Jason Micallef of Monarch Racing on Running a Syndicate

0:00 Japan trip and meeting a direct competitor

Steve 0:00 Episode 26 of Off N Racing. You've got Steve here from Kurrinda Bloodstock. I'm really pleased to be joined by essentially our direct competitor in Jason from Monarch Racing. Thank you, mate. Thanks for having me, Steve. And you've just been in Japan? I have. Yeah, the wife and I just went on holiday. Went to Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto. Good part of the world. I highly recommend it. Yeah. Eating any interesting food? Weird food? Yeah, I ate a tarantula. Yeah. Over there. Crunchy? Yes. And have a good food.

Jayce (Monarch Racing) 0:30 Hard to swallow. I had to get some water to get that down. But no, it's a beautiful, beautiful country, mate. The people there are, the best way I can describe the Japanese is considerate. And their culture is second to none. They're just so polite. So, so polite. So, highly recommend for anyone, even for kids to go there. Do you get to a race meeting? Nah, nah, nah. We went for a holiday. Yeah. I needed a holiday. That means horse holiday too, you know? Yep. No, oh, beautiful. I guess the context are catching up. Look, we're

Steve 0:59 We're quite literally direct competitors. Yeah. But I see you at every sale. We wish you the best. Yeah. You are, you know, equally sort of happy to see us succeed on the track. Yeah, definitely. And we'll catch up on a few things. But also just to chat about some of those sort of challenges in syndication that we both. Yeah. We both face.

1:16 A Standardbred family and growing up at Harold Park

Jayce (Monarch Racing) 1:16 I think your family background goes back to Standardbreds. Was there Lady William? Yeah, Lady William. Yeah. 1963, she won the Easter Cup, which was a big race and they don't even have it anymore. It was that long ago. But no, that's, that's how I got into the sport through our family. My grandfather, he was an owner. And then my uncle became a trainer driver. Me, me other uncle used to help him out with training and stuff like that. And then me father and me uncle started to get into the thoroughbreds. The thoroughbreds. Yep. And that's when, you know, I was a kid growing up at the racetracks at Harold Park or Canterbury or Gatorosa, Randwick or whatnot. But the thoroughbreds are what really piqued my interest. You know?

Steve 1:57 I never knew in the sulky, is it better to be heavier or lighter?

Jayce (Monarch Racing) 2:02 Nah, it doesn't matter. Go have a look at the drivers. I mean, once those wheels start moving, it's just all, it's all motion, right? The horses don't feel the weight. I mean, my uncle wasn't a light fella. I mean, neither am I. So, I mean, they might have a bit of a harder time getting off the mark. That's it.

Steve 2:19 So Lady William, some of the, I mean, it's before our time, some of my favourite standard breads that I just enjoy looking back. Hondo Grattan. Yeah. Pale Face Adios. Yeah. I recall was sort of late at school. Blacks are fake.

Jayce (Monarch Racing) 2:33 Blacks are fake, yeah.

Steve 2:35 Any others come to mind?

Jayce (Monarch Racing) 2:35 Courage Under Fire. Yep. The Little Horse Who Could. Yeah. Christian Cullen. Very good. A couple of good ones. Yeah. Tiger Tara, that's my dad's cousin. He was trained to drive her for that. Yep. And then I've got a mate now, Tony LeCastro. He's got that Don Hugo. Yes. That's a rising superstar. So good on him. I think he's going to get that one to stud and it's fantastic for him.

Steve 2:58 And leap to fame, 63 starts, 50 wins, nearly 4 million in prize money. Do you think that's going to have a seat at the table?

Jayce (Monarch Racing) 3:05 A hundred percent. Has to. We need one of them in the thoroughbreds. We've got one. Yeah. 40 wins.

3:16 Harold Park closing and the move to Menangle

Steve 3:16 It was years ago, but closing Harold Park, move out to Menangle. I mean, there's never any crowd. Is it good commercially? Do you think that worked?

Jayce (Monarch Racing) 3:24 Well, I live out that way. And I basically grew up at Harold Park, right? I even got caught. My mum and dad caught me smoking at Harold Park the first time when I was like 17 and I shouldn't have been. But look, it was a different culture, I suppose. You had the inner city. A lot of people went there. Menangle, it's so big. So you're still really getting the people out there. But it just doesn't look it as much. The tracks are more there. But I think it's for the growth of that area and everyone, everything's coming out further and further away from the city. That's right. And I think it's a smart move by them. And I mean, for what they paid for it then to what it's worth now for just the track of the land itself, they've done really, really well. Smart move.

