed level.

Fellow trainer Amy Yargi has set up a Gofundme to support of Kavanagh’s fiancee Kelly and daughter Siena.

“I was lucky enough to call Sam Kavanagh one of my dearest friends for close to 20 years,” Yargi wrote.

“He was struck a cruel blow and fought a brave cancer battle for the last couple of years that tragically claimed his young life on Saturday. He leaves behind his beautiful fiancee Kelly and their gorgeous daughter Siena.

“I asked Sam if he wanted some financial help during his health battle and he said no, because he 'didn't want to have people feel sorry for him or think that he was making it about him'.

“What he did ask was that once he passed, that I would ask our friends for help for Kelly and Siena.”

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