 |
|
 |  |
The true blue thoroughbred champion of Australian racing, Gerry Harvey simply speaks with Everest Diaries about his favorite race, The Everest, and his concept of ‘maximum satisfaction’.
Billionaire retailer and leviathan owner-breeder Gerry Harvey believe that all other races have slipped into second place behind The Everest in terms of excitement levels and fan engagement.
“The Everest is for sprinters and everyone knows the name of the horses.”
Harvey is an unabashed fan of The Everest. “It’s probably better for racing in many ways that we promote The Everest rather than the Melbourne Cup,” Harvey said.
“The Everest is just a wonderful promotion and the amount of publicity it gets out there and the new people it brings into racing and the number of dollars (is great).”
Harvey once said in an interview, "you get that air of satisfaction from achievement. It makes you feel good. We are only here for a very short time, and so you’re crazy if you don’t go out and try to milk it to the greatest extent you can.”
Satisfaction is the reason he breeds and races top-quality horses as well. Gerry Harvey not only owns both Baramul Stud and Westbury Stud, but he also owns the Magic Millions’ Auction house which he runs with his wife Page, “I love a deal, adore a trade, can't get enough of top-end sport and I've been bitten by the racing bug, and Magic Millions embraces all of that," Harvey said.
“I am in the business of growing businesses. I get a lot of satisfaction from selling the best quality of everything. I breed cattle and try to breed those cattle which have the highest marble score,”
“I grow mini-cucumbers and get a lot of satisfaction in knowing that I grow the cucumbers that people want to eat.”
“Similarly, I breed champion racehorses. I love breeding horses. They give me a lot of satisfaction. But if I wasn’t breeding top-quality horses that win iconic Group One races I wouldn’t want to be in this industry.”
“I am involved in lots and lots of businesses. But when I wake up in the morning, I want to do something interesting. Doing it like that you can change the world,” said Harvey.
The man who gave iconic trainer Chris Waller his first break smiles broadly before sharing, “what Peter V'Landys is pulled off was extraordinary. No one else could do it. And that’s very satisfying because you are doing something no one else can pull off.”
CEO of Racing NSW, V'landys, is considered as one of the turf's great innovators, rating with the Sydney Turf Club's George Ryder, father of the Golden Slipper and racehorse owner syndication, Ian McEwan, secretary of Moonee Valley supported by chairman Bill Stutt, and the trailblazers of the Magic Millions, Carl Waugh, Gordon MacNicol, and Meryl Kruger.
When asked who was his favorite to win the Everest, Harvey says,” “My favorite horse is always Group One winner that I’ve bred or I own.