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Trainer and syndicate principal, Scott Darby is known in the industry for his tenacity. He bought Inglis Classic filly, She Will Reign for just A$20,000. She went on to win A$3.2 million including a Golden Slipper and a Moir Stakes. She Will Reign was a tremendous advertisement for Darby Racing. Scott started as a stable hand and after years of working with leading Australian trainers including Clarry Conners and horse breakers in the 90’s, he started his own syndication company 13 years ago. Darby is known as a syndicator with true vision and a knack for finding diamonds in the rough. One of his earliest wins came from a A$15,000 filly who won the Gimcrack Stakes. We speak to Darby about his purchases at the recent sales and his plans for the rest of the season.
Q: You purchased a large number of top-quality horses recently at the 2020 Gold Coast National Broodmare sale and the dispersal sale of the Estate of the late Eduardo Cojuangco. Could you please tell us about your plans for these horses?
A: Two quality purchases from the Estate of the Late Eduardo Cojuangco dispersal.A winning city trial winner by Lonhro out of Queen of The Hill named Noble Privilege and a lightly raced Exceed and Excel colt named Sole Heir. Both colts are closely related to Smart Missile and Northern meteor and showed plenty of promise on the track to date. Although for a lot of people lockdown meant a business slowdown. It went to the other way for us. It picked up in March and has not stopped really. With all our purchases from the 2020 Magic Millions National sale, selling out in record time
At the time we weren't quite sure how it was all going to go. I think at the time we still had roughly ten horses to syndicate from earlier sales. I was a tad bit worried but then about three weeks into lockdown it started to pick up and then it gets really really busy and it hasn't stopped ever since it's just been through the roof. We have currently sold all stock purchased this year.
Q: What is your theory on why racing and syndication sales have been so successful these days?
A: Darby Racing is known as the Golden Slipper and Group One winningsyndicators; our brand is well recognized and respected in Australia. With racing continuing during the lockdown I think the interest in racing has gone through the roof. We've picked up a lot of new clients. I’m sure some people probably dreamed about owning a share in a top-quality horse and we can make that possible.
Even people who were not interested in racing started watching because all other sports were stopped. And then they thought it would be a good idea to take it to the next level by buying a share in a horse.
Q: Typically what is the price range of horses that you syndicate?
A: Our AFS license allows us to syndicate up A$500,000 per horse. We typically buy horses anywhere from A$5,000 to A$400,000. We offer people many different entry levels to get involved with and that's basically how we built our brand – a share price for everyone. Our business is meeting the needs of racing enthusiasts at every level.
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Q: Your customers have a varied and healthy risk appetite. Please tell us more.
A: That's probably a testament to how success has come to us at various levels. We had some Group One-winning horses that we purchased for A$10,000 or A$20,000 and in some cases, we have had successes at the top end with horses purchased for A$300,000. So I suppose people are seeing that success can come from every level.
Q: What are your plans for the upcoming spring season?
A: We are based in Sydney, NSW. We have some really nice horses headed for the carnival and like every year, we can’t wait to unveil our next 2YO star, hoping for our next Yankee Rose, She Will Reign, Time To Reign or Every Rose to name a few
Q: What are your thoughts around the Spring Carnival in NSW this year?
A: Sydney is arguably the strongest (racing) precinct in Australia followed by Melbourne. And I don't think the quality is going to drop off despite the borders being closed. There are so many good trainers and good horses. Victoria is really struggling with the virus at this stage, but I'm sure by the time the carnival really in full swing the hoped we'd be on top of it.
We have a Group Three winner called Greysful Glamour. She will probably head down to Victoria and stay down for the whole carnival.
Q: What are your top 5 choices for Melbourne Cup contenders, given that not many international names are likely to feature in the runner list?
A: We are sort of concentrating on what happening up here, but I think you'll find there are so many international horses that are already here. Also, many imported Cups’ contenders already here in Australia, being trained by the local trainers. I'm sure they're going to give up plenty of the field come Melbourne Cup time.
We've got a number of imported horses that should be starting to go through over the next 12 months. Some could even be Cups’ potential.