Angus breeder Richmond enjoys rolling the dice in thoroughbred industry
Rose Grange Pastoral to take Champagne chance with talented juvenile by Dundeel
Rosemont Stud’s red and white gate crasher colours have quickly become synonymous with Australian racing, such is the number of horses principals Nigel Austin and Anthony Mithen own, but on Saturday another set of unique silks from down Geelong way will be sported at Randwick by exciting Group 2-winning juvenile Let’srollthedice (Dundeel).
Rose Grange Pastoral’s Jock Richmond, a beef producer from Victoria’s Little River who also has extensive sheep and cropping interests in southern NSW, leads the syndicate which owns the Danny O’Brien-trained Let’srollthedice, a contender for this weekend’s ATC Champagne Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) in Sydney.
Already a winner of the VRC Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) and a last-start third behind Fireburn (Rebel Dane) and She’s Extreme (Extreme Choice) in the Inglis Sires’ (Gr 1, 1400m) almost a fortnight ago, Let’srollthedice’s jockey Damian Lane will adorn Richmond’s racing colours of white with a black bull head and red diamonds sleeves and cap.
And, if things go to plan, those colours, an acknowledgement of Richmond’s passion for Angus cattle, will be seen on a lot more big race days next spring.
“I spoke to Danny this morning, it looks like he is going around in the Champagne on Saturday and then he’s going out to the paddock,” Richmond told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday.
“He’s got some big plans for him in the spring hopefully and he just wanted to give him one start over the mile before he put him out for a spell.”
Richmond has cause for optimism about Let’srollthedice’s long-term prospects, with the Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) firmly on the agenda for the Dundeel (High Chaparral) colt and he lost no admiration from his connections after being beaten by the two dominant fillies of the season in the Inglis Sires’.
“We were absolutely thrilled because, to be honest with you, Damian (Lane) was probably more excited when he got off him at Randwick then than he was when he won the Group 2 Sires’ in Melbourne,” the owner said.
“He got a long way back and he got held up at one stage and he got pushed off the track a little bit, but his last 100 metres was unbelievable with how much ground he made up and how quickly he went past the Blue Diamond winner (Daumier).
Rose Grange Pastoral might not be a recognisable name in the thoroughbred game, but racing has always been in Richmond’s family. His father Neil is a life member of the Geelong Harness Racing Club while his mother Beth also oversaw the breeding of a number of standardbreds, and last year Jock Richmond chose to up the stakes beyond just a few small shares in thoroughbreds.
After a dinner with friends in early 2021, Rose Grange’s Richmond called on Jamie Inglis for advice about how best to go about buying a horse at the upcoming Melbourne Premier sale and he was soon put in touch with well-known agent John Foote to help him identify the likely target.
Foote zeroed in on the Stonehouse Thoroughbreds-consigned Dundeel colt – the best of three winners out of Hannah In A Hurry (More Than Ready), herself a half-sister to McNeil Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) –winning sire Golden Archer (Rock Of Gibraltar) – and went to $240,000 to buy him.
“John and I had discussions and the only brief I gave John was that we were prepared to be really patient, we weren’t looking for a speedy two-year-old type, and we were probably looking for something that was going to get over a bit of distance because of Danny’s outstanding record with those sorts of horses,” Richmond said.
“We built the horse around the trainer to some degree, if that makes sense. So, it was always going to be something that was going to be a three-year-old and get a bit of ground.
“We are probably a bit surprised by what he’s done now given he is still a bit immature and, mentally, still a bit dumb and all the rest of it, but he is getting through a bit of raw ability. You never know with horses, but fingers crossed the future looks bright.”
About five weeks after buying Let’srollthedice at the Premier sale, Richmond decided to take his investment in thoroughbred racing a step further by instructing Foote to find him filly at the upcoming 2021 Inglis Australian Easter sale who could become Rose Grange’s foundation broodmare.
The chosen filly, a daughter of Pierro (Lonhro) who has since been named Future Monarch, is a half-sister to Group 2-winning mare Greysful Glamour (Stratum) and the stakes-placed Celestial Falls (Hinchinbrook). Foote bought her for $420,000 from the Edinglassie Stud draft.
She is also being trained by O’Brien.
“She was working really nicely and then she suffered a slight injury. She just had to have a little operation, nothing career-threatening, but it set her back three to four months,” Richmond said of the unraced two-year-old Future Monarch.
“We want to try and get some black type into her and we will use her to breed from her in the future. We don’t have any mares at the moment, we’ve only just bought them and she will be our first filly to hopefully get into the breeding barn.”
Richmond, who along with his friends will be at Randwick again on Saturday to cheer on Let’srollthedice before his attention switches to planting this year’s crop, has not added to his thoroughbred investment numbering two but is likely to do so in 2023.
“We did look at a couple this year, but our idea is that we want to buy a really well-bred filly every second year, unless John sees something that is a ‘must-have’, so we are just going to sit out and go again next year,” he said.
As for Saturday, if Letsrollthedice does happen to loom up in a tight finish in the Champagne, there will be no mistaking the colours with the Angus bull front and centre on Lane’s chest.
“I am good mates with (Inglis Rural Property’s) Sam Triggs and he and the other Inglis boys had a good laugh about the colours,” he said.