Kurrinda Christmas Party in Brisbane and Satin Stiletto’s Run

0:00 Back from the Christmas party

George 0:00 We are here for Episode 3 of our podcast. Kurrinda Bloodstock's off and racing. We didn't think we were going to make it, mate, did we? Got stuck in Brizzy there for a while, but a bit of a road trip.

Sean 0:16 Had our Chrissy party up at Brisbane over the weekend and it was, you know, I'm a bit dusty.

George 0:25 Yeah, and ironically, we're having this in the Prince of Meriwether. They've been very accommodating to have us here. Yep. And I really don't want to have a drink. So, no, it's the last thing on my mind. On the waters. So, yeah, we didn't think this one true on the back of the Christmas party, but no, it was good, mate. It was great. We obviously had the runner up there and, yeah, Shane came up from the farm and barred the flight getting cancelled, unfortunately, but it's all character building.

0:52 Satin Stiletto runs third

Sean 0:52 It is, yeah. Now the Philly ran great. She ran third in the Callaway. So, what's that, two years with Fortunate to win it last year and then Satin Stiletto ran third. So, her job's done, isn't it?

George 1:04 Yeah, man. And for a Philly of her pedigree in particular, like everything her half-brother is doing, that's the thing owners dream of, isn't it? Yep. And just, you always think, like, it's great their pedigrees come out like that. You get those updates and everything, but then for her to have ability too.

Sean 1:19 And Spewing, I think, I could be wrong, but I think Belinda, who, you know, has the mare, she's keeping the King's Legacy Philly, isn't she?

George 1:27 Yeah, well, look, you can't blame her, can you, really?

Sean 1:31 So, yeah, what's got a King's Legacy yearling and she has a King's Legacy cult at foot, doesn't she?

George 1:38 Yeah, yeah, he's an exciting stallion. Obviously, Belinda had a big share in them, racing them, and all the astute breeders are sending their mares to them. I have one in the paddock, so I'm pretty excited about that. But, yeah, look, it'll be interesting to see how they come through and if they have the ability of their siblings. But we're just delighted that we managed to acquire one for all our clients and everyone involved, and it's been a fantastic ride, a great result.

Sean 2:03 Job done, yeah. Like, she's worth, you know, eight, nine times more than what we purchased before, and you don't always get those outcomes, that's for sure. But when you do, it's rewarding for everyone.

2:14 Going in with nothing to lose

George 2:14 With a Philly like her, like, going into it with everything at stake, obviously, like, you get a bit of nerves with all the horses and that, but do you feel more pressure with those sort of ones?

Sean 2:24 Well, we had nothing to lose. We spoke about it, didn't we? We had nothing to lose. I think if she went up there and she, because we didn't know what we were dealing with, did we? Like, last year, we were confident. We were pretty confident with a top three finish, at least. We knew what we had, but this year, we genuinely didn't know what she had. She's never been off the bridle, so when that race pressure comes on, it's going to go one way or the other, and we openly said that, didn't we? Like, we weren't saying to the owners, look, we're going up there a good chance. We don't know what we have here, and it was just good when she came off heels there.

George 2:55 She was so a professional.

Sean 2:56 Yeah, she's still found, and she's a very little family, but very little filly, but Damien was really happy with how she knuckled down, protested for fourth, fourth against third. We won the protest, luckily. Robbie tried his best, but it was…

George 3:13 It was a few nervous moments, yeah. Like, I mean, we always were confident there wasn't much in it, and you can see why they protested, but it's until it's dismissed. You are a little bit nervous.

3:22 The drive home after a cancelled flight

Sean 3:22 But no, so yeah, and that drive home last night, that sucked, didn't it?

George 3:27 Yeah, I didn't mind it, to be honest. I slept most of the way.

Sean 3:31 So yeah, our flight got cancelled, and we had to hire a little Yaris from Brisbane all the way back to Newcastle. So we're dusty, but we're here, and we'll push on.

