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This week in Dunstan Horsefeeds Meet the Breeder, we caught up with Sean Buckley of Ultra Thoroughbreds. The famous black and emerald green chevrons of Ultra Thoroughbreds have been on big names such as Miss Andretti and Shamus Award, but most recently they were carried to victory by Captain Pluto (Savabeel) in Sunday’s Listed Bunbury Cup.
Tell us the story of Captain Pluto and provide a quick overview of Ultra Thoroughbreds?
I bought a mare 16-18 years ago called Scribbling, she had a beautiful pedigree and ended up buying all the daughters of the mare in which Miss Bernadini was one of them, Princess Rock and others but most of them have been failures but I kept plugging away and trying to get something out of it as there is such a beautiful pedigree through the third dam. We bred three Savabeels as I am a big fan of Savabeel; the first one we sold for $400,000 and was no good, the next one won a couple of races and third one I couldn’t sell, no one wanted him.
The horse started to get better and better, so we sent him to Grant Williams. He told me he’s a good horse and is going to get better and better as he matures, and that is exactly what has happened. He was three and average, four and average, now five he has won a Listed race but Grant thinks he will be even better as a six year old.
I have had a lot of Savabeels, I had Captain Envious before he unfortunately went amiss. He won Country Horse of the Year and was getting ready for the Melbourne Cup but he tore a tendon. We also have Poison Chalice, we really like the Savabeels.
Ultra Thoroughbreds have a hundred-odd mares, at Baree Stud we have 1800-hectares, Shamus Award is our stallion, shares in Savabeel, Proisir, King Colorado, and through my love of Savabeel we bought into Mo’Unga.
How did you get into thoroughbred breeding?
I used to go to a restaurant in Melbourne and the Maitre’d was involved in horses and he got me into it – that was 20-odd years ago. We then bought a horse called Miss Andretti who was a champion sprinter, Perfect Promise and Battlemaiden both won group ones in South Africa, and we bought them over, so we started off by buying horses out of South Africa.
By doing that, we bought X Stud, the breeding operation and that was when I didn’t really know what I was doing, it has really been in the last two to three years I have learnt a lot more and feel a lot more on the ball about what we should be doing.
Do you breed to race or breed to sell?
To sell but sometimes people don’t like what we sell so then we race. We have horses that we put in the sale, and we are always happy to take a leg as we believe in our product. We had three Savabeels in Karaka and the first one was sold to Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young and we have stayed in that, the other two were both passed in so I will Ready To Run one and race the other.
Do you seek advice on your breeding decisions?
I’ve got more advisors than you can poke a stick at – I am always looking for advice! The only I really like is Goldmine, it shows you nicks that work and nicks that don’t. Then we always get others to come and have a look at things and give advice. We turn to knowledgeable Bloodstock Agents for their thoughts on things.
We have bought a lot of mares in the last couple of years from America as one of the nicks Shamus (Award) works with is More Than Ready, so we have purchased about 16-18 More Than Ready mares which cost me a lot of money, but their offspring are just coming through now.
What do you love about the thoroughbred breeding industry?
I love winning! I love going to the races, watching the tv and winning. It’s a tough gig but I love it. I’ve got a company, got a lot people involved, hire a lot of staff, I’ve got a beautiful farm, it’s a really great industry.
Proudest moment as a breeder
I bred (and sold) Nature Strip who he won Horse of the Year twice; and the whole ride with him was exciting as the breeder. We sold him for $80,000 and he won $21mil.
Finish this sentence: The best part of being a thoroughbred breeder is…the excitement that other people get from winning races with horses. I also like working with people. For example we had a horse called Distrustful Award who run third in the Norman Robinson and Paul Preusker said to me he had probably reached his grade, he’s a big horse like 17.5hh. I put him in a sale, and no one wanted to buy but I had a guy ring me up from Tasmania who has four horses in work, a really nice guy called Peter Lutrell. Peter said he couldn’t afford to buy it but asked if I would lease it to him, which I agreed to. I took my share in the lease, and then lo and behold two weeks ago it won the Group 3 in Tasmania beating a lot of Melbourne horses, which has given us a ballot into the Geelong Cup where we could get a ballot into the Melbourne Cup. It has been a great outcome for the both of us, I really love the people you meet and the friendships you make through the horses.
