Jimmy Smith on SEN Radio, Rugby League and Racehorse Ownership

0:00 Meeting Jimmy Smith and talking SEN

Steve 0:00 Well, episode 25, Off N Racing, Steve from Kurrinda Bloodstock and a sports broadcaster that I've really enjoyed for a number of years and thankful for you to be here. Thank you, Jimmy Smith.

Jimmy Smith 0:14 Hello, Stevie. How are you, mate? I don't know what I'm calling you right now, because I know you as something else, right?

Steve 0:20 Well, I love SEN. I've listened for four years. We're a sponsor there.

Jimmy Smith 0:26 Yeah, which we love to, by the way.

Steve 0:28 I text in, I ring in. I was on with you and Mal Meninga and I've converted. I should be on the payroll, because I've converted most of my friends.

Jimmy Smith 0:38 It seriously is the best form of marketing, right? So I think there are so many studies done around that, but word of mouth from a trusted source. So thank you. And if you find a ratings book, you can fill that out as well too. That'd be great.

Steve 0:52 So happy Magic Round.

Jimmy Smith 0:53 Thank you. There we are, Magic Round, Round 9. Yeah. Yeah.

Steve 1:00 Are you headed up at all?

Jimmy Smith 1:01 No.

1:02 Hosting three hours of radio solo

Steve 1:02 You've come off three hours of radio today, 12 or 3, most weekdays. Yes. You're on there on weekends. Surely you're exhausted at the end of a…

Jimmy Smith 1:10 I couldn't get away with that, Stevie. Like if I said to people who I know, you know, work on farms or work on work sites and say, yeah, I had three hours of talking with some ads in there as well, and then I'm exhausted as I come off, then that's not going to cut it. But I can tell you, if you do a long shift or even, you know, that intensive concentration, especially because I do the show on my own, like, you know, like, so for me, I make a point when the light goes on and hey, we're on. If I don't bring the energy, there is no energy, right? So I can't bounce off someone. Yep. So I always make a point of it. If I don't have energy, if I don't feel excited, if I don't sound excited, then how can I expect anyone else to be engaged with this program? So I make sure I bring energy every time. But at the end of it, you're like, you're tired. And which is, as I say, like, I'm not digging post holes, and I'm certainly not complaining about it. But that concentration and that energy that you have to bring it, it does, it makes you tired.

Steve 2:11 And you engage a lot of, like, it's a funny thing, but I text in or whatever, and you know, you read out the text. And I just, yeah, it's a funny thing, but I love it.

2:19 Record ratings and reading listener texts

Jimmy Smith 2:19 You know what, the funny, the part about it is, so we did have our record day. The record day was two years ago when we had the Manly Jersey Saga, right? That was a record day. And that was for us, like, I think too far about, with Twitter when the plane landed in the Hudson River, right? And there were so many people on Twitter, and Twitter got a massive kick out of that. They got a huge bump. For us, in many ways, that was for us, because a lot of people turned to sports radio and said, where can I hear people talking about this? Where can I add my piece to the conversation? So that was a big moment for us. And then that was then later reflected in the ratings that we got in 2024, which were really good. And we just had a ratings day today and more positivity. So that's fantastic. But no one sends a text message in to not have it read out, right?

Steve 3:09 Makes sense.

Jimmy Smith 3:10 Yeah. So if you send one in, I'm constantly apologizing for not getting to them. And the problem with it is, sometimes when you read them in the ad break, you go, ah, yeah, good point, good point. And so I've taken it on board, but I don't share that with the person that sends it in, which is a real negative. Because I want to be able to say, hey, you made me think, or I think that's ridiculous, or hey, what a really good concept. And sometimes you're going, someone said, hey, why don't you do a show where you just answer the questions or read the text messages that you didn't get a chance to, which literally would take another three hours. It's actually a good concept. We're working our way towards it. But when you do send a text message in, whether it's you or anyone else, I like to get to as many as I can. So yeah, it's because, as I always say, I'm having a conversation, right? I'm having a conversation. And there's no one else there. And it's got Alex, the maestro, as we call him, the producer, there's him. But outside of that, I'm having a conversation with the listeners. So to be able to talk back, them to talk to me and then talk back to them is really valuable.

Steve 4:14 And our ads are read by Gareth Hall. The SEN track, for me, it's an interesting concept, but it works. Like I listen because I'm involved in horse racing. But yeah, hearing those, you know, Gareth Halls and Sam Highlands and whatnot sort of almost sort of just commentate the racing. It's just funny, but it works. Yeah.

