Rowe On Monday – What’s next for Yarradale, a Super important moment and the value of a smart jacket

The next era for Yarradale  

When a patriarch of a racing and breeding operation, often run as a passion project as much as a business, dies, the demise of the stud farm tends to follow.

But that has not been the case with Western Australia’s Yarradale Stud. Lyn Sayers, the widow of the late Ron Sayers, is overseeing an exciting period for Yarradale under the management of Davy Hanratty.

Last year, Hanratty and Sayers, whose mining magnate husband Ron died in 2022, bought into a well-bred Snitzel filly from the Inglis Easter sale to expedite the process of breeding to the racetrack.

And that purchase, in conjunction with prominent Perth trainer Neville Parnham and Ridgeport’s Santo Guagliardo for $725,000, has paid off handsomely already with the now named Aurum Belle, currently the best two-year-old in WA.

A daughter of four-time Group 2 winner Dame Giselle, who was bred by China Horse Club and Go Bloodstock’s Sir Owen Glenn, Aurum Belle is unbeaten in two starts and is set to line up in Saturday’s Gimcrack at Ascot.

“It’s a very sad thing that we lost Ron, he was one of the best men I’ve ever worked for in the horse industry, so two years after he passed, Lyn decided she was going to keep the farm going, keep his legacy going,” Hanratty told this column. 

We bought two mares at the Gold Coast.That didn’t sort of work out as we would have planned, just waiting too long for them to have foals.

“We decided to fast track it a bit. So last year we made a decision then to buy into yearlings.

“One of them has resulted in Aurum Belle, who looks like being one of the best two-year-olds (to race) in Perth for a long, long time. She’s very exciting.”

Such is the opinion of Aurum Belle, Parnham had even contemplated taking her to Sydney for the Golden Slipper and Sires’ Produce Stakes, but he instead took the conservative option of keeping her in WA – for now.

Yarradale bought three fillies on Sunday, by Justify, Maurice and I Am Invincible respectively, and Hanratty also revealed that they also bought a share in the Siyouni sister to Peter Walsh’s Group 1 winner Amelia’s Jewel.

The unnamed yearling, the final foal out of Bumbasina, will be raced by Walsh’s Amelia Park and Yarradale and be trained on the east coast by Annabel and Rob Archibald.

Yarradale is also a shareholder in this year’s China Horse Club-Newgate colts syndicate.

“Lyn’s there, she’s very driven, she loves the game, and long may it continue for everybody involved,” Hanratty said.

Hawkins’ tears of joy after huge Super Seth result

Wentwood Grange’s Dean Hawkins was brought to tears at Easter after selling a filly by Super Seth for $950,000, the highest-priced yearling by the now Coolmore-owned stallion.

Hawkins, whose Wentwood Grange was selling at the Inglis Easter sale for the first time, admitted that Super Seth would be a “massive loss” for New Zealand’s breeders.

But he also believes the son of Dundeel will make his mark in Australia after the $70 million sale by Waikato Stud to Coolmore.

“The breeders who know him and have had success with him will still breed to him. All your leading New Zealand breeders will still send mares to Australia, so while he’s a loss to us, we can still get to him,” Hawkins said.

The Super Seth filly, who was bought by agent Andrew Williams, is a half-sister to New Zealand Group 2-winning juvenile Intention, a filly by Bivouac.

“She looked a lot like (the filly’s dam sire) Snitzel,” Hawkins said. 

“(With the access to Australian mares) Super Seth’s just going to keep on getting better. He’s got good books coming through.” 

Agent tailor made for sales circuit

For the past few Inglis Chairman’s Sales, there’s been an MJ Bale pop-up shop at Riverside Stables and there’s one Kiwi bloodstock agent in particular who may be after a tailored suit.

Inglis hosted an Easter sale cocktail party at Catalina Rose Bay, an idyllic setting indeed, and it was noted that the agent was looking rather dapper in an expensive suit jacket, a far cry from his normal sales clobber.

It was then revealed by another agent that he’d borrowed the flash jacket from one of his Sydney-based peers. Given he’s not opposed to buying million dollar yearlings, MJ Bale may have a ready-made customer in early May. We are not sure if they have white jackets with red stripes.