Lead Story
Hunters Lodge set for confident debut at Inglis Ready2Race Sale
By Mary-Jo Jackson
ANZ News
Inspections are well underway at Riverside Stables ahead of Thursday’s Inglis Ready2Race Sale, where the newly formed Hunters Lodge partnership of Cade Hunter and Liam Ruddy will make their first foray as vendors.
The partnership, which brings together Hunter’s pre-training expertise and Ruddy’s racing management experience with Ciaron Maher, has assembled a seven-lot debut draft headlined by Lot 188, a colt by Toronado (High Chaparral) who clocked the fastest breeze in the catalogue, when stopping the clock at an impressive 10.05.
Speaking alongside Hunter, Ruddy told ANZ News that confidence was building ahead of the sale, with plenty of buyers showing interest in their robust first consignment.
“We’ve spent a bit of money so there’s a little bit of angst heading into it, but we’ve got some pretty nice horses so that’s made us a lot more secure,” he said.
“We bought horses that we really thought would suit an export market and we feel they appeal domestically as well. The Toronado colt has been a hit since he’s been here, the horses have been busy and inspected by the right people, so it’s been fantastic. Very good judges have been back for second looks, which makes us very happy.”
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Bought for $250,000 at Inglis Easter, the Toronado colt boasts the page to back up his Warwick Farm breeze. He is out of Group 3-winning Casino Prince (Flying Spur) mare Baccarat Baby, who was just touched off by subsequent three-time Group 1 winner Kolding (Ocean Park) when second in the Queensland Guineas (Gr 2, 1600m) at three.
It is very much a happening pedigree, with Baccarat Baby being a half-sister to multiple Group 1 winner Duais (Shamus Award) and May’s ANZ Bloodstock News The Roses (Gr 2, 2000m) winner Philia (All Too Hard), who was herself named three-year-old Horse of the Year at the Queensland Thoroughbred Awards on Sunday.
“It’s a privilege to have him in our inaugural draft,” Ruddy said. “I think he’s the fastest juvenile Inglis have had for three or four years, all of our horses we just asked our riders to do a piece of work from the 500 to 600-metre mark and just breeze on the bridle.
“The way he’s done it, the whole way along he’s been such a natural. He’s a very sound horse, a very intelligent horse, and he just tries. The more you give him, the better he is. None of our horses ever went silly fast before they breezed, so whatever they did was just a real testament to their natural ability.
“Philia was probably the best staying filly last season, she gives a beautiful pedigree update, winning The Roses. We got lucky with that and the colt has done a fantastic job furnishing since we bought him. He was a little bit raw at the Easter sales and maybe that’s why he was a bit overlooked, but over the last six months he’s just done fantastically well. Hopefully he will set us up for the next few years and be in this space for a long time to come.”
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The bulk of the Hunters Lodge draft have been prepared by Wyong-based trainer Sara Ryan, who has prepared the likes of $3 million The Big Dance (1600m) winner Attractable (I Am Invincible) and $1 million Provincial-Midway Championships Final (1400m) scorer Matcha Latte (Maurice).
“We are really thankful to Sara Ryan – the horses are looking absolutely outstanding coming out of her stable,” Ruddy said.
Hunter echoed those sentiments, adding: “The way Sara managed them and the part she played was crucial. She has added a lot of value and credibility to us in our first year, and we’re very grateful for that.”
Another to impress at the breeze ups was Lot 181, a colt by Rubick (Encosta De Lago) out of Written Tycoon (Iglesia) mare Aqueous, herself a half-sister to a stakes winner and a relative of Hantu (Scenic), a Hong Kong Listed winner. The $14,000 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale purchase clocked 10.58s, showing plenty of raw ability, and Ruddy said he’s continued to furnish impressively since joining their program.
“We bought him on spec down in Melbourne when we made the decision to produce our own draft,” he said. “We fell in love with him and bought him for a very reasonable price. He has grown immensely since, I think he’s up to 16 hands, and put on about 70 kilos. As you see in the breeze, he’s got a high action – there’s so much greenness there and so much to come.
“The way we’ve trained these horses, we haven’t been hard on them. There is so much more to come.
“He’s out of a Written Tycoon mare. We would’ve loved to have bought a Written Tycoon in Melbourne and we had a crack at buying a few but we couldn’t get near one unfortunately at trade price. This was the closest thing we could find. If you asked any buyer what he is they’d tell you he’s a Written Tycoon.”
Two colts by Star Turn (Star Witness) add further intrigue, the first (Lot 125) a Inglis Classic Sale $100,000 purchase out of Sevini (Sebring), a half-sister to ill-fated McKenzie Stakes (Listed, 1200m) winner Fast Witness (Star Witness).
“He is the first horse we purchased. He’s out of a Sebring mare and he’s a big strong strapping colt and one you’d imagine would appeal to the international market,” Ruddy said.