George 3:42 Yeah, and on top of that, I think I had a concert Friday night in Sydney, so I drove up there and came back and then got a flight early Saturday morning to go to Brisbane with you guys. And it's been a big weekend, but definitely worth it when you get those results and good memories, good times, good stories out of it. Exactly right. What else has been happening, mate, personally?

4:02 George's brothers in the saddle

Sean 4:02 Mate, just getting ready for, obviously, a big year coming up early in the year. You mentioned your brother's back riding overseas.

George 4:09 Yeah, both of them are flying at the minute, to be honest, putting me to shame in the family, down to peck and order. But yeah, the younger brother, Ryan, he needs one more winner, and he's wrote his claim out. So that'll be good. It'll be interesting to see, because sometimes they can struggle there. But he's in with a good stable. He's getting plenty of rides from good trainers and that. I was trying to get him over here for a winter. I thought he'd do really well. Maybe next year he might know that he's wrote his claim out. It'll be a good experience. And the other brother, he's had a tired time with injuries. He broke a bone in his neck about six months ago, and then he came back. He's a jumps jockey. And he came back then, and he broke another bone, another two bones, actually, in his neck. He was very close to being paralyzed. Luckily enough, he got the right treatment and right people looking at scans and x-rays and whatnot. And I said to him, like, he's mad. They're all mad, those jumps jockeys. Yeah. I said, are you going to retire now? And he said, no, no, I'll be back in a couple of months. And he wrote his, he had, I think it was his second ride back. And he wrote a winner the other day. Nearly fell at the second last and still got up and won. He's got the job done. Yeah, he did. Lunatics. But it's great to see them. Like, one of my favorite memories ever racing was, it was in COVID time. And I was stuck over here. But he wrote a Cheltenham grade one winner. And I was FaceTiming my mom drinking champagne at this end of it. And they're just, yeah, great, great experience. Like, and great to see them doing so well. Yeah.

5:35 Becoming an Australian resident

Sean 5:35 And you don't really miss how you're a, you've become a resident this year. Yeah. Yeah. That was great.

George 5:40 January, obviously became a resident. And it's, it's a big load off your mind. Like, especially when I've been coming and going nine years. And next year I can go for citizenship. And then Australia's problem then. But no, I don't, I don't really miss home. And the weather obviously is one degree there at the minute.

Sean 5:58 It's a bit nicer here. Yeah.

George 5:59 It was 40 something on the weekend. That gets a bit hot. But no, man, this, Australia is my home now. And I'll never, never go back to Ireland only if it's for a holiday. Yeah.

6:08 Racing highlights of the year

Sean 6:08 We spoke about bringing up some of the highlights of racing over the, over the year and worldwide. What, what do you feel? What's your best performances?

George 6:18 Going, yeah, going into the weekend. I honestly didn't know how I was going to answer that question. And then Romantic Warrior. Like, what a performance that was. Like, whatever about him winning the Cox play. And I think that was one of the strongest Cox plays for a number of years. Not taking anything away from the likes of Animal and Winx and all them. Like, but when they ran, they scared a lot of the opposition away. But everyone turned up to this year's. And especially when Romantic Warrior got beat the first time they saw a chink in his armor. And to go back to Hong Kong, do the quarantine again. And J-Max confidence in him the whole way through. Like, and to get that job done. Like, the second horse, Luxembourg. It's a very good horse. One of the best middle distance horses in Europe at the minute. And Aidan Ryan wasn't taking him over for a holiday. Like, and yeah, just such a good performance. How about yourself?

Sean 7:11 Yeah, well, I think that's definitely the top, isn't it? But for me, yeah, Golden 60. I just, I love that horse. And that turn of foot over a mile, it's just, it's crazy. I've never seen a mile other than probably what Winx would probably, you know. I know she's more milder 2,000, but Golden 60 is just a freak, isn't he?

