Next Monday, trainer David ‘Butch’ Bourne will be among a number of Victorian vendors selling in absentia at the Magic Millions 2-Year-Olds In Training Sale. Under his banner of Network Bloodstock, he has four horses to sell, each from its box at Seymour racecourse.
It’s the first time the trainer has ever sold remotely, and he jokes about his ‘fear of missing out’.
“That’s me,” he said. “FOMO. I’m doing it because I have a fear of missing out at a horse sale.”
David 'Butch' Bourne
The truth, however, is that the business of trading racehorses has become a digital speciality, thanks largely to COVID. Video replays, breeze-up footage and stable inspections can replace the physical presence of horses, and Rosemont’s tidy draft of five is doing similar next week.
Bourne has been a loyal visitor to horse sales the length of Australasia for the best part of 25 years, and he knows what he’s doing.
“Magic Millions doesn’t have a problem with it, and Tim Brown (the company’s Victorian rep) has been waltzing in and out of the stables, so he knows the horses backwards,” Bourne said. “Sheamus Mills was here the other day, and all the usual vetting will be done on Friday, just like any other normal, physical sale.”
As is his way, Bourne is taking it all in his long stride.
“It doesn’t really make a difference to me,” he said. “I just won’t have four horses in the ring jumping up and down in the flower boxes.”
Network Bloodstock
Butch Bourne set up Network Bloodstock around 2008, beginning with a name, a set of colours and a number of stable clients. The group would buy a package of horses each year, chosen largely on type, and it traded horses in and out, enjoying Group success in Singapore, Hong Kong and New Zealand.
“To be honest, we were making it up as we went along,” Bourne said, but the reality of some of the success was more than a fluke.
“To be honest, we were making it up as we went along.” - 'Butch' Bourne
In 2009, Bourne picked up a weanling at the Inglis Weanling and Broodmare Sale at Newmarket, a youngster by Scandal Keeper (USA) from the Scenic (Ire) mare Chloris. The trainer paid $18,000 and named the horse Zamorar, and it was second in the G3 Bletchingly S., third in the G3 Aurie’s Star S. and fourth in Sepoy’s G1 Coolmore Stud S. in 2011.
Zamorar won over $350,000.
Zamorar
Initially, the horse was pointed at the 2010 Magic Millions breeze-up sale, among a draft of six for the new Network Bloodstock.
“We opted not to sell him because he breezed up in 11.2 seconds,” Bourne said. “It might have been the first year we sold at the breeze ups, from memory.”
Since then, Bourne has evolved into selling regularly through the ready-to-run concept. He sent four horses to the Magic Millions 2-Year-Olds In Training Sale last year, his best result being a very respectable $120,000 for a Deep Field gelding from Albany Crest (Anabaa {USA}), bought by Darby Racing and William Johnson Bloodstock.
Now named Assiduity, the horse is with Mark Newnham at Warwick Farm and has been very good in four trials.
The highlight
The Network Bloodstock draft is made up of four horses at Monday’s 2-Year-Olds In Training Sale, two colts and two geldings.
The obvious highlight is Lot 50, a clean bay colt by Flying Artie from the Sir Percy (GB) mare Zaria’s Fire (NZ). This is a horse that Bourne picked up from the Magic Millions Gold Coast March Yearling Sale this year, costing $50,000 from the draft of Waylon J Stud.
Watch: Lot 50 - Flying Artie x Zaria's Fire (NZ) (colt)
Lot 50 clocked the best of the draft’s breeze ups at 10.65s last month at Seymour.
“This one is the most commercial of the four,” Bourne said. “He breezed up really well and he’s got good veterinaries, and I would think that a Flying Artie colt would suit domestic syndicators really well. That stallion had three runners in a Caulfield Guineas with his first crop, and that’s a pretty good effort.”
“He (Lot 50) breezed up really well and he’s got good veterinaries, and I would think that a Flying Artie colt would suit domestic syndicators really well." - 'Butch' Bourne
Bourne said the Newgate stallion’s profile has lifted considerably since the trainer plucked Lot 50 out of the March catalogue.
“Everyone has seen this stallion is going to be a good sire, so this colt is looking like a pretty safe bet,” he said. “No guarantees, of course, but I highly recommend this one.”
Lot 50 - Flying Artie x Zaria's Fire (NZ) (colt)
On the page, Lot 50 has enough to recommend him too.
He is the second foal from his dam, who is a half-sister to the top 3-year-old and then excellent stallion Show A Heart. Show A Heart sired 21 stakes winners before his stud retirement last year, including Heart Of Dreams, Mimi Lebrock, former Rosemont sire Toorak Toff and Woorim.
Full brother to Ringbolt
The second of Bourne’s colts is Lot 127, a glamourous bay by Dream Ahead (USA) from the Shamardal (USA) mare Maxi Dress (Ire). On the first line, this colt is a full brother to the G3 SAJC Sires’ Produce S. winner Ringbolt (now called Able Reign in Hong Kong).
Lot 127 breezed up in 10.75s, fractionally short of his Flying Artie stablemate.
“He’s a good style of horse,” Bourne said. “He was purchased privately from Newhaven Park through COVID last year when there wasn’t much going on. I’ve bought a lot of horses from Newhaven over the years and had a lot of luck with them, so if John Kelly recommended the horse, which he did, then I’d take that on trust.”
Watch: Lot 127 - Dream Ahead (USA) x Maxi Dress (Ire) (colt)
Bourne said Dream Ahead was the sort of stallion that would suit anyone.
“I think he’s popular enough for the right people, and I don’t know whether he’s highly commercial, but he’s definitely a good sire,” the trainer said. “And since purchasing this horse out of the paddock, Ringbolt has won the Sires’ Produce in South Australia, so it looks like the cross works.”
The geldings
Lots 3 and 92 will whip in the quartet of horses for Network Bloodstock next week, geldings by Shooting To Win and Sir Prancealot (Ire) respectively.
“I’ve been gelding horses for a few years now,” Bourne said. “I’ve seen no issue with it because I’ve got an easier horse to work with, and the majority I’ve sold have gone to Asia anyway where they just want racehorses.”
“I’ve been gelding horses for a few years now... and the majority I’ve sold have gone to Asia anyway where they just want racehorses.” - 'Butch' Bourne
Lot 92 (by Sir Prancealot) breezed in 11s flat last month and is the fourth foal from the Exceed And Excel mare Exceleine. This is the family of the smart juvenile Domesday, who won the G2 Silver Slipper S. and was fourth in the G1 AJC Sires’ Produce S., and who has sired 18 stakes winners at stud.
Lot 3, meanwhile, comes up early in the Sale and, by Shooting To Win, he is from the Rock Of Gibraltar (Ire) mare Ray Of Sun. She is a half-sister to Sir Moments (Choisir), who won the G2 Queensland Guineas.
“Sheamus Mills was very impressed with the Sir Prancealot,” Bourne said. “He’s a really nice horse, but mucked up his breeze a bit. He got on one rein around the back of the bend, so he hasn’t run the expected time, but I think if people can see through that they’ll do well.”
Bourne picked up this gelding at the 2021 Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale, paying $65,000 for him with Oxford Lodge Bloodstock.
Lot 3, on the other hand, cost the trainer $20,000 at this year’s Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale. The Shooting To Win gelding clocked 11.27s in his Seymour breeze up.
