Valuable mare Tofane could still be on the market
Winter carnival to determine whether daughter of Ocean Park races on next season
Stradbroke Handicap (Gr 1, 1400m) contender Tofane (Ocean Park), whose racetrack career was extended after connections gave up a gilt-edged opportunity to sell the valuable mare at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale, could still be traded before this year’s breeding season.
The Mike Moroney-trained Group 1 winner, one of the high-end attractions in a star-studded race fillies and mares session at the Gold Coast auction last month, ran on well to finish runner-up to Emerald Kingdom (Bryannbo’s Gift) in the BRC Sprint (Gr 3, 1350m) on May 22, a performance that convinced her owners to race her on during the Queensland winter carnival.
“There’s no doubt that she was highly sought after. We had a lot of enquiry for her leading into the sale and the day beforehand, but at the end of the day it was the decision by the majority of the owners that they’d like to (continue to) race her,” part-owner Rupert Legh told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday.
“A lot of these people (in the ownership) haven’t had good horses before and I don’t think it was their primary objective to be selling her as a broodmare as they have more fun racing her.
“We’ve been fortunate to have good horses and if it was my choice I would have put her through the sale ring and put a high reserve on her, but they’re all friends of mine, so I didn’t want to deny them the opportunity of winning another Group 1.
“At the end of the day, I know money’s important, but it’s not everything when it comes to racing, particularly when you do have a mare of her quality.
“Hopefully she can go and win another Group 1 and justify that we didn’t bring her to the sale.”
Legh revealed a number of high-profile domestic and international breeders had expressed interest in Tofane and connections could again reach out to those parties if the decision is made to sell the mare privately before the start of the new stud season on September 1.
“If she came out on Saturday and won it or ran particularly well, there’s no reason why we can’t negotiate with some of the major studs,” he said.
“For example, Yulong, the boys down at Cotton On (Rosemont Stud), obviously Arrowfield, Newgate and there’s also a Japanese stud who is very keen, so that’s still a possibility.
“She can still be sold between now and August.”
Tofane ($9) drew barrier 12 at last night’s Stradbroke barrier draw.
“She’s a very lightly raced mare and that’s a good thing. Her work today was particularly pleasing (at Eagle Farm),” Legh said yesterday.
“As a matter of fact, the reports were that it was as good as, if not better than, when she won the All Aged Stakes (last year).
“She’s enjoying the environment up here and she made her intentions very clear with her last run at Doomben a couple of weeks ago.
“If she comes through the race with a fair degree of luck, I have no doubt that she will be fighting out the finish hopefully with our other horse. That would be a bit more fun.”
The “other horse” Legh is referring to is his Stradbroke Handicap second favourite Wild Planet (Animal Kingdom) who last night drew barrier 15, causing him to ease in the market to $6.50 and be displaced at the top of betting by Vega One (Lope De Vega) ($5.50).
The Michael, Wayne and John Hawkes-trained gelding has not raced since finishing second to Eduardo (Host) in the Doomben 10,000 (Gr 1, 1200m) on May 15, his first start back since the Cantala Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) on Victoria Derby day last October.
The gap between his first and second-up run was a deliberate ploy by the Hawkes’, believing he performs best being kept fresh.
“They jumped him out between races at the Gold Coast on Saturday with three other horses after race one and that just took the edge off him,” Legh said.
“He was a bit toey and ready to race, but that would have taken the edge off him and had him ready for Saturday’s encounter.
“He’s obviously enjoying the warmer climate up here, as we all do. He doesn’t have the best of coats, but if anything, it’s probably the best it’s ever looked.
“Dropping down to 54 kilos is a massive reduction in weights compared to what he has been used to.
“Hopefully once again with some luck in running he’ll be thereabouts in the finish.”
Legh will also have two runners in the inaugural running of the $1.2 million The Q22 (Gr 2, 2200m) at Eagle Farm, the rejuvenated Chris Waller-trained Reloaded (Snitzel) and the Moroney-trained Hang Man (Windsor Knot).
Vivian joins Legh’s team
Meanwhile, Legh also confirmed yesterday that Simon Vivian, the respected former Inglis Victorian bloodstock manager who retired from the auction house in April, has been called on to oversee his breeding interests.
“Simon has been good enough to take on the hard task of fixing our broodmare band,” he said.
“We’ve got a lot of them and it’s just a matter of getting the formula right and making sure that we’ve got the quality that will ensure our yearlings get into the right sales.
“Everyone would agree that if you don’t have yearlings going to the Premier, Gold Coast or Easter sales, it is a tough gig and you will lose money, not make money, so there’s no better person to be out there looking after the broodmares and babies (than Simon) and hopefully we can turn our breeding business into a more profitable one.”
The prominent owner has shares in stallions such as Exceedance (Exceed And Excel), Tivaci (High Chaparral), Grunt (O’Reilly), Brutal (O’Reilly) and Alabama Express (Redoute’s Choice) and, as a result, his broodmare band has increased in size in recent years.
“It was never our intention to be a breeder but we’ve been fortunate enough with the stallions we’ve been able to create (on the racetrack),” Legh said.
“We started off with Glass Harmonium, to a certain degree, then we had Tivaci, Grunt, Brutal, Exceedance and Alabama Express and I have still retained shareholdings in all those stallions.
“It just happened because you had to have mares to go to them. I am sure Simon will point us in the right direction and hopefully turn it into a more viable business than what it has been.”
At the Magic Millions Gold Coast National Sale, Legh sold dual Group 3-winning filly Chica Fuerte (Hinchinbrook), a rising four-year-old he part-owned, for $900,000 and reinvested in a number of mares at the auction under the Simon Vivian Bloodstock banner.
Gilgai Farm’s Rick Jamieson and the breeder’s stud manager Kelly Skillecorn, Blue Gum Farm’s Phillip Campbell and Vinery Stud’s Peter Orton have also been leaned on by Legh to help advise on his breeding interests.
“We’ll definitely be supporting our own stallions but that won’t be the be-all and end-all. Once again, it gets down to what stallions suit these mares and that will be the job of Simon and people like Philip Campbell, Rick and Peter Orton,” he said.
“They are a great group of breeders and they have got a lot of knowledge. I think between the four of them, led by Simon, we’ll get those mares to the right stallions.”
Legh reasoned: “I have always believed in business, no matter what business you’re in, you’ve got to have competent people around you.
“You can’t do it all yourself, you don’t know it all yourself, so you have got to make sure that you’ve got the best people around you if you want to be successful in business.”