Copyright Helen Thomas 2012. All rights reserved.

. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Copyright Helen Thomas 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

An Ebury Press book Published by Random House Australia Pty Ltd Level 3, 100 Pacic Highway, North Sydney NSW 2060 www.randomhouse.com.au First published by Ebury Press in 2012 Copyright Helen Thomas 2012 The moral right of the author has been asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Random House Australia. Every effort has been made to acknowledge and contact the copyright holders for permission to reproduce material contained in this book. Any copyright holders who have been inadvertently omitted from acknowledgements and credits should contact the publisher and omissions will be rectied in subsequent editions. Addresses for companies within the Random House Group can be found at www.randomhouse.com.au/ofces National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication Entry Thomas, Helen, 1955 The horse that Bart built / Helen Thomas. ISBN 978 1 74275 501 4 (pbk.) Cummings, Bart, 1927 So You Think (Race horse) Race horsesAustraliaBiography. 798.400929 Extract from Life by Keith Richards reprinted by permission of The Orion Publishing Group, London. Mindless Records, LLC 2010 Extracts from Bart by J.B. Cummings reprinted by permission of Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Ltd. Copyright J.B. Cummings 2009 Extract from The Master by Les Carlyon reprinted by permission of Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Ltd. Copyright Les Carlyon 2011 Cover design by Xou Creative (www.xou.com.au) Internal design and typesetting by Midland Typesetters, Australia Printed in Australia by Grif n Press, an accredited ISO AS/NZS 14001:2004 Environmental Management System printer Random House Australia uses papers that are natural, renewable and recyclable products and made from wood grown in sustainable forests. The logging and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.

Copyright Helen Thomas 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

For Ben, Ella, Jim and Matt, and the years ahead

Copyright Helen Thomas 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

I think nowadays theres a decit of wonder Tom Waits, in Keith Richards Life

Copyright Helen Thomas 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

PROLOGUE
t was not supposed to be a day to remember, that third Wednesday in May 2009. As jockey Hugh Bowman made the drive from his home in Queens Park, in Sydneys leafy east, to Rosehill Racecourse in the west, he certainly didnt have too much to think about in terms of the work ahead of him that afternoon. A horseman universally respected for his poise as a rider, and his knowledge of racing form and thoroughbred breeding, he only had to partner three horses across the seven-race card, not as many as might be expected for one of Australias leading jockeys, but not unusual for a midweek meeting. As far as Bowman knew, as he unpacked his gear from the car and walked to the jockeys room on the ground oor of the main grandstand, it was just going to be another one of those days at the ofce. Even as he tucked one of the nations most famous set of racing silks into his jodhpurs for the rst race, anticipation hardly overwhelmed him.

Copyright Helen Thomas 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Prologue

The black and white checks and cap, framed by yellow sleeves, had been carried to victory in Australias most iconic races and represented an endearingly successful turf partnership between two extraordinary men. But as he headed out towards the mounting yard, the tall, lean rider felt he had a pretty good idea of what he was about to see, and what was about to happen, as the afternoons racing swung into action. Bowman was engaged to ride a two-year-old colt making his debut in an inauspicious 1400-metre maiden, a race for newcomers and young horses who had not won a race before. This particular youngster, bred to get over more distance and trained by Bart Cummings a master conditioner revered for his particular genius with stayers was certainly not likely to set the world on re here. Truth be told, he would probably look a bit fat, certainly behind the other horses, in terms of overall muscle tone and tness. A patient man when it came to his equine charges, Cummings was not inclined to push horses too early in their careers. In fact, the talk of the track that early afternoon was the stablemate, a lovely colt the trainer and his foreman John Thompson believed was the more forward of the pair. His name was Shamash, and he was certainly more fancied in the betting ring. Bookmakers had him the 51 favourite. Yet, as Hugh Bowman walked towards Bart Cummings team to be given his riding instructions from Thompson and legged into the saddle, his perceptions changed in a heartbeat. The dark brown, almost black horse he saw walking around the mounting yard was unusual. He was still far from a fully developed racehorse, but he was strong, he was calm especially for an equine baby making his rst public appearance he was intelligent and . . . there

Copyright Helen Thomas 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Prologue

was just something about him. An air of grace, somehow a cheeky swagger of self-importance. Well, Ive never seen anything like it, he would say later. This horse just had a certain charisma that I hadnt seen for a long time. You dont expect to see a horse walking around with the presence he had at a midweek meeting. Its difcult to explain, but [it] really took me by surprise.

