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Playing By The Rules

Mar 8, 2024

  Our Racing Manager, Emma Reeves, aids us with programming and identifies who she thinks is the best placed horse each weekend. So United, Canberra, Sunday 10th March, Canberra Cup: I’m extremely excited about the two-year-olds, the return of Red Resistance and don’t give up on Jon Bon, but I had to go with So United this week. I should start by saying that there might be a percentage of bias in this one though I am trying to bring it back to the black and white facts. Every year around July and August I start to think about some of the less obvious possible Magic Millions contenders that are currently in work. They’re often older, consistent Saturday class horses, whereas the glossy two and three-year-olds aren’t hard to find. In August of last year So United had been in work for a long time was almost always running top four but I felt a spell was on the horizon so after speaking with Gai, Adrian and David Mourad from Blueblood Thoroughbreds, we devised a Magic Millions plan. As I’ve said before, few horses stick to the plan because they’re living, breathing animals and we need to react to each individual but for whatever reason, things seemed to go perfectly to script with him. He won his first Saturday race and the preparation culminated with a win in the $1mil. Magic Millions Subzero. That might not sound as exciting as winning a Golden Slipper but for my role, these are what make it all worthwhile. So United is one of only four horses in this Canberra Cup field of 11 who’s suitably weighted according to his handicap rating and with these older, exposed stayers, I do think that’s quite relevant. Each of those horses, excluding So United, are also nominated for Randwick the day before so keep an eye on the scratchings at 7.30am Saturday morning. Two of those three finished 1-2.5 lengths behind him in the Parramatta Cup which isn’t a large margin but So United was first up off a freshen in the paddock and only one trial, so I expect there to be more improvement in him. The final one of the three is dropping back from finishing fourth in a Caulfield Cup which is certainly eye catching, but he is first up. So United hasn’t won at this level but we have so much success in this race and I think this is his opportunity.

RSVP: Tulloch Lodge Yearling Parade at Evergreen Stud

Feb 21, 2024

Our not to be missed annual Tulloch Lodge Yearling Parade is set for Friday 8th March at 11am followed by 1pm lunch at Merewether Surfhouse. This is a great opportunity to meet first hand the Magic Millions, Karaka and Classic yearlings we have shares available in, with Adrian, our bloodstock team and our breaker Johnny Butler on hand to talk through each of them. Last year at the corresponding event we paraded eight yearlings for existing owners: STORM BOY (Justify x Pelican) - $3m Magic Millions winner and current Group 1 Golden Slipper favourite SHANGRI LA EXPRESS (Alabama Express x Sent From Above) - winner of the $1m Golden Gift and Kirkham Stakes and third favourite for the Group 1 Golden Slipper SHIVERMEPINK (Zoustar x Pretty In Pink) - Close second to Too Darn Lizzie in a trial a week ago, will trial again before racing in the Autumn. SHANGRI LA SPRING (Castelvecchio x Opportunity)- looked sharp in his jump-outs before a spell. Returns to the stable with a view to racing through the back end of the Autumn and Winter. I AM A ROCKSTAR (Fastnet Rock x I Am A Star) - trialled for the first time with a nice 2nd placing a fortnight ago. He has since been spelled. A horse to follow, looks progressive. CAPITALIST X ESPAANIYAH colt - he had a set back in January. Showed good speed before that. Returns to work in the Autumn.  PARIS TYCOON (Written Tycoon x Paris Match) - jumped out last preparation before a spell. Returns to work later this month. Expect to see more of her this preparation.  INVINCIBLE DUCHESS (I Am Invincible x Ben's Duchess) - returns to work later this month. Has been well educated, just physically has not been ready to trial in earlier preparations.  As you can see, attending this parade can be very worthwhile, and the group of 8 are still relatively unexposed so who knows what other race wins we can add to the CVs of these current 2YOs over the next 12 months.  VIDEO: Skip to 8.57 to hear what Adrian and Bruce had to say at last year's parade about STORM BOY in the video below. Date Friday 8th March Time 11am - Yearling Parade at Evergreen Stud 1pm - Lunch at Merewether Surfhouse   Address Evergreen Stud 2163 Pacific Hwy, Heatherbrae, NSW, 2324 Merewether Surfhouse  5 Henderson Parade, Merewether, NSW, 2291 RSVP for our 2024 Tulloch Lodge Yearling Parade to Emma Coleman at ecoleman@gaiwaterhouse.com.au by Wednesday 28th February. Please also note if you would like to join us for lunch overlooking the famous Merewether Beach (pro-rata cost per head).

