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After 11 years at Inglis in NSW and Victoria, James Price joined Woodside Park in 2018 as the CEO. His role has included providing advice & overseeing the sale and purchase of all bloodstock. He is also in charge of all marketing and communications and controlling all stallion nomination efforts at Woodside, which is Victoria’s largest breeding operation and is the home of a renowned roster of stallions led by one of Australia’s leading sires in Written Tycoon. In the same barn as Written Tycoon are other Group One-winning stallions - Foxwedge, Tosen Stardom, a dual Group One-winning son of world champion sire Deep Impact plus Invincible Spirit’s highest rated 2YO, Cable Bay and Written Tycoon’s fastest son at stud, Rich Enuff.
The Impact chats to Woodside Park’s James Price, about their 2020 Great Southern Sale draft and their 2020 performance as well as their 2019 sale toppers:
Q: Please tell us about your 2019 Great Southern Sale topping Lot 724.
A: We sold Lot 724 Peninsula Miss for A$250,000 at the 2019 Great Southern Sale. She was in foal to the sire of the moment in 2019, Zoustar, so this was a huge factor to this mare making 250k. Physically, Peninsula Miss was a very good type so anyone inspecting admired her attributes.
We did have plans to take eight weanlings to the Great Southern Sale but things have somewhat changed with regards to the travel within Australia. The sale was moved to Sydney, then Victorian horses were allowed but Victorian staff and buyers were not so it then makes it very difficult to sell our horses. In the end, we decided to send two Written Tycoon colts and have them cared for by Middle brook Valley Lodge, Scone. Four of the eight weanlings will be offered in the digital platforms and the remaining two will be withdrawn from the weanling market and offered as yearlings 2021.
A colt to be offered in Sydney is a three-quarter brother to one of Written Tycoon’s Gr.1 winners in Music Magnate. (I have attached a photo for your reference. We expect him to sell quite well)
Q: How have the sales been for you so far? Please tell us more about the top horses you’ve sold in 2020? What the most expensive horse you’ve ever sold and your biggest racetrack success from this sale and others?
A: The 2020 sales series for Woodside Park have been fruitful. We have managed to sell all the mares and foals that were on the sell list with the aim to reduce breeding numbers. We were left with some yearlings we didn’t manage to sell so we will put them with leading trainers in the hope we can turn one of them into a stallion or a stake winning broodmare.
In recent months, we have celebrated the successes of Hightail, a Written Tycoon gelding whom we bred and retained a share with China Horse Club, Newgate, and partners. He is a tremendously honest horse, now a dual stakes winner. His dam, La Paris was bought by Peter Rowsthorn as a yearling. Still, at Woodside, this mare will foal a full relation to Hightail in September.
Q: How has the COVID19 situation affected your farm and your sale drafts? Do you see any long terms implications?
A: The Australian thoroughbred industry is incredibly resilient, and we have ridden out many an economic downturn. Fortunately, the majority of the yearling sales we attended in 2020 were prior to lockdowns and travel restrictions meaning market strength was reasonable. With travel restrictions, focus turned to digital platforms to sell our horses. Mature platforms, these digital mediums have allowed us to trade horses and achieve reasonable prices. That said, there is a state of caution amongst industry participants as to when COVID will end and more importantly what will the economic implications be and how long will they last and what impacts will it have in 2021 and beyond. There will no doubt be long terms effects felt worldwide.
Q: How do you handpick horses for each of your drafts? What are the most important steps in the process?
A: There is an age-old saying, put yourself in the best company and your horses in the worst. This is the theory I like to apply when placing horses at sales. It is so important for your horses to stand out from the rest of the catalog and be in the top 25%, if not, definitely the top 50%. There are many hurdles to overcome in getting this right too. Knowing what the buyers are looking for, as this changes from sale to sale, so tailoring a draft of horses that fit this mold. Have horses by the right stallion, that is physically mature enough for the sale, that is educated and parade athletically as well as the hoops of clean radiographs and scopes. This is not an easy process and you have to continue to evaluate your stock and do it as objectively as possible.
Q: Could you please tell us more about your history and the farm’s history and a bit more about your ambitions for this farm over the next couple of decades?
A: Having had a number of properties throughout its time, Woodside Park Stud was developed by Peter Rowsthorn some 15 years ago. A vision to have a privately owned training facility, now based only in Victoria, 80km outside Melbourne the business as had many forms and has changed direction on occasion. Along with the training center, a breeding operation was set up on adjoining properties.
Following Peter’s retirement from the business approximately eight years ago, his son Mark now leads the evolving business. The stud has been home to Victoria’s best stallion for the last three years in Written Tycoon. Very much a rage to riches story, Written Tycoon began his career at a very modest fee under A$10,000 and in recent years has commanded a fee as high as A$100,000.
Selling the pre-training business in 2019, Woodside Park Stud’s primary focus is to offer breeders a world-class stallion roster complemented by its own band of elite broodmares. The 2020 stallion roster consists of Fastnet Rock’s most successful son at stud Foxwedge – sire of three Gr.1 winners across the world. Invincible Spirit’s elite son Cable Bay who is the sire of European’s fastest filly Liberty Beach. The Japanese influence on the roster comes in the shape of dual GR.1 winner and son on Deep Impact, Tosen Stardom. Rounding out the roster of four is Rich Enuff who has begun his stud career in great style producing a stakes winner and six winners from his first crop to race. It is the ambition of Mark Rowsthorn to streamline the operations to one property and in doing so purchased 1000 acres in Nagambie on the Goulburn River. This will ensure Woodside Park Stud continues to develop and evolve in the is a challenging environment.