B2B Thoroughbreds’ Surace takes bigger picture outlook with Easter draft
Ongoing property development likely to see breeder retain more horses to race
Ricky Surace’s ongoing investment in state-of-the-art equine infrastructure at his boutique property B2B Thoroughbreds in the NSW Southern Highlands has forced the Sydney owner and breeder to withdraw his draft ahead of next week’s Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.
After taking ownership of the property in 2019, Surace has overseen the careful development of the 65-hectare site near Bowral and that construction work remains unfinished, which has led to him making the call to withdraw four yearlings who were to be offered at the two-day Sydney sale.
“I will finish my building and then come back next year in a better way. I am still building barns and things like that, so it’s just not viable,” Surace revealed yesterday,
“I wouldn’t be able to prepare them the way I wanted to, so I’d rather just sit it out.
“I will come back once it is all finished, which is expected to be by the end of the year, then I will start prepping for Magics, (Inglis) Melbourne and Easter.”
The B2B Thoroughbreds draft of four yearlings, three of which were owned by Surace, featured a filly by Coolmore’s first season sire Merchant Navy (Fastnet Rock) out of Black Prada (Domesday), an unraced half-sister to four-time Group 1 winner and champion older mare Appearance (Commands), and a Toronado (High Chaparral) colt out of stakes-placed mare Lipstick Lover (I Am Invincible).
He also withdrew a Street Boss (Street Cry) colt out of four-time winner Butterboom (Myboycharlie), who is a half-sister to Group 1-winning mare Foxplay (Foxwedge), a mare whose most noteworthy performance was arguably when she almost upset stablemate Winx (Street Cry) in the 2017 Warwick Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m).
The Street Boss colt sustained a minor cut to his leg, which necessitated him being withdrawn from the Easter sale, and that setback added to Surace’s decision to scratch his draft.
B2B Thoroughbreds was to also offer the half-brother by Ribchester (Iffraaj) to this season’s ATC Flight Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) and Spring Champion Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) winner Montefilia (Kermadec) for Victorian breeder Sean Duke but the colt has also been taken out of the Easter sale.
Surace intends to race the Toronado colt, who is already being broken in and will be trained by Anthony and Sam Freedman, while the Merchant Navy filly is set to head to the breakers in the coming weeks.
While B2B Thoroughbreds will not be a vendor at this year’s Easter sale, Surace could feature on next week’s buyers’ sheet as he goes about upgrading his bloodstock portfolio.
Part of that reinvigoration involves the offering of two mares at the upcoming Inglis Chairman’s Sale, stakes producer Vintage Strike (Smart Strike) and Group 2-winning sprinter Savanna Amour (Love Conquers All) who is in foal to Fastnet Rock (Danehill).
“We will go and have a look around and I have already been to the Hunter,” said Surace, whose breeding interests extend to stallion shares which has seen him buy into Darley’s Bivouac (Exceed And Excel) this year.
“We try and buy one or two fillies a year and …we’ve got some really nice mares going to the Chairman’s Sale at Inglis.
“We’ve got Savanna Amour and Aim’s mother Vintage Strike going through. We will try and buy some more and keep investing in some new bloodlines.
“We just want to make sure we get our infrastructure right before we come out (as a major vendor).”
Official on-site inspections start at Riverside Stables today, but early lookers made the most of the fine weather yesterday as vendors took up residence at the complex.
Among those inspecting yearlings were Ciaron Maher’s bloodstock manager Will Bourne, Andrew Williams, Queensland agents John Foote and Craig Rounsefell and US-based counterpart Marie Yoshida who has undertaken her second stint of hotel quarantine this year in order to attend an Australian sale.
Fellow agent Dean Hawthorne, Newgate Farm’s Henry Field and Godolphin representatives were also at Riverside yesterday, as were trainers Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, John O’Shea and Mick Price.
“There are going to be a lot of nice horses here, as there always is at Easter,” Inglis general manager of bloodstock sales and marketing Sebastian Hutch said.
“Something the buying bench needs to keep in mind is that while the expensive horses grab all the headlines, there will be a lot of horses to buy here in the $50,000 to $200,000 and $250,000 range.
“There are going to be some vendors who have a level of urgency at this sale given the time of year it is as we start to approach the end of the yearling sale series.
“There’s been a lot of money spent up to this point and the market’s been very strong, and certainly relatively fair, so people are going to be happy to bring their horses here, get them on the market and let the buyers decide what they’re worth.”
The Easter sale will be held next Tuesday and Wednesday, with each session beginning at 10am.