Jimmy Smith 4:36 So that's a really interesting concept about the number of times you just replay the one show around the country. Yeah. Because it's like this niche audience that is a very valuable audience, right? It's a big audience. And if you can, again, talk to them like you do for that sporting audience, then, you know, you're creating something of value there, which is very clever from Hutchie and the team at SEN. And because there are so many organisations like Kurrinda and betting companies, everything else.

Steve 5:06 I've had Monarch Racing in today. Then Jason's another sponsor. Yep. Yep.

Jimmy Smith 5:12 And, you know, you can go online and you can be pretty targeted, but you can be really targeted. And with that, you know who your audience is with that.

Steve 5:21 I've been trying to sell a racehorse to Craig Hutchinson.

Jimmy Smith 5:24 He's owned horses in the past, Hutchie.

Steve 5:26 Yep. But, so you might help me there.

Jimmy Smith 5:29 How much pull do I have with Hutchie? Not a whole lot.

Steve 5:32 And I'm a sinker. I love that sinking because like, and you would know the same, listening to the cricket on the radio, like, you know, might be ABC. And then it's 20 seconds out from the sports coverage. But the, how you guys think the, the commentary back to I watch on Fox sports. Yeah, it works.

Jimmy Smith 5:53 So that's a bit of technology that SEN developed. Took the, took them some time to do it and they did it in house. So that's a bit of a, I don't know if it's a global first, but certainly an Australia first. So the capacity to walk into a stadium, take your headphones with you, download the SEN app and then go bang. You can listen direct to the commentary of what's in front of you. Or as you say, sit at home. Okay, I'm watching it on free to air television. So you press that option. And then, oh no, I'm watching it through KO streaming service. We've got that option there that just syncs it up with whatever it is that you are watching is pretty groundbreaking, right? Big, and you know, it's a different, the medium is completely different. And so television is talking to someone. Yep. Talking at someone. Radio is talking with someone. And so you're very much part of the conversation. It's like you and I sitting here and that's what the radio is. And that's the same when you're calling the footy, whereas TV is a presentation too, as opposed to a conversation with. Big difference.

6:55 Streaming and the fragmentation of sports media

Steve 6:55 Something that I've heard you talk about, which is interesting to me, and essentially 15 years ago, I had Fox Sports. I've got everything Fox Sports. But now I've got to have Optus for the soccer. Yep. And man, you can go stick it. Who's your team? The Gunners, the Gooners, Arsenal. Oh, okay. But you know, Optus, Stan, Amazon, DAZN, Netflix, you've got to have all, and it now costs you $100 a month just to license these things. So where are we heading with the fragmentation of sports media?

Jimmy Smith 7:33 So previously we only had one option, subscription, but it cost $100. Right? So now we've got all these different options that we complain about because it's going to cost us near $100. You know? Like, and so that's the, so one thing is it's the value of sport. Right? And we would, I was talking to.

Steve 7:50 And I'd pay it to, for me to watch Arsenal, I would pay for it.

Jimmy Smith 7:53 There you go. And there's so many people around the globe like you. You know? And that's the challenge and the opportunity that exists with it. Right? Okay, DAZN has now bought Foxtel. Right? So you go, okay, what's DAZN want out of it? Well, DAZN set themselves up as the Netflix of sport. Well, in actual fact, they're not. Netflix is a very different business model. Because Netflix makes one show and sells it, sells it once, but to 200 territories. Right? And they've got this one offering. Whereas, sporting rights are very, very geographical. Right? Yes, there is international interest in some of them like your EPL. But, you know, generally speaking, you know, the market for rugby league is here in Australia. So does DAZN get a long tail in America? Yeah. UK? Yes, definitely. Outside of that, maybe. Yep. You know? Cricket? That's the, cricket's the really interesting one. Because of the massive Indian population that is no longer living in India. You know, we had these incredible TV numbers coming out of the Borda Gaviskar series last year. Because there's 550 million people in Australia who were either born in India or have Indian background. Like that's a, and, you know, you can bet your bottom dollar that 95% of them are obsessed by cricket. So that's the opportunity. As far as, I think it'll be a defragmentation. I think there'll be a coming together of a few bigger ones. Yep. I think the really interesting one from my point of view is, it's the broadcasters that do something else. So, Foxtel went from this set-top box that you had there, you paid a hundred bucks for and you watched two channels. Right? You watched the channel you watched, which was sport, and maybe your partner watched a different channel. Yep. And occasionally you watched a movie. Right? That was it. Now you go, okay, I want KO and I just want my sport. I just want my sport. That's great. I get that. And I get it for a quarter of the price. Right? So that then becomes a much thinner margin that KO is working with and the streamers are working with. So that becomes a really competitive landscape. And Netflix is a bit of the outlier, right, because they've done this incredible model that they just keep getting people to turn on. They've got great brand recognition. But what about someone like an Amazon Prime? So you look at them and you go, oh, okay, they've got this streaming service and they've got NFL Thursday night footy in the NFL and they've taken the cricket, the international cricket. Any ICC tournament is in Australia, is now broadcast on Amazon Prime, but they've got this whole other offering. And that is you buy something and we'll get it to you in 24 hours. Like that's pretty powerful. And that's a completely, it's part of the business. It's like Amazon Prime's this little add on that has become this behemoth in its own right that is taking on all the natural broadcasters. And they can't beat them because there's this trillion dollar business associated with people sitting at home and buying stuff. So I think the emergence of those two, I would hate to be a boss of a free-to-air television network. Like you are just under the pump, under the pump. People like, you know, if you want to go and look at the data around, when was the last time I got children 14, 13, 11, boy, boy, girl? Like they don't watch telly. They watch YouTube. Yep. They watch TikTok. Yep. And they'll watch a streaming service. That's what they watch. They never watch free-to-air television. Scary.

