"As we had expected, putting the Book 2 horses in front of the international buyers has been key," he said. 

"To see a $2.5 million increase in turnover from a catalogue with 146 less horses, the results are just extraordinary really.

"The Australian spend has more than doubled compared to this session last year, and while the Kiwis were stronger too, there were plenty who missed out so we hope to see them active at the Karaka Summer Sale on Thursday."

Despite standing for a modest service fee of just $5,000 (plus GST), Embellish produced stakes winners on both sides of the Tasman Sea from his first crop of yearlings and the training team of Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young will be hoping that upward trajectory continues after they splashed the cash on the Cambridge Stud-offered sale topper. 

The bidding had originally stopped at $170,00 when the filly passed through the sales ring, but Busuttin was quick to strike a private deal with farm’s proprietors Sir Brendan and Lady Jo Lindsy at of the back of the auditorium for the daughter of Queen of Wizardry (Not a Single Doubt).   

Given that Queen of Wizardy was a winner at two and her half-sister Coco Sun (The Autumn Sun) won her first two starts as a juvenile before landing the South Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) as a three-year-old, there is every chance that her second foal will possess an abundance of early precocity. 

That is certainly the hope of Busuttin and Young, who also purchased a Best of Bordeaux (Snitzel) colt for $70,000 from the Wentwood Grange draft. 

Their sale topper sealed a stellar auction for the team at Cambridge Stud, who took leading vendor honours at the NZB Yearling Sale for the 33rd time. Fresh off the back of being crowned leading vendors by aggregate during Book 1, the farm enjoyed an equally impressive day’s trade on Tuesday, selling 14 yearlings for $1,195,000. 

The Lindsays opted to sell all the farm’s yearlings at the centenary edition of the sale, and their commitment was duly rewarded. 

Much of their success this year has been built on the extraordinary impact made by Sword of State, who now stands for $20,000 (plus GST) from an opening service fee of $15,000 (plus GST). After some remarkable results across two days of Book 1 trading, his second crop of yearlings were again in high demand on day three at Karaka.         

Lots 657 and 838, respectively a filly out of Tina Again (El Roca) and a colt from Membership (All American), were knocked down for $170,000 apiece as the buying bench again coveted Sword of State’s progeny following the sale of his prized colt out of Las Brisas (Sharmadal) to Ciaron Maher Racing for $1.1 million on Monday.

A “terrifically happy” Robert Wellwood, who trains in partnership with Roger James, snapped up his filly from the draft of Landsdowne Park, run jointly by former professional rugby player Dave Duley and Irish expat Jude Latimer.  

Late in the day, that fee was matched when Sam Beatson’s Riversley Park teamed up with De Burgh Equine to swoop on Sword of State’s bay colt from the Leanach Lodge draft. 

The James and Wellwood combination had been active across the two days of Book 1 trading, purchasing seven yearlings headlined by their $440,000 acquisition of a St Mark’s Basilica (Siyouni) colt from the Windsor Park draft, and the duo extended their spending spree on day three at Karaka after prevailing in a heated bidding dual. 

Two of those seven were sired by Almanzor (Savabeel) but the stable’s acquisition of Lot 657 represented their first investment in a yearling produced by his fellow Cambridge Stud resident Sword of State.     

“The Sword of States are in demand,” Wellwood told ANZ News. 

“We found this filly on our visit to the Landsdowne parade, and we fell in love with her from the outset. She has a great attitude and she should get up early, but there is also plenty of upside in her pedigree being from a sister to recent stakes winner Swiss Prince [El Roca]. We’re pleased to have the opportunity to train this filly.

“She’s got a great fluent walk and we’re terrifically happy to have her walking into the stable. We’ve missed out on a few as you always do, and hopefully we’re not kicking ourselves but we think we’ve bought really well so far. We’ve treated these three days as one book really, the only downside is that there are still some Australians here buying horses so it’s a very competitive market.

“We’ve bought this filly without any owners, but I’m sure she will be very popular because she’s pretty stunning. We also have some opportunities left in some of our Book 1 purchases including the two Almanzor colts, who we think are potential Guineas or Derby types. Almanzor is doing a great job and we only paid $150,000 for each of them, so we couldn’t leave without them.”     

Lansdowne Park enjoyed a stellar sale at the NZB Ready To Run auction last November, finishing as the leading vendors by average after selling their four lots for an average of $277,500, and they have maintained that momentum this week. 

The Cambridge-based operation celebrated a record result for one of their yearlings on Monday afternoon when Chris Waller and his trusted agent Guy Mulcaster went to $950,000 for Lot 471, a beautifully-bred Justify (Scat Daddy) colt. 

