Cover image courtesy of Cunningham Thoroughbreds
It was Magic Millions Bloodstock Manager Clint Donovan who played matchmaker in January 2017 when Gary and Lorilie Cunningham visited the Gold Coast sales office looking for a guide on purchasing a yearling at the Sale.
As chance would have it, Gollan passed by and the Cunningham's curiosity has now turned into an interest in 25 racehorses and a handful of high-quality broodmares, with the Cunningham Thoroughbreds business now headed up by their son Mitchell.
"We were at the Magic Millions and Clint introduced us to Tony as we were looking to buy our first yearling. Tony introduced us to John Foote and they took us through their catalogue that year. They picked us out a few horses we might like and we bought Light Up The Room and we had a bit of success with her," Mitch Cunningham told TDN AusNZ.
"That was the start of the relationship and we have bought a fair few with Tony since."
Light Up The Room (So You Think {NZ}) was a $120,000 purchase from Torryburn Stud's draft and provided the Cunninghams with fuel for a racing passion which had long burned for the family, winning three of her first four starts and placing twice at stakes level.
Light Up The Room as a yearling
Her success built the idea in Gary Cunningham's mind that he and his sons, Mitch and Xavier, could make a serious go of a thoroughbred racing and breeding business.
"We've always been into racing and we lived in the United States for a long time and I have been living in Hong Kong for 12-13 years, so the involvement in horseracing itself has been at a hobby level with my father, brother and I," Cunningham said.
"Through Tony and John, we started making more significant investments in those yearlings and we decided if we were going to continue, we should look to build residual value by looking at their broodmare value afterwards.
"We decided if we were going to continue, we should look to build residual value by looking at their broodmare value afterwards. " - Mitch Cunningham
"We started buying more thoughtfully, and we got to a point where we planned to race fillies and then breed from them. Now that has evolved to buying broodmares. We got a little impatient and we picked up a few from the Chairman's Sale and at the Magic Millions. We've really jumped in with both feet."
As well as ramping up their own interests, the Cunninghams became involved with Boutique Thoroughbreds, a collective of mainly Queensland breeders who have come together to breed high-class yearlings for the Australian market.
Boutique is headed up by Andrew Dunemann, a good friend of Mitch Cunningham's, and someone who has become an invaluable sounding board as the family looked to build their breeding interests.
Andrew Dunemann (middle) with Tony Gollan (right)
Gollan, who the Cunninghams have 24 horses with, has also become a close friend and confidant since that initial meeting, while Foote, Duncan Grimley and Neil Douglas are among those who the family have relied on for advice.
"We have utilised good opinions and we’ve got plenty of eyes on us at the moment to make sure we don’t go awry," Cunningham said.
Broodmare investment builds
Cunningham Thoroughbreds has five broodmares on its own, as well as another four owned in partnership, while there are 12 race fillies currently on the track which it intends to breed with.
It made three major mare purchases this year, including Chachapoyas (Medaglia D'Oro {USA}), who was placed in a Listed Fernhill S. for Godolphin and cost $460,000 from the draft of Glastonbury Farms at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale.
She is out of Peruvian (GB) (Diktat {GB}), the daughter of Group 1 winner High Hawk (Ire) (Shirley Heights {GB}) and a half-sister to G1 Breeders' Cup Turf winner In The Wings (GB) (Sadler's Wells {USA}).
Watch: Chachapoyas parade
"Peruvian has been pretty successful herself. She's also got Aramayo who was a Group 3 winner here and won the Raffles Cup in Singapore on the weekend as well as the stakes-placed Tupac Amaru," Cunningham said.
"She has got a Snitzel 2-year-old, who is with Richard Litt and is named in Centro Storico, while she has got a Snitzel filly on the ground and she's got a positive scan to Zoustar."
Cunningham Thoroughbreds also came together with Boutique Thoroughbreds and Paul Willetts Bloodstock to purchase two well-bred mares out of the Inglis Chairman's Sale.
They purchased Golden Hooves (GB) (Frankel {GB}), a dual winner in France and sister to Group 3 winner and G1 Breeders' Cup Fillies Juvenile placegetter East (GB), for $300,000 from Glenesk Thoroughbreds in foal to Pierro.
"She was the first Frankel mare to go to I Am Invincible and while she had a negative scan, she has gone back to him. She has a Pierro filly on the ground now," he said.
Golden Hooves (GB)
The other purchase was Unassailed (Fastnet Rock), the half-sister to stakes winners Great Esteem (Redoute's Choice) and High Esteem (Redoute's Choice), who cost $275,000 from the draft of Segenhoe Stud and is set to foal to I Am Invincible this spring.
"She was a million-dollar yearling herself, who went amiss at the track. She has got an I Am Invincible gelding Garrison, who has won a couple and is now with Kim Waugh, while she also has a Deep Impact 2-year-old filly called Dolomites, which I have heard good reports on," Cunningham said.
Among the other mares is that very first yearling purchase, Light Up The Room, who visited and is in foal to Lonhro in her first season.
Unassailed
Focus on quality
The strategy is to slowly build up a select broodmare band which can give Cunningham Thoroughbreds the option of operating in the commercial space or racing their own as they see fit.
"We are very conservative with our buying. We are not looking to buy 50 mares, we are looking to own a small catalogue of really well-bred mares from good families. Pedigrees that hold up and are modern and we hope to mate them well," he said.
"Commerciality is the main driver for us, although we will be breeding to sell and breeding to race. From a commercial perspective, we are very committed to supporting proven stallions. We are buying mares that suit that. We want to be selling at January on the Gold Coast as well as at Easter."
With that in mind, Cunningham Thoroughbreds is looking to secure a base in the Hunter Valley in the near future.
Yearlings, weanlings still on radar
It will also continue to be active at yearling and weanling sales in the coming years, feeding its racing interests under Gollan's eye, and, longer-term, its broodmare band.
"Tony in an amazing communicator. Aside from being a fantastic trainer, his communication with clients is second to none. He keeps us in the loop and we know everything that is going on with the horses," Cunningham said.
While the business has taken off at a remarkable rate, the Cunninghams have long-term plans to figure as significant players in the racing and thoroughbred business for some time.
"It’s a family business, and my father was the driver of all of this. This was his passion project early on. He wanted my brother Xavier and I to become the drivers of the project going forward," he said.
"It’s a family business, and my father was the driver of all of this. This was his passion project early on." - Mitch Cunningham
"I've taken over the running of the business while my brother is working at Godolphin's Woodlands Stud right now, learning his trade. He's only 19 and a law student and he's very passionate about the industry.
"Between my father, Xavier and myself, we have got three people that are extremely passionate about the industry and love working together as a family."