4:07 A tiling business that funds a passion

Steve 4:07 Before your syndication business, you're a successful business owner. It's a tiling business. And it's sort of really sort of almost funded what's become a passion sort of project for the syndication.

Jayce (Monarch Racing) 4:16 Yeah, I haven't done too bad for a dumb tiler. So now we've got a wholesale business now. We've got retail stores. We run the install. We tiling about 100 houses a week, 80 to 100 houses a week in residential, which is pretty good. Then we've got a tiling outlet. I've got my brother runs the caulking division and we do a bit of waterproofing. So it's busy, busy, busy, but always time for family and a passion, you know.

Steve 4:37 I work for Tyler at uni and he'd just buy like 20 Vs and go mad. And I'd mix like 10 metres of sand and cement a day.

Jayce (Monarch Racing) 4:51 That's the staple diet of any tradesman, isn't it? A V in a Winfield Blue, maybe a meat pie from the servo.

Steve 4:59 So Monarch Racing, who's in the business?

Jayce (Monarch Racing) 5:01 My wife and I at the moment. We're in the process now. We're looking to, because the business has grown, we're looking to sort of expand and add to that. We've got our team that do their little portions and elements in the business, as you know. But no, we're in the process now. We're looking to add to that because it's growing.

5:20 Choosing trainers and the importance of loyalty

Steve 5:20 Beautiful. And I see you partner with certain trainers, different to ours, and there's no sort of right or wrong. It's just, you know, different. And so I'm really intrigued to why that you partner with certain. So Richard, like I loved Castle Vecchio as a horse and we've got one. So, you know, what do you like about Richard or where'd that come about?

Jayce (Monarch Racing) 5:37 Well, Richard, for me, my auntie actually used to get him the feed at one point. So when I was looking to sort of venture out and do something for myself and I wanted to get my own horse, she said, oh, you need to try it, Richard. Anyway, and at that time he just won that $2 million English race with Castle Vecchio, right? So that's how I got on to Richard. Like obviously I've had shares before and bits and pieces but I went and met him and that guy supported me. I was a nothing and a no one, you know. And I was like for six months I'd ring him at every English digital sale or whatever, I'm going to do this and I didn't have enough money. And he helped me and stayed persistent and he's really helped me get this off the ground. And, I mean, the bloke can train. Yep. He's young. He sent two horses to stud. He's won three group ones. He's very polite, very professional. And, I mean, the horses are immaculately turned out and looked after. I mean, for us, you want the best performance, you want the best for the horse. And the doors are open for my owners. Anytime they want to go, we organise it. We either meet them there or Richard will look after them. What more do you want?

Steve 6:46 Communication is key, obviously. Yeah. Yeah, so that's fantastic to hear. We're, you know, we have, Kurrinda Bloodstock have grown as a business in the last couple of years, but we're sticking with those people that helped us early, you know.

Jayce (Monarch Racing) 6:59 Loyalty is a big thing. Like, every syndication business, I mean, you boys are great. Like, we get along fantastically. Like, Carinda Sean and, like, everything you guys are doing is good for the whole industry, right? And, but everyone does things their own different way. Like, I don't want to go to the country. Yep. Don't want to. I want to stay at the provincials and go to the city. Yep. You know? I've got one trainer per state. I've got two horses with Gay and Adrian at the moment, but you never know where that's going to go when you grow on your business sort of thing, right? But I'm happy just to be loyal and support those that support me and they treat me and my owners with respect. And what more do you want? Amazing.

7:38 Trainers in Victoria and Queensland

Steve 7:38 So, Simon Zara in Victoria? Simon's a cracker. Absolutely, mate.

Jayce (Monarch Racing) 7:41 He's a larrikin of a bloke. You ever met him? I haven't met him.

Steve 7:45 He's a bit of a sideshow Bob, you know.

Jayce (Monarch Racing) 7:47 The poor bloke. And he's just got that – he's born with that hair and he's been tarnished because of the car and hair shave. But no, no. He's a top bloke. I mean, him and Matty, when they were at the peak of their powers, they were flying the boys. And then obviously they've had a little bit of a situation where they've had to separate and go their own ways. And, I mean, he still can train. It's just – I've got this thing – and you'd probably be the same, mate. I mean, if you put Private Harry with a couple of other trainers, they're still going to win that group one, right? I mean, a good trainer is a good trainer. That's right. But they need good horses.

