Fresh off the back of a dominant win by Think About It in the $3 million Stradbroke at Eagle Farm on the weekend Joe Pride is grateful for his relationship with syndicator Proven Thoroughbreds.
The lime green disc and black colours of the horse syndication company headed by Jamie Walter has had plenty of winners over the past decade for a variety of trainers, but their two biggest successes have come in the form of Think About It and another top-liner for Pride, Private Eye.
They were not expensive yearlings by today’s standards but Pride has gotten the most out of his stock with both geldings producing at Group One level.
Private Eye has earned over $6.2 million in prize money, while Think About It ticked over the $2.8 million mark with Saturday’s feature victory.
“They were only $60,000 and $70,000 yearling purchases, definitely low price yearlings for what they’ve turned out to be,” Pride said.
“He (Jamie Walter from Proven Thoroughbreds) doesn’t have as big numbers as some of the other syndicators, so it’s good to get a nice win up for him like that.
“To have two horses for him racing at the highest level at the same time with his colours on is a fair achievement.”
Pride and Walter can often be seen at the yearling sales scouring over pedigree pages and vet checking their potential purchases with intense scrutiny and the attention to detail pays off once they hit the race track.
“It’s not easy trying to compete in Sydney racing, it’s loaded with well-bred horses in big stables,” Pride said.
“We buy about eight to ten a year and we obviously do a pretty good job picking out the right horses.
“We also have a horse called Stockman for Proven, he ran in last year’s Melbourne Cup.”
As to his thoughts following Think About It’s win in the time-honoured Queensland handicap on Saturday, Pride was happy to see it all come together. The victory takes the son of So You Think’s record to an imposing nine wins and a placing from just ten outings with the $20 million The Everest being the main target in the spring.
“It’s amazing, it’s always the aim but not too often you get to complete those tasks,” Pride said.
“Normally you set plans like that and you fall short, but it was just one of those times that really came through for us.”