Playing By The Rules

Feb 16, 2024

Our Racing Manager, Emma Reeves, aids us with programming and identifies who she thinks is the best placed horse each weekend. Jon Bon, Saturday 17th February, Newcastle, Race 6: Very difficult one this week with the Carnival starting to heat up so I thought I’d use the opportunity to give the Jon Bon story that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. I would imagine that few people were expecting to see him salute over 1200 metres on debut against the older horses, myself included. I saw it as a starting point with a view to get him over further but that win prompted us to spell and geld him, enabling us to get the timing right for the ATC Derby. Last year’s Derby winner, Major Beel, was a similar style of horse so we used his autumn program as a blueprint. Jon Bon began in the very same race this preparation and while it wasn’t the same result, we learnt a few things. Firstly, we’ve added blinkers to keep him focused and sharpen him up and secondly, he has completed some intensive barrier work. We also took him to the Randwick races on Wednesday to stand in the tie up stalls, simulating a raceday experience. Our goal is to bring his pre-race energy levels down so every ounce of energy is reserved for his race. Yes, he races older horses which is tough, but I just think that these additional ingredients combined with the step up in trip should see him be much more competitive.

Playing By The Rules

Feb 2, 2024

Our Racing Manager, Emma Reeves, aids us with programming and identifies who she thinks is the best placed horse each weekend. Lady Of Poise, Saturday 3rd Feb, Caulfield, Race 1: My story is on repeat at present, but these three-year-old fillies seem to be winning in Melbourne week after week so I’m sticking with it. A $150,000 3-Year-Old Fillies Benchmark 70 Handicap just wouldn’t exist in Sydney; you wouldn’t even find one for half the money at the midweeks. We’re therefore often forced to run these winning fillies against older mares, and that’s if we’re lucky and those contests exist, so these races we’re heading south for are much more winnable. Lady Of Poise is first up here, unlike Power Ballard and Very Sewreel, but again if you had asked me to create the race conditions for this filly, this would be it. While he doesn’t fit quite as perfectly as Lady Poise, I wanted to give a special mention to Jon Bon. We’ve purposefully timed his preparation to mirror Major Beel’s from this time last year. He kicked off in this Class 1 Handicap over 1300 metres, beating none other than Everest contender Hawaii Five Oh before he too came under our care, then went on to win the Group 1 ATC Derby two months later. Jon Bon is first up over a distance short of his best and races older horses, but I’m hopeful that he could be an interesting story that unfolds.

Descarado Partnership Departs For Karaka

Jan 22, 2024

Our inaugural Descarado partners depart for Auckland on Thursday for a fun filled few days on the land of 'the long white cloud', and there is still room for a couple or two to join us. We have two opportunities available in our $600,000 raise for three middle distance NZ-bred yearlings in our Descarado Partnership, with a trip to Karaka part of the fun and experience on the following itinerary: Thursday - Arrive in Auckland, check-in and settle into our Viaduct accommodation. Friday - Waiheke Island day trip including lunch, followed by dinner in the Viaduct. Saturday - Karaka in the morning to see some horses, enjoy some world class vendor lunch, and then back to Auckland to prepare for the Karaka Million twilight races at Ellerslie. Sunday -  Karaka for the first day of selling. Partners can leave in the evening or stay on for Day 2 of selling before flying home.  New Zealand bred racehorses have long played an important part in the success of Tulloch Lodge, and our team is excited to be back on the Karaka grounds in 2024, after missing the last three additions due to COVID and the big storms last year that flooded Auckland airport. Through our inaugural Descarado Partnership, we aim to attend the 2024 Karaka Sale well armed with $600,000 in funds to be spread across three of the best middle distance prospects we can find to win our owners a Guineas, Golden Eagle, a Derby, or one of our many rich Cups races in Australia.  We know they will be there, New Zealand breds excel when it come to races over 1600m and beyond, and between us, we have been the beneficiary of a Caulfield Cup and Caulfield Stakes (Descarado), an Australian Derby (Major Beel), a Brisbane Cup (Tullamore), The Metropolitan (Te Akau Nick, Dress Circle, In Joyment & Herculian Prince), an AJC Oaks (Coco Cobanna), a Queensland Oaks (Zacheline), a Randwick Guineas (Carnegie Express), a Sydney Cup (Linesman), a Ranvet Stakes (Electronic and Stony Bay), and a Vinery Stud Stakes (Shower Of Roses) among others. In recent times a steady stream of trophies from the Kiwis in our stable has continued to flow. Since 2020, Major Beel won the Group 1 ATC Derby, Never Been Kissed the Group 1 Flight Stakes, Cross Talk the Group 3 Newcastle Stakes, Raf Attack the Group 3 Gloaming Stakes, Goldman the Listed Roy Higgins Stakes, Tilianam the Listed Lonhro Plate, and Riodini last year's $1m Gong.  MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT Today we were given even more reason to attend Karaka 2024 with New Zealand Bloodstock and the New Zealand TAB announcing a new slot race. Named 'THE NZB KIWI', the NZ$3.5m race over 1500m will be contested for the first time in March 2025 and will be restricted to NZ bred or NZB sold 3YOs. This marks another $1m+ race on the calendar for our Karaka 2024 purchases to potentially contest in 2026. For more information, please click here: Descarado Partnership To confirm your share in our inaugural Descarado Partnership, or register your interest in our Karaka purchases, please contact our Bloodstock team: Claudia Miller - claudia@gaiwaterhouse.com.au or 0422 545 990 Emma Coleman - ecoleman@gaiwaterhouse.com.au or 0474 161 041 Bruce Slade - bruce@kestrelthoroughbreds.com.au or 0400 505 238 Happy Racing, Adrian and Gai