Steve 11:22 So no maths in the Smith household.

Jimmy Smith 11:25 No, we don't watch maths. So for example, we just binge on shows, right? So, and then you just find something and you do, you find yourself. So we've got an Apple subscription. Yep. We've got a Netflix subscription. Yep. Clearly we have a KO subscription. Yep. I find myself watching a bit of iView, but you know, that's just catching up on a bit of media watch and all that sort of stuff. And we'll watch, we'll watch it. So we found this show called Slow Horses, which is appropriate, right, for Kurrinda Bloodstock because they're fast horses. But Slow Horses with Gary Oldman. It's about the MI5 and we get so excited when we found out, oh, there's a new series. So that type of thing. And so we don't watch maths. We never watch the Channel 9 news. We never watch a current affair. And free-to-air broadcasters are out there going, oh God, if I don't have sport, I've got nothing. It's crazy.

12:16 Growing up near Cootamundra

Steve 12:16 Jimmy Smith from Cootamundra. Yeah. Must have had sport through your veins at a very young age. I know you're a competent cricketer and went on to be successful NRL player. Notable residents from Cootamundra, Les Boyd.

Jimmy Smith 12:30 Legend.

Steve 12:32 Donald Bradman, I didn't know that.

Jimmy Smith 12:33 Sir Donald, born in Cootamundra, yeah, moved to barrel age two.

Steve 12:37 Bob Holder, rodeo champion.

Jimmy Smith 12:40 Right.

Steve 12:41 And the reference there is our breaker is Luke Morgan, who was a rodeo champion. His brother is Cody Morgan, trainer, who trains horses for us.

Jimmy Smith 12:48 Yeah, right.

Steve 12:49 And you've never had a handshake like these guys. Yeah, right. They'll rip your arm off. So quite impressive.

Jimmy Smith 12:56 Luke Morgan. Cootamundra rodeo was a big deal on the national circuit. I think they might have had the national finals at Cootamundra for the rodeo back in the day.

Steve 13:04 But the Morgan's great rodeo family. No Jimmy Smith on the Wikipedia notable residents of Cootamundra. Right. But there's still time.

Jimmy Smith 13:13 That's right. I'm still waiting to do something that's worthy of getting on. I'm actually from Wollanbeen. So Wollanbeen is a satellite village of Cootamundra. We're in the Cootamundra Shire. So people ask me where you're from, I say Wollanbeen, and people would say where's that? I say, well, it's this side of Stock and Bingle, but it's just to the north of Wombat. And people go, are you kidding? I'm like, no, I don't know. That's actually true.

Steve 13:36 So you debuted for, must have been East, 1992, the year that Sub-Zero won the Melbourne Cup. Yep. In that era, you would have needed another job.

