22nd April – INGLIS EASTER SALE

The Hong Kong Jockey Club rounded out their purchases for their HK International Sale in December 2008 with a further 6 colts. The most expensive being a Redoute’s Choice colt out of Significant Moment, bought for $AUS710,000 from Widden Stud. The sale was very strong with Bob Ingham and Sheikh Mohammed the biggest buyers each spending approximately $AUS20 million. Once again the leading vendor by aggregate was Coolmore Stud and the leading vendor by average was Tyreel Stud.

20th April – SYDNEY CCI***

In the second last opportunity for Australian based combinations to dazzle the selectors and indeed gain qualification for the Olympics post EI the cream rose to the top. Shane Rose led the dressage on All Luck and maintained his lead after cross country only to be vetted out by the ground jury after a minor over reach. This now leaves Shane in the unenviable position of being unqualified for Beijing Olympics and having to regroup and head to Melbourne CCI*** in the first week of June for a last ditch attempt at qualification. This left Sonja Johnson and Ringwood Jaguar the winners from Megan Jones and Kirby Park Irish Jester. Wendy Schaeffer then came 3rd, 4th and 5th with her 3 rides. Certainly, apart from Shane’s mishap the best horses and riders were right up the top, making the selectors’ jobs easy. Kevin McNab had a great weekend winning both the CCI* and CCI**.

3rd April – SUN TZU HURT IN PADDOCK ACCIDENT

Just three days after his moment of glory, Sun Tzu has managed to kick out at a fence and injure his hock quite extensively. He was immediately attended by our vet Brett Jones who did a terrific job and he was then forwarded to Randwick Equine Centre. At this stage he will be out of action for about four months.

30th March – SCONE HORSE TRIALS

In almost one of the only NSW lead ups to Sydney 3DE Scone Horse Trials ran their Autumn event in glorious weather but on very firm ground. Chris Burton won the CIC*** on Newsprint from Shane Rose and Ladybrook Remington. I was able to win the introductory on John McGrath’s Sun Tzu having his first start. He was like a real pro and felt like he could be a proper horse. Exciting times ahead! Grand Armee was having his first prenovice start and was 3rd after dressage and clear showjumping and traveling like a star when unbelievably he took a very strong dislike to the third last fence and that was the end of his weekend. Disappointing! But not the end of the world.

27th March – MAGIC MILLIONS SALES IN THE HEADLINES AGAIN

This was a momentous week, not just for the Jockey Club and their twenty purchases, but for two major players in the industry it was ground breaking. Firstly, Patinack Farm announced it’s intention to be a real force in the industry with about seventy purchases and about $30 million spent. Anthony Cummings will no doubt get the cream of the crop, as well as Paddy Payne in Melbourne and Jamie Nielson on the Gold Coast. So far he (Nathan Tinkler) has already purchased stallion prospects such as Beautiful Crown, Casino Prince and Teranaba. Nathan has acquired the old Alanbridge Farm and Riverslea Farm. No doubt this will not be the end of his property purchases. Indeed he needs more properties just to house the horses already bought at Magic Millions and Karaka. In even bigger news, this week it was announced that Darley Stud (Sheikh Mohammed) was to purchase the entire Ingham Enterprises horse division (all properties, horses and staff). The rumoured price was upwards of $AUS500 million. It will not be the end of the all cerise colours going around as Bob Ingham has announced he will use some of these funds to go on a horse buying spree and Chris Waller is the new trainer.

17th March – HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL SALE A MAJOR SUCCESS

Twelve horses bred in Australia and sold at the Magic Millions and Inglis Easter Sale 2007 and broken in and prepared at Limitless Lodge were resold at Hong Kong International Sale with an average of $HK4.5 million. This was a major coup for the Jockey Club to have the first horses imported to Hong Kong post EI and sold so well. Tim had a terrific bunch of staff and the whole trip couldn’t have gone better. As well as these twelve horses we also took over a further eleven horses that were put in to the subscription draft which also went smoothly. This is an unusual concept where prospective owners put $HK1.5 million into a draft and a horse is picked for them, much like a raffle. It is now full steam ahead to the Magic Millions sales to select the draft for the 2008 December sale.