Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Ross Hatton’s Rathmore Lodge returns to the Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale this year buoyed by the spring performance of their graduate Kingofwallstreet (Dundeel {NZ}), who rose in four starts to break his maiden in the G3 Caulfield Classic, before running a stellar fourth in the G1 Victoria Derby, just 2.02l behind the victorious Goldrush Guru (American Pharaoh {USA}). It is a high water mark of success for the growing operation, and Hatton is hopeful that his 10-strong draft this year can pack the same kind of punch.
“It's always great to sell at your hometown,” said Hatton, who spent several years honing his craft at Cornerstone Stud before securing his own operation in Rockleigh with his partner, Max Schofer. “If you have the right product here, we generally can sell quite well. Adrian (Hancock) and Ben (Culham) do a great job of putting together a great catalogue, and the traders - for the Ready To Run sales - are always here looking for the colts, but you can sell a nice filly with a good pedigree here.”
“It's always great to sell at your hometown. If you have the right product here, we generally can sell quite well.” - Ross Hatton
One such filly is in Hatton’s 2025 draft; a daughter of Home Affairs who was accepted for the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, but Hatton held on to her to sell her closer to home.
“We thought she would stand out better at this sale, as she’s one of only two Home Affairs yearlings in the catalogue.”
Unique offerings down south
Hatton has another unique gem in his draft; Lot 315, who is a daughter of Vinery Stud’s sire on fire Ole Kirk, out of Danish Bingo (Sebring), a daughter of South Australia stakes performer Danedina (Danehill Dancer {Ire}). The only Ole Kirk in the catalogue, she has attracted a lot of attention.
“He (Ole Kirk) has had the Gold Coast Magic Millions winner (O’Ole) and the Adelaide Magic Millions winner (Ole Dancer), and they were both fillies,” Hatton said. “This filly, I absolutely love her. I reckon she will go early and she’ll go pretty fast, just like (half-brother) Brave Halo.”
Lot 315 - Ole Kirk x Danish Bingo (filly) | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
The late Brave Halo (Brave Smash {Jpn}) was a knockout juvenile, winning his first three starts before running fourth in the G3 Blue Diamond Prelude (colts & geldings) and ultimately in the G1 Blue Diamond Stakes as well. It was the latter event that cut the colt’s soaring career short, as a hind leg wound incurred from being galloped on developed an infection that the vets could not beat.
“We were robbed of him being a Group 1 winner,” Hatton said.
Hatton had seen the colt as a weanling at the Magic Millions Gold Coast National Weanling Sale and had loved him, but hadn’t been able to beat the $135,000 winning bid. He had followed his career closely - especially since, just months before, his partner Schofer had purchased Danish Bingo in an Inglis Digital online sale for $1250 in foal to Bellevue Hill, and it was pleasing to see that the mare could turn out such quality stock. That resulting foal, likely in part due to Brave Halo’s courageous campaign, was a highlight of Hatton’s draft in the 2023 Magic Millions Adelaide sale, where he sold for $110,000 to Yenrise.
Jackpot Bingo as a yearling | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
Jackpot Bingo (Bellevue Hill), who is trained by Sean and Jake Casey, is now a 3-year-old and bids to break his maiden this Saturday at Ascot - Hatton is quietly hopeful for a last minute boost to his filly’s pedigree.
“She’s a really forward type,” Hatton added. “She’s a late October foal, but I think she’ll be pretty precocious.”
Taking after the damsire
Back to the Home Affairs filly, Lot 219 out of winning Dundeel (NZ) mare Wu Darl, whose page is particularly impressive - as she is a half-sister to a mare who needs no introduction, Montefilia (Kermadec {NZ}).
“She stands out like a sore thumb in this sale!,” Hatton joked. “I didn’t want to go to the Gold Coast or (Inglis) Classics, and she was accepted for Easter, but we thought she would stand out more here. She’s a filly with a lot of elegance and class about her, she just glides across the ground. She is much more of a Dundeel type, rather than taking after her father.”
“She (Lot 219) was accepted for Easter, but we thought she would stand out more here. She’s a filly with a lot of elegance and class about her, she just glides across the ground.” - Ross Hatton
Hatton is quite a fan of Dundeel - which stands to reason, given Kingofwallstreet’s success to date.
“Obviously, there’s him, and my best weanling on the farm at the moment is a Dundeel,” Hatton shared.
Kingofwallstreet is an interesting tale; he is the product of a longstanding relationship between Hatton and Avesta Bloodstock’s Jimmy Unwala, who purchased the colt’s dam Our Girl Raquie (Fastnet Rock) together. When Hatton realised he had “bitten off a bit more than I could chew” with the purchase, Unwala took over the mare’s full ownership and sent her to visit Dundeel. When the resulting colt was passed in as a weanling on the Gold Coast, Unwala sent him south for Hatton to try him at Adelaide.