13:45 University, the Roosters and Super League

Jimmy Smith 13:45 So I was the last of, so I went to, left school in 89, went to the Roosters, but was always going to go to university. So I did an agricultural economics degree at Sydney University with a view to going home to the farm. Right. That was what I was going to do. I was just going to be in Sydney and play footy until footy stopped and then I'd go home to the family farm. Only son. And that was sort of the plan. And then, so I finished my university degree. It was a four year degree that took me five years to do, Stevie. It was quite challenging at different stages of that. And so when I finished in 95, Super League happened. So the moment, yeah, 90, so the moment that was, Gus Gould said, right, everyone's going full time. Yep. So we couldn't have a job. So my timing was perfect on that, that I just finished my university and then went into full time. And seriously, the first year we had no idea how to do that. Like the Roosters had no idea. Gus didn't know how to do that. We would go, we'd go, right, training day on Wednesday. So we'd train in the morning, do a bit of ball work, a bit of weights. And then Gus would, we'd get on a bus and go somewhere for lunch as a team, and then come back and do a little bit of training in the afternoon, just to justify what everyone was getting paid in the Super League era. No one knew how to do it. Now they're really professional about how they make use of their, the best way to make use of the player's time. But no one had an idea how to do it. And eventually I think they realised, you know what, we need to pare it back a bit and allow people to have something outside of football. Yeah. Because I think that works for their footy.

Steve 15:21 Yep. I played team sports my whole life, rugby for 15 years, not very well. Yep. But I benefit greatly from playing team sports, being part of a team, leading teams, being led, etc, etc. Yep. I've heard you say some really sort of kind things about Craig Salvatore. Yeah. Just in terms of his leadership. So you may touch on that, but then also touching on that Super League, I know you've got a good story about that as well with Craig.

15:49 Craig Salvatori and the Super League war

Jimmy Smith 15:49 So Salvo was, Salvo was his fire brand. He was part Aboriginal, Italian background, and a real hothead, but this really great athlete. And he didn't unleash that until Jack Gibson came along. And Jack Gibson came along, I think Salvo played his first, first grade game in 1986. By 1991, and he got fit that preseason, which seems strange, right? Everyone should be fit, but Salvo got fit. And, mate, he would do everything for the team. He would kick off. He was a front rower. He would kick off. He would take the kickoffs. He would kick for touch. I'm sure he kicked goals in one game, but not exclusively. But he, and then he was the front rower hitting the ball up, but he also had great skill. So, and he was like a god to me, right? You know, if Salvo said jump off the bridge, I'd say, yeah, no problem, Salvo. Like, when do you want me to do it? I'll go do it. And he, and he had this infectious personality where, you know, he's this big, gregarious, larger than life personality. And so I, I just love Salvo. He's, he was, you know, he's the first captain that I came in. And he, he was actually suspended when I played my first, first grade game. In fact, I probably got a start because he got suspended.

Steve 17:05 Is that like Steve Waugh getting dropped for Mark Waugh? Yeah, yeah.

Jimmy Smith 17:10 Well, yeah, sort of. And, and so I, he came into me, he said, mate, don't get caught in the middle, get out there and enjoy yourself. And you, you're good enough to play in this grade. And it was like, whoa, that's so big. Anyway, Salvo. So Salvo was a really, a great leader for us. Um, there were, there were probably parts of his leadership. Now I look at it and think, hmm. Um, you know, it wasn't the hardest trainer by the back end. And, um, he loved the shortcut Salvo. Um, but I remember when he made his state of origin debut and they were talking to Jack Gibson about it and they said, do you think, do you think they should pick him? And Jack said, well, Queensland don't want him to pick him. Playing for New South Wales. And I went, yeah, it's, that's classic Jack, right? But, um, Salvo was there. He was captain when the Super League broke. Obviously Gus was there working on behalf of the ARL and, and, you know, it all broke. And we played a game out at Penrith and, um, like people got out of their cars and did, like, you're hearing this stuff on the radio. What's going on? What's going on? We didn't know. It was in front of the training. Gus got us into the, uh, pre-training and said, no, post-training. And said, hey guys, it's a two dollar shelf company. It's, you know, this is, it's not gonna happen. The Australian Rugby League have run this game for 87 years is and they should continue to run it in the future, you know. So, you know, just make sure you'll stay loyal to the ARL. We're like, oh, okay. And then Gus gets up to leave and says, right, that's it, boys. And Salvo says, I just want to have a chat to the boys. And we're like, what's going on here, Salvo? Salvo says, forget about that stuff. You guys go and do what's best for yourself. Like if you can go and speak to Super League and you can get something out of Super League, you go for it. And we're like, oh, wow, okay, good advice, Salvo. Appreciate that. So now you're walking out, you know, you're quite young and naive to these things and you're like, oh, okay, what do we do now? What do we do? I'm watching sports tonight, that night, and there's Craig Salvatore standing on the steps of Phillip Street in the New South Wales Rugby League saying, the ARL have run the game for 87 years and they should continue. I'm like, Salvo, what are you doing? So I get to train in the next day. I said, Salvo, what's going on? And he said, mate, I walked in there. They offered me X amount of money. He told me. He said, I signed the cheque and I said, that's good enough for me. I said, fair enough, Salvo. And it was a crazy time. It was a crazy time. But if you lived through the Super League, if you played through that, you've got some good Super League stories.

