In the business of horse trading, it doesn’t get much more serious than the wheeling and dealing in the weeks before the Golden Slipper.
During the preliminaries to the world’s richest race for juvenile thoroughbreds, the jostling for the inside running on prime pieces of Australian horseflesh can be as newsworthy as the race itself.
Precocious talents on the racetrack are earmarked as the breeding industry’s next generation of stallions who have the potential to rake in millions.
Early deals are often made in the hope a Golden Slipper victory can provide an instant windfall.
A Golden Slipper-winning colt can write his own ticket at stud – at least until his progeny hit the racetrack.
If his sons and daughters can run, then it’s time to get the calculator out again.
The manoeuvring is already underway this year as the Sydney autumn carnival heads into its second week at Rosehill on Saturday.
There are two Group One races – the Coolmore Classic and the Ranvet Stakes – but it will be a support event where the big money goes on the line.
Winning or finishing in a place in the Todman Stakes doesn’t guarantee Golden Slipper success but its honour roll has shown it can fast-track a colt on a path to fame as a stallion.
Influential sires such as Luskin Star, Crown Jester, Marauding, Octagonal, General Nediym, Exceed And Excel and Charge Forward were Todman winners.
Even defeat in the Todman had a silver lining for Marscay (1982), Sir Dapper (1983) and Danzero (1994) when they went on to claim the Golden Slipper before making their mark as stallions.
Barring scratchings, there will be three unbeaten colts taking their place in the Todman field on Saturday.
One – the Sheikh Mohammed-owned Sepoy – is already assured of a stud career on the back of his Group One win in the Blue Diamond Stakes and his owner’s obvious influence in world thoroughbred affairs.
In another corner is Smart Missile, owned by Filipino beer baron Eduardo Cojuangco, who is probably off limits.
This leaves a strapping young horse called Foxwedge as the horse most likely with the target on his expansive rump and international farms making discreet inquiries.
Foxwedge, who has won his two starts and steps into stakes company for the first time, has been earmarked as a stallion prospect since he cost his owner, the medical entrepreneur Dr Edmund Bateman, $925,000 at last year’s Easter sale.
Reports have Dr Bateman’s personal fortune valued at more than $400 million but the studs are circling.
“Yes, there has been keen interest in the horse,” Dr Bateman’s bloodstock adviser James Harron said.
“Obviously being a son of Fastnet Rock and being an outstanding individual himself makes him an attractive stallion prospect.”
Harron is making a name for himself as a bloodstock agent after working for Gai Waterhouse and then Coolmore’s Australian arm before joining De Burgh Equine in Ireland until returning to Australia.
Harron is well aware of how the bloodstock marketing game is played.
“People tend to suss out these horses at this stage,” he said.
“With Foxwedge there is a long way to go still and no decision has been made about his career after his racing days.
“But the reason Dr Bateman bought this colt in the first place was to turn him into a stallion and that’s why you pay a premium for these horses (at the sales).”
And that’s why there there will be more than the $180,000 winner’s purse at stake on Saturday.
AAP TURF
