This week we chat to Bob Emery, breeder of Viktor Vegas (Tavistock x Purnima), winner of the Gr.3 Sky City Hamilton Waikato Cup (2400m). Bob has also enjoyed success over the years with a number of horses and is pictured with the NZTBA Breeders' Plate.
How many mares do you breed from? 12 at present
What else do you have in your bloodstock portfolio? Six yearlings going to Karaka in 2023. Plus six young fillies out on lease in New Zealand and Australia, I don’t race any horses at the present time and I’ve also got eight foals this year in New Zealand and Australia.
Do you make your own mating decisions or seek advice from others – if others who? Make my own decisions, based on pedigree and type
Do you have a favourite cross? No I don’t Proven stallion or new season sire? I use either/or, I don’t have a preference, quite happy to use either as my matings are done on pedigree or type.
Best breeding advice you have received? None in particular, I just use the formula looking for a stallion that matches my mares on type and probably, more importantly, by pedigree. You asked me do I have a favourite cross… and that there is one cross I won’t use under any circumstances is doubling up of Danehill, because it doesn’t work! Of course, there’s always a one off and never hard and fast rules, but if you look at the stats I think you’re less favored to get a horse if you’re doubling up with Danehill. I have been breeding my mares since 1990’s with a fair amount of success, so I have confidence in what I do.
Who do you admire in the thoroughbred breeding industry? My good friend Sir Patrick Hogan. For 20 years, he and I have been very good friends and we’ve done a lot of international travel together, and I’ve been to places that in the breeding sense, farms and stallion sense that most people wouldn’t get the opportunity to go to, so I admire him heaps. If you could own any broodmare (past or present), who would it be. My favorite of all time was a mare I owned called Champagne, who was an outstanding race mare, and then I bred from her and eventually sold her. If I could have it all over again, I’d love to enjoy those times again.
If you could spend a day learning the tricks of the trade on any farm in the world which would it be? Coolmore or Darley – because they are the leaders in the international scene.
Finish this sentence: The best part of being a Thoroughbred breeder is… there’s a lot of ups and downs – it’s hard, I’m not sure I guess the most satisfying part is to breed racehorses that are able to win Group 1 races, breeding group 1 horses is probably the thing to look forward to the most
And lastly, we can’t end this chat without talking about Viktor Vegas and Casey Lock – how did his story evolve? I raced Viktor Vegas raced him with Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman and I guess he really wasn’t going places. I thought he needed a change in his routine, and environment. Peter Lock had leased some fillies from me, so I decided to send Viktor Vegas to him. A couple of years down the track I really didn’t see where I was going with him, and Casey had been attending to him in the stables, and I asked her if she would be interested in taking him as a sport horse, and that’s how it came about that she ended up with him. Then Casey rang me the following year and said “look this horse is jumping out of skin… it’s such a shame for him to be standing around in the paddock…” would I consider her leasing him to race, which I agreed to, and she leased him for 2 or three years, and raced him. Then earlier this year I decided to gift him to her, and as the saying goes ‘the rest is history’. My reason for this was that I’ve had experience over the years in rehoming horses that had been injured, or broken down, hoping that they’d go to good homes and in a lot of instances they didn’t work out that way, so in offering him (Viktor Vegas) to her, I knew without a doubt he’d have a good home with her and that was the most important thing to me. Once he does retire, he will have a good home and that's the most important thing for me.