19:35 St Gregory's College and its rugby league names

Steve 19:35 Before, you played about 140 odd, 148, I think, first grade games. Before that, you went to a prominent rugby league school. I found, I've tracked down, it's about 10 years old, but the first 13 from St. Gregory's College. So I'll take you through this and you can let me know your thoughts. Right. Mick Potter, fullback.

Jimmy Smith 19:58 Oh, this is a team of, was it team of the century or team of the. . .

Steve 20:02 Something along those lines. Yeah. But I think who publicised it was the advertiser.

Jimmy Smith 20:07 Oh, Campbelltown? No, MacArthur advertiser. Rightio. Yes.

Steve 20:10 Mick Potter, fullback. Yes. Teddy on the wing. That would annoy him.

Jimmy Smith 20:15 Mick Potter won two Dally M's at fullback.

Steve 20:17 Russell Richardson, Chris Lawrence, centres. Matt Sears, other wing. Yep. Baz. Trent Barrett. Yep, 5'8". JT, Jason Taylor, halfback. Yes. Paul Quinn. I don't recall him.

Jimmy Smith 20:31 So Paul Quinn played on the 1963 Kangaroo Tour. Okay. So he was one of the originals, Paul Quinn. Rightio. Yep.

Steve 20:37 So a long, that's why I don't remember him. Ivan Henjack. Tim Sheens. Yes. Ryan Hoffman. James Smith. Mm. Locke and Bo Scott coached Jack Gibson. Yeah.

Jimmy Smith 20:52 Jack went to St. Greggs for a little while. Hell of a team. I would be well and truly out of that side now if they did it from now on. So you've got like guys like …

Steve 21:00 You've got Lockie Galvin.

Jimmy Smith 21:02 No, Lockie Galvin's Westfield Sport Tire. Oh, okay. Yep. Jack DeBellin is an Olsen Greggs boy. Yep. Bo Scott. Did he get a mention in there? Yeah, he's there. Yeah, Bo Scott. He's a lot. Yeah. So we're, you know, there's a lot of guys there that, you know, especially regional guys were attracted to the school because it … So when I went to St. Greggs, there was 1,000 acres there. We had a working dairy. Yep. And, you know, once every semester you used to have to get up in the middle, like four o'clock in the morning and go and do dairy. That's not there anymore. We were surrounded by houses. So … But it was a very strong agricultural college back then. So a lot of kids from the country and a lot of kids who showed a bit of promise would come to the school for rugby league. A lot of people talked about scholarships and back when Peter Moore was in charge of the Bulldogs and Peter Mahoen was there, they worked out a system where there was a, hey, we'll get this guy from here and go there to school for a couple of years and then he'll go to the Bulldogs. And there was plenty of players who did that. Luke Kenneth, not Luke, Damien. Luke was his brother. Damien Kenneth was the 5'8". He was the best schoolboy footballer I think I've ever seen. He got player of the match in the final, scored two, set up three, played first grade at the Bulldogs but never quite. Yep. You know. But, yeah, that sort of thing existed. So, yeah, we were renowned as … And think about the coaches that have come out of there. So Jack Gibson, Tim Sheens, Trent Robinson is an Olsen Greggs boy. Yep. Jason Taylor has coached. And, you know, I said Tedesco may be still on the wing but Tedesco, Australian World Cup winning captain. So he probably just beats out Mick Potter. And who knows what's in his future as well too. So very proud of the rugby league history at the school.

22:43 Early racing memories

Steve 22:43 So Kurrinda Bloodstock, we syndicate racehorses but you must have some racehorsing memories. Do you recall an early Melbourne Cup or you got a story from when you were a kid?

Jimmy Smith 22:57 I'd never forget at Wollanbeam Public School, which is relevant now because it's just been shut down, it was the smallest school in the state. They had one student. But when my sisters and I were going there, there was about 35 kids in the school, you know, the big classroom and the little classroom and all that sort of stuff. So big school, little school. But every Melbourne Cup you'd go up to the teacher's residence, which was right next door, and you'd watch the Melbourne Cup. Like it was very much a part of your schooling. And I remember, what year was it? Dulcify? 1979. Right. Dulcify. Didn't complete the Melbourne Cup?

