In this week's Rowe On Monday, Tim Rowe provides a timely analysis of Rosemont Stud's foray into the colts syndication model, canvasses Robert Crabtree's thoughts on the future of smaller breeding operations and provides an update on the industry's Stud and Stable Staff awards.
Schwarz, Bosustow put Rosemont in Group 1 spotlight
Rosemont principal Anthony Mithen isn’t prepared to start “giving ourselves pats on the back” just yet, but he says there’s a deal of satisfaction from the stud’s colts alliance having two potentially career-defining Group 1 runners this weekend.
Expensive Zoustar colt Schwarz, a dominant first-up winner at Moonee Valley in the Group 2 Australia Stakes, will head to Caulfield on Saturday while Bosustow will take less than conventional path towards a possible Group 1 victory when he heads to New Zealand.
This weekend has been a long time in the making for the partners behind the Rosemont Alliance.
In August 2023, Mithen stood on the lawns outside the Rosemont Stud homestead talking up the talents of Schwarz, then an unraced three-year-old. He would win his maiden at Gosford less than two months later and an important Listed race at Flemington later that same opening racing campaign.
Since then, Schwarz has continued to be handled patiently by trainers John O’Shea and Tom Charlton who have won three Group races with him including his first-up performance in Melbourne.
The CF Orr Stakes, the same race that Alabama Express won in 2020 to convince Yulong’s Zhang Yuesheng to buy the colt, is Schwarz’s day of reckoning.
His position at Rosemont Stud is already assured but a Group 1 win would be vindication for Mithen, his brother-in-law Nigel Austin and the Rosemont partners’ high-stakes investment in the colts fund.
“He was a million-dollar colt, but he's certainly worth every penny of that as we stand today and might be worth a damn sight more next Saturday afternoon. So, he's a ripper that is sort of building up through his years,” Mithen says.
“We always knew that he'd be sort of better as a three-year-old and he seems to have gone to another level at four and we feel like he can really stamp himself as that (top-grade horse).
“I think we're looking for that next sprinting star in Australian racing and I reckon he's half got a hand up saying it might be him, so we'll find out on Saturday.”
Across the Tasman, three-year-old Bosustow will fly into New Zealand on Tuesday ahead of Saturday’s Group 1 in the BCD Group Sprint (1400m) at Te Rapa.
Group 1-placed in the JJ Atkins last June, the half-brother to Amelia’s Jewel was destined for the spelling paddock after his Magic Millions 3YO Guineas victory last month, but his co-trainer Annabel Neasham convinced Mithen and company to keep the colt in work and to think outside the square.
“Annabel had looked at the horse before the Magic Millions race, on the morning of his last gallop leading up to it, and turned to her foreman and said, ‘this horse has got away on us, he's too big and I don't think I've got him spot on’ and he was still able to do what he was able to do,” Mithen revealed.
“Annabel actually said the last of my options was the paddock because she thought that he'd only improve from the Gold Coast, so that was kind of exciting thinking, ‘well, OK, we've got another run, where do we make most of it?’”
On the cusp of what could be a red-letter day for Rosemont and the stallion prospects, Rosemont has not been immune to the highs and lows of the industry, just as all colts syndicates, and racehorse owners in general, inevitably do.
That, and the economic downturn, prompted the Rosemont Alliance to take a step back from buying yearlings in 2025 but a victory or two this weekend could provide the impetus to go again later on.
This weekend could also be vindication for what Rosemont has set out to achieve and how they’ve gone about trying to do it.
The James Harron colts syndicate, the Newgate-China Horse Club partnership and Coolmore’s group appear to be harshest when selling off their colts who they deem won’t have the racecourse CV to make it as stallions.
There are exceptions to every rule, of course.
Bren O’Brien
The Harron syndicate has retained one-time Royal Ascot contender Cannonball, now a gelding who won the Listed Falvelon in Brisbane in December for his new trainer Tony Gollan, while Newgate-CHC won a Magic Millions 3YO Guineas with Aim in 2021, racing him on until his retirement about 15 months later.
They have also stayed the course with four-year-old gelding Gold Bullion, until now. The son of Savabeel, a winner of the Listed Members’ Mile at Eagle Farm before Christmas, is for sale in the current Inglis Digital online auction.
“I think we're looking for that next sprinting star in Australian racing and I reckon he's half got a hand up saying it might be him" - Anthony Mithen on Schwarz
Coolmore, too, has offloaded some quality horses, selling Caballus, a subsequent Group 3-winning sprinter for $335,000 to Darby Racing.
The Rosemont Alliance could have sold some of their talented horses, too.
Millane, a stakes-winning two-year-old from the Rosemont Alliance’s maiden 2021-purchased yearling crop, and more recently three-year-old gelding Catoggio would have been on the radar of agents acting for Hong Kong interests.
Mithen argues, however, that the Rosemont Alliance backers have supported the syndicate’s approach of continuing to race many of their most talented geldings rather than selling them.
“There's no doubt when you get a group of people together who have all got different opinions and are learned in the field of racing horses, you're always going to get people who want different things and there's some hardcore breeders in there that just want breeding stock,” Mithen says.
“The difficult thing is probably managing the geldings more so because there's so much prize money on offer rather than trading the horse or you can take the cash off the table and trade the horse.
“I actually find it easier when they're a colt because you're still just working towards that mission of getting that horse the very best CV they can possibly have.”
Group 2-winning sprinter Doull, a son of Snitzel who was also bought as a yearling in 2021, retired to Rosemont last year where he covered 70 mares in his first season at a fee of $11,000.
Crabtree makes market point with 'correction' call
Another prominent Victorian breeder, Dorrington Farm’s Robert Crabtree, confirmed last week that his Nagambie property had been sold and that he was linking with Noorilim Park to continue his thoroughbred enterprise.
Never afraid to give his opinion, Crabtree is adamant that, despite the changing market dynamics where the industry is seemingly being dominated by the big players who operate at scale, there’s still a place for commercial breeders who operate with small numbers.
“I think they both (business models) can, that's the point. And I think syndications can still work,” he says.
“I think the industry's at a period of correction only because it's mirroring the general economy. We're not on an island, are we, in our industry. We're one big island called Australia. Business has got a bit tougher and the cost of living has got a bit higher.
“All these things reflect into our local industry and horses. Having said that, the horses that you want to buy are the ones out of proven mares or proven stallions as it is getting harder and harder out of unproven stock.”
Crabtree also suggested that racetrack results regularly made a mockery of the yearling sales, which are often driven by the here and now and the fashion of the day.
“Everybody has their theory. Some agents, for example, don't like to buy a horse more than say the fifth or sixth foal out of a dam,” he says.
Tim Rowe
“What I think what they're missing totally is that there's nothing better than a producing mare. If a mare can produce, it's taken (much of) the risk out of everything.
“It doesn't matter whether it's the first, the 10th or the 12th foal. It makes no difference. Some mares are just really, really good (producing) mares.”
Stud and Stable Staff Award nominations closing soon
Nominations close in a fortnight for the Australian Stud and Stable Staff Awards, an annual event which recognises the participants of the nation’s diverse thoroughbred industry.
The awards provide a platform to express gratitude for a colleague, friend or family member in the thoroughbred industry. While the nomination process remains simple, it stands as a powerful and significant means of acknowledging their work and contributions.
There are eight categories covering leadership, horsemanship, dedication to breeding, dedication to racing, administration and ancillary services, thoroughbred care and welfare, the newcomer award and the thoroughbred excellence award.
The six-week submission window closes at 5pm on Monday, February 17, via this link.
