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MUNCEY: Stayers require patience, and Australians don't have any

Gai Waterhouse's Speak Fondly is among the favourites for the 2015 Golden Rose Stakes. (AAP Image/David Crosling)
Expert
16th April, 2015
15

Of the 11 horses that started the $1.6 million Group 1 Sydney Cup (3200m) on the weekend, a grand total of one was bred in Australia. Europe accounted for eight of the runners. So why can’t we breed stayers?

It doesn’t seem to make much sense, considering our biggest, richest and most famous races are the likes of big Group 1s – the Cox Plate (2040m, $3 million), Caulfield Cup (2400m, $3 million), the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m, $4 million) and of course the Melbourne Cup (3200m, $6.2 million).

I was asked for this column – if the money and prestige is in stayers, why are we seemingly only breeding sprinters/milers? Why the Europeans? And do we focus on two-year olds too much?

Well, let me first say it’s no surprise. I remember CS Hayes being one of the first to venture over to Europe. He came home from the UK with Almaraad, and went on to win the Cox Plate with him as a six-year-old.

It has become more common these days and Chris Waller, Gai Waterhouse and company have been making the trek over to Europe for quite a while now.

They seem to be able to pick the right horses and pay the right price as well, which has made it all the more attractive for them. Although I must say the Poms have started to wake up to this, and have been asking a lot more, price-wise, over the last year or so, compared to when these buying trips first started.

So what’s going on?

Most owners want a horse that can get up and run early to get a quick return for their investment.

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I suppose that’s understandable, however this is one of the main reasons our Australian-bred horses can’t stay.

One of the other reasons is the lack of conditioning and base-building races for stayers. If you have a progressive-type stayer, you usually are forced to throw them in the deep end in unsuitable class races to get them fit and seasoned up for the right distance.

I do believe is Australian breeders will continue to breed sprinter, miler-type horses, as Australian owners unfortunately don’t have the patience to sit and wait for a year or two for a horse to mature when there is so much prizemoney on offer.

And just on two-year olds – I don’t feel that there is too much emphasis on two-year old racing. It is certainly well catered for though, which is obviously why owners are happy to race at such a young age and the incentives are way too good to let pass.

The Pumper back on deck
It was great to see Jimmy Cassidy ride Grand Marshal to victory in the Cup on the weekend, especially when he had been struggling to get a ride.

Cassidy is certainly one of the best jockeys that I have had the pleasure of riding with, but only got the call to ride the Waller-trained gelding on Wednesday.

It just goes to show in the cut-throat industry of racing that age and experience seems to lose out to youth.

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“You’ve just got to keep hanging around in this game,” Jimmy said after the race – and he’d know, it was his third Sydney Cup victory, after saluting for his first in 1986!

Grand Marshal’s win served to heap more pressure on Joao Moreira, who the press had already given a bit of a going over for a few of his rides at The Championships.

But the fact the ‘Magic Man’ could only manage a third on Grand Marshal in the Group 2 Chairman’s Handicap (2600m), the week before ‘Pumper’ rode the same horse to a win, just goes to show that the Brazilian is only human. Mind you – he still managed to go back to Hong Kong and win on Able Friend the next day – so he couldn’t have been going too bad!

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