Friday February 8th, 2013
Latest News:
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INTERVIEW: Brad discusses the new purchases from the New Zealand Karaka Sales
Newly recruited Spicer Thoroughbreds Webmaster and Digital Media guy Tim Patterson caught up with Brad Spicer, fresh from his highly successful trip over the Tasman to the Karaka Sales to find out about the new recruits to the Spicer stables…
TIM: Brad, welcome back from the Karaka Sales in New Zealand, what was the atmosphere like this year?
BRAD: The energy at the races was huge, the vibe at the sales was even bigger. A lot of those really good horses I found hard to buy. I found myself under-bidder on 7 or 8 horses around the $300,000 – $400,000 mark, and somehow came up short on every occasion. Gai Waterhouse was very hard to beat. The Hong Kong Jockey Club got me 4 or 5 times. John O’Shea was heavily influenced on a lot of the horses I was trying to buy so, it was hard work but we ended up coming away with five, I’m really happy with the purchases and really, the value that we came away with. I think ‘value’ was the most pertinent thing there, as we didn’t spend a lot of money for the five horses. As we do each year when we come back from New Zealand, you’ve got to give these horses a bit of time. That’s what they are, they’re time horses. We go there to buy Derby and Oaks type horses, not your Golden Slipper horses, but if you give them the time, they’ll repay you back with a bit of patience.
TIM: So talk us through some of the horses you picked up this year.
BRAD: Well, we are rapt to pick up a Denman Colt in New Zealand, he was from a very good family. He was half brother to the 2011 Oaks Winner in Queensland, Miss Keepsake, who is Group 1. She also placed in the Derby up there so he’s a quality horse. I’m sure this colt will make it! further on down the track.
Denman, is in his first year in the Yearling Sales, and judging by the groundswell, he is really going to make it as a sire. He was a terrific racehorse, and his trainer, Peter Snowdon, rates him as the best horse he’s ever trained, so, really looking into getting him broken in, off to Leon’s stables, and to the track. He’s from a lovely family in Mahaya, Shadea, Niello and Lonhro, and one of the best brood mare sires of all time in Grosvener, so yeah, a cracking colt.
(above) Denman Colt
TIM: The Zabeel colt was a real surprise purchase?
BRAD: Yeah, the Zabeel Colt out of Sheila Cheval, he was a ‘must-have’ and I went into the ring, not expecting to buy him. We only had $300,000 for him, but I expected him to make $400,000 – $500,000. I couldn’t believe my luck when the hammer came down, it was terrific. Leon Corstens was running around the outside ring clicking his heels, he couldn’t believe we bought the colt. It’s amazing. He a half-brother obviously to King Mufhasa, who’s a ten-time Group 1 winner, Champion New Zealand Horse of the Year in 2008-2009 and 2011-2012, nineteen wins is amazing. He’s a warhorse, so yeah, a real attractive colt, and sold within two hours of putting the email, I actually had a 160% come back, trying to fit into 100, and still getting calls about him today. He’s proved pretty popular.
(above) Zabeel Colt
TIM: And a familiar name to Spicer Thoroughbreds…
BRAD: Yeah, we’ve had a lot of luck with the Zabeel progeny. We’ve purchased Zabeelionaire, obviously, and also Rahveel, who’s Group 2 placed behind Atlantic Jewel, so we do expect him to make it to the track and make a very nice horse in time.
TIM: Tell us about the Guillotine filly…
BRAD: So Lot 870 was a Guillotine filly out of the mare Primera Dama, fortunate to secure this horse at a fairly low cost. We’ve got the half-brother by Savabeel, he’s with us at the moment, he’s a two-year old, and we’ve bought this filly on the hope that he’s going to be a very good horse, so I think she might make a valuable brood-mare down the line because he’s showing us a lot at the moment. Obviously Guillotine, it’s his first year at the sales, a Group 1 winner by Montjeu, David Hayes trained Guillotine, who was a half-brother to Efficient, so a great family, and she’s a lovely walking filly, a lot of presence about her. She is listed as a brown filly in the book, but I tell you what, she’s looks more black than brown and she’s going to be an attractive filly later on.
