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Trainer and Syndicate Principal Nathan Krepp likes to quote “Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don’t recognize them.” He maintains that when you search hard you can find racing’s ‘diamonds in the rough’. With this in mind, Krepp purchased four lovely yearlings at the last Scone Yearling Sales on behalf of SJ Racing which he owns together with Tony Newing and Geoff Connor. The trainer speaks to The Impact about those horses which now started showing their true potential along.
Q: Last year you bought some fantastic horses at the Scone Yearling Sales. Where are they now?
A: The primary focus in Australia is on horses to race as early 2YO due to the fantastic prize money on offer. The four horses were bought were in mind to debut and race as 3YO and they are all just about ready to start their careers now. We feel that the majority of horses aren’t mature enough to race as 2YO so we take our time in letting them develop before they race. Our focus is on the longevity of a horse’s career rather than short term success.
• Written Tycoon – He is a bit immature compared to the other 3 and about 6 weeks away from the trials
• Deep Field – He has just been named by owners DEEP THRILLZ. He will be registered this week and then heading to the trials in 3 weeks
• Hallowed Crown – He has been named CONSECRATED and trialling in 2 weeks’ time
• Press Statement – She has been named SHEEZ MARVELLOUS. She has trialled but pulled up sore so we spelt her and returns in 2 weeks
Q: With the next set of sales coming up including the Scone Yearling, Melbourne Gold, Easter Yearling 2 and a few others and given the travel restrictions due to COVID19. What are your plans to inspect and buy horses this year? Have you had any specific requests to buy mares as they offer residual value? Or do you buy based on the quality of the horses available for sale?
A: Our next sale will be the Magic Millions Yearling Sale at the end of July and it’s our intention to buy four more yearlings there which will be one for each of our major trainers. We’re hopeful that the restrictions will be eased in time for this sale. The recent sales have been held as online auctions and buyers have been unable to view the horses as much as we would normally do.
We’ll sometimes view a yearling up to six times before we decide to put a bid in.
With each sale, we have an open mind when selecting horses whether they be colts or fillies. We’ve noticed in the last 3 years the value of colts has increased more than that of fillies and we now struggle to find value in the colts. Even more so those colts that run as early 2YO.
Everyone has it in their mind that a successful colt is a ticket to riches if they can win a black-type race and then retire to stud. That’s a very rare occurrence but it has pushed up the prices of the colts to the point where they go over our budget and value we put on them.
The fillies we buy all come from well-bred families with decent pages. Any success on the track will provide a decent return at the end of their careers when they are offered up as broodmares. Our owners see this and are happy to buy into nicely bred fillies.
Looking ahead to our next sale, we will highlight perhaps 30 yearlings from the catalogue and visit each of the yearlings on the stud farms where they are based. We will then ask our trainers to view the horses we like and finally, our vet will have a final inspection and decide if the horses are sound. If they fail the vet inspection and x-rays then we cross them off the list. Out of the initial 30 horses, we might have six to eight that pass our quality tests and from there will hopefully buy four of those if they fall into budget.
With the reduced prices achieved at the most recent sales, we are pretty confident of getting four value yearlings next month.
Q: How has COVID19 affected your operations? Do you see any long-term implications?
A: It was our intention to purchase twelve yearlings this year and so far we have bought one. We erred on the side of caution once the virus arrived and decided not to overextend ourselves due to the state of the economy. We found that the buyers dried up overnight once the travel restrictions were put in place by the government. That was back in March.
Our Government has done an amazing job in restricting the spread of the virus but it has come as a major cost to the economy. As racing horses can be classed as a luxury rather than a necessity, we found that owners tightened their belts with their spending and their involvement racing was a casualty. We’ve had a number of owners who lost their jobs and had to sell their shares. Other owners who intended to purchase shares during the year have pulled out and are waiting for things to improve.
Having said that, we’ve noticed in the last month that buyers are re-entering the market and as such we have had a mini-run on our available shares as they look to invest in racing again.
We bought a tried horse during the week at auction and sold the horse within 30 minutes of advertising it to the database. 8 weeks ago this wouldn’t have been the case. Yearlings are a little bit different due to the time they take to get to the races. Those sales are still relatively slow. Our owners are looking for an immediate return on their investments and they can find this with tried horses that are ready to race.
We feel that the market is about to turn with the easing of restrictions and we’re comfortable in buying yearlings again at the next sale we attend.
If there’s a second wave of infections, which is always going to be a chance, then we’ll see a shift back to caution by owners. Australia is lucky in that we’re isolated. Most of the infections came from our overseas citizens returning to Australia. We have very minimal local infection rates that are from the community so we should have a handle on a second wave occurring again.
Our racing authorities in Australia have done an amazing job with how they handled the outbreak back in March. Even though owners and the public couldn’t attend the races, we have very minimal infection rates within industry participants.
Apart from Tasmania where they immediately shut their racing down, racing continued throughout our other states. There was a reduction in prizemoney due to the drop off in people attending racing and reduced advertising on the course but we were still able to race.
Hats off to our industry leaders, they really need to be commended with their leadership shown during this unprecedented tough time.
Q: Who would you say is your best horse and best win? Could you tell us about your top horses?
A: SJ Racing currently has 15 horses under our management across three Australian states. Our mantra is to buy well-bred horses that represent great value. One of our first buys was a horse called King Lear for A$10,000. He won 7 out of 15 races. His last race was in black type company but caught pneumonia soon after that race and unfortunately died soon after. We never saw the best of him.
We own his half-sister and we see her as a better class of horse. She broke her pelvis as a three-year-old and has only had 2 starts. She’s nearly back racing and we have a big opinion of her. Another horse we have is Charmed Princess whom we bought for A$32,000. She won five of her first ten races and we view her as black type quality as well. She was set for the spring carnival last year but she came into season and proved to be a handful. She didn’t want to race so we had to give her time off.
She’s back in the stable now and we feel she has a decent race or two in her. She’s closely related to the world champion Able Friend and if we can get a black-type race up against her name she’ll be a valuable breeding prospect when she retires.
Q: How early do you get involved with your owners? What, according to you, does the SJ brand offer its clients?
A: We invite all of our owners to attend any viewings of yearlings at the stud farms or sales. It provides valuable insight as to the process we go through in selecting our horses and they really appreciate the time afforded to them. They really love getting involved in the early stages of selection and it’s an experience they cherish. We also love the occasion as it has been the foundation of some great relationships that we have forged over the years.
Our trainers also have an open-door policy where any of our owners can come down and see their horses at any time they want. We regularly have BBQ breakfasts at trackwork where our owners can see their horses in action and then speak to the trainers and track work riders afterwards. They can hear it first-hand as to how their horses are going and it gives them the opportunity to get up close and personal to their horses.
We offer pony rides for the kids which they just adore. I’m not sure who enjoys their time at the stables more, the mums and dads or the children. They love the interaction with the stable and it’s something that we really promote. It’s a great feeling seeing an owner spending time with one of their horses.
We try to give them the best possible experience all of the time. Whether that be through regular videos, photos or stable visits.
Other than the horse’s well-being, our owners are our number one priority and we never lose sight of that.