I should have been overjoyed, shouldn’t I? Steve asks
So there they were. OK, they weren’t all there but I was. The owners of the first five winners on the final day of the VRC Cup carnival. Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al Maktoum and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum who runs a small horse operation called Godolphin. Terry Henderson’s OTI Racing was among the early winners along with other ‘small time’ investors like Rupert Legh and Neil Werrett and partners. And me…and my cohorts.
Yes, me with my small share in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation winner Oncidium Ruler (Strategic). A share largely bestowed upon me courtesy of the benevolence of co-owners and breeders of the horse, Nigel and Meredith Berry and trainer Michael Kent whose son Michael was then chiefly responsible for the OTI-owned winner Fastnet Tempest (Fastnet Rock) as he’d travelled the horse for trainer William Haggas.
I’ve raced plenty of horses which, if nothing else, might give me marginal legitimacy in occasionally commenting on the game. Had one pretty good one in the Al Maher (Danehill) filly Marheta who was prepared to a Queensland Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) second (by a head, sob) by Mike Moroney.
But I wasn’t at Eagle Farm that day. I was nursing a hangover from the previous day’s trek to Epsom to see Workforce (King’s Best) win the Derby (Gr 1, 1m4f) and a brief visit to the bags (dogs) at Wimbledon that night (that’s another story!). Yes, I get around a bit but trust me it’s going to be a very frugal retirement.
Even so, a Flemington Cup week winner probably tops an Eagle Farm second even in a Group One. And it absolutely would have had I not told many friends, those who’d foolishly bothered to ask, that he probably couldn’t win. You see, his first up run had been plain and his work since even plainer. Such is racing.
But I underestimated the weakness of the opposition and the fact that there was quite a bit of give in that Flemington track early on Saturday and that they went ridiculously hard in front which played to Oncidium Ruler’s staying strength.
So, now we power on relentlessly and enthusiastically towards the Ballarat and Pakenham Cups. An enthusiasm only moderately tempered by the fact that Saturday’s fourth placegetter, beaten just 0.8 lengths, was coming off a maiden win (but it was a five lengths maiden win).
The real story is with breeders, Eltham GP Dr. Nigel Berry and his wife Meredith, who’ve had great results in recent years and yet often struggled to defray racing costs beyond attracting family and friends.
Oncidium Ruler is by Zeditave’s (The Judge) sprinting son Strategic who’s not had a stakes-winner beyond 1800 metres, but our bloke is about to change that.
He’s out of the Zabeel (Sir Tristram) mare Princess Regina from a great family of New Zealand stayers including The Bandette and Prince Majestic, both by Noble Bijou (Vaguely Noble).
A great granddaughter of the New Zealand Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) and two times New Zealand Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) winner Princess Mellay (Mellay), Princess Regina produced a Helmet (Exceed And Excel) filly in mid-October and her yearling colt is also by that Darley stallion. Her three-year-old daughter, by Hard Spun (Danzig), is Centripetal who is yet to race.
“But Mick (Kent) says she is our autumn Oaks filly,” Nigel Berry said.
She is also the dam of four-year-old Royal Order (Commands), a Flemington 2000 metre winner in June, who was also bred by the Berrys as was Oncidium Ruler’s sister Za Za Zoom who won four races. Royal Order is on the comeback trail after sustaining a tendon injury, a fate which also befell Oncidium Ruler at the same age – both horses testament to Mick Kent’s patience and training ability.
The mare was secured as an unsuccessful three-year-old. “She was a failure as a racehorse,” Berry said.
“Not because of her physical ability but her brain. That taught us we had to manage her offspring very specifically.
“When I saw her for sale she had exactly the breeding I wanted but normally would not have been able to afford her but sometimes adverse times can be helpful.
“It was in the EI (equine influenza) period and there was a dispute between the lessees and the owners in New Zealand, but of course the horse could not be moved out of Melbourne because of EI, so the price came down. We were the lucky ones.”