Steve 23:37 It won the Cox Plate by about six lengths and then broke down in the Melbourne Cup.

Jimmy Smith 23:41 Broke down in the Melbourne Cup. Like that was – so 1979, I was seven years of age and I would have been watching it in Mr Brazier's house. Yeah. But that's what you did, righto. Kids, up we go. Everyone goes in and watches it. You know, your dad would come home from the pub and you'd be in the sweep and all that sort of stuff. So I guess that's the Australian way, isn't it? But horse racing is something that my family wasn't really in. Dad owned occasional pieces of, you know, bits of horse. He'd say, I own the toenail of that one and all that sort of stuff. But he wasn't really into it. But certainly coming to Sydney and being near Royal Randwick, I live literally 150 metres from Royal Randwick and so you would go to the races and then you'd be around people and they'd be punting and all that sort of stuff. I'm not a – you know, I wouldn't describe myself as a punter. I punt but, you know, I don't need – some people immediately think of the punting angle. Yeah. That's not me. But I understand – I completely understand the concept and people criticise it at times and excessive punting is there's all the safeguards around that. I find it enormously enjoyable. It's really satisfying. I find it entertaining.

Steve 24:54 Like hitting a good golf drive.

24:56 Owning parts of horses

Jimmy Smith 24:56 It's entertainment. It really is. And as I say, I don't have that obsessive personality so it really works for me. I've owned parts of horses at different stages and I've never had a – not had a good time. Like it's always been fantastic. So my best ownership story is a horse called Salon Soldier. So I'm going to mention probably a strong competitor of yours, Australian Bloodstock.

Steve 25:21 Yep, that's completely fine.

Jimmy Smith 25:22 So that's Luke and Jamie. Yep. And I don't know how I came to – I think it was through a mate said, hey, there's 10% available. I'm going to take 5% to you. And I think I took 2.5% of this horse called Waldmark, German horse. You remember it? Mate, loomed up in whatever year. It would have been about 2006, 2007 Melbourne Cup. Sure. Loomed up to win, didn't. Waldpark. Waldpark. Okay. Yep. And then they said – so that was worth this. So let's say it was $300,000. They said, oh, and there's another one there for $100,000. You want to go in with that. It's called Salon Soldier. And we went, oh, right, we'll go in that too. So, you know, you had a little bit of that and a little bit of that. Anyway, they get out there and Salon Soldier is about to go for its first race. It's Royal Randwick. And it's a German horse. Come to Australia. Thrill Australian bloodstock. And anyway, Tracy, my wife, we're living at Bondi. She's seven months pregnant with our third child, Avery. And I said, honey, the horse is racing this Saturday. And she's like, there's no way. I'm getting in heels. And I said, wear your flats. Just come out. We'll just go for an hour. Okay? It'll be fine. I'll just want to watch it run. You know, we'll have a bit of a bet on it. She said, okay. So we get out there and I'm like, oh, this is challenging. Anyway, got to meet a lot of people for the first time. And to this day I'm still keeping contact with these people, great people.

Steve 26:53 And that's a big part of our ownership.

Jimmy Smith 26:56 One of my great mates, Matty King, who's an uber successful real estate guy down in the Sutherland Shire. Just world's nicest bloke. Great company. Part owner of Salon Soldier. And that's the day I met him. So there we are. It's $19. By the time I get to back it, come on, honey. Come on, honey. Hurry up. It's about $13.50. I'm like, oh, there's a bit of money around for this thing. Anyway, so we go. And Chris leaves trains. So we go into the mounting yard. And there's Tracy. And all the jockeys are on. And the only horse without a jockey is Salon Soldier. And Tracy doesn't know racing that well, says to no one in particular, but anyone who's listening, will our horse have a jockey? And Chris looks at her and says, sometimes it's better if they don't. So she's like, oh, okay. Next thing, Jimmy Cassidy comes out, jumps up, and away we go. We think, oh, okay. Last on the turn. We all go up with the owners. Last on the turn. There's not many there. Last on the turn. We're like, oh. And it rattles home. It just picks up steam. And such a consistent horse. Finishes strong through the line. Wins by about two or three lengths. And as I look over as it goes past, Tracy is cheering with tears coming down. I'm like, gotcha. So we retire to the winner's room. She has a couple of champagnes. I think that explains Avery, our daughter. And it's just one of the great days of all time. Jimmy Cassidy jumps off and says, don't let anyone else ride this horse. So we're like, oh, wow. Goes down to Melbourne. So we can't go to Melbourne for the – it races the race after the Melbourne Cup in 2013. Sure. Race after the Melbourne Cup. Wins it on a rock-hard surface that didn't suit the European horse but wins it. Was paying $3.20. Chris Lees tipped it out and said, Queen Elizabeth. And we're like, wow. Okay, yeah. And we're in the market. We're in the market. Gets the great salon soldier back into pre-training on about the last day of January, the following year. So it's 2014, drops dead, dies. So equivalent of a burst appendix in a horse. And the vet had never seen it in a racehorse and had seen it once previously in an animal. But I don't want to scare people off Kurrinda Bloodstock but these are the things that happen. No, it does happen.

