Rowe On Monday – Walsh’s ‘wise decision’ to sell Amelia’s Jewel, Breeders call for VOBIS changes, Group 1 result for Admire Mars

In this week’s Rowe On Monday, Tim Rowe speaks to the owner of retired mare Amelia’s Jewel about his decision to sell, canvasses thoughts on a Racing Victoria review into the VOBIS program and provides an insight into the progeny of Admire Mars.

Sleepless night after brilliant career for Amelia’s Jewel

West Australian owner-breeder Peter Walsh didn’t sleep much on Saturday night.

He’d just returned from Bali, a regular holiday destination for the Amelia Park Racing and Breeding principal and his wife Annie, but he realised that his pride and joy, Group 1-winning mare Amelia’s Jewel, had run her last race.

The five-year-old by Siyouni, who ran fifth in the Queen of the Turf Stakes at Randwick earlier that day, will be offered at the Chairman’s Sale at Inglis’ Riverside Stables on May 8.

Just seven weeks earlier, and not long before Amelia’s Jewel would win the Group 2 Guy Walter first-up at Randwick, Walsh told this column that he was adamant that he wouldn’t sell the valuable filly.

The same applied to the mare’s imported mother Bumbasina – also the dam of Group 1-placed colt Bosustow – and Amelia’s Jewel’s weanling sister, also by champion France sire Siyouni.

But in the almost two months since Walsh, 70, came to an almost macabre realisation which prompted his decision to put the 10-time stakes winner up for auction.

“It’s just probably just the age thing, mate, you know what I mean. So, that’s probably the biggest thing when you think about it. She’s going to (probably) outlive me,” Walsh said on Sunday.

“I’m keeping Bumbasina. She’s a blue hen, I’m going to keep her because she’s probably got another five or six (foals) in her. Then I’ve got the sister that I’ll race and if she does well, I can sell her, too, as I’ve got no one else to carry on (the family thoroughbred business).”

Amelia’s Jewel won the 2022 Group 1 Northerly Stakes at Ascot when trained by Simon Miller, who also prepared her to win twice at Group 2 level in Melbourne before joining the Annabel Neasham and Rob Archibald stable about 11 months ago.

She raced eight times for her new stable, finishing runner-up on three occasions including in last spring’s Group 1 Empire Rose Stakes at Flemington as well as her first-up victory this autumn.

“You’ve got to plan. Nothing lasts forever, unfortunately. I didn’t sleep much last night because she’s given us so much fun. You don’t want to sell them, but I think it’s just a wise decision,” Walsh says, before adding he’ll also gradually reduce his broodmare band from 24 to 10 to 12 over the next year or so.

“I’ll cut back over the years to come (on the mares) but I’ll keep racing a lot. I’ll enjoy that and just do a bit of breeding, but with just the mares that I’ve got now. I won’t be buying any more broodmares.”

Walsh, a proud West Australian who has enjoyed a long association with Magic Millions including selling Bosustow at the Gold Coast to the Rosemont Alliance in 2023 for $900,000, felt obligated to give Inglis the chance to sell Amelia’s Jewel.

“I sell most of my stock through Magic Millions on the east coast, and they’ve been very good to me, but Inglis, I don’t do much (business) through them,” he said. 

“I know Sebastian (Hutch), and they talked about selling Bumbasina last year, but I decided against it, and I’m glad I did, so I thought it was only fair that I gave them Amelia’s Jewel this year. I thought I owed them one.”

As for setting a “sensible reserve” for Amelia’s Jewel, that number will be left to Segenhoe Stud’s Peter O’Brien.

“And if she didn’t make it, well, we’d keep her, but Peter will advise me what we should be looking at,” Walsh said. “And what he tells me, that’s what we put on her.”

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Victorian Breeders welcome VOBIS review

Victoria’s peak breeders’ body will advocate for changes to the state’s thoroughbred owners and breeders incentive scheme as a review into the $30 million initiative is undertaken.