George 7:30 Yeah, he is something else. And it was great to see a horse I worked with before as a yearling, Voyage Bubble. He ran second. At odds. Yeah, I did give it. What was he 51? Yeah, 20 minutes. 10 bucks a place. And I did give it a good shout before to you. I didn't back it myself. But yeah, he ran huge. And even Straight Iron, another one that I dealt with over there, he ran fourth, Romantic Hour, fourth to fifth, beating less than a length. So that was great to see those horses going well.

Sean 7:56 Just that turn of foot from the four to two, three deep with cover. Like, you gave it a peach, obviously.

George 8:02 But do you think Equinox would have beat them?

Sean 8:04 Matt, I don't know that racing well enough to comment over there, and that's just being honest. But obviously, he's a freak, isn't he? But I can't really comment.

George 8:13 If you look at it in terms of those Japanese horses didn't finish too far off them, and Equinox beat them by country mile.

Sean 8:22 Different racing, isn't it? Yeah. It's too hard. Yeah. I can't really comment. I just, I think, I think Golden 60 is just, that turn of foot is very elite over that mile. But different horses, aren't they? Yeah.

8:39 A homebred filly and the family brand

George 8:39 And I mentioned earlier there, I've bred one myself this year in partnership with some friends there at HB Thurber, who are actually having probably their best year ever. And they had Dream Hour win the other day, and then Group One horse, Skybird. So they're flying. But we bred one this year, a loveliest turn filly. Yeah. Yeah.

Sean 8:59 Just a little homebred. Like, she's a nice, leggy filly. She's not going to be precocious at all, but typical, you know, more of a three-year-old type, and we'll just give her time, and there's no rush with her. And she's nice first foal. Unfortunately, her other one, yeah, hit the ground and was unwell, and obviously didn't come through it. But she's thrown this one, and lovely, big first foal, isn't she?

George 9:22 She moves well, doesn't she? Moves well. Big rangy filly.

Sean 9:24 Yeah, but time. She'll need time.

George 9:26 What does it mean to you to have your pop's brand on a horse?

Sean 9:29 I haven't, to be fair, I haven't thought about it too much.

George 9:32 I'd say until it goes past that win and pulse.

Sean 9:34 If it wins, it'll be better. Yeah, yeah. It won't be good if it's in the back half of the field, I can take it.

George 9:41 Yeah, take that brand off.

Sean 9:44 No, it's cool. It's something I always, I never thought I'd do again as breed, like obviously after he passed nine years ago, but no, it's good. But yeah, she's got a lot of attitude. She's hard. She's hard, but hopefully she settles mentally. No, she's a nice horse moving forward, and I guess something that we want to focus on next year, whether it's one or two, we're looking at probably a ladies syndicate horse too, aren't we?

10:10 A ladies syndicate horse for next year

George 10:10 Yeah, this is something we're really excited about, isn't it? Like something we're really going to get behind, and it's just such a great incentive. Yeah. And both sales companies do a great job. They have their own different ways of pushing it out, but I think the English do a fantastic job because they've got the four races spread out over a different time frame, so if you miss one, you can make the other. And if you look into some of the results, obviously the two horses, there was three in the English nursery. So effectively, if you're in that race, you're in a three horse race for 200 grand, and you don't even have to win the race. Yeah. And those two horses ran fantastic, though. They ran second and third just beaten.

Sean 10:48 And then if you're lucky enough, like skirt the law. Yeah. It's a freak, and it's a ladies horse as well. So Magic Millions, English, I just think it doesn't matter which way you go. It's just cool to get the girls involved, ladies involved, isn't it?

George 11:01 Yeah, and if you can get them on board, we find them. We're winning. We're halfway there already because we get a lot of owners. And yeah, they always have to check in with the wives first. And I always tell them I'll cover the cost of the flowers if they can get them on board. No, it's just another avenue to get more people involved in racing. And that's why it's about just all inclusive and everyone having a good time and that. And like we had a lovely first time female owner in Stiletto. She was at the races on Saturday, and she just loved it, didn't she? Yeah. Yeah, I loved it.

Sean 11:35 Just, yeah, it's good. It's a good first horse too. Yeah.

George 11:39 Some people are very lucky. Very lucky. And like we had another owner there, a young fella, and he has a share in her, but he also has a share in I'm Unstoppable.