Playing By The Rules

Jan 19, 2024

Our Racing Manager, Emma Reeves, aids us with programming and identifies who she thinks is the best placed horse each weekend. Power Ballard, Saturday 20th January, Flemington, Race 4: I’m heading down a similar path as last week with us sending a three-year-old, city winning filly down to Flemington to race her own age group having raced consistently well against older, more seasoned mares in Sydney. The cherry on top this week is that this race is against three-year-old fillies. In addition to that, it was published as a benchmark 78 but the highest rated horse is 70 and she has been allotted 60kg, so it is now a three-year-old fillies benchmark 70 handicap which couldn’t be more perfect for Power Ballard who has a rating of 65. Again, similar to last week, my query is sticking at the same distance fourth up as our horses tend to naturally stretch out in trip to different degrees but speaking with Gai and Adrian, this filly might just be an out and out speedster. On form it looks as though she is going a month between runs, but she had a jumpout at Flemington two weeks ago, Victoria’s version of a trial, so don’t let that deter you. This may also be in her favour, helping her remain fresh for the 1100 metres again. If you’d asked me to create the perfect race conditions for this filly, this would be it to a tee with the added bonus of it being worth $150,000, so she has to be my best placed horse of the week.

Our Sale, Our Success - Magic Millions 2024 Wrap Up

Jan 17, 2024

Well, where to start! The Magic Millions 2024 has been a spectacular success for us and our owners. Thanks to your amazing support we were able to secure over 40 of the best yearlings we could find through the week long sale, on our own account and in partnership. The rich Magic Millions race day allowed us to repay some of that faith with Storm Boy stamping his future star status in the feature $3m MM 2YO Classic, So United taking out the $1m Subzero for Blueblood Thoroughbreds, and Too Darn Lizzie getting her career off to the right start for her famous ownership group in the $500,000 MM Debut for fillies. The expansion of the Magic Millions race and sales week, through the vision of Katie Paige and Gerry Harvey, has been spectacular. We were able to capitalise in their new $500,000 1400m Maiden race programmed the week before the main event, with Vanquished dropping his maiden tag in the richest way possible against his own grade. In 2025 the Magic Millions week is set to get even BIGGER. More $1m+ races, and a whole Friday night race card under lights preceding the main race day, including a new $3m slot race. A staggering $20,000,000 across 24 hours of racing from Friday night through Saturday.  This addition to an already fantastic week of FUN (sales, races, polo/showjumping, night life, calcuttas) will make the 2025 edition a must attend! As the LEADING BUYER at MM 2024 we are the best set up stable to make the most of the opportunities that will present themselves. Gai, Adrian, Claudia and Bruce sat down to recap the week and highlight a few opportunities to be involved in the yearlings we secured at Magic Millions: Thank you all for your incredible support at Magic Millions 2024. Now the real work starts. The education of the next generation is paramount, we have an incredible system in place that gives us a handy competitive advantage, as measured by 2YO race wins. Until then, we look forward to keeping you updated every step of the way along the journey. Happy Racing,  Adrian, Gai and the team at Tulloch Lodge COLTS WITH STALLION SHARES Part of Storm Boy's owners include a group of people who bought stallion share (5% or 2.5%) size ownership in a group of colts we highlighted with stallion prospect profiles. Here is a group of these colts from 2024 with only small opportunities remaining, who fit the exact same brief: Lot 579 - Alabama Express x Devine Lass (No Nay Never) colt Purchase Price: $400,000 Alabama Express has certainly made a big impression with his first crop of 2YOs, and our very own Shangri La Express is at the top of the leader board for prizemoney earned, having won the $1 million Golden Gift.  