While trading in Book 2 was never likely to scale such heady heights, Duley - who established Landsdowne Park in 2008 - was nonetheless delighted to achieve a very solid result with their Sword of State filly.    

“She is so relaxed, kind and easy to work with,” Duley told ANZ News. 

“She’s just a pleasure to have in the stables. We had a lot of x-ray hits and plenty of looks, so we knew she would sell well and quickly.”

The filly was sold by Landsdowne on behalf of Karaka-based breeder Rosemary Carter who, with tongue firmly in cheek, revealed that her husband was bitterly disappointed with the outcome. 

“My husband, Brett [Kendall], hoped she would be passed in because he wanted to race her, but I have bills to pay,” she told ANZ News. 

“She is my first sale filly, but I have too many horses.”

Later in the day there was another surge of interest in Sword of State’s progeny when, shortly after the training team of Richard and Will Freedman had purchased his daughter out of La Tardigrada (I Am Invincible) for $130,000 from the Cambridge Stud draft, Riversley Park went to $170,000 for Lot 838, the fourth foal produced by Membership (All American).

The colt’s strong hind quarters evidently caught the collective eye of the team at Riversley, who less than ten minutes later recouped a significant chunk of their investment when they sold their Contributer (High Chaparral) colt to BBA Ireland, BMD Bloodstock, Sam Haggas of Hurworth Bloodstock and David Skelly for $150,000.    

Leanach Lodge principal Ross Mackay was quietly confident that, of the five yearlings the farm offered in their Book 2 draft, their last lot would comfortably command the highest price. 

“I thought he might top the sale as he is a ripping colt,” Mackay told ANZ News. 

“Sam Beatson of Riversley Park bought him, and I am pretty sure the colt will be back here for the Ready To Run Sale. I believe that Sword of State has the potential to be a champion sire because his foals are on a different level. I have seen a good number of his stock and he really upgrades his mares. 

“This colt had a faultless prep, and once on the grounds he thrived. He has every attribute of a good horse and was worth top billing, but maybe came a little late in the sale.” 

New Zealand native Glen Thompson, who trains at Flemington, also walked away from the Karaka complex with a pair of colts both sired by Sword Of State. 

The astute horseman is an avid admirer of the progeny produced by the dominant 2021 Sistema Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner, and he was determined to return to his adopted homeland with Lots 585 and 618. 

Thompson had to fight harder to secure the former but, in one of several spirited battles played out in the Sir Patrick Hogan Auditorium, he eventually gained the upper hand with a bid of $150,000 for the sixth foal out of Palace Whispers (Snippetson).  

“He’s a big, strong colt who moves well,” Thompson told ANZ News. 

“I saw him on Friday, and he immediately went on my ‘A-list’. I tried to buy a Sword Of State earlier but couldn’t get near one. We will syndicate him, and I think he could be an early type.”

Adrian Stanley echoed those sentiments, with the Woburn Farm founder hopeful the colt may be back at Ellerslie in 12 months’ time to chase the riches on offer at the Karaka Millions raceday. 

“The colt is a nice physical type and a great mover,” he told ANZ News. 

“I agree with Glen [Thompson], he looks like an early runner you could bring back for the Karaka Million 2YO. His reserve was low, but we knew he’d fly that because he’s been so popular.”

Fresh from celebrating a record sale on day two, the team at HGT Bloodstock was again toasting another outstanding result when trainer Graham Richardson teamed up with legendary former cricketer and current England head coach Brendon McCullum to purchase Lot 752 for $110,000. 

At Book 1 on Monday, Richardson and McCullum had combined to purchase the half-sister to dual Group 1-winning mare Belclare (Per Incanto) for $260,000, and 24 hours later the same duo again raided the HGT draft to acquire another athletic filly. 

By Sword of State out of Fascino Lass (Per Incanto), whose half-sister Girl Of My Dreams was a multiple stakes winner, Lot 752 oozed class according to Richardson. 

“This is the second yearling I have purchased from Georgia at HGT,” Richardson told ANZ News. 

“I had her parade her entire draft before Book 1, and I told her that she had a really nice draft. I was impressed then and now I have put my money where my mouth is, twice. So I meant what I said.

“This filly has a lot of Per Incanto about her, and she is a slightly different type from the other Sword of States I have looked at. I reckon she might have a run as a late two-year-old, but look out at three.

“Brendon [McCullum] knows a thing or two about athletes, and she fits that bill. They have to walk well and she moves nicely. She is already partly syndicated, and she won’t take long to complete.”