Her later somewhat surprise match with Strategic had method. “The whole mating of Strategic to a Zabeel mare is quite complicated but intended. It may seem an unusual mating to breed stayers but reflects the old, colonial bloodlines and in my view the colonial stallions remain the best,” Berry said.
“The blockers to breeding and, particularly, selling successful stayers in Australia have led us to develop a different model, which probably isn’t sustainable in the long term but we persevere.
“Our model involves keeping the young horses, breaking them in and then selling through friends etcetera. It relies on an excellent horse assessor, handler and breaker, Ross Hedwards, and a first class trainer, Mick (Kent).
“But there is also the downside, a number of ‘rejects’ in the back paddock, who didn’t make it. Even Lloyd Williams admitted to the same problem after winning the Melbourne Cup.”
The breeders were, of course, delighted to win a race in Cup week. “I know we were two seconds slower than the other two 2000 (metres) races, but it was Flemington and it was the Cup carnival so nothing could dampen our delight.
“In terms of costs and enlisting friends, I always give a lecture to our friends whom we rope in to our horses that they may lose but best to invest in horses which won’t see them lose their pants and they have all remained friends.
“The recent financial publications of our friend The Sheik show that in the last financial year he has had to write down his stock by $65,000,000 and he has lost $800,000,000 since he set up in Australia. We haven’t lost anywhere near that much,” Berry said.
The Berrys also bred, and owned, this year’s Phar Lap Stakes (Gr 2, 1500m) placegetter Comic Set (Reset) who was subsequently sold to Hong Kong. The proceeds tipped into the acquisition of two Zabeel mares who’ll go to Teofilo (Galileo). “This is a mating I’ve been advocating long before Humidor hit his straps,” he said.
The owners of Oncidium Ruler are certainly a diverse group. They include Darren Tymms, son of legendary bookmaker Eric Tymms, who strapped the horse on Saturday. Tymms is an assistant horse trainer, by dawn, to Kent and then a podiatrist by day.
The group also includes Paul Kerrigan and his friend Simon Whybrow. Kerrigan is a grandson of Laurie Cleary who trained the 1983 Oakleigh Plate (Gr 1, 1100m) winner Sans Rival (Acidity). Cleary was Kent’s mentor.
Brian Waddingham, from Queensland, is also involved. “He wrote to me last year, because he wanted me to know how proud he and his family were to be involved in an Australian bred horse and how much they enjoyed watching Oncidium Ruler’s races on TV.
“We have people stay with us. We do impress upon them that it’s not just a way of having fun or possibly making money. We assure them that after the racing career is over, we do try to find another path for the horse.
“Others in the horse are Urs and Christa Biedermann, neighbours from Plenty whose children were taught to ride by Meredith; Mark Norris an accountant and friend and Tony Dortimer, a cardiologist, who when I asked if he would like to be in a racehorse was delighted as he said he had been attending the Cup Carnival for 30 years and always wanted to be in a racehorse.
“This one backfired on me a bit as I tried to explain to him that having your racehorse run second in a black type race at Flemington at his third start, as Oncidium Ruler did, was not the norm and he might have to lower his expectations next time. So, then he went into Royal Order who won at Flemington at his third start.
“BDP racing is our children’s racing syndicate, Alex and Jo Berry; Jane and Josh De Bruin; Keith Berry and Jody Pederson. Norm Sonenberg is a pathologist friend who’s also in the horse,” Berry said.
So what’s the secret to the Berry’s breeding success to this point. “I could give you a story on our breeding and rearing model but I have decided not to as it remains our intellectual property – that is, I might bore you – but I will admit to being a Zabeel fanatic along with other great New Zealand stayers like Noble Bijou, Mellay, Oncidium and of course Sir Tristram.
“We do prefer to keep a low profile as we know the bubble can burst at any time, although we think we have put together a good team of horses with the right people support,” Berry said.