(above) Guillotine Filly
VIEW A VIDEO OF THE GUILLOTINE FILLY HERE
We also bought an interesting horse out of Danfive, sone of Danehill out of Hong Kong. He had five wins up there, and he’s only got ten horses on the ground in New Zealand as he’s a bit infertile. We bought this horse to do a job, and we want to take him back for the Karaka Millions race next year. There’s only four shares left in him, as there was quite a few people who wanted to buy in before we bought a horse for that purpose, it’s exciting.
TIM: Sounds fun:
BRAD: Yeah, they have a big marquee every year for the owners of the horses that make it, and it’s an adrenaline-pumped day, so looking forward to getting this guy ready for the race next February 2014. He’s a real strong bugger. John Sargent has the half-sister in his stable at the moment, called Snowline, and she’s just been group-placed as a 2-year old, so we’re expecting this guy to get up and running early. Fairly cheap horse, and if you want to have a bit of fun, heading back to New Zealand next year, then he’s the guy for the job.
(above) Danfive Colt
TIM: And finally, purchase number five?
BRAD: We purchased a lovely Pins filly out of Centaine mare, I love this cross, this cross has been responsible for a lot of good horses over the years. Centaine is probably been the biggest brood-mare sire to come out of New Zealand in the last twenty years, and they are all starting to follow in Centaine’s footsteps so really excited to get this filly back.
(above) Pins filly
She’s not an early type of filly, she’ll be a 3-year old stayer, lovely family, including New Zealand horse of the year, Tit For Taat, who had 15 wins, for 1000-1600, and took out a couple of those major races over there. Really looking forward to getting her broken in and off to Leon.
Contact Brad for enquiries on any of the New Zealand purchased horses, with the exception, of course of the Zabeel Colt!
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Blue Diamond Stakes Event Invitation
Join Brad at the Blue Diamond Stakes Day, February 23rd at Caulfield, hosted by Group 1 Events.
We have a few spaces spare at $250 a head with all inclusive:
- Buffet Lunch
- Premium beverage package
- Private corporate facility
- Private tote
- Car park
- and more festivities during the day .
To reserve your place, contact Brad on 0400 676 773
<< click to enlarge image
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YouTube Video Of The Week
[youtube height=”360″ width=”480″]http://www.youtube.com/embed/mO6vm7TIvrI[/youtube]
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Joke of the Week
Riding the favourite at Flemington, the jockey is well ahead of the field. Suddenly in the back straight, he’s hit on the head by a turkey and a string of sausages. He manages to keep control of his mount and pulls back into the lead on the bend, only to be struck by a box of Christmas crackers and a dozen mince pies as he hits the front. Dropping back, he charges again, and with great skill he manages to steer the horse to the front of the field once more when, on the run in, he’s struck on the head by a bottle of sherry and a Christmas pudding. thus distracted, he succeeds in coming only second. He immediately goes to the stewards to complain that he has been seriously hampered.
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Spicer Specials
Here are Brad’s tips for the weekend of 6-10 February*:
Race 7 at Caulfield: No 4 Pinwheel – win bet
Race 8 at Caulfield: No 2 Foreteller – each way bet
*Tips are to be taken as a guide only, no responsibility or liability for any loss incurred will be entered into. Gamble responsibly.
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Webmaster Update
Firstly, I hope you are all enjoying the new website and all the new features we have been working hard to deliver. Thanks for your patience while we iron out the odd bug – bound to happen with a site with so many levels of privacy and members!
The main place owners should be going to is by logging in with the User Name and Password that Brad sent you. Once you log-in, this automatically re-directs you to the Owners Private News pages, where all the updates for your horses will be posted, including audio & video updates, as well as public news. To navigate back to that Owner landing page, use the OWNERS PAGES drop-down menu and select your horse. If you are not logged in, then you won’t be able to see all of the articles, videos and audio.
The TRACKWORK newsletter can be found in the NEWS menu dropdown. It will always be there.
Finally, if you are having trouble with the website, if you find any other nasty glitches, have suggestions or anything you want to contribute to the Newsletter, drop me a line at webmaster@spicerthoroughbreds.com.au
– cheers, Tim
SATURDAY AUGUST 24th 2013
Tuesday July 30th, 2013
Friday May 17th, 2013
