Nick Taylor on Building Riverstone Lodge from the Ground Up

0:00 Meeting Nick at the Chairman's Sale

Sean 0:00 We're here for episode 32 of Off N Racing and we are at Warwick Farm. We have the pleasure of seeing some beautiful mares go through tonight at the Chairman's Sale and we've got a special guest with us, Nick Taylor from Riverstone Lodge.

Nick Taylor 0:16 Thank you, Sean. Thanks for having me on.

0:18 From New Zealand rugby to the horse industry

Sean 0:18 Thanks for joining us in the podcast, mate. I just want to, I guess, show the viewers and explain to them your background and listeners. Tell us, um, Phil, as in, mate, like tell us how you got into the horse industry.

Nick Taylor 0:33 Yeah. So born and bred into the game, but probably as a young fellow, I'll sort of have pretty good ambitions to be a rugby union player, but, you know, I probably got to a pretty good level in New Zealand and then had a bad knee injury. Probably in the cutthroat period of, you know, we got to make a decision where to, you know, pursue it or find another career. And I, um, while I was recovering from, um, my knee surgery, I sort of thought, you know, I'm happy to give the horse industry a go and move to Australia, uh, when I was 18 and just started from the base. Really, the initial plan was to learn a bit and then take it back to New Zealand, fell in love with the industry over here and, you know, time got away and young family. And then, yeah, we're still here and, um, you know, I just started working with, um, mares, falling down mares. But my passion really sort of grew into the younger horses, the yearlings, and, um, that sort of led me to a point where I probably, having a young family, needed to make a, um, make a decision of sort of how do I take that next step? And, um, um, an opportunity, uh, opened up at Aquis to get into the nominations. Um, and then that sort of did a few years there and then led me to Newgate. And, you know, that's probably where I really, um, took a lot of development and learned, obviously, the game you have to make contacts to, um, you know, it's so important, as you know, Sean. And that really, like working with, um, Henry, Jim, Jackson, Bruce and Tuba, um, that probably inspired me to give it a crack myself. Yeah.

Sean 2:26 So how long were you at Newgate for?

Nick Taylor 2:27 I think I did three seasons. It was pretty short, pretty short time. Um, just after COVID, moved back to the Hunter. Um, and then, yeah, learned a heap there, uh, worked in the NOMS team and then also in the Stallion Barn. So I got, got the best of both worlds, you know, you get to go take, meet the breeders at the shed, which I think was really important. Um, and then, yeah, mate, from there, um, yeah, decided to, to launch my own business.

2:59 Why Nick started Riverstone Lodge

Sean 2:59 So how did, um, Riverstone Lodge become about, man? Like what's, what happened and what sort of made you take the plunge? Yeah.

Nick Taylor 3:06 I mean, it was an interesting time in my life. I sort of split up with my partner at the time who, I've got two young kids and that was really probably inspired me to get going, you know, and give it a crack. I was sort of at that age where if I didn't give it a crack, then I probably wasn't going to. Um, it was just the right time. It was, you know, a big risk, but I was happy to take it. Yeah. Yeah.

3:31 The farm: 60 acres and the first draft

Sean 3:31 So tell us about the farm, mate, the people that don't know, um, I guess, how does it operate? How many acres? Uh, what do you do there? Uh, what do you focus on and the systems around Riverstone Lodge? Yeah.

Nick Taylor 3:44 So originally we sort of started a lease to buy deal because obviously you need a lot of capital to, to buy a property. This block was, was only 60 acres, but it's sort of set up to either run dry mares, uh, and prepare yearlings. So I sort of just on a small scale, um, you know, started, because we didn't have the brew mid band, we had to go out and buy weenlings. So that was sort of the first, um, probably the first, what am I trying to say? It was the first, um, to, to, to build a draft, how I wanted to hit the market. We had to go out and buy weenlings for like the quality bloodstock. I didn't just want to launch the farm and come in at a low end level. Cause I know how difficult that market can be. So put ourselves out there. Um, but Riverstone sort of initially when I started, it was just myself, but then met quickly met Alex Kemp who allowed the business to grow quickly. You know, and we, we get on very well. He, he has a lot of faith in what I'm doing and yeah, it's probably grown the business quicker to the point instead of where I could have taken it, you know? Yeah.

Sean 5:01 And took, took a lot of balls as well too, right? Like for sure. Yeah.

5:05 First year buying weanlings and selling at the Classic

Nick Taylor 5:05 You know, like our first year we went out and we were very aggressive in the wheeling market, um, and targeted the classic sale in English. And we ended up being leading vendor by average and medium, which is fantastic. But you know, what, what people don't realize was there was $500,000 worth of wheelings that had issues or, you know, didn't manage to get to the sale. So we did really well in the first year, but on the other side, it was like, you know, geez. Some of these others didn't quite work out, but from the draft, you know, we, um, we pinuked Savvy Hayley for 150 grand. She made 320.