As Bowman rode the colt out of the mounting yard and onto the track, he tucked his head down onto his chest and strode condently towards the barriers at the 1400metre start, unperturbed by his new surroundings. Like his rider, this youngster lived and trained on the other side of town and had never been to Rosehill before. But even a notorious dirt crossing that cut across one side of the green turf to the other, a physical distraction that often frightens young horses encountering it for the rst time, didnt faze him. When youre riding these young horses all the time, you know they always look at a crossing and put in a funny stamp, or hop it, just because they dont know what it is. He just glided over it, as if it wasnt there, Bowman explains. And I remember his action was just . . . Ive never felt anything like it. He was so smooth and the way he carried his head for me really, its something you dont think about until a horse does it. At that point, it dawned on the rider that something out of the ordinary could happen after all on this afternoon. And he was not surprised. This colt was in the care of a great trainer, who had worked his magic on horses for more than six decades, having learnt the magicians

Copyright Helen Thomas 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Prologue

way from his father. He had trained two true champions, Galilee and Saintly, won 12 Melbourne Cups and here, at an ordinary mid-week race gathering way out west in Sydney, it seemed he was lifting his wand again. As the 12 horses jumped from the starting stalls, the jockey felt the young thoroughbred gather strength and focus on the task at hand, impolitely refusing Bowmans plea to settle off the pace near the back of the eld, as the stable had instructed, instead gliding to the outside of the other runners. Because of his beautiful action, I didnt want to wrestle him back. So I just let him glide into stride a bit, but there was no pace, no one went forward and I was stuck four wide. But the horse was just in a beautiful rhythm, he just gave me condence. With 600 metres to gallop, the three horses inside of the pair nally quickened, which caught the rst starter and his jockey by surprise, and they wobbled around the turn into the home straight. I sort of forgot about the race, Hugh Bowman says, years after the event. I just thought, Ill ride him and keep him comfortable, because he was new, but he just felt so good. And then the colt found his balance again, pinning back his ears and lengthening stride to prevail over his stablemate with more than a length to spare. Bowman was nonplussed. So too was Cummings stable foreman, John Thompson. John didnt say much, and doesnt say much, the jockey recalls. But he was surprised, because he didnt think the horse was ready to win. I was surprised, because I was sitting out four wide . . . and for a horse having its rst

Copyright Helen Thomas 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Prologue

start, to just go through things and do everything so well, so correctly, is pretty unusual. Only the good ones do it. Right from the start, it was clear this near-black colt was far from ordinary. He was a special horse. Two years later, almost to the day, So You Think by now a much-heralded young stallion would win his second race in Ireland. Carrying a new set of silks for a new set of owners and a new stable, he had won his rst international start by an astonishing ten lengths, his second by four-anda-half lengths. It was a world away from that humble start in Sydneys west, on the global stage that octogenarian owner Dato Tan Chin Nam hoped would prove to be part of his racing legacy. Yet like many legacies, it came at a price. And So You Think was a long way from home.

Copyright Helen Thomas 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

1 DREAMS
hen New Zealand thoroughbred hobby breeder Russell Bai bought Australian mare Pak Bun Bay in the late 1970s, he knew she was the daughter of Matinee Idol, a stallion with international bloodlines that media magnate Frank Packer had bought as a yearling for a then record price (some 7000 guineas). The stout New Zealand family on the mothers side gave him a rich genetic tapestry to work with. Yet Bai could not have had any idea that he was starting a new branch of this equine family that would see one of Pak Bun Bays great-grandsons being valued at a reported A$60 million as a four-year-old stallion. Nor could he have known what strange twists and turns of fate this clan would experience before reaching that point. Pak Bun Bay produced six foals two sons and four daughters, the best of them probably her second delivery, a brown lly Russell Bai named Astral Row. She was the result of his mare meeting a well-credentialled British sire,

Copyright Helen Thomas 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Dreams