Regulator Racing Victoria will investigate all facets of the Victorian Owners and Breeders Incentive Scheme (VOBIS) including its structure, as well as analysing a number of trends such as field sizes, race ratings and wagering revenue. 

In announcing the review, RV called for submissions and feedback from industry participants about how the VOBIS scheme could be improved.

Thoroughbred Breeders Victoria president Peter Murray welcomed the move, believing “all these sorts of schemes need to be reviewed fairly regularly because the costs of doing business change … so, the schemes have got to be able to change as well”. 

“(Incentivising ownership of Victorian-bred horses) is one of the main (aims of) the scheme, obviously, but also we want to try and reward the breeder as well,” Murray told this column. 

“Our viewpoint is, at times, it’s slightly unbalanced in terms of the bonuses that are provided and the returns (received). 

“So, there could be a change in the bonuses back to the breeder or the first nominator to equal things up a little bit, because, for example, it now costs roughly $40,000 to raise a foal to a sale yearling and that’s including agistment for the mare and the foal all the way through. 

“That’s a fairly big cost in getting the horse to a sale and if the first nominator wins a two-year-old or three-year-old race, the nominator’s really only going to get about 20 per cent of that bonus.”

TBV would also like to see the VOBIS Platinum vouchers being able to be used on online sales.

“We’d also like to see the vouchers to be able to be used to purchase a mare that is in foal to Victorian sires from both official (live) sales and online sales,” Murray said.

“And then the first nominator for Silver (Vobis) should be able to be included as a Gold-nominated horse so they don’t have to do it again later on.” 

Murray also argued that breeders of two and three-year-olds who win Group and Listed races should receive more than their portion of the $10,000 bonus currently on offer.

“So, say, I nominated a horse that I bred, it wins a Group 3 race, I’m going to get $7000 for doing that,” he said.

“I know the prize money’s gone up, but to me, (breeders) should be incentivised and rewarded for breeding a very good horse.”

Cranbourne-based Robbie Griffiths has been well rewarded for his support of VOBIS-eligible horses, winning champion trainer on multiple occasions.

He will remain a fan of VOBIS even if nothing is changed after the review but was in favour of anything to enhance what he says is a lucrative incentive for owners and trainers.

“We try to target those (VOBIS) races if we can,” Griffiths says. 

“I think it’s the best-structured bonus scheme in Australia, so if they can do anything to enhance what’s already fantastic, I (am in favour of that).”

Murray added: “If we can get more money coming back to that first nominator or the breeder, there’ll be more of an incentive for more people to nominate their horses.”

Submissions for the VOBIS review can be lodged via email at vobisreview@racingvictoria.net.au up until Wednesday, April 30. 

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Group 1 win a pointer to the future for Admire Mars’ stock

It doesn’t always translate between hemispheres, but Japanese three-year-old filly Embroidery won the Group 1 Oka Sho on Sunday, a pointer to what might be to come for her shuttling sire Admire Mars.

Also the sire of first crop Japanese Listed winner Namura Clara, Admire Mars’ first southern hemisphere-bred crop are starting to hit the racetrack as we hit the middle of the autumn of their two-year-old season.

Standing at Arrowfield in conjunction with Shadai Stallion Station’s Yoshida family, Admire Mars has had five two-year-old runners this season but as Embroidery’s win in the Japanese 1000 Guineas suggests, they are likely to come into their own as the distances get longer.

The filly was trained by Kazutomo Mori and ridden by Joao Moreira, who said: “We didn’t really know how she was going to handle the track as it’s been raining for nearly half of the day and there was a lot of moisture out there and not many of the horses out there could handle it, but she proved that she can and I was just a lucky boy to have been able to sit on a nice horse in another Grade 1 race in Japan.

“She’s a wonderful filly. I think she’s a filly any jockey would want to ride. She showed good footwork, handled the track well, and showed great finishing speed. I think she’s a new star among three-year-olds.”

A three-time Grade 1 winner and Japan’s champion two-year-old of 2018, Admire Mars served 129 mares in 2024, his largest of four books covered while shuttling to Arrowfield Stud.