Lot 219 - Home Affairs x Wu Darl (filly) | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
“We thought he would get $200,000, but he unfortunately passed in,” Hatton said. Not the end of the world, as it turns out. “So we did a deal, and I literally had one person in mind to buy the horse afterwards. That was (trainer) Matt Cumani. I chased Matt - and Matt will back that up - and Johnny McKeever pretty damn hard to get the sale, and thankfully we stayed in for a share.
“We had great fun winning the Caulfield Classic and running fourth in the Derby was a massive thrill.”
Cumani has been at the helm for all of Kingofwallstreet’s career, and is currently putting the colt through rehabilitation following a tendon injury at the end of January, that will see him miss the autumn and likely the spring as well.
“Matt is a fantastic trainer, and he's done a super job with the horse, and I'm just absolutely gutted for him now,” Hatton said. “We were aiming for an ATC Derby.
“His rehab has gone really well so far. But I know Matt was just absolutely devastated when that happened, but we've got to think for the future. As I said to Matt, ‘Derbies are one thing, but they run a Melbourne Cup every year’.”
"As I said to Matt (Cumani), ‘Derbies are one thing, but they run a Melbourne Cup every year’." - Ross Hatton
On the Alabama Express train
Hatton is hoping that Yulong sire Alabama Express’s latest run of success - particularly thanks to his daughters Alabama Lass and Treasurethe Moment - will bring the attention on to Lot 53, his Alabama Express filly out of Oneredtwored (Falvelon). He’s banking on a patient buyer being attracted to the stallion that is happy to wait for the filly to furnish.
“She’s a nice style of filly,” he said. “She’s going to be a lovely 3-year-old sort. She’s a half-sister to a horse that was actually one of the first horses Max and I bred, when I was working for Cornerstone.”
Lot 53 - Alabama Express x Oneredtwored (filly) | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
Angaston (Ambidexter) has flown the flag for Hatton, and taken him on a fantastic ride along the way.
“He has given us great fun, we sold him to Kim Harrison and Jon O'Connor for $10,000 here at the Adelaide sale and then bought back into him. He went on to win six races and over a quarter of a million dollars in prizemoney. We had such great fun with him, and he was a solid, sound racehorse.”
The now 8-year-old kicked off his career as an autumn 2-year-old, and was in the first three home in 20 of his 55 starts, for nearly $260,000 in stakes. He retired in February of last year. Hatton can see the same traits in this filly, who has the added advantage of being one of only two yearlings by her sire in the catalogue, with the other one being offered by Yulong themselves.
Angaston | Image courtesy of Racing Photos
“She looks like Alabama Express, and his best ones are all fillies,” Hatton said. “Obviously they get out over a bit of ground, but I would be hoping there’s a market for her here this year. This sort of filly has been a difficult sell in previous years, but I’m hoping that she will fall on a few people’s radars this time.”
Looking ahead
The breeding season looms large ahead of Hatton, but for him, it’s important to get the foals out before deciding on the next mating. This year, Rathmore Lodge awaits the arrival of foals by the likes of Toronado (Ire), Capitalist, So You Think (NZ), and Stay Inside.
“The first thing will be getting the foals out this year, and then we'll look at what we might do then,” he said. “We will likely sell on a few mares and sell several as weanlings. We get a group of owners to invest in them, so we will have those weanlings to sell, including the Dundeel colt, a filly by Too Darn Hot, and a lovely In The Congo filly. That’s still to come for us.”
Hatton has been keen to patronise Newgate Farm’s G1 Golden Slipper Stakes-winning stallion from the start.
Ross Hatton | Image courtesy of Caroline Searcy
“Stay Inside was sort of my ‘punt’ stallion last year and everything else was predominantly proven sires,” Hatton said. “I saw a few of his yearlings when I went up to Classic, and they were lovely types.
“I’m just a big fan of the stallion and of Newgate, they’ve been really good to us. They have a great book of mares to Stay Inside and they will give him every single chance. I loved how he has let down from year one to year two. I went to the stallion parades this year and I thought he had really turned from a boy into a man in the last twelve months.
“I loved how he (Stay Inside) has let down from year one to year two. I went to the stallion parades this year and I thought he had really turned from a boy into a man in the last twelve months.” - Ross Hatton
“And at the end of the day, we are commercial breeders. He’s a Slipper winner and this country loves to focus on speed and precocious 2-year-olds. We've got to follow the market trends, or look into our crystal ball and try and see what we think is going to be the next big thing.”
