In this week's Rowe on Monday column, Tim Rowe speaks to the breeders of a Peltzer colt destined for Japan, goes behind the scenes to reveal a Coolmore-Falcon Racing alliance, provides an insight into the 2025 market for broodmares and recaps a profitable and busy weekend for the Payne family.
Tumbarumba to Tokyo
Battlers from the bush proved that you can mix it with oil sheikhs, hedge fund managers and billionaires in the increasingly international world of thoroughbred breeding and racing.
Gundagai farming contractor John Spackman achieved his “one in a million” moment when selling a colt by second-season sire Peltzer for $260,000 to one of the world’s greatest breeders, Japan’s Katsumi Yoshida, at the Magic Millions last week.
He had already sold the colt to his “mate across the river” David Tout but had to renege on the deal when Twin Hills’ Olly Tait rang Spackman to tell him the foal he and his wife Lisa bred - the third out of country mare Didn’t Even Kiss Me - had been accepted into Book 1 of the Magic Millions.
It’s safe to say that the colt made far more on the Gold Coast than he did in the initial private deal - “about four times as much”, according to his breeder, who was “just happy to cover my costs and my stallion fees”.
“When Olly said we got accepted into the Magic Millions, I had to go back to my mate and tell him what had happened. He said, ‘look, go for it. It'll never happen again’,” Spackman recalls.
Didn’t Even Kiss Me was trained by Spackman’s brother Scott at Wagga Wagga in southern NSW, winning six races including the 2018 Tumut and Tumbarumba Cups, that latter on a unique up-and-down track which races the “Victorian way”.
John Spackman, whose father also trained horses, admits he knows little about the caper, but he was convinced to take on Didn’t Even Kiss Me late in her racing career and eventually to breed with her because “she was too well-bred to give away”.
Tait says the colt was always a stand out but couldn’t have envisaged what transpired on the Gold Coast when he was just a foal growing out on the rolling hills at his Cootamundra stud.
“I remember just walking through doing notes on the foals in the paddocks before Christmas (in 2023) and thinking, ‘wow, look at this one. He's a good model’,” Tait said.
“Thirteen months down the track, it was great that he got to the Magic Millions in good shape and obviously he presented himself very well at the sale.
“For him to be sold to Northern Farm, which is one of the world's great breeding operations, well, that's testament to the quality of the horse and it’s a big thrill for us as we raised the horse and consigned him.
“Also, I think for John and Lisa Spackman, who bred him, what an achievement to breed a horse like that who gets bought by somebody like Katsumi Yoshida.”
Shingo Hashinoto, Yoshida’s representative at the Magic Millions, admitted he didn’t know much about Twin Hills’ young Group 2-winning stallion Peltzer and he knows even less about Didn’t Even Kiss Me’s racetrack record and the geographical locations of Tumut, Tumbarumba, Towong and Holbrook, all bush tracks the Murtajill mare raced at during her career.
But Hashinoto buys on type and he was struck by the colt’s physique, believing he has the credentials to take on the bluebloods of Japan.
“He was a very good walker. His appearance was very nice. To be honest, I didn't know much about the stallion, but I looked at the other (first) crop by him,” Hashinoto told this column.
“They (Peltzers) look quite good, so we're very excited to take him back to Japan.”
As for Spackman, being at the Gold Coast was an experience. Next, he might need to update his passport if a Japan Cup is in order.
“That’s if they let riffraff like me in there, mate, you never know,” he joked.
Falcon and Magniers come together for disputed Zoustar colt
Coolmore, arguably the world’s most powerful thoroughbred operation, and Thailand behemoth Falcon Racing were unlikely partners on the Gold Coast when the two outfits combined on a $500,000 Zoustar colt sold at the Magic Millions.
The alliance between the two wealthy operations was all because of a disputed bid that was negotiated in the “stewards’ room” after Silverdale Farm’s Lot 903 went through the ring.
The deal was orchestrated by Singaporean racing identity Eric Koh, acting for Falcon Racing, and Coolmore’s Tom Magnier with the pair agreeing to race the half-brother to the Australian Oaks-placed Quintessa together.
Koh was once an integral part of Zhang Yuesheng’s Yulong team in its formative years and it was during that time he formed a working relationship with the Magniers, brothers MV and Tom and their father John.