Sean 11:47 10% in I'm Unstoppable. Yeah. He's doing it tough. He is, yeah.

George 11:51 He won't even buy around.

11:54 Listener stories and a prize

Sean 11:54 But in that first podcast, we asked for some punting stories, and we've got a cracker, don't we?

George 11:59 Yeah, we got plenty in. And thanks to everyone who did send them in. We're delighted. We got a great response, as we did to the podcast, didn't we, as well? Yep. Some of the feedback. We didn't expect to get that great feedback. But yeah, one of the stories in particular, and I'll just get my laptop up here, is a bloody cracker, for sure.

Sean 12:21 Yeah, Ben sent it through, didn't he?

George 12:23 Yeah, Ben's a client of ours, but he said he loves the podcast. And a couple of years ago, he's a fan of a multi and that, but he must have been doing it tough this day, because he had 25 bucks on the last race of Benalla one day, and the first four, he picked out number 13, 6, 10, and 4, and they all got up. And he won just shy of 120 grand. And the best part about the story, he traveled the world for six months off it, as you do. And he went to Bali, Melbourne, Tassie, Calgary, Vancouver, and then ended up where most great ideas go, Vegas. So I'd say there's not much of that 120 grand left now, but he sent in a great tattoo he's actually got in Bali, of all places, he got the first four numbers. Tattooed on him. Yeah, yeah. So we couldn't go past Ben for the winner.

Sean 13:16 Now, Ben, you are the winner, mate. That's a cracker. Yeah. Where was the tattoo?

George 13:20 I think it was on his arm from mine. It was nowhere inappropriate. So we will show that on the podcast. But yeah, no, that was great. And we'll send Ben out some Kurrinda merchandise for that story. Yeah.

Sean 13:33 And any other stories, flick them through georgiakbloodstock.com.au. We're super eager to hear any of those stories. It's going to take a good one to beat that one. Yeah.

George 13:43 And it doesn't have to be punting stories either, guys. You can send in anything, especially the time of the year, any funny Christmas party stories. We got a great one from one of our owners in Lyrical Beauty. Him and his mate went to their Christmas party the other day, and they dressed up as Danny Beasley in Lyrical Beauty.

Sean 14:01 We'll put a photo of that one up, too.

George 14:03 Yeah, that's well worth it.

Sean 14:04 He dressed up as Danny, and his mate dressed up as the horse. And it was fantastic, wasn't it? Yeah, yeah. No, it was very good.

George 14:12 And we love getting that stuff in and getting to know everyone. So all the listeners and all our clients and everything, definitely get your stories in. And we'll pick out the best ones and send you out some merchandise.

14:22 Next episode: Nathan Doyle

Sean 14:22 Well, going into episode four, we've got a special guest of Nathan Doyle at Newcastle. Nathan trains a fair few of our horses as well. So we'll wrap up this one now. Any stories, flick them through to georgiakbloodstock.com.au. And look out for episode four, and we'll get Nathan Doyle on the potty.

George 14:44 Yeah, and we just wish everyone, all the listeners and everyone a happy Christmas and hope that 2024 is a great year. Plenty of fast horses, and we'll keep finding them. Yep, be safe.

Sean 14:56 And yeah, just like, subscribe. How do you do it, George? Share, follow, download.

George 15:04 Tell your dot cam everyone about it. Hop on Spotify.

Sean 15:06 We're on Spotify. I believe we might be on Apple Music, or you can tell I'm super IT.

George 15:13 Yeah, Amazon. Yeah, I had to, sure, Sean had to download songs on Spotify.

Sean 15:20 Yeah, we're on the plane, and I'm like, why is my Spotify cutting out? And he goes, mate, you're on airplane mode.

George 15:24 I'm trying to watch my Netflix, and he's annoying me.

Sean 15:28 I'm like, can I tune into yours on my pods? He's like, no, mate. Now, all good. Stay tuned. Nathan Doyle will join us for the next episode.