Long Row, and she grew up to be a fast and quietly successful race mare, winning ve races three in a row before being sold as a broodmare to Fencourt Farm Stud Ltd. This was a special partnership set up in the mid-1980s by a prescient husband-and-wife team, Michael Martin and Susan Archer. Martin, now the chief executive of the New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders Association, had faith in her humble, solid lineage. The only reason I bought Astral Row was because the big boys didnt want her, he says. She was what she was: a handy mare from a modest family. So luck, as always, played its part in this saga of dreams and horses. Martin and Archer had their own vision, of course, and unlike many in the racing and breeding industry, they knew how to follow it. Through Fencourt Farm, the couple purchased seven broodmares, as well as a number of other crazy 80s-style commodities for their investors, and determined to breed good racehorses as well as involve racing outsiders in the risky venture of thoroughbred breeding. Far from a science, breeding is an expensive, time-consuming pursuit that enthrals millions around the world from those who actively engage in it with the hope of producing a top class racehorse, to the hundreds and thousands of others who follow the progeny that come from these endeavours. Mike Martin says Fencourt Farms prospectus listed the seven broodmares with the proviso to sell all its stock at the end of seven years. In this relatively short time, and in an arena where most fail, he and his wife achieved spectacular success. Two of their broodmares, one purchased as part of

Copyright Helen Thomas 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

THE HORSE THAT BART BUILT

the initial investment package, one outside of it, have had a major inuence on the Australasian racing and breeding scene.

The mare they bought independently, from Susan Archers parents, was Songline. They had raced her with the Archers too, and like Astral Row she had recorded three consecutive victories before retiring to the breeding barn. The mare was sent rst to a stallion called Westminster, before they settled on Desert Sun, to send her to the following year. It was this union that produced Sunline. The remarkable mare won 13 Group One races across Australasia and Hong Kong; at the peak of her powers, she was an indomitable force of nature, the only horse to be crowned Australias Horse of the Year three times (four times in her New Zealand homeland) and throughout her reign, the most popular racehorse in the southern hemisphere. Some still believe Sunline is the best race mare they have ever seen, better than Makybe Diva, who won three Melbourne Cups, better than unbeaten (and world champion) sprinter Black Caviar. Astral Row, on the other hand, had to wait another generation for her promise as a producer to be realised, and only just made Fencourts seven-year cut-off point. To inject some pizazz into her pedigree, the Martins chose a stallion called Tights as the suitor for her third and nal mating for them, a visiting grandson of the great sire and English Derby winner, Nijinsky. One year later, Astral Row and her foal, a daughter, were sold at an auction at Karaka. The mare went to the Philippines, her exact fate unknown. Her weanling was more blessed. She stayed in

Copyright Helen Thomas 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Dreams

New Zealand, knocked down to New Zealand trainer Brian Jenkins for just NZ$3500. It would prove to be the start of a longstanding relationship. She had a good pedigree, and she was by a stallion I really liked. Id quarantined Tights in the US and ew him down to New Zealand, so Id had him in my hands for about a month in the States. So I knew him well, and really liked him, Jenkins recalls. As well, he liked the weanling lly physically, though she was far from perfect in terms of her conrmation. She was back at the knee, but that was the reason she was so cheap for her pedigree. He named her Triassic, and after he broke her in, he and his brother Greg trained her to win three high-prole races in New Zealand, including the Sir Tristram Fillies Classic. But she was not as robust as her name suggested; at her sixth start, she broke down, bowing a tendon so badly that she was retired. Not being a breeder, Brian Jenkins decided to sell Triassic and so his four-year-old mare faced the auctioneer for the second time in her life, to be sold as a broodmare for NZ$100,000. While a big race at the elite level had eluded her, the trainer, now based in Victoria, maintains she is still the best horse he has trained, and says her racing career, short as it was, was impressive enough to set him up professionally. The sale certainly enabled him to buy another lly, Jezabeel, and he nurtured her to win the 1998 Melbourne Cup for his group of co-owners. Thrilling as that was, such was his regard for the weanling he had grown into a racehorse that he named his property Triassic Farm. He also kept close watch over the mare as her broodmare career unfolded.