Steve 8:22 Yeah, it's stock. It's quality of stock. That's right. Yeah.

Jayce (Monarch Racing) 8:25 So, for him, we want to back him because I think he can get the job done.

Steve 8:30 And up in Queensland, you've got Matty and Tony Sears. Yeah, yeah.

Jayce (Monarch Racing) 8:33 Love old Tones. He's a – he's a – old Desi, we call him. He's a character. He's just – he reminds me – him and Lee, Matty's mum and dad, they remind me a lot of my mum and dad. They're just the kindest people. Straighty 180. They're – you know, my dad's a toilet, so life's about construction, right? Yeah. Tones is the out-and-out trainer, mate. And then you've got Matty, who's just this big, bubbly personality. She cares so much for the horses. And she treats me and me owners amazing. So – and she's getting the results, mate. I think she's sitting at 11th now. Like, you watch her in the Queensland training rink. She's go up and up and up. And we want to be there to back her. And Tony. Oh, that's great.

Steve 9:14 Yeah, in Queensland we use Stu Kendrick. Yeah, Stu and Top Lake. And I was up at Sunshine Coast in January. I had an owner who lives in Maryborough. Robin, she'll listen to this. She'd never had the sort of courage to, like, reach out and introduce herself. Yeah. I rang Stu. He came straight down. He spent 10 minutes with her. And that was just – yeah, the coolest thing. Yeah, yeah.

Jayce (Monarch Racing) 9:35 I think a lot of people have got to – you've got to realise everyone wakes up in the morning and put undies on too, mate. Like, you can talk to someone. It's okay. Yeah.

Steve 9:42 Well, I just think it's – those – you know, like, we've got – we choose different trainers but we're getting the same sort of outcome in terms of just, you know, communication and everything else.

Jayce (Monarch Racing) 9:53 Well, that's your business model, right? Like, I don't treat people ill. Like, I like to treat people ill. I want to be treated. And that's my expectation for anyone I do business with. Yeah. And for your clients to have that experience. And you guys are the same. You can see it at the sales when you've got people hanging around and getting amongst it and doing things. It's not just watching a race. There's a lot more to it. You know, that's what I like about you guys. You really bring everyone into it. Yeah.

10:18 Private Harry's Galaxy day and buying yearlings

Steve 10:18 Private Harry won the Galaxy. I was entertaining more than 50 people that day. It was quite a headache. But it's –

Jayce (Monarch Racing) 10:23 Good headache, Bart. Yeah.

Steve 10:27 But it worked out. Yeah. And ATC are sort of really fantastic to deal with. So you're – I think you're up to about 23 horses. How many did you buy this year? Eight. And you're done?

Jayce (Monarch Racing) 10:43 I don't know if we're ever done. Are you? No, look, I'm done with me yearlings. Obviously, the yearling sale is over now. I thought we'd done pretty good for ourselves. But for an 18-month-old business to have eight horses out of a yearling sale and, you know, the cheapest one we got was 50 green. And we're heading in that direction. We really want to step up the quality. Yeah. Like I watched you guys and what you did last year and we're on the same sort of trajectory. You want to – it's all good. You can get a horse like Darby did with that 30 grand when they got into the millennia. But the reality is if you want to have that Saturday experience, majority of them are not 30 grand horses or 20 grand horses, you know? That's right.

Steve 11:24 So, yeah, we bought between 20 and 420 this year. Yeah. The most expensive was the first to be filled just by chance. Just like you, we've got stew in Queensland. We use Mitch Friedman down in Victoria. We've got a handful of New South Wales trainers. But you're sort of getting something for everyone. And you do obviously want the best quality stock. Yeah, yeah.

Jayce (Monarch Racing) 11:47 And you put them – like a time horse and that, Richard and Simon are quite good. If I want something really scrubbed along and pushed up a bit early, you know, you speak to the guys. I was like Richard – Richard's a very soft-handed sort of a trainer. Yep. So I've got like a – so you think Pajingo, the Darby horse are a done deal. Fit the mould for him. Perfect. But I've challenged him a bit because I've got a King's Legacy and a Capdavant that I want to get moving. So, I mean, Castelvecchio won the millennium. He can do it. Yep. It's just – I just – it's like our turn on the Ferris wheel, right? We're on the ride now. I hope so.

Steve 12:22 Yeah, the Capdavant should go early. You've got a Pirata.

