Clarken hoping his loyalty pays off
Will Clarken wasn’t afraid to admit for a time he’d been questioning his decision to base his training business in Adelaide as the prize-money gulf between South Australia and Victoria and NSW, in particular, widened.
So, he was relieved to have been delivered the news on Monday that prize-money would be increased by $7.4 million annually in South Australia.
Clarken, who trains in partnership with Niki O’Shea, has stables at Morphettville, a recently opened stable at Murray Bridge and his farm at Sellicks Hill, a 45-acre property just 40 minutes from Adelaide’s racecourse.
The Group 1-winning Clarken, before the pandemic, had signalled his intent to open a stable in Victoria at Ballarat but Covid ended that idea.
However, he is strongly considering having a small – and he stresses small – stable in Victoria in the near future.
“I put my Victorian trainer’s licence through and I had plans to do it but it just became too hard with the pandemic,” Clarken said of his Ballarat stable.
“I wouldn’t rule out a small stable in Victoria in the next 12 to 18 months, but it would be very small and I would need to find a few things [to suit the operation], but look, the majority of my horses would always be trained in South Australia.”
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The fruits of Zhang Yuesheng’s investment in the Yulong operation are sure to start paying off over the next few seasons, the sheer depth and size of the Victorian stud’s broodmare band means they are as good as certain to produce more than a few high-class horses.
This year, Yulong will foal down hundreds of mares with more than 1,000 horses on the Nagambie property. One of the first mares to foal down in 2023 is expected to be Zhang’s 2021 Vinery Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) and Australian Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Hungry Heart (Frankel).
The Chris Waller-trained Hungry Heart, who was mature enough to win a Sweet Embrace Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) at two, is in foal to champion sire Written Tycoon on a September 1 service date.
“Mares are on the move now and Hungry Heart is one of the first due to foal, so we won’t be far away at all. We are all set and ready to go for the season,” Yulong’s Sam Fairgray said.
“It’s going to be busy, but we’ve got really good staff and we’ll have a foal within a couple of weeks, I reckon.”
Yulong added Group 1-placed mare Another Award (Shamus Award) to its enviable and sizeable broodmare band for $1.2 million on Wednesday and she, too, will be covered by Written Tycoon this year.
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The stallion parades across Australia and New Zealand aren’t far away, either, with the various studs set to open their front gates to clients, breeders and hangers-on next month, allowing them to cast their eyes over the respective rosters.
The hospitality is first class and the company is excellent, but there is also a serious side to viewing the stallions, particularly the new kids on the block.
Magic Millions’ South Australian representative Adrian Hancock believes viewing the stallions first-hand plays a key role in mating plans and, from a sales company’s point of view, in helping assess young stock.
“It is always important to see the stallions from a breeding perspective and a yearling perspective, so you know what you’re looking at,” he said.
“I think it’s a vital tool in yearling selections as well.”
Some studs in Western Australia – Darling View Thoroughbreds (Lightsaber), Mogumber Park (Marine One) and Geisel Park (Aysar) – have already conducted open days to show off their first season stallions.
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The breeder and part-owner of Another Award, Willow Grove’s Ralph Satchell, is a realist and knew the twice Group 1-placed mare was too valuable for him to be able to buy out his racing partners.
But he does have Another Award’s year younger half-sister, Spanish Miracle (Palentino), at his South Australian farm.
While not reaching any great heights on the track – she was unplaced in two starts – the fact she’s a half-sister to three stakes winners certainly makes her a worthy broodmare and she is in foal to Newgate Farm’s first season sire Wild Ruler on her maiden cover.
“Another Award is by Shamus Award, who is a son of Snitzel, and, of course, Wild Ruler is also a son of Snitzel, so we’ll see what happens there and I think she’ll go to All Too Hard this year,” Satchell said of Spanish Miracle.
“I want to go to a proven horse for her second foal. If you keep going to first season sires with young mares, they [stallions] can end up like Palentino and then you haven’t given your mare a chance. Whereas, with a horse like All Too Hard, it will give her an opportunity to have a winner.”