“It was an interesting mini-series of events there and, as fate would have it, we got in together on this nice colt after bits of external miscommunications and confusion,” Koh revealed.
“I've always appreciated the friendship with MV when I was helping Mr Zhang in Ireland and with Tom during my stint with Yulong in Australia. John and the whole family have always been such gracious hosts to us whenever we were in Ireland, so to be able to go into partnership with Coolmore is wonderful even if Yulong is not involved this time around.
“Falcon doesn't usually go into partnerships, but I have convinced them to stay involved in this colt together with us.”
Falcon Racing, a syndicate of Thai businessmen who once had extensive thoroughbred interests in Singapore until the industry’s demise, has expanded its reach in Australia with the assistance of Koh.
With a small number of horses already in training with Liam Howley at Macedon Lodge in Victoria and with Roger James and Robert Wellwood in New Zealand, Falcon Racing added to their portfolio by purchasing fillies by I Am Invincible and Almanzor as well a filly and a colt by Arrowfield shuttler Maurice during the Book 1 Magic Millions sale.
“All these recent purchases will stay on in Australia and be put into the system here,” Koh said.
“Of course, their progress will have to be monitored as they develop to see if they make the cut into the racing here.”
Falcon intends to support trainers Annabel Neasham and Rob Archibald, Chris Waller, who will train the Zoustar colt, Ciaron Maher, Mick Price and Mick Kent Jr and Dan Meagher.
“I've had good working relationships with all of them and I am happy to be supporting them albeit with small numbers,” he said.
Aushorse Investor’s Guide 2025
- More Races worth $1 million+ than Europe & America combined
- More than 140,000 Australians involved in racehorse ownership
‘I think the mare market could be flooded this year’
There were 2221 broodmares and another 1847 race fillies offered for sale on Inglis Digital in 2024.
Such a large number illustrates the ease of trade that the online platform provides, but it also demonstrates that breeders are attempting to downsize their broodmare bands in light of the increasing selectivity of the yearling market and rising upkeep costs.
The advantage of scale in the thoroughbred industry still exists but breeders, big and small, are all too aware of the need for quality over quantity as risk-averse buyers shorten short-lists and adapt to shrinking budgets in the middle to lower-end of the bloodstock industry.
Segenhoe general manager Peter O’Brien predicts that breeders will further tighten their mare numbers in 2025 and it’s Inglis Digital where many of those mares will be sold.
“We're definitely going to cut back on our numbers and try and maintain the elite band,” O’Brien told the Straight Talk podcast.
“So, it'll be interesting to see the mare market because I think the mare market could get a bit flooded this year, I'd say.
“And it will be interesting as we push on through the year to see how that sort of middle to lower end (of the yearling market) holds up.
“I mean, that's where, for want of a better word, the mums and dads of the world who buy two-percent (shares in) horses and things with inflation rates and whatever, they just can't afford it.
“So, watch this space.”
Japan on the radar for Michelle Payne as Jelfs and Khaw link up
Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Michelle Payne enjoyed a big day at Flemington on Saturday with an early double in her fledgling training partnership with her brother Patrick, thanks to Zorro’s Flight and Smokin’ Princess.
The Paynes were also in action at the Magic Millions Sale on the Gold Coast, partnering with Lizzie Jelfs’ Race With Lizzie syndicate to buy a Zousain filly from Widden for $180,000.
Jelfs purchased four yearlings across Book 1 and has been working with bloodstock consultant and Moonee Valley Committee member Su-Ann Khaw this week as part of a new arrangement for 2025.
Khaw has significant contacts within Japanese racing and will head to Japan later this year with Michelle Payne to tour major Japanese farms and possibly attend the JHRA Select Sale in Hokkaido.
Khaw also worked as a consultant and co-executive producer on Ride Like A Girl, the film which depicts Payne’s remarkable 2015 Melbourne Cup victory,
Jelfs, meanwhile, spent a nervous day on the Seven Network broadcast on Saturday, as the fate of the Magic Millions feature race meeting was determined. Her filly, Invincible Woman, is one of the leading chances in the Magic Millions 2YO Classic, which will now be run on Friday night.
Invincible Woman is trained by Lloyd Kennewell and Lucy Yeomans, who also combined with Jelfs on two fillies through the yearling sale, one by Tagaloa and the other by Tassort.
