In today's Q & A, we feature a quick-fire round with Mick Sharkie, general manager at Leneva Park.
Favourite moment - racing, sales or breeding-related - for the 2022/23 season?
Mick Sharkie: Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr have been fantastic supporters of Leneva Park's pre-training program so anytime they land a good race with a horse that our team has prepared is hugely satisfying. The continued resurgence of our neighbours at Lindsay Park under the Hayes brothers has been really fun to watch, especially through the brilliant Mr Brightside.
Which sire do you consider a value sire? Fee <$50k and not a first-season sire.
MS: I will always kick up for Leneva Park's Group 1-winning stallions Fierce Impact and Royal Meeting and both represent terrific value for money. Fierce Impact in particular, given his physique and the burgeoning success of Deep Impact and Sunday Silence sirelines in Australasia. Away from Leneva, I'm really digging Supido ($19,800 inc GST) at Widden, a fast horse that is producing fast horses - what's not to like?
Supido | Standing at Widden Stud
What young sire (less than three crops) do you think will one day be Champion Sire?
MS: It's impossible not to be impressed by Home Affairs. The fastest son of a Champion Sire with power and presence in spades; with the might of Coolmore behind him he is destined for success.
Which yearling purchase in 2023 are you most excited about?
MS: I had enormous fun racing multiple Group winner Ocean Embers a few years back, so buying a share of her first filly by Deep Field wasn't a tough decision. Michael Freedman bought her out of the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale and syndicated her as a ladies' horse, she is looking sharp enough so far. I bought my wife a share and we're super excited to see where the journey takes us next.
What, if any, is your greatest current-industry concern?
MS: Perhaps there are more obvious challenges, but I am concerned about the disproportionate way that gambling is promoted ahead of the horse.
We all know how critical wagering is to the health and indeed the future of our sport, but I would argue that fan connection to the horse and the sport itself is equally as crucial - otherwise racing becomes a casino game at a time when gambling is culturally somewhat on the nose.
Look at the programming breakdown of the three television broadcasters - countless tipping and form panel programs (and I've been on a few of them in my time), and one single thoroughbred-focused program, Bred To Win. There is absolutely a place for promoting tips and form study, but contemplate that ratio for a moment, what message are we sending to viewers?
To engage fans, we need them to feel something about the thing they are betting on. Depth of narrative is non-negotiable, otherwise, emotion becomes connected to the result of the wager and not the sporting moment or the players involved.
If broadcasters won't stump up and put breeding and thoroughbred-focussed shows to air, I urge Aushorse as the lead marketing body for the Australian thoroughbred to step up to the plate, reach into its coffers and develop programs to balance the ledger.
Name an emerging human talent in the industry, and say why?
MS: Sam Matthews is extremely talented. He is an incredible asset to Swettenham and to the Victorian breeding scene and is people-minded as much as he is commercially focused. He will continue to do great things.
Sam Matthews | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
If you had $10 million to invest in an industry initiative, what would it be and why?
MS: I think that there is great merit to the National Stud model established in England and Ireland. As well as operating as working studs, both serve the sport by turning out well-trained staff via their training programs and provide a unique connection point with the community through tours, coffee shops, gardens, and interactive museums; to that end the Irish National Stud is incredible and every racing administrator should visit it with open curiosity.
Of course, $10 million will only get the job done partially, but an Australian National Stud with the same ethos of education, engagement and connection is well worth investing in.
