Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Norm Bazeley – the breeder of Melbourne Cup-winning gelding Knight’s Choice (Extreme Choice) - used a simple formula to judge the strength of his dam and bargain $1000 purchase, Midnight Pearl (More Than Ready {USA}).
And as basic as the advice was for the small-time breeder, currently breeding from just two mares on his Elswick Park property at Walcha near Tamworth in northern New South Wales, it came from the greatest Australian trainer of all time, Bart Cummings.
“I was taught this many years ago by a good trainer – ‘if you’re looking for a horse, the first thing you do is pick its tail up. And if a horse has no pullback in its tail, you just walk away from them. They’re no good’,” Bazeley told The Thoroughbred Report.
“And that was Bart Cummings. I’ve leaned on that philosophy for 30-odd years.
“I was taught this many years ago by a good trainer – ‘if you’re looking for a horse, the first thing you do is pick its tail up. And if a horse has no pullback in its tail, you just walk away from them. They’re no good’...And that was Bart Cummings.” - Norm Bazeley
“What they’ll do is fight back, and they want to stop you from picking up the tail. So they’ll find strength to put it back down.
“If they can put it back down with their own tail strength, you know there are no problems. If they just let you pick it up and throw it around like a ragdoll, there could be a problem there.”
Despite this simple but highly-effective tip working on Midnight Pearl, Bazeley made sure he did plenty of research before purchasing her, even though he picked her up for a “steal” price from Fulmen Park at the 2013 Inglis Great Southern Bloodstock and Weanling Sale.
Norm Bazeley | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
She is now a Melbourne Cup-winning dam, and among the Cup Day celebrations, Bazeley kept some cheek up his sleeve for winning husband-and-wife trainers on the Sunshine Coast, John Symons and Sheila Laxon.
It was John Symons and owner Michael Kirby who purchased Knight’s Choice for $85,000 from Bazeley at the 2021 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
“Sheila said to me ‘you stole that horse off us for $1000’. And I said ‘oh well, I was the highest bidder, wasn’t I?’” Bazeley said. “And then they bought Knight’s Choice, so (on Tuesday) I said to them ‘do you know something – I’ve come to the conclusion that you guys have stolen that horse off me’.
Gallery: Knight's Choice as a yearling, images courtesy of Magic Millions
“It’s unbelievable. I’m still pinching myself to see whether I’m dreaming or not.”
Bazeley’s biggest success as a breeder before the Melbourne Cup came via Top Knight (Zoustar), who saluted in the Singapore Guineas, Singapore 3YO Classic, Singapore Derby and Queen Elizabeth II Cup – all at Listed level in 2019 and 2020.
Born in 2015, the gelding who last raced in December last year was a $65,000 purchase by Moorillah Pastoral from Elswick Park at the 2017 Magic Millions Gold Coast March Yearling Sale.
Top Knight (pale blue cap) | Image courtesy of the Singapore Turf Club
Top Knight was the seventh and final foal of the pensioned Nero Cavallo (Charnwood Forest {Ire}), a half-sister to G2 winner Dynamic Love (Brave Warrior) and stakes-winner Key Bar Nights (Anabaa {USA}) from top producer Huntington Girl (Black Zephyr {NZ}).
Elswick Park bred on with two of Nero Cavallo's daughters in Calzini Bianchi and Mocha Miss, with Calzini Bianchi producing Soundgarden by Russian Revolution, who was sold for $325,000 to Trilogy Racing at the 2022 Magic Millions National Weanling Sale.
Bargain buy still a tough call
Even at such a bargain, Bazeley deliberated over adding the fine-boned Midnight Pearl to his Elswick Park stud farm.
But his desire for a quality More Than Ready (USA) mare ultimately swayed him into making the small outlay.
“When I was going to buy that mare it was online. I had a look at her, and she was a very fine mare,” he said. “Fine (means) that they’re not thickset. Just fine over the backbone. But when I first looked at her, she’d just come out of racing.
The late More Than Ready (USA) | Image courtesy of WinStar Farm, USA
“I thought ‘will I or won’t I?’ And I wanted a More Than Ready mare that had won a few races. And she had won seven.
“And I thought, ‘no, she fits the bill’. I did a fair bit of research on More Than Ready mares. It came back to me that the finer-type More Than Ready mares were the most successful in the breeding barn.
