Tough Yorkshire ready to climb higher peaks
Potential superstar Yorkshire (Snitzel) is becoming not only as one of the most exciting performers in the country but also the poster boy for Mark Player and Rob Roulston’s growing colts syndicate PR Funds, an enterprise which has made great strides in a short amount of time.
The two bloodstock buyers and, at various times, Victorian racing administrators, came together in 2021, largely bonded by their respective clientele.
“Mark had some good clients and I had some good clients, and they were friendly with each other, so Mark and I said, ‘Why don’t we get together?’” Roulston told ANZ News.
They first teamed up at the yearling sales of 2021, and struck paydirt from the outset.
Buying as International Thoroughbred Solutions, they purchased Garza Blanca (I Am Invincible) for $700,000, later seeing him become a highly rated stakes–winning sprinter.
At the same Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale the pair paid $320,000 for Bel Air (Written Tycoon), who would win five times – including the last event on Melbourne Cup day last year, earning $635,000 in prize-money in the process.
And they also bought Foujita San (Maurice) at Inglis Easter for $360,000 and have watched him become twice stakes-placed, and the winner of $468,000 in prize-money so far.
But in their second year of buying together, Roulston and Player fared even better.
Now known as PR Funds, they went to their top price to date in paying $800,000 for Grand Larceny (Zoustar), who won his fifth race from 13 starts when successful at Flemington on Stakes Day last month to be earmarked for major things in the autumn by his trainers Team Hawkes.
PR Funds paid $280,000, also at the Gold Coast, for Run Harry Run (Written Tycoon), who’s now a city winner with $570,000 in the bank and ran second in Pakenham’s VOBIS Gold Bullion (1400m) on Saturday.
Another acquisition, for $180,000 at Inglis Classic, was Capitalisation (Capitalist), who won a Moe maiden and ran fourth at Flemington among four starts before a lucrative sale to Hong Kong.
But the pride of the fleet – among some 20 horses on PR Funds’ books at present – is undoubtedly Yorkshire.
Bred by Newgate Farm associate SF Bloodstock, the then colt was bought by PR Funds at Inglis Easter for $575,000 – towards the upper end of their usual budget, well above his $300,000 reserve, and having convinced Roulston and Player it was worth exceeding their valuation of between $400,000 and $500,000.
On Saturday, he again showed what’s becoming his trademark toughness by winning the $2 million The Ingham (Gr 2, 1600m) at Randwick, sitting outside the leader, charging to the front at the 350 metres, and defying his challengers to score by 0.49 lengths.
The John O’Shea and Tom Charlton–trained five-year-old has needed time to develop, after a series of minor ailments following early immaturity, but now has eight wins from 11 starts, and prize-money earnings of $1.67 million. Having booked his ticket in The Ingham, the gelding will be among the favourites when betting opens for next April’s $4 million Doncaster Mile (Gr 1, 1600m).
This campaign has especially illustrated Yorkshire’s class and character. He was favourite when resuming in Newcastle’s $1 million The Hunter (1300m), but was eased up to last upon suffering a heart arrhythmia.
Despite essentially missing a run that day, he came out two weeks later and won Rosehill’s Festival Stakes (Gr 3, 1500m), before following up two weeks after that in The Ingham.
“They say horses win the start after heart arrhythmia,” Roulston said, “but to come back and win a Group 3 when he was only half fit, was remarkable. He was underdone going into his first-up run, and then he basically missed that run, but he still won the Festival two weeks later.
“He’s a very tough horse. John and Tom always say he’s incredibly tough. It doesn’t matter what work you give him, he just bounces back, which is a good attribute to have.
“John’s always said he’s a winner, which he is, because he finds under pressure. He’s got to make the next step now, because the handicapper’s going to catch up with him, but I know John and Tom both think he can make that step. In fact, they’re adamant.”