Sean 5:44 She's been fantastic.

Nick Taylor 5:46 She's been fantastic. Yeah. So she was, she's, was the highest price yearling we'd sold that year. Our first winner off the farm and the first stakes winner off the farm too. So, yeah. Um, yeah, and I think, yeah, that's probably, you know, that was our business model for probably the first three years to, to buy, good wheelings, um, to meet the market at a high level along, along with doing that with now we own 17 mares and we want to be breeders, you know, and that, that allows us to buy less in the market, but just top drafts, drafts up where we think we might be a bit weaker, you know? Yep. Yeah.

Sean 6:24 So where do you see, where do you want to trend to and what do you want to focus Riverstone Lodge? Like, do you want to, do you want to be selling the yearlings that you breed from your farm at the sales? Are you still going to do a few pin hooks or what, what are you thinking? Yeah.

6:39 Selling horses under the farm's own brand

Nick Taylor 6:39 I think for us, it's really important to be selling horses with our own brand on it. Um, as much as, you know, when you have good results, pin hooking, that is really winning with your own brand. Yeah. Yeah. That's sort of where we're aiming. Yeah. Um, but it's also important to produce good horses, even off pin hooks. Sheiky, which you purchased, she was, um, the second stakes horse, uh, off the farm. So to have two fillies back to back is, it's a good start. We're just going to, you know, keep it going. Yep.

7:12 Shiki: bought as a weanling, sold as a yearling

Sean 7:12 And to give the listeners, so what did you purchase Sheiky for as a weanling?

Nick Taylor 7:16 We paid 150,000 for her at the weanling sale here in Sydney. Yep.

Sean 7:20 And then, uh, again, Adrian and ourselves at Kurrinda, we teamed up together. Um, and you guys, um, we had the pleasure of racing the horse together. You stayed in the horse and what did we, uh, end up buying it for?

Nick Taylor 7:32 Uh, 420,000 she sold for. Pretty good result. It was a massive buzz. You know, probably still one of the, uh, one of the pinnacle moments for us in the sale ring. Just the feeling it gave Alex and Billy Brooks, who, um, I didn't mention earlier, but he's also come on and he's a business partner in the farm. Um, a massive thrill, you know, it's unbelievable. Yep.

7:57 What a win meant to the Riverstone team

Sean 7:57 And for the team, when we, when we obviously won the gym crack, um, something that you've built from nothing. What was it like seeing, uh, your staff and the team at the races that day? Yeah.

Nick Taylor 8:10 For like, just a feeling I've never experienced before, you know, like, um, certainly one of the best days of my life, apart from having two young kids. Um, it's just electric. Like.

Sean 8:22 I got out of there quick smart that night.

Nick Taylor 8:24 Yeah, surely it was out of there. Um.

Sean 8:27 It was only going to go one way.

Nick Taylor 8:28 I said to the guys, just make sure you enjoy this because this, this is not, not easy to do. Just, you know, live it up and.

Sean 8:37 Was that one of their first experiences of like.

Nick Taylor 8:40 As an ownership. Yeah. For sure. You know, and I just said to be, um.

Sean 8:43 It's better than Corindai or. Yeah.

Nick Taylor 8:45 I said to the, I said to them, we've got to be good winners and good losers. Be humble, but enjoy yourselves. And, um, yeah, geez, we, we enjoyed ourselves. That's fantastic.

8:55 Looking at the broodmare sale

Sean 8:55 So fillers in, mate. Like, um, we're here at the, uh, broodmare sale. Uh, we've got racing and breeding proposition mares here. What, um, without going into detail, this will be out by the time this is over anyway. But, um, as a business, what are you looking for here?

Nick Taylor 9:09 Yeah, I think it's the next chapter of the farm. You know, we, as we mentioned, we want to be breeders. Um, it's not easy to buy at the chairman sale. And we certainly, um, you know, don't want to be here to pretend, you know, but we, I think there is opportunities, especially with the, uh, mares and foal. Um, there's a good opportunity to get in, get a really well-bred mare with a nice cover, um, to commercial stallion and just, um, we have to be very selective of what we do to get into those premier sales. And I think this is sort of the first, the next chapter for us. We haven't, we haven't tried to buy the sale before. Um, but yeah, we'll, we'll try our best. Yeah. It's obviously very competitive. Yep.

Sean 9:53 And then in two weeks, uh, Gold Coast. Gold Coast. Yeah.

Nick Taylor 9:56 So, um, we'll be up there for the weanling sales again. Um, like I mentioned, we, we probably don't need to buy the numbers this year. Unfortunately, we didn't manage to buy here in Sydney. It was very competitive on those high-end weanlings. Um, but no, we'll just, you know, set our budgets and we're very strict this year. Um, we'll go to the coast and give that a crack. And, um, our main sales we'll be looking to do is the Magic Millions in January, Classics, and probably Melbourne Prim will be the three sales we'll target. Yeah. Yep.