Steve 29:22 I mean one of our biggest costs is insurance. Right. But you've sort of got to do it. Yeah. And you've got to pick and choose when to do it.

Jimmy Smith 29:29 But anyway, Chris Lees rang. You know, we had to go around and ring all the owners. Like he was devastated. He knew he had a really good horse. Devastated. But, you know, that was as close as I got to owning a really good racehorse. Yep. I think we did own a really good racehorse. And it was just freakish circumstances that left us out.

Steve 29:50 Well, you're not – I always – I say on every call, you're not guaranteed to make money but you should be guaranteed to have fun. You can.

29:56 A story from his Sky Sports Radio days

Jimmy Smith 29:56 You can guarantee yourself have fun. And you really engage yourself in it. And so that's a really important part. Can I tell you my best punting story? It's not a punting story for me but I did have a little profit on it. But I used to work on Sky Sports Radio with a bloke named Ray Thomas. I know Ray yet. World's greatest bloke. Right. World's nicest bloke. I love Ray Thomas. Anyway, we had a sponsor from Steve Foster and Sons Quality Cars, Scotty Foster. Great fella. Anyway, Friday night, middle of winter, I reckon 2018. 2018. He had a horse called Baileus and it was running at Doombin the next day. Yep. And he sends a text message and says, boys, you know, I think this is a real hope. Needs to rain at three because it's a wet track specialist, not due to race till the last race. Currently 81 and 13s. Yep. Think, you know, worth having something on it. So I'm like – at that stage I was the head of our punters club, right, that had to put all the bets on and all this sort of thing. And Ray Thomas sends a message back, good on you, Scotty, all the best, hope it goes well, mate. And I said, Scotty, that's his way of saying there is no way I'm backing this horse. But I said, I'm with you, Scotty. So I used to have to make contact with the punters club. I thought, no, bugger it. I'll just – so I think I had 200 each way on it at 81s and 13s, right. So – and then I started texting a few blokes individually, hey, have a look at this. The next day we get up, it's bone dry in Brisbane. It's sunny. And I had something to do in the afternoon and I couldn't have my phone with me. And I get in the car at 6 o'clock. I've got 32 text messages and about 16 voicemails. I'm like, this thing's won. This thing has won. And so anyway, next – I get on there, start reading them all, watch the replay. Everything went – it had rained. It was perfect conditions. It flies down the outside and it salutes at $81 and $14. So we've had a massive fill-up. And then all the blokes are going – I had a mate say, oh, yeah, I put $100 on it and then I could do the tab booster. You could boost your odds. Because it was that, they gave him five times. He won $23,000 on this horse, Baileas. So I thought, ooh, I wonder how Scotty is. So I rang Scotty Foster and he answered the phone, hello, Reserve Bank of Australia speaking. I said, oh, how's it going, mate? Had a massive day. So – How good. That is the best punting. And the fact that he told us exactly how it was going to happen and what was required, it felt like a sting. You know, like the old days you read about the stings. Yep. It felt like we got a sting in. So it was a good day.

Steve 32:45 So that's my old days. Schoolboy rugby, the night before, you think about doing the chip and chase and never quite comes off. But, you know, when it does –

Jimmy Smith 32:56 Mate, he visualised it. He visualised. Baileas. I'll never forget the name of the horse. Baileas. Won at $81 up there at Doonbin one Saturday.

Steve 33:05 Well, it's a cracker story. Jimmy, as I said, just – I enjoy consuming your radio. I love your interaction with all the guests. You take it on, the good, the bad and the ugly. And I'll be sort of tuning in and listening and interacting for a long time to come. So thank you so much for being part of this. And if you can make it to the Everest, we'll show you a good time.