Jayce (Monarch Racing) 12:25 The Pirata is a machine. An absolute machine. I haven't seen a two-year-old with that much muscle. I thought you could put a saddle on and ride him tomorrow at the sales – he was a sales topper for Pirata up there.

Steve 12:38 Yeah, it wasn't a cheap horse, was it? No, no.

Jayce (Monarch Racing) 12:40 And he's a ladies-only one. So you watch the girls just absolutely blouses. Yep. They can get the best horse. It's always going to be the way.

12:48 Licensing and regulation for syndicators

Steve 12:48 That will be great. And as co-syndicators, so we need to have essentially a financial licence. We both do that through Stable Connect. Yep. We're regulated by ASIC. So, you know, any phone call I ever receive, I say, look, this isn't Bitcoin. Yeah. We're heavily regulated for all the right reasons. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, you know, that makes it complex but it makes it, you know, importantly safe.

Jayce (Monarch Racing) 13:21 Yeah, yeah, definitely. Especially we've got the trust funds there. Yep. Everything's got to be fully insured so if anything happens, clients are looked over. I like it. I like the system. I don't mind it. I do it a little bit different. I don't buy anything on credit. Everything we've got for is done and paid for in advance and I've got to sell everything down or I'm racing it and then we go again. Yep. So my clients, same as what sort of Sean does, you know, you come to us for security and you know you're getting looked after and should things go wrong, there's things in place that you're taking care of.

13:53 Cash flow, owner types and results

Steve 13:53 And a number of trainers sort of end up getting in trouble with sort of cash flow, just sort of, you know, chasing payments and stuff. Do you, you know, we do a lot by direct debit which really helps but have you got a way to manage that type of thing?

Jayce (Monarch Racing) 14:05 Look, because we're so small, it's not like, I don't have the luxury of someone like you, brother. Where, like I got to, I just bring and speak to everyone. You sort of vet people and whatnot. Yeah, yeah. And I mean, at this point in time, my clients are fantastic. I haven't had an issue outside of, hey, this direct debit didn't work this week or whatever. No worries, I'll fix it straight up. So fingers crossed but I'm also very experienced with business and it doesn't always work like that.

Steve 14:32 And would you agree, like, you know, you sort of could profile what you think is the perfect owner but I can tell you of more than, you know, 600 owners in our business, they're all different. They live in different places. They've got different professions. Yeah. They're just, everyone is different. Yeah, yeah.

Jayce (Monarch Racing) 14:49 Look, my philosophy is quite simple, right? Like, we're professionals at what we do and we set standards, we have reputations and whatnot. Like, if you want to come on the team, be a part of it, enjoy the journey, the results may or may not come because it's the one thing we can't guarantee. Yeah. Like yourselves, man, we guarantee, like, one thing I can guarantee, we're given 180% every day. And I mean, sometimes you might have a 1% owner. Can we erase you? Can we do that? I mean, this is, they're trying to have a part of the journey. So I have the conversations and I try and educate. Yeah. And that's sort of my way to build strong relationships and nurture that with when things come up that probably shouldn't.

Steve 15:35 And I say you're not guaranteed to make money but you should be guaranteed to have fun. That's right. Yeah, yeah.

15:40 The reality of racing: losing a filly

Jayce (Monarch Racing) 15:40 Well, I actually lost a two-year-old filly. She just went around in track work and cracked her pelvis. We nursed her, nursed her, then she laid down and we lost her. And she's fully insured and whatnot. But, I mean, those poor clients waited a long time and I'm glad that they got money back from the insurance and whatnot. But that's the reality of horse racing. Another story is I've had a group of boys in on a horse and had a trial. It was like 15-lane class. It ended up running in group one. So, you know, you've got heartache. You've got – that's what this game brings, you know.

16:18 Barber and a shared greyhound

Steve 16:18 Probably your best horse at the moment is Barber?

Jayce (Monarch Racing) 16:21 Yeah, Barber. Yeah, at the moment. I mean, I've got all that young stock coming through and anything can pop up. But, geez, that Barber's a proper horse. We started in McHambry. He's 1,100 first up, 94. Tyler pulled the wrong rein. Tyler knows about it, let me tell you. But that's racing, mate. He probably should have won. But he'll head to the takeover target at Gosford. And with any luck, Barber and that, he should be very, very competitive.

Steve 16:47 So, 16 starts, four wins, nearly one – or more than one million prize money. I think four-year-olds, Gelding? Yep. Yep. So, lots more to achieve. Are you in this greyhound?

