It’s all smiles as the thoroughbred is promoted at Stud Cutting Competition
There were plenty of smiles and laughter at Friday night’s Thoroughbred Stud Cutting Competition in Scone, as some of the racing and breeding industry’s leading Hunter Valley-based farms and personalities switched helmets for cowboy hats and jockey boots for chaps as they pitted their skills against one another in an entirely different equine discipline.
Yet beneath the celebration of the thoroughbred, and the wider horse breed in general, there was a serious message to portray, and not just in earning local stud bragging rights in being named champion of this, the second edition, of the Thoroughbred Cutting Challenge.
The idea for the event, which was first held last year, was borne out of a desire to promote the thoroughbred as an off-the-track proposition for cutting, a discipline that first made its way to Australia from the US in the 1970s and is a method of keeping cows separate from their herd.
“It started by cowboys on ranches needing to sort cattle and they would have competitions with their horses of trying to keep a cow separate from their herd and horse mimicking the movement, eye to eye, of a cow to keep it separate,” says Lynda MacCallum, committee member of the NSW Cutting Horse Club.
“There’s a lot of athleticism required and horses are extremely intelligent, these are amazing horses.”
Evidence of thoroughbreds being used in this arena was on display on Friday through none other than Group 1 winner Takedown, who saluted in the 2016 Winterbottom Stakes at Ascot in Perth, and multiple Hong Kong winner Blizzard.
Takedown and Blizzard are used as a turn back horses, with their job to help keep the herd orderly, as well as encouraging the single cow back to its herd, while the cutting horse works the separated cow.
Sledmere Stud’s Treen Murphy was principally involved in creating the event as a way to help promote the thoroughbred as a cutting horse and this year $62,000 was raised from a Calcutta to be donated to educational services to the thoroughbred industry.
“There was a crew of us in our industries, with Wayne Baumann, Lynda MacCallum and a lot of trainers on board. We wanted to bring our industries together and do a lot for our communities,” said Murphy.
“It’s another way of being creative and involving our thoroughbreds as turn back horses. We’re trying to engage with rehoming racehorses and we had two special racehorses here tonight with Blizzard and Takedown, and they were both outstanding, like ducks to water.
“We’ve doubled the amount of money we’ve raised this year and it’s going to go back into thoroughbred industry careers to help with educating people who want to come into the industry.”
While investment has gone into other equine disciplines to encourage the rehoming and retraining of thoroughbreds, such as showjumping, where Magic Millions will hold a $1 million event scheduled for next year, it is hoped a thoroughbred class of cutting horse could be a regular fixture at cutting events, if farrier and professional cutting trainer Link Baumann, father-in-law of Cressfield Stud’s representative Liesl Baumann, gets his wish.
“I’ve got a bit of a pipe dream that there could be a thoroughbred class here, I think it’s doable,” he said.
“While they might not be superstar cutting horses, some of the horses out here tonight were unbelievable and we’ll get some horses that come out of this that will be useful horses for people to rehome.”
In a change to this year’s event, the competitors were divided up into two teams, each under the banner of thoroughbred auction houses Magic Millions and Inglis.
Those taking part included second-year veterans Tom Magnier of Coolmore, Antony Thompson for Widden and last year’s winner Tayla Gilmore of Godolphin.
Of the new faces participating this year, Kia Ora Stud were represented by sales and nominations Belle Howard, while Sally Gordon rides for Arrowfield, Niamh O’Brien for Newgate Farm and Ridgmont Farm’s Jakub Vitek.
The honours went to former AFL player Josh Gibson, captain of team Magic Millions, who scored 75 points, with Kitchwin Hills’ Mick Malone in second. However, Inglis claimed the spoils over rivals Magic Millions to win the team competition by a narrow margin, with 496 points earned to 493.