“He’s closely related to Fast Witness, who was a good horse of Ciaron Maher’s who we didn’t get to see the best of. He’ll be better in six months as we were mindfully soft on him, we wanted to look after him early in his career. We want to be vendors that look after their horses.”
On the Star Turn out of winning Lonhro (Octagonal) mare What A Treat (Lot 162), Ruddy said: “He’s a better horse than his breeze up time [13.10s] suggests, he’s a big horse and was a victim of circumstance…when he went to the breeze ups he was coltish. He’ll make a bread and butter racehorse as a gelding.”
Hunters Lodge also has colts on offer by Yes Yes Yes (Rubick) – Lot 156 – and Tagaloa (Lord Kanaloa) – Lot 212, who both have Hong Kong black type on their page.
On the Yes Yes Yes colt, Ruddy said: “There’s a fair bit of Hong Kong in his pedigree, he is a little bit small, a sharp individual who’s only going to improve for time.
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Meanwhile, the Tagaloa is expected to get a trip: “We think he’s a middle-distance to a mile sort,” Ruddy said. “He breezed well enough without stopping the clock [11.02s] and he’s very straightforward. A proper racehorse I would imagine. I think he’d appeal to the domestic market as well, being by a young sire and a real workman sort.”
Rounding out the draft is Lot 140, a colt by All Too Hard (Casino Prince) who appears ideally suited to an international market. He is out of Stormy Elect (Ferlax), a half-sister to Hong Kong Group 2 winner and 2019 Hong Kong Derby (Listed, 2000m) and Classic Mile (Listed, 1600m) hero Furore (Pierro). The dam is also a half-sister to Blizzard (Starcraft), crowned Singapore’s Champion Miler in that same year.
Ruddy said the colt shapes as a progressive type who will appreciate time and distance, noting his soundness and willing attitude in work.
Both partners are realistic about the market dynamics heading into the sale but remain upbeat about buyer engagement and the quality on offer.
“I think that the market at Inglis and the market at Magic Millions – the top end of Magics [at the Horses in Training Sale] was there, but as a generalisation with the ready-to-run market, the middle to the bottom is always difficult but we’re hopeful,” Ruddy said.
“Inglis seem to have done a very good job at assembling a buyer’s bench. It’s not a hugely big auction and there’s plenty of buyers here – so we’re very hopeful there are enough middle market buyers.
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Hunter echoed those sentiments: “Inglis do a great job getting the buyers here, they are very hospitable to everyone so it makes it an attractive sale for people to come and look at these horses.
“Today we had three trainers in Hong Kong all inspecting the Toronado colt of ours – it’s a phenomenal effort. Inglis have got about 15 trainers from Hong Kong and three are all inspecting our horses at the same time.”
The timing of the auction, held in the same week as The Everest (Gr 1, 1200m), also provides a welcome boost for international participation.
“I think the timing – obviously a lot of Hong Kong owners have made the trip to see Ka Ying Rising and the sale being here aligns perfectly,” Ruddy said. “Hopefully they’ll come home from their trip away with an extra horse.”
For Ruddy and Hunter, their approach to developing and presenting juveniles is centred on education and longevity, with the pair keen to establish a reputation for producing race-ready horses rather than simply breeze-up specialists.
“You spend money on marketing, on a horse’s preparations, we’ve put them in the good stables and they’ve never wanted for anything. We have treated these horses like horses that are going into any metro racing stable in Sydney. They have done all the pace work that a normal two-year-old would.
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“We are breezing racehorses, we’re not training them to be breeze-up horses. That’s what we’ve tried to do from the day we started. Get them in the right system and educate them correctly.”
Their strategy also reflects commercial pragmatism, with a diverse spread of investment across their draft.
“We bought at really different price points, we paid $14,000 for the Rubick, $50,000 for the All Too Hard, $100,000 for a Star Turn and our standout horse we paid $250,000 for,” Ruddy said.
“The most important thing – and what good pinhookers have told us – is to look at the draft as a whole and success as a whole. You're obviously not going to make money on every horse you purchase, we’re very realistic with our expectations.
“We think success is getting out of a horse having not lost any money. Every horse we get out of without hurting ourselves, we learn something from that.”
And while the Baccarat Baby colt headlines the draft, Ruddy and Hunter’s first foray into the sale ring is as much about establishing their identity as it is about returns.
“Don’t get me wrong – Baccarat Baby – we really want to be making some money there, but the Rubick is a good example,” Ruddy said. “If he makes $40,000 or $50,000, that’s a great result. We’re smiling walking away from that.
“I genuinely believe that any one of our horses should be able to fit into any stable and be another horse. They should not be the breeze-up horse in the corner that you’re trying to fix and calm down. We’ve made a huge emphasis on that.”