Copyright Helen Thomas 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

THE HORSE THAT BART BUILT

Little wonder that when Cecile Smith and her husband Alex a couple of Jenkins neighbours in Cambridge, New Zealands horse capital two hours south of Auckland asked for his advice in buying broodmares, Triassic was one of two he recommended they try and purchase. Smith, a former Californian and self-described hobby breeder who has been living in New Zealand for 30 years, was keen to improve the small broodmare band on their property, Piper Farm. Here, again, luck prevailed. As good a race mare as she had been, Triassic was now 15 years of age, quite old in commercial breeding terms. She was stationed at Inverness Stud, in New South Wales, Australia. Breeder John Woolridge had bought her in New Zealand three years earlier, and she was in foal to Nuclear Freeze, one of two stallions he stood at his property in the NSW Southern Highlands. In an amazing coincidence, Woolridge had also purchased Songline, dam of Sunline, some years earlier at a Karaka Broodmare Sale. So far, Triassics progeny had done well, if not quite emulating their mothers deeds on the track. She had delivered ve foals; four had made it to the races, and between them her daughter PridenPrejudice and three sons, Hip Hip Hooray, Typhoon Jack and Trigonometry had won more than ten races. But at this particular auction, Sydneys Easter Broodmare Sale, Australasias most prestigious broodmare sale, Triassic was hardly the most enticing proposition for the worlds serious commercial breeders, who gathered under the old g tree one Sunday early in April 2005. Most of them were focused on the blue-blooded Mannington, who walked out of the famous thoroughbred auction arena on the hammer fall of A$2,000,050, a young

10

Copyright Helen Thomas 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Dreams

mare in foal to a top sire. In a way, the media and industry attention at the top end of the catalogue had strengthened Brian Jenkins hand. He knew his New Zealand friends did not have much to spend, and believed Triassic would be a nancially astute way for them to buy into a strong family. They would only have to roll the dice a couple of times to secure her, he was sure, once she entered the sale ring. Just to be safe, and so he did not publicly tip his hand, he enlisted another New Zealand neighbour to bid on the mare. Mike Moran also lived and worked just up the road at Cambridge, as the marketing manager for Windsor Park Stud, one of Australasias foremost thoroughbred breeding farms. Off site and on a television monitor, Jenkins watched the mare he had educated more than a decade earlier parade around and around the ring, and marvelled again at her ne, handsome head, her overall strength and bearing. Despite her still regal presence, Moran only had to go to A$16,000 to secure Triassic. Cecile and Alex Smith were delighted. Yet, this is where the rst frisson of disagreement in this saga occurs. Mike Moran says he bid on Triassic as part of a breeding partnership between himself and the Smiths; Cecile Smith is adamant this arrangement did not occur until several weeks later, when he bought a 50 per cent share of the mare. Nevertheless, once Triassic was safely back in New Zealand, new dreams started to form around Brian Jenkins old friend, the rst involving a search for her perfect suitor. Again, the trainer had a rm view, this time about which stallion the mare should be sent to for her next mating. He had seen a bold young colt called High Chaparral win the English Derby, still recognised as the truest staying test for three-year-olds in the world and then, just

11

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THE HORSE THAT BART BUILT

for good measure, take on older horses in America six months later and win the Breeders Cup Turf, run that year in California. After years of travelling horses as a young horseman for an international freight company, Jenkins appreciated what the colt had achieved; he understood how hard it was to acclimatise thoroughbreds in new surroundings, let alone maintain their training routines and tness levels. Few are strong enough, physically and mentally, to manage it. When he retired from the track, High Chaparrals race record was ten wins, six at the elite Group One level, from 13 starts. Having spent so many years travelling horses and really understanding what it takes out of them to travel, and then race at their best, what High Chaparral did as a three-yearold was almost impossible, really, Jenkins explains. He beat the older horses in the Breeders Cup, which I think is one of the best performances Ive seen from any horse. When Cecile Smith next asked for advice about which stallion to choose for Triassic, the trainer did not hesitate. He suggested she do what he was doing with four of his own mares: book her to High Chaparral, who was about to stand his rst season at stud in New Zealand. Owned by global racing and breeding giant Coolmore, he was shuttling from Ireland to Windsor Park, birthplace of former Australian Horse of the Year, Might and Power, and not far from the Smiths own farm. Mike Moran concurred and the new breeding partnership followed that plan. Once Triassic had given birth to her Nuclear Freeze foal, a lly that would race as La Souvenir, she was oated down the road to be served by the

12

Copyright Helen Thomas 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Dreams

international visitor. Eleven months later, on 10 November 2006, she gave birth to a colt. So You Think had arrived. And life would never be quite the same for anyone involved with him, or his family.

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