ROB’S SHOUT - SO YOU THINK $25 MILLION ISN'T MUCH?

By Robert Heathcote | Thursday, November 11, 2010

Robert Heathcote is the leading racehorse trainer in Brisbane. 'Rob's Shout' - the personal blog of the premiership winning trainer will appear every Thursday on HRO.

A story that has created a lot of comment in the racing industry is the sale of the 'superstar', So You Think to the world equine conglomerate, Coolmore!

Headlines like 'So You Think just became So You Sold Out' and some criticisms allegedly attributed to the master trainer himself have in my opinion been very unfair.

There is no doubt that we in racing, be it the racing public in general, the racing media and even the racing participants love to have a champion that we can all adore and adulate and, in a very short time, So You Think has achieved extraordinary success and looked the logical successor to the last ‘peoples horse'!

There is no doubt that the tag, 'Champion', can be applied to this horse as the world wide respected form analysts from the UK, Timeform have given him a rating of 133 which puts him in the best two or three in the world!

It’s been a while since we have had a horse that wear the unofficial tag, 'The Peoples Horse' like Takeover target did so well along with the legendary Cup winning mare, Makybe Diva, whose feats may never be bettered again on the race track!

So You think was about to take over that title and at his age, there's probably no doubt that he may have even surpassed the superstardom of those couple previously mentioned , if he hasn't already done so with two Cox Plates under his belt inside of ten starts and such a dominant Mackinnon win that it was a touch arrogant!

I still thought his run in the Melbourne Cup was an unbelievably brilliant effort and it was maybe only the inclement weather causing a real testing track which brought him undone.

The wet track made an already incredibly tough stamina test over the two miles that much tougher and, whilst taking nothing away from the feats of Americain and Maluckyday, on top of the ground I really believe that So You Think would have won the Cup?

I can fully understand the decision the owner, Dato Tan Chin Nam has taken to sell a share in the horse and relocate him overseas and, quite frankly, I support him wholeheartedly for making the same decision I would have made.

It doesn't really matter what we think anyway. I am sure there are a myriad of reasons why this deal has taken place and it’s none of our business.

Dato Tan has been a massive supporter of racing in this country for many, many years and he’s enjoyed tremendous success winning our greatest races a host of times, including the Melbourne Cup on multiple occasions.

Why not take the opportunity of having your horse race on the biggest stages in the racing world in partnership with the biggest breeders in the world?

Throw in the tidy sum of maybe twenty to thirty million dollars to sweeten the deal and ‘voila’, it’s a real no brainer in my eyes!

I also think it was a bit unfair that the media seemingly portrayed a rift between Dato Tan and the legendary trainer Bart Cummings due to the lack of consultation over the possible sale of the horse.

Maybe it was there … maybe not … but there's no doubt that Dato Tan has been a massive supporter of the Cummings stable for many decades and especially so during the traumatic financial crisis that Bart went through when the market collapsed leaving him heavily in debt. I think it may well have been Dato Tan that came to the rescue?

The opportunity for this leviathan owner to place his horse with arguably one of the best trainers in the world in Aiden O'Brien and race in the best races internationally should be applauded by the Australian racing fraternity and we should be proud that this horse will fly the flag overseas for us!

This last decade we have seen a number of Aussie horses perform great feats on the world stage and how appealing will it be to see this horse lining up in the international classics over his best distance against the world's best?

I think it is an exciting prospect to see how he will go against the supposed best in the world!

It really emphasises the fact how big this industry is when we see such figures discussed. It is a bit mind boggling to be honest, but it certainly shows us the high regard that the horse is held and So You Think achieving international success will do more good than harm for this countries racing.

Sure, we will miss him, but I wouldn’t be the least surprised to see him back to defend his Cox Plate title!

Realistically though, put yourself in the shoes of the owner for one minute. Would you turn down the reputed $25 million and still retain a big share in the horse and enjoy racing him for the rest of his career?

Even if you couldn't burn all your money, it’s simply too attractive an offer to say no to!

As I said earlier, we all love to have a champion. There are never too many on the scene at one time so how fortunate are we to having Black Caviar come along just as we are saying farewell to the big black horse?

Being a mare is a different ball game as well but I did love Peter Moody's comments about let them come here to have a crack her! Great stuff Pete!

As a trainer we have all experienced the occasion of having a horse leave our stables and go to another trainer for a variety of reasons and it's something that is just part and parcel of this industry at times.

Be it through lack of performance, a dispute or disagreement or, as in the this case, a sale, it just shows that no trainers are immune from losing a horse out of their yard.

I can understand that Bart and Reg Fleming will certainly miss having the horse and the Australian racing public will miss seeing him in the flesh on our race tracks, but it will be exciting to see him 'representing' the country on the big international stage!

The fact that Mr Cummings was not 'kept in the loop' during the negotiations is hardly surprising to me as Mr Chin Nam has an excellent bloodstock and racing manager in Duncan Ramage who was acting on behalf of the owner and who incidentally was responsible for purchasing So You Think as a yearling!

Loyalty is a term in racing that is perhaps not as prevalent as it once was … unfortunately.

Perhaps the very nature of the industry now and the fact that it has become big business can explain why at times decisions are made that may seem impersonal or 'disloyal'.

We often hear the phrase loyalty when it comes down to the selection of jockeys for certain horses and also of course, the other side of the coin where jockeys choose to ride one horse over another!

It can be tough at times and very competitive, but that's essentially the nature of the business anyway!

A friend of mine has a favourite saying and I like it too … 'It’s nothing personal, just Business'!

Sometimes we have to adopt that attitude in this business. It’s as simple as that!

That’s how I see the decision of Dato Tan Chin Nam and I fully support his decision and I wish him and Coolmore the greatest of success overseas with So You think and I just hope that they bring him back here to defend his Cox Plate title!


So what do you think? Send your comments to editor@horseracingonly.com.au

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