“I did a fair bit of research on More Than Ready mares. It came back to me that the finer-type More Than Ready mares were the most successful in the breeding barn.” - Norm Bazeley
“So that was why I bought her. I put a bid in for her and I finished up with her for $1000.”
Knight’s Choice was the second Walcha-bred horse to win a Melbourne Cup, with Blue Spec winning the race in 1905.
Cup-winning dam was retired
After Midnight Pearl missed twice, Bazeley temporarily retired her, gifting her to friends.
But after Knight’s Choice won last year’s G3 Winx Guineas on the Sunshine Coast in fine fashion, running down Fashion Legend (Deep Field) and Grebeni (Ocean Park {NZ}), Bazeley wanted his mare back.
“After Knight’s Choice she went to a stallion once and she missed. It got too late that season,” he said. “And then we sent her to a stallion the next season and she missed. I said ‘I might retire her’.
Knight's Choice clears away in the G3 Winx Guineas | Image courtesy of Michael McInally
“But when Knight’s Choice won the Winx Stakes, I pulled her back out of the (retirement paddock and into the) breeding barn.
“She went to The Autumn Sun, and she’s got a filly foal at foot.”
Like when he deliberated over buying Midnight Pearl, Bazeley has a tough call he might have to make soon on whether he sells or keeps the foal.
But yet again, it is certainly a good headache to have.
“This filly foal that’s here by The Autumn Sun, since (last Tuesday) I’ve been advised not to sell that filly under $1 million,” he said.
“This filly foal (out of Midnight Pearl) that’s here by The Autumn Sun, since (last Tuesday) I’ve been advised not to sell that filly under $1 million.” - Norm Bazeley
“And this is the hard decision – I’ve always gone along the line that the first offer for a horse is the best offer.
“It’s going to be hard to say ‘sell it’. And then if I don’t sell it, and it runs through a fence or hurts itself, then I’ve done $1 million. It’s a hard decision.”
Full of praise for Laxon and Symons
It was Laxon who randomly rang Bazeley enquiring about whether it was he who had Midnight Pearl on his 115-acre farm.
Bazeley answered 'yes', and Laxon said that “Pearly” – now a 19-year-old mare – was her heart and soul.
And the breeder was genuinely humbled by the call.
Sheila Laxon and John Symons with Knight's Choice | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
That is because it was Laxon who became the first female conditioner to train a winner of the Melbourne Cup when her wonder mare Ethereal (NZ) (Rhythm {USA}) claimed the Caulfield-Melbourne Cup double in 2001.
Laxon and Symons trained Midnight Pearl for all 54 of her starts, and although she only saluted seven times for a total of $107,800, they loved her never-say-die attitude.
Laxon tracked Bazeley down by looking up Midnight Pearl via the Racing Australia Studbook. Bazeley said the Queensland conditioners have reserved the same love and care for the now 5-year-old and fairytale Melbourne Cup-winning gelding, Knight’s Choice.
“When I go to see John and Sheila, they put that same love and care into all their horses,” he said.
“They’re not selective. They’re wonderful people, and they deserve everything they get.”
Knight's Choice had momentum
Despite the incredible manner of his Winx Guineas victory last year, Knight’s Choice only saluted one more time before Tuesday.
But Bazeley saw some signs that he was ready to cause one of the biggest upsets in Melbourne Cup history, most tellingly when he finished a competitive fifth in the G3 Bendigo Cup on October 30. Bazeley even took heart after a 13th-placed finish from Knight’s Choice in the 2023 Golden Eagle over 1500 metres.
“It (the Golden Eagle distance) was too short for him. Then they (Laxon and Symons) decided they were going to take him down and have a crack at the Caulfield and Melbourne Cup double,” Bazeley said.
Knight's Choice, winner of the 2024 G1 Melbourne Cup | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“And I thought ‘oh yeah, righto’. I don’t own him, but I have to admit I put a little bit of a question mark on it.
“But they’re at the feed box doing the daily work up there, and they know more than me. And they’ve proved that over the years – they’ve been good trainers, and you go along with it.
“I put doubts on it when he ran a shocker in a lead-up race before the Caulfield Cup (16th in the G1 Turnbull S.), and then the Caulfield Cup he wasn’t so good.
“And then he came out and ran a good fifth in the Bendigo Cup last week. I looked at that race and thought to myself there and then, ‘this horse has got a big chance’.”
