Rowe On Monday – Mihalyka’s Rebel with a cause, Bivouac on the march, Powrie the horseman and Magic Millions farewells Hayward

In today’s Rowe On Monday, Tim Rowe examines Rebel Dane’s rollercoaster career at stud, reveals how Bivouac supporters should be on good terms with themselves, canvasses the opinion of steward Fin Powrie and pays tribute to a Magic Millions stalwart.

Mihalyka banks on second coming for Rebel Dane

It’ll be nine years this spring since Rebel Dane won the Group 1 Manikato Stakes, and 12 since he took out the Sir Rupert Clarke for trainer Gary Portelli and owner-breeder Laurel Oak Bloodstock and partners.

But the hardy sprinter, who turns 16 on August 1, can almost be viewed as a first-crop sire, such has been his stop-start career at stud.

The sire of 2022 Golden Slipper and ATC Sires’ winner Fireburn, who was out of his second crop of just 26 foals and whose first foal sold for $3.3 million in Japan last week, has been unable to garner momentum despite being at stud for eight seasons at three different stallion operations.

He started off at Victoria’s Swettenham Stud, where he stood from 2017 to 2019, before two seasons at Glen Eden Stud.

With Fireburn’s emergence in 2022, and that of Group 3 winner Subterranean from his first crop, Laurel Oak’s Louis Mihalyka and Rebel Dane’s co-owners, including Silverdale Farm’s Steve Grant, pitched him to Hunter Valley studs.

Widden won out and he covered 111 mares at a fee of $27,500 (inc GST), more than double the 50 mares he covered in 2021, then a career-high.

Rebel Dane had just seen eight foals to race for him in his third and fourth crops, a momentum killer, and of his 31 rising three-year-olds, just two have raced so far, but the Barry Campbell-trained Taroona is a last-start winner in Tasmania.

But Milhalyka is hoping Rebel Dane is nearing a second coming, with his first Widden-conceived crop to grace the track next season, including a $220,000 filly Diamond Dawn who was bred by Silverdale and bought by trainer Peter Moody and syndicator Wylie Dalziel at the Magic Millions on the Gold Coast in January.

By his own admission, the long-time Laurel Oak principal was cautious about sending too many mares to Rebel Dane in seasons three, four and five.

“One of the things, the majority (of Rebel Dane’s best horses so far) were planned matings by us, and had a good positive outcome on the whole,” Milhalyka told this column. 

“Then we didn’t send a mare, and the following year, which was the last of Glen Eden, we only sent one mare, and she slipped.  

“We don’t have that many horses, so we can afford to have 50 per cent of them (being) Rebel Danes if he was no good. 

“So, we didn’t send any mares in those two years, and that’s come back to bite us on the bum. He only had crops of sevens and eights and things like this for the next two years, and then he’s got a bigger crop now with about 30 foals.

“Next season, our foals are going to turn two again, so we’re hoping to give him another little nudge along with some results. But the problem is, of course, that he’s 16 this year.”

Support, as expected, dropped off again in 2023 and 2024 with Rebel Dane having 42 live foals born last year and covering 31 mares last season.

“We were blessed that we had that result (with Fireburn), both as a racehorse and as a mega bonus that we owned the stallion and it enabled him to go on and stand a season at decent money because we wouldn’t have had that otherwise,” Milhalyka said.

“And that’s made it worthwhile. If he has a second coming, well, even better.” 

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Don’t write off Bivouac

To illustrate how fickle the game can be, Darley’s champion sprinter Bivouac, who was a good two-year-old but excelled as a three and four-year-old, covered 73 mares in 2024, the first time in four seasons he hasn’t served more than 100 mares.

However, those breeders who did take the punt will be quietly confident that they’ve made the right call with more than a few talented Bivouac two-year-olds appearing late in the season with credentials that are likely to see them improve at three.

They include Exit, Bivouac’s highest-priced first-crop yearling at $675,000, who won first-up for Ciaron Maher at Sandown last week in prominent owner Ozzie Kheir’s navy blue and pale yellow spotted silks.

Bivouac, whose second crop averaged $105,331, which is down just 6 per cent compared to his first crop yearlings, has three stakes winners from 33 two-year-old runners this season.

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Horsemanship a key part of stewarding

As a steward, there isn’t much West Australian Fin Powrie hasn’t accomplished in his home state, on the east coast, as well as internationally, in a range of jurisdictions, including Dubai and Greece.

Powrie is working as a steward in South Korea. A talented horseman, it’s something that sticks with Powrie when he undertakes his duties when dealing with trainers, jockeys and stable staff.

“Well, look, the tag horseman is a title that one might get, because there’s many, many wonderful horsemen and horsewomen throughout Australia, and we pride ourselves on our horse people,” Powrie told the Straight Talk podcast. 

“I think the essence of it is that I started in this game racing-wise because I loved horses. I was involved in horses on cattle stations and various pursuits in racing.

“And then I went into the racing with a sort of an open mind, but a horse mind and felt like that.”

Powrie admits, as the number of people growing up in and around horses diminishes with the urbanisation of Australia, he believes some of his peers at times lack that hands-on knowledge to empathise with the licensees they’re policing.

“To be quite candid with you, it’s difficult for me sometimes to see young stewards over the years that stand toe-to-toe with trainers that live and breathe horses and have done since they were apprentice jockeys or very young people, and sort of argue about why a horse should be sent back to trials and so forth,” he said.

“Whereas I might never agree with maybe the leading trainer in any country or whatever, but when you stand toe-to-toe with them, they kind of probably realise that, well, he knows enough to be able to talk to me.

“Whereas maybe the person that came out of the stock exchange or maybe from another forum, he probably doesn’t quite understand the nuances of horses. We might never agree on a principle, but at least you know that the steward talking to them has an idea. 

“And I’ve always sort of liked the idea of having stewards, and certainly a number of them on the panel, that were au fait with horses and knew what they’re talking about.”

Hayward leaves Magic Millions after decades of tireless service

And last, but certainly not least, long-time Magic Millions employee Val Hayward last week retired from the thoroughbred auction house after decades of service.

The quietly spoken Hayward was an integral part of the business, providing marketing expertise as well as helping clients on the auditorium service desk during live auctions, among an array of other duties.

From the journalists who worked closely with Hayward in the lead-up to and during the numerous Magic Millions sales, she will be missed and we wish her well in her retirement on the Gold Coast.