33:30 How Kurrinda is going

Jimmy Smith 33:30 Hey, what about Kurrinda? How's it going? Tell me that story. Because I really like hearing about sponsors and the things they're doing and the innovative ways they go about things. Because I love business, right? I love the business of sport in particular. And you're right at the heart of it.

Steve 33:44 I'll tell you a few things. We bought 17 yearlings this year. Wow. We've got more than 600 owners across 55 horses. Wow. Private Harry is obviously a great, you know, helpful case. But we've got a number of high-performing horses. Yep. So you don't need to promise to make money, but as I said earlier, you know, this isn't Bitcoin. You're not guaranteeing to make money, but you should be guaranteed to have a great time. We've got our open day in July. We'll be entertaining. Where at? Up at the farm, up in Broke in the Hunter Valley. Okay. 40-acre farm up there. Yep. I'm going to hold our Christmas party in Goulburn at their Christmas meeting, 20th of December. So it's a Friday. What day is that? Friday, 20th of December. Okay. So just put it on. Goulburn.

Jimmy Smith 34:31 I've got a couple of mates at Goulburn.

Steve 34:32 So we've got about 16 horses with Matt Dale. Okay. Who's a fantastic guy, good family guy, good horseman. As a syndicator, we need good communicators. Yep. But we're trying hard. We don't take it for granted. Earlier today, I interviewed one of our direct competitors, Jason from Monarch Racing. We just talked about some of our, you know, challenges. Yep. Because syndication's not always equal playing field to trainers. But…

35:00 The challenges of being a syndicator

Jimmy Smith 35:00 What's the greatest challenge of the syndicator market, do you think?

Steve 35:07 One is getting paid, whether that's for any business. We do a lot on direct debit, which helps. Right. You need to maintain the quality of your stock. Yep. I think actually probably the most important is very direct, clear communication. Yeah. So this, in the last three months, we've, we sold a horse, just wasn't up to scratch. Right. We re-homed a horse. It was a second start. Right. It was favourite for the race. Immediately after, we decided to re-home it. Wow. And the owners need to keep paying until we re-home it. And that's a funny thing because they're paying fees on a horse. Yeah. Has no future. Yep. But I think clear communication and being horse first, I think are two really crucial things.

Jimmy Smith 35:54 I reckon that, and a lot of people, like the trainers who tell you, hey, it's not good, you're not going to, and like you really appreciate that, honest. The last thing, with the horse industry, and I've seen it more in that industry than any other. Yep. So to be, and it's like real estate, right? When you're the, when you do something, when you zig, when everyone else is zagging, that's the point of difference, as long as it's for the right things. But, you know, those trainers that are direct and say, no, not going to, which save you a lot of time and money. Yeah. That's to be appreciated. Because in this industry, there's so many people will say, keep doing that for the sake of, you know.

36:31 The Local and the business of sport

Steve 36:31 No, well, that, there's no future in that. No. Another quirky thing, like the business of sport, we've got a horse we've just called The Local. It's by Acrobat. The Local is a, is a, is a guy who has a passion project. Tim Allen is his name, following Country Pubs, The Local. I know Timmy Allen. Yeah. Used to work at Channel 10. Yeah. Great fella. Yeah. So that's sort of what just partnered with him, just found him by chance. Yes. And that could be your next investment, Jimmy, but.

Jimmy Smith 37:00 With Timmy Allen, no problem. Acrobat.

Steve 37:03 What are those shares for? Trained by Matt Dale in. Goulburn. In Goulburn. We paid $130. We've got costs on top of that. Right. But I'll send you that after the, after this.

Jimmy Smith 37:14 I've got to sell more salt to be able to do that.

Steve 37:17 But the business of sport, being creative and fun to do innovative things. Yeah. Yeah.

Jimmy Smith 37:23 And like this, right? So this is, this is new. You've done it really professionally for the sake of further engaging your owners. Yep.

Steve 37:32 600 plus owners. Database on top of that. Finding interesting, interested people like yourself to talk about everything, but tie it back to horse racing.

Jimmy Smith 37:43 And remember how many listeners you've got for SEN. So you think about your owners and what they're saying about you in the marketplace. And remember, you know, 70% if you've got a trusted voice that you know. It's very powerful. Very powerful.

Steve 37:58 Well, we really appreciate your support. But Jimmy, thank you so much. Anytime, Stevie. Bye.