It’s taken 10 years and about 30 horses for Anya and Paul Podbury to find Shockletz, the Australasian-bred mare who will realise the Woodend couple’s lifelong ambition of owning a Melbourne Cup runner.
asserted
who → take → runner
The first step in former Richmond footballer Justin Pickering’s path to Juja Kibo started during the COVID-19 pandemic, when he and a few mates landed juicy quaddies in Melbourne and Sydney on the same day.
asserted
he → start → day
Then there’s vet Rob McInnes, who got extremely lucky – then felt the wrath of the racing gods.
asserted
who → get → gods
He liked the horse he was inspecting so much, he bought a share.
asserted
he → like → share
Of all the cherished items in Australian sport – think the premiership trophies of the AFL and NRL or cricket’s baggy green – the Melbourne Cup is the one that is attainable to the average punter.
asserted
that → cherish → punter
Deep pockets help, of course, but through racehorse syndication everyday mums and dads with the unfashionably bred horse can knock off the bluebloods of the rich and famous.
asserted
mums → help → rich
As has become the norm over the past 15 years or so, this year’s field has predominantly come from Europe, arriving on these shores after being bought by bloodstock agents for leading syndicators and owners.
asserted
field → become → syndicators
Jamie Lovett, a director for one of the country’s biggest syndication companies Australian Bloodstock, spends hours watching replays from races in Europe, studying form and cross-referencing times and measurements.
He also has a global team of about eight or nine, mainly on the ground in Europe, including jockeys and trackwork riders, who feed him intel.
asserted
who → spend → intel
“There’s a lot of tentacles to the business to try and land on the right horses,” Lovett said.
asserted
Lovett → ’ → horses
Based in Australia, he does not see many of the horses he buys in the flesh.
asserted
he → base → flesh
That, he said, is the job of his vets.
asserted
he → say → vets
Once a horse is identified, Lovett approaches its owners or buys it at sales.
asserted
Lovett → identify → sales
He bought a few just last week from the Tattersalls sales in the UK.
asserted
He → buy → UK
Australian Bloodstock, which generally has about 100 to 150 thoroughbreds at a time on its books, has had two Cup winners in its silks – Protectionist (2014) and Gold Trip (2022), both from Europe.
asserted
which → have → Europe
The European imports do not come cheap, their price tags swelled by the demand from Australian interests desperate to find a cups horse, and the market in the Middle East searching for talent to run at Dubai’s lucrative World Cup meeting.
asserted
tags → come → meeting
Gold Trip, who had come fourth in France’s famous L’Arc de Triomphe in 2020, cost about $2 million, which, at the time, was the most expensive horse Lovett had bought.
asserted
Lovett → come → time
Australian Bloodstock have three runners in this year’s race – Royal Supremacy, Vauban and Wine Dark Sea.
asserted
Bloodstock → have → race
A fourth, the aforementioned Defiantly, failed a vet test.
asserted
fourth → fail → test
Royal Supremacy, bought as a three-year-old after a third in the Italian Derby – one of Europe’s lesser derbies – “wouldn’t have been top of the top”, Lovett said.
“You’re not buying for $200,000 to $300,000, put it that way,” Lovett said.
In a cruel irony for those involved with Defiantly, a half-brother to last year’s Cox Plate runner-up Buckaroo and Melbourne Cup placegetter Middle Earth, the gelding had impressed McInnes so much during an inspection for Australian Bloodstock the vet shelled out $18,500 for a 2.5 per cent share.
asserted
vet → buy → share
“He was sound, beautifully natured, and everything was clean with his X-rays,” McInnes said before Defiantly’s withdrawal.
asserted
McInnes → say → withdrawal
Presciently, he had also likened owning a horse to having a “Tattslotto ticket on four legs”.
asserted
he → liken → legs
Pickering, then, has found the winning ticket three times.
asserted
Pickering → find → ticket
That’s how many of the dozen or so horses he has part-owned who have run in the Cup.
asserted
who → ’ → Cup
The former Richmond wingman played his 59 V/AFL games in the 1980s and ’90s, long before the money could set you up for life.
uncertain
money → play → life
Pickering’s came through a friend of a friend.
asserted
Pickering → come → friend
He is part of several syndicates, many run by his mate Gerard Mulcahy, who lives next door to Mick Johnston and his wife Alise.
asserted
who → run → Johnston
Mulcahy often gets tipped into horses from the Johnstons, and relays the information to Pickering and his friends.
asserted
Mulcahy → tip → Pickering
Their foray into racehorse ownership started during the many COVID-19 lockdowns when he and his friends started punting together to stay connected.
asserted
he → start → lockdowns
After one particularly successful day, they decided to plunge their winnings into a horse.
asserted
they → decide → horse
It landed them in an imported stayer called Delphi, who won the Herbert Power in 2021 on his way to seventh in that year’s Melbourne Cup.
asserted
who → land → Cup
They kept rolling their slice of the prizemoney into more horses.
asserted
They → keep → horses
“We occasionally take a dividend just to prove to our wives that it is profitable with racehorses,” Pickering joked.
asserted
Pickering → take → racehorses
Their next star was another European stayer, Circle Of Fire, who won the 2024 Sydney Cup, worth $1.3 million to the winner.
asserted
who → win → winner
He ran sixth later that year in the big one.
asserted
He → run → one
There are 15 in the Happy Hippo syndicate who splashed out about $30,000 – or about $2000 each – for a 10 per cent share in the Ciaron Maher-trained gelding.
asserted
who → be → gelding
They have even produced their own merchandise – stubby holders and ties adorned with Juja Kibo’s distinctive racing colours.
asserted
They → produce → colours
Many of them were at Flemington on Cox Plate Day when the six-year-old booked his ticket into Tuesday’s race with victory in the $750,000 Moonee Valley Cup.
asserted
old → book → Cup
“It was so good – you turn around and hug one of your best mates,” Pickering said.
asserted
Pickering → turn → mates
“It’s not going to be good for my health if he happens to win.
asserted
he → go → health
I’m willing to take that risk.
asserted
I → ’m → risk
…and 28 more, not listed.
The Aporia