What’s making the Yorkshire story even more pleasing for Roulston and Player is the team of friends who comprise his ownership ticket. They include Gerry Ryan, Neil Werrett, Col Madden, David Kobritz’s Musk Creek Farm, and Tim Eddy – the chairman of Racing Victoria, a position Roulston held from 2012-15.
They came together after Roulston and Player bought what they considered to be an especially well made colt at that Easter sale of 2022.
Yorkshire was clearly an impressive specimen, and they were targeting Snitzels that year, but better still in Roulston’s eyes, he was out of one of several fast North American imported by Newgate in recent years.
Chanteline (Majesticperfection), who won four lower level stakes races in the US over 1100 metres, was bought by SF Bloodstock and Newgate for $425,000 at the Keeneland November Broodmare Sale of 2018. Yorkshire is the first of her five foals, and the only one to race so far.
Roulston and Player went through their normal sale routine. Typically aiming to buy five colts, they’ll pick a shortlist of around 40, which usually becomes 20 after vetting, and the list becomes shorter after valuations with budgets in mind.
“We loved him at the sale, he was a beautiful horse, and if you see him now he’s an absolute beast – a lovely big specimen,” Roulston said.
“He was in Snitzel’s best three at the sale. He was actually my personal favourite, but definitely in the top three.
“And I’d done a lot of research, and Snitzel’s record with fast American-bred mares is outstanding.
“He’s had several Group 1 horses out of fast American mares. And this was the first foal out of a fast American mare, so he fitted the pedigree rules as well as being a great type.”
For a couple of examples by Snitzel:
Moir Stakes (Gr 1, 1000m) victor and current Newgate sire Wild Ruler was out of a speedy American mare imported by that farm; Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) hero and current Coolmore sire Switzerland is out of Canadian-bred mare who raced only in the US, winning four times from 1300 metres to 1600 metres; dual Group 1 winner and Newgate sire Russian Revolution is out of an American mare whose one win from five starts came over 1100 metres; and Letzbeglam and her full brother Gatsby’s – winners at Group 2 and Listed level respectively – were from a mare who won one of her four starts, over 1200 metres at Hollywood Park.
“He was a touch immature, a little bit narrow – but he had a fantastic frame and it was just a matter of him growing into it. You could see what he would become, and he’s done that now,” Roulston said.
“Otherwise he had scope and style and presence, everything we were looking for.
“The stud stud farm [Newgate] said the reserve would be $300,000. At that mark, you know there’s a lot of interest in them. We had to go to $575,000.
“We loved him and so we went that little bit extra. The underbidder was Vinery Stud and Peter Orton, who’s a very good judge of a horse, so that was reassuring.”
PR Funds generally won’t venture into “the top level”, Roulston said, putting their budget at between $180,000 and the $800,000 paid for Grand Larceny.
“Our guys don’t want to pay the million dollars, so they’re happy to buy horses in that medium range,” he said.
“We tend to buy horses with enough size and scope so that they might be possible to trade to Hong Kong if we want. In Hong Kong, they like them 16 hands and 500 kilos.
“We’re not buying smaller, chunkier, more forward types – the type that go for $1 million plus.
“And when you’re buying bigger, scopier horses, they take time. We’ve got a lot of unraced horses at the moment, and there’s big wraps on at least two of them.”
While PR Funds is ostensibly a colts syndicate, they have three European females in their portfolio, including Danny O’Brien’s Listed winner Sea What I See (Sea The Stars).
And of course gelding will often become inevitable.
For Yorkshire, it came when a minor leg issue meant he had to be confined to box rest for several weeks – not the greatest situation for a lively three-year-old colt.
“He was going crazy,” Roulston said. “It was getting pretty hard to X-ray him.”
Whatever connections might have lost in the potential stallion department, they appear to have been amply compensated for in the shaping of an extremely exciting racehorse.
And much interest will lie in Chanteline’s yearling colt by I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) in Newgate’s draft at next year’s Inglis Easter sale. After Yorkshire’s deeds, it’s a fair bet he will fetch far more than $575,000.