Jayce (Monarch Racing) 16:58 Mate, I was the one that bought it. Gibbo rang me, right? Dil rings me. And he's like, I've got these greyhounds and blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, wait, I'm the syndicator. What's going on here, right? Anyway, because he's a good mate. I said, what have you got? How does it work? I've never had a dish liquor, right? And so, I've bought this thing, whatever he would, 25% or something. Yep. And that's it. That was the payment and I've got to pay to break it in or something along those lines, right? Typical jockey, half a story, right? And then, so I posted it on the socials. Next thing you know, Sean's slid into my DMs. Yep. What have you got here? Yep. So, now we've got a Monarch Kurrinda greyhound.

Steve 17:39 Yeah, so we're co-owners there. I used to look it up. Tommy Shelby, I think, is the, I know nothing about this.

Jayce (Monarch Racing) 17:45 No, well, this is the thing. Even last night on the group chat, we're still, we're calling it Casper, this greyhound that doesn't exist, you know? We've got to do the right thing by our owners and give out updates. These jockeys need a lesson or two, let me tell you.

17:59 Selling a horse to Hong Kong

Steve 17:59 You had another good recent result. You sold a horse to Hong Kong.

Jayce (Monarch Racing) 18:03 Yeah, yeah, Audemaroa, the big boy. Yep. So, he was one of the first crop. We bought three horses. He ran in the Australian Derby. He's off to Hong Kong now with Mark Noonan. Boys have all been paid up. I mean, they paid next to nothing. It was a 50 grand horse and they got to crack and run with a, you know, run into group one. Yep. And then a lovely little payout at the end there. So, they're all coming to the Yearling Parade with big smiles looking for the next one, you know? Which is good. Yeah. It's good. They had the fun and they made money out of it. And they're going to go again. And that's what, you know, ask us guys why we do it.

Steve 18:39 I know Nathan Doyle speaks no higher of any other trainer than Mark Newman.

Jayce (Monarch Racing) 18:44 No, he's a machine. I had, like when I used to have shares with syndicators way back. Yep, yep. And he went out on his own and I had some with him and I thought he was very, very professional.

18:56 Favourite races and horses

Steve 18:56 What's the race you'd love to win? Cox Plate. Everyone says it.

Jayce (Monarch Racing) 19:00 It's the race to win. Yep. Yeah.

Steve 19:02 Do you have a favourite historic horse? Like for me it's Lonro and again that's, you know, pretty common. And he could never win a Cox Plate. That's the…

Jayce (Monarch Racing) 19:12 Yeah, there's probably a couple of them. But, I mean, I don't like to be mainstream at all. Yeah. My favourite horse is Mr Marathon Man. Yeah. It was a bull. It was the first horse I ever bought for myself. Yeah. I owned 100% of him. Yeah. We won a Canberra Cup. We, I think we placed or run, I think Fife might have beat me by a nose and I've run fourth. We're 300 to one in the group three. And I think we, and I think I loaded up for the place too and then Fife got me to run fourth. But, I mean, I mean, you can sit there and do all the commercial style of horses. But for me that was me. He's me horse, you know. He's, I've got drawings at home, hand drawings and stuff and pictures and that. I just, I love that horse.

20:00 From passion project to business

Steve 20:00 Well, that's a great story. Monarch Racing, really, it was a passion project. It's turned into a business operation.

Jayce (Monarch Racing) 20:06 Yeah, it took me for a swing this year. It was a passion project. I mean, my wife, just something we wanted to share with people. Yeah. And then, it's like you guys. It's just good brands and good people that do the right thing and starting to get results and whatnot. It just took off. So, now I'm like, I've got to start another business. But it's not a profitable, profitable business, you know. Like, we're happy for it. If it can pay for itself and we can have fun with clients and horses, we'll just see where it goes in the future and what the, you know, we want the money from results. Yep. Beautiful.

Steve 20:40 Well, Jase, just so great to sort of just hang out and hear thoughts from a genuine industry colleague. And I'll see you at the races. You will, brother. And we'll be cheering you on.

Jayce (Monarch Racing) 20:54 Yeah, we'll do the same, mate. Honestly, what I like most about Kurrinda and for what we do is it's not even just us, it's the other syndicators. We all want to see everyone do well. Yep. We want to see everyone succeed. So, no, I'm looking forward to it, brother. Beautiful. Thank you, Jase.

Steve 21:10 Episode, I think it was 26 of Off N Racing. Cheers. Beauty. Beauty. Thank you.