He and his wife, equine artist Nicole, also run their own racing and breeding operation, Slater Thoroughbreds. The couple’s three-strong broodmare band is based just outside Melbourne, where the 42-year-old remains as hands-on as he was during his teenage spell with the Waterhouse stable. 

“Obviously while you’re playing rugby league professionally it’s a bit hard to dive into [having horses] because if you want to be good at something, you’ve got to be all in – and I certainly was with my footy,” he says. “But probably halfway through my career I started thinking about how can I do both, and not necessarily the racing industry, just how can I have horses and still do what I’m doing.

“Then, towards the end of my career I started getting into the breeding industry; it started small with one mare when we didn’t even have a property. Now we live on a small property outside Melbourne where we have a few broodmares, yearlings and foals. We love educating them, and I even break in a couple that we race. We’re very hands on. It’s an exciting process, and you just don’t know, they could go on and be champions of the turf.” 

The Slater Thoroughbred paddocks are home to youngsters by the likes of Maurice (Screen Hero), Shamus Award (Snitzel), Street Boss (Street Cry) and Arrowfield’s up-and-comer The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice). 

The Street Boss colt is out of Chilli Filly (Vancouver), a Magic Millions purchase who carried Slater’s silks to victory on the track before joining the broodmare band. He hopes current colour bearer Cooly (Cool Aza Beel), a Caulfield maiden winner trained by Peter Moody and Katherine Coleman, will follow a similar route once her racing days are behind her. 

As the head coach of the Queensland State of Origin side, Slater is well used to appraising the respective strengths of the competition’s elite names. Breeders undertake a similar process when it comes to selecting stallions during the annual round of mating plans, and Slater says he particularly enjoys this part of the thoroughbred breeding process. 

“You’d be naive not to get advice from people but I love making the decisions off the back of that,” he says, speaking during the Gold Coast Yearling Sale. “And, at the end of the day, they’re your decisions. That’s pretty cool, and that’s what makes it special, to put in the time and make those decisions. 

“It’s not an overnight thing, these horses here [at the sale] have been 12 months in decision making over matings, then they get born and there’s another 15 months for them to get here. It’s a long journey.”

He also suggests that picking the Queensland squad is “much easier” than unearthing a future champion at the yearling sales.

“The Queensland team is much easier because you can really see the habits of the athletes, but here you can only try to predict the habits of the horses,” he says. “You’re only looking at the pedigrees and the physical, so you do get a lot more information when you’re looking at rugby league players.” 

Although the two sports’ participants may require vastly different physical attributes, Slater says he can see a clear crossover between racing and rugby league. 

“I definitely see parallels in the training methods and the elite professionalism of both sports,” he says. “Racehorses are trained to the minute, they’re finely tuned, and that’s what we see with elite sportspeople across the board. There are definitely parallels there.” 

While preparation may be key, either on the racetrack or on the rugby league field, Slater says he is drawn to the part fate and fortune has to play in the thoroughbred game.

“The one thing I love about the horses is that the person with $400 million can compete with the person with $10,000 in their pocket,” he says. “There’s still that element of luck. We’re here at the Magic Millions yearling sales and there are lots going for $2 million, but there are also lots going for $40,000, and they can still compete because there’s that element of luck.” 

Reflecting on where his affinity with horses stems from, Slater says: “My connection with horses started before I’d even become a professional athlete; I’ve always had a great love for the horse. 

“It probably comes from my grandfather. I grew up in the country, I certainly wasn’t a city boy, but we lived in town. My grandfather had horses and was an old stockman, so I’d go out to his property and we’d ride every now and again. 

“Then my father was good mates with a couple of racehorse trainers, so he’d go there in the afternoon and I’d tag along. I ended up getting a job there walking horses, doing the boxes and that sort of stuff. From there, I got given an ex-racehorse as a pony and I started doing pony club and showjumping on her when I was about 14 years old. I actually met my wife at pony club, although we got together a little bit later in life.”

He may have long since etched his name into the rugby league history books, but his equine endeavours have helped write a whole new chapter in the Billy Slater story. 

“A lot of things that I would’ve never imagined have happened in my life,” he says. “But you know what, you go out there and you set your sights and your goals high, and you never know what you can achieve. A boy from the bush, here I am standing at the Magic Millions!” 

Having achieved almost everything there is to achieve in rugby league, what are Slater’s thoroughbred ambitions? 

“Breeding a Group 1 winner would be very special because it doesn’t happen overnight, there’s a lot that goes into breeding a champion,” he says. “We’ve bred city winners, we haven’t quite got a black-type winner yet, so taking the stepping stones to breeding a champion would be something special coming from a small little farm.”