This colt was purchased from the same farm that produced Shangri La Express, and he is very much in the same mould as our gun 2YO colt. Lot 263 - Extreme Choice x Supersay (Rothesay) colt Purchase Price: $400,000 By a sire who is your best chance in the world of siring you a Group 1 winner, stallion prospect, or Stakes winner, from a mare whose first foal we trained to win on debut at Sydney Metro level earlier this month. Sweet mover this colt in the mould of his own father. Lot 962 - Exceed and Excel x Miss Toorak Flyer (Toorak Toff) colt Purchase Price: $650,000 Sharp colt. Incredible angles and levers, plus muscle on muscle. His is by our leading sire of precocity from a mare whose first foal is a Group winning 2YO. He was born in early August and he looks like a rocket.  FAST HORSES, SELLING FAST In addition to above, the following horses have less than 20% remaining in their ownership, so if you have interest please let us know quickly: Lot 18 - Ole Kirk x Oxford Angel (Nicconi) colt Purchase Price: $300,000 We would hate to think what this colt could have made later in the sale when the buying bench is more organised. He is by one of the best profile first crop stallions from that famously fast 'Mother Duck' family (Quack etc) that throws fast horses no matter which stallion/trainer/state. Lot 125 - Better Than Ready x Secret Indulgence (Fastnet Rock) colt Purchase Price: $240,000 We were thrilled to secure a son of leading QLD sire, Better Than Ready. This colt is out of a very good producing mare who has had five foals to race for four winners, two of those being Group horses in Amangiri and More Secrets. With only two dams on the page littered with Black Type, this colt represents terrific value.  Lot 141 - Anders x Sayahailmary (Keep The Faith) colt Purchase Price: $260,000 Anders was a very fast, dominant 2YO and to this day, he holds the race record in the Group 3 San Domenico Stakes. Being a son of Not A Single Doubt, we were eager to secure his progeny at the sale and this colt looks all speed. Sayahailmary's seven foals to race have all been winners, including Group 2 winner, Mella Maria.  Lot 209 - Written Tycoon x So Far Away (Snitzel) filly Purchase Price: $350,000 Some very savvy operators have combined to buy this sharp looking filly and we have limited opportunities available if you would like to join them for the journey. She is by a Champion sire, from a good running and well related mare by another Champion sire in Snitzel. Lot 590 - Pierata x Dizelle (Zabeel) filly Purchase Price: $250,000 Well bought filly with so much residual value to fall back on. Her sire has started very well with his 2YOs and this filly looks like a Guineas/Oaks winning filly of the future should - athletic, balance and real class.  Lot 941 - Microphone x Miramare (O'Reilly) colt Purchase Price: $280,000 Great buying - one of the flashest colts on complex by one of the best profile young stallions going around, and from a full sister to Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes winner Shamexpress, a leading strike rate sire.  Please contact our Bloodstock team for more information: Claudia Miller - claudia@gaiwaterhouse.com.au or 0422 545 990 Emma Coleman - ecoleman@gaiwaterhouse.com.au or 0474 161 041 Bruce Slade - bruce@kestrelthoroughbreds.com.au or 0400 505 238

Playing By The Rules

Jan 13, 2024

Our Racing Manager, Emma Reeves, aids us with programming and identifies who she thinks is the best placed horse each weekend.Very Sewreel, Saturday 13th January, Flemington, Race 3: I love the placement of so many of our horses up at the Gold Coast on Saturday and with four of our five horses coming off last start wins (excluding those in The Debut for obvious reasons), I’m confident it could be a day to remember. One thing I cannot control, and my reason for leaving them out of contention here, is how they handle what tends to be a crowded, hot, humid day. It is worth noting that Storm Boy has been up there acclimatising for a month now so don’t let me put any of you off backing him in the big one. Although it looks to be an open race, if I simply focus on our horse, I really like the placement of Very Sewreel on Saturday. She broke her maiden in really gutsy fashion before being somewhat thrown in the deep end against older, more seasoned mares where she was beaten less than a length. This is a great opportunity to win a $150,000 Saturday city class race against three-year-olds which rarely comes up in Sydney, certainly not a benchmark 70, so these types of slightly ‘out of the box’ moves are my favourites. One consideration I had is if she’ll be looking for further third up but I’m hoping that the expansive Flemington track will counteract that. I also find that the pace of the races in Victoria are often slower so if Jye McNeil can bounce her out from barrier 2 and make it a real test, I think this tough filly will be hard to run down.