10:28 Stallions Nick plans to support

Sean 10:28 And in regards to stallions, what, what do you think you're going to be supporting this year? Have you got your mares booked in already or? Yeah.

Nick Taylor 10:36 It's an interesting question just with the, the mark, where the market is at the moment. Um, you know, I think, um, I'm going to go pretty strong with Hellbent this year. Yep. Um, we think he does a fantastic job. Great stallion, yeah. Good types, consistent. Well priced. Phillies, well priced. Um, I thought his yearlings were particularly sought after this, this year and made a lot of, um, a lot of trainers bought them this year that probably hadn't in the previous years. I think he's probably, I think he's a stallion that's trending the right way to go to the next level. Definitely. Um, so he's probably one mate. I think capitalist does a great job. He's well priced. Um.

Sean 11:17 Just so underrated, hey, every year. Underrated. We always try and buy one. Yeah.

Nick Taylor 11:22 Um, so he's a stallion, you know, I think he's a credible value for, you know, I think this season, staying side's another one in Newgate I like. In the Congo is the one we're going to punt. Yep. Um, just always throws good, good types from what I've seen. Um, we're such a good racehorse, you know, like, um, he's one we'll be supporting. Uh, yeah, there's, there's a few now, mate, or so. They're probably the ones off top of my head at the moment. Yeah.

11:48 First-season sires and Shinzo

Sean 11:48 What stallion, uh, what weanlings I should say have you looked at from first season size and you've gone, whoa, they're bloody good types?

Nick Taylor 11:57 Yeah, that's a good question.

Sean 12:01 Obviously Shinzo topped the sale, didn't it?

Nick Taylor 12:04 Yeah, Shinzo, I mean, we had a big swing at the Shinzo filly here. We bought her half-sister at Melbourne Prem last year. Yep. Um, and she's with Anthony and Sam and we know she's got ability, just different type to this filly here. Our girl needed more time. I thought this filly was more, um, more of a two-year-old type. Um, so Shinzo's really impressive. Uh, he's obviously a golden slipper winner by a snitzel. The only son of, son by a snitzel to win a slipper and stand. And he's obviously out of summer already. It's a huge pedigree type. They sold very well. If we bred to him last year, we're going to breed to him again this year. Uh, I think he's great, don't you, too? Yeah. Yeah. Cool.

Sean 12:43 Well, guys, if you're ever at the sales or see Riverstone Lodge around, um, feel free to go up to Nick and or Alex and the team, uh, check out the yearlings. Um, very accommodating. We race, uh, what, two or three horses together now. So, um, it's always a pleasure to do business with, uh, Nick and the team and Alex and the team. Um, and it's just good fun. We have good fun, don't we? Yeah.

13:08 Funshow and a stallion Sean likes

Nick Taylor 13:08 We do have, uh, we enjoy what we do. You know, I think we've got some really nice horses with you. Um, Fun Show, who you purchased off us in our first draft. Yeah.

Sean 13:18 Can find a second place in old Fun Show.

Nick Taylor 13:20 He's about to fire up, isn't he, Nate?

Sean 13:22 Come on, Doyle. What's he doing?

Nick Taylor 13:24 But like, he's a nice horse, just need a bit of time, isn't he? And I think he's knocking on the door.

Sean 13:28 Mate, that's a stallion. I'll, I'll, I, I've only had two or three cosmic forces and, um, I'm a big fan. Yep. Like, I think temperaments, like everyone that I've dealt with has just been amazing. I think he stands for great value. Um, again, it's not my expertise, the breeding, the weanlings and the, I just focus on, uh, the yearlings, as you know, like the tried horse market I stay away from. And, but when I'm looking at yearlings, the cosmic forces, I don't know, is it fair to say the temperaments are fantastic? Yeah.

Nick Taylor 14:00 I think he is, he, I don't think he's underrated anymore. I think he was, it might've been a couple of seasons ago. Um, trend in the right way. Trend in the right way. Like people probably forget he was, when, when he was a two year old, he had so much ability. Yeah. Um, when he won the Pago Pago was in dynamic fashion, might've taken the edge off him. It was a serious golden slipper chance, you know, and. Beautiful physical. Um, lovely horse athletic and yeah. Colts, Phillies, market likes them, trainers like them. Yeah.

Sean 14:31 They just need a bit of, I know you've got the, the naturally precocious ones, but they generally, they just need that little bit of time, don't they?

Nick Taylor 14:37 Need a bit of time, just like his father, you know? Yep. Um, so. Yeah.

Sean 14:42 Like I said, guys, um, follow Riverstone Lodge on socials, check them out. And thanks for joining me.

Nick Taylor 14:48 No, thanks for having us on. Appreciate it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Sean 14:59 Thank you.