Rowe On Monday – Mystery man unmasked, Price is right on incentives, an embargo relief and a US$10.5 million colt
In this week’s Rowe On Monday, Merrick Staunton reveals himself as one of Home Affairs’ early admirers, new Hong Kong incentives draw a lukewarm response from a major buyer, a Savabeel filly now free to race and expectations high for an eight-figure colt.
Merrick no longer the mystery man
Merrick Staunton has unmasked himself as the mystery man referred to by rival bloodstock agent Jeremy Rogers as the man who declared Home Affairs as the best yearling colt he’d seen in years.
He declared his admiration for the Torryburn-bred colt to Hong Kong-based expatriate Australian punter and horse trader David Price prior to the Coolmore-purchased colt being sold.
“I didn’t tell anyone else, but I told David, ‘this is the best colt I’ve seen in years’ but that we wouldn’t be able to buy him for what we want (trade horses to Hong Kong),” Staunton revealed to this column.
He couldn’t believe that the I Am Invincible-Miss Interiors colt didn’t make seven figures, instead selling for $875,000 to Coolmore’s Tom Magnier.
He was sold at the virtual Inglis Easter Sale, which was held just as the pandemic was hitting hard in 2020, and many bloodstock investors took a conservative approach.
Magnier and co took advantage of that and walked away with what can now be labelled a bargain as a dual Group 1-winning sprinter and a Golden Slipper-producing sire.
Remarkably, Staunton’s prediction of Home Affairs’ success didn’t end there. When he spotted a first crop son out of Flamboyant Lass at Newgate Farm prior to Christmas in 2024 he made another bold statement.
He says Magic Millions’ James Dawson can verify the story.
“We got out and looked at the horses on the farms and that year we saw the first crop of Home Affairs. As we got back in the car, I said to (Dawson), ‘that colt will win the Golden Slipper and he was Guest House,” he recalls.
“I’m not joking. The reason it’s provable is because James went over and told Jeremy after he bought the colt (for $270,000).”
He also called Star Watch the best two-year-old of his year when he won the 1988 Golden Slipper and he’s never let Allan Denham forget about it.
“Allan Denham said to me one day at Rosehill when Star Watch was ready to go to the races, and I’d seen him as a yearling. He used to call me Rick, He said, ‘Rick, is Star Watch any good?’,” Staunton says.
“I said, ‘well, according to what I say about horses, he’s the best two-year-old in Australia. He won and won and won (three straight). The week before the Slipper got beaten by Zeditave (in the Pago Pago).
“So, Allan walked out on Monday morning at Rosehill and he hadn’t forgotten. He said, ‘you were wrong’,” says Staunton.
“That’s all right. It half doesn’t count because Zeditave never went through a sale, so I had no chance of assessing him as a yearling. And then he (Star Watch) won the Slipper the next weekend anyway.”
A character of the game, bloodstock agent Staunton retained his NSW trainers’ licence up until 2022, only relinquishing it when he relocated to the Gold Coast, despite not having a runner for decades.
“I went to Sydney in 1982, moving from the Gold Coast to Rosehill, and I was mucking around with a few (while) working for (Jack) Denham and I virtually gave it away and started going into the bloodstock in the mid-90s,” Staunton says.
“It was just a better lifestyle and I used to only train for myself anyway. I had a licence at Rosehill for 40 years.”
So, then, if Staunton “gave it away” 30-odd years ago, why would he retain a licence if he had no intention of using it? It’s a fair question.
“Oh, well, you could go anywhere at the racetrack (with a trainer’s licence),” he says.
“I used to go to all the racetracks. It was worth paying the $800 a year just to be able to go and if you went interstate, you could use it as well.”
Better value than a race club membership, we suppose.
‘It’s my dream as well’ – the challenge of buying proven horses for Hong Kong
David Price and Jenny Chapman’s 1000-win feat in Hong Kong, achieved last week, generated a lot of positive feedback from The Straight’s readers.
Price provided some interesting commentary on how his Price Bloodstock operation is conducted while he also offered some interesting views.
One of them was the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s bonus prize money incentives aimed at its ownership base to encourage them to source high-quality three-year-olds who can compete in the four-year-old series, culminating in the Hong Kong Derby.
“I’m a little bit intrigued (by the incentives). I think a lot of times (the Jockey Club is) throwing up different ideas and trying to throw different types of bait for people to buy more PPs (private purchase raced horses),” Price said.
“But, look, I’m not a big believer in it because I think everyone’s shopping as hard as they can.
“They’re (that quality of horse) just hard to find. You’re asking someone in Australia to let go of something that’s got a lot of potential because you want to give them money for it.
“There’s a lot of people in Australia going, ‘well, this is my dream as well and I don’t want to sell this’.
“That’s the issue. You can sit and watch a whole day’s racing on a Saturday and see three or four horses you’d like to buy and they’re not for sale. So, you end up buying probably what people want to sell and that’s not what I would say you always want to (buy).”
He added: “I’m trying to (sell a) few more PP (horses) these days, which is just giving them one start or two starts, qualifying them if they’re the right horses because I don’t think the supply is there for the demand.”
Price did, however, welcome the Jockey Club’s push for more syndicates to own horses in Hong Kong, particularly since Covid.
“I would say syndicates have finally taken off in Hong Kong, but not like syndication businesses in Australia that are run by people who have got the business models, the OTIs and the Darbys of this world,” he said.
“Here, syndicates are just put a group of people together, so you’ve got lots and lots more people having shares, which is a great way of bringing younger people into ownership because it is an expensive caper in Hong Kong.”
How Womantic filly’s not to race embargo lifted
Racing Australia’s amnesty on late foal ownership declarations expired last week and there will be at least one breeder who will be relieved that his filly has had the “not to race” embargo lifted.
Among the known yearlings who were caught up in the RA crackdown was a Savabeel-How Womantic filly who was bought by agents Rob Roulston and Mark Player for $190,000 at this year’s Magic Millions sale on the Gold Coast.
She was bought on behalf of a South African client who intends to race her in his home country.
Bred by Bromfield Park and sold through the Vinery Stud draft, the filly was a victim for RA’s stance as the service fee to New Zealand’s champion sire Savabeel had not been paid on time.
Although the service fee had been paid well in advance of the yearling sale, Racing Australia had not acknowledged that fact and it was believed that the appeal had been rejected until the amnesty was introduced.
Common sense prevails on this occasion, thankfully.
10 seconds and $10.5 million – Flightline colt sets Ocala record
Every time there’s a high-priced horse sold, The Green Monkey gets trotted out as the expensive failure.
He cost US$16 million and placed just once in three starts.
That record wasn’t eclipsed at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Spring 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale last week, but a first crop son of Flightline did smash the company’s own benchmark to the tune of more than $7 million.
By the unbeaten superstar racehorse, the colt was bought by Saudi Arabia’s Zedan Racing Stable for US$10.5 million, with agent Donato Lanni doing the bidding.
His sub-10-second breeze had everyone talking, data gurus, long-time horse watchers and everyone in between.
But it was Lanni and his Saudi client who won the bidding duel, which started at $1 million.
“Bob (Baffert, trainer) loved him. The first time he saw him, he loved him,” Lanni told Bloodhorse.
“And obviously, Amr (Zedan), he’s tough. He’s tough to outbid. He’s an emotional guy. He’s great for the sport. He loves the racing. His enthusiasm is unbelievable.”
The admiration for the colt has been evident from an early age, with Tom Durant’s Classic Equine paying $575,000 for him at the 2024 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.
Let’s hope he achieves more than The Green Monkey. If the 200m breeze is anything to go by, he can.
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