A Sale To Remember For Sledmere

The leading vendor list at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale reads like a who's-who of well-established Australian nurseries, and one that seems well on its way to becoming a household name is Royston and Catriona Murphy's Sledmere Stud, which filled the number 10 position for Book 1 with A$3,090,000 in revenue for just 12 horses brought to the ring, all of which were sold.

“Our aim at any sale is to have a 100% clearance rate,” said Royston Murphy. “We try to place our horses where we know they'll suit the sales and we try to make sure we can get the most out of them. We want to be seen as sellers; we're not bringing horses here to bring them home or just get them eligible for races. We're here to get them sold and achieve the best we can for our clients.”

Royston and Catriona have been at the reins of Sledmere for only a handful of years, but the farm has a long history of success in Scone in the Hunter Valley. The 700-acre property was established by Guy Raymond after the first World War and was managed by his daughter Ann Raymond, Catriona's aunt. The Raymonds bred top-level winners like Great Britain, Red Fury, Tranquil Star and Rimfire on the nursery.

Catriona–who did stints with Darley Australia and Hagyards in Kentucky–began managing the farm for Ann Raymond about five years ago and after Raymond died two years ago, Royston–an Irishman who also worked at Windfields Farm in Canada during its heydays–left his post as manager of Segenhoe Stud to run the farm with his wife. He explained the horse population–which gets up to about 180 during the breeding season–is largely comprised of boarders, but said he and Catriona would like to expand their own broodmare band of about 20.

“We take a lot of clients from around Australia and New Zealand for the breeding season because we're located right in the heart of where all the main stallions are,” Royston explained. “We get about 180 mares for the season and we consign for Magic Millions, [Inglis] Easter and also the [Inglis] Classic sale–those are our three main sales for the year and we generally try to have 15 to 20 horses for each of those sales.”

The star sellers for Sledmere this week included lot 484, a

Savabeel (Aus) colt bought by Prime Thoroughbreds for A$510,000–a new record price for his sire. That Savabeel was one of four brought to the sale by Sledmere for Waikato Stud, which stands Savabeel, and they sold for a combined A$1.24 million. Sledmere also sold a Pierro (Aus) colt for A$410,000 (lot 609), a Snitzel (Aus) colt for A$375,000 (lot 278) and an All Too Hard (Aus) colt for A$370,000 (lot 348).

The Murphys said those strong results are attributable to their team, which has been essential in the success as the farm undergoes a development phase.

“The farm itself has been under redevelopment for the last few years,” Royston explained. “We're a long way through it now, to be set up to the standard we want to be. It's a bit of a building phase for us and this year we were lucky to be entrusted with horses from a few good friends and clients from New Zealand, especially Waikato; it's our first time selling for them and we've had some great results for them. They sent us six horses and they all sold and we sold the highest-priced Savabeel that went to auction.”

The Murphys praised Magic Millions for making the sale a success, saying they were busy showing on the grounds and at Sledmere before shipping.

“Magic Millions got about 30 people to come out and inspect on the farm, which was an indication it was going to be a big sale,” said Catriona. “There's been a lot of support from overseas, which has been great.”

“The market is phenomenal,” Royston added. “The credit goes to Magic Million for what they've done and the interaction with the auctioneers pre and post sale has been phenomenal. The optimism from everyone coming into this sale was phenomenal and I think it fed off to the buyers as well. There just seems to be a great confidence in our market in Australia at the moment.”

Catriona noted the injection of prize money into sales races not just for juveniles but older horses as well has helped increase the diversity of horse on offer at Magic Millions.

“It was always known for the precocious early 2-year-olds up here but now that they've got the races with the big prize money for the older horses, you don't have to come up here and buy a 2-year-old; you can come up here and buy any type of horse,” she said.

As for what's next for Sledmere, the farm is riding the wave of its first Group 1 winner under the Murphys management. Politeness (Aus) (Street Sense) won the G1 Myer Classic in October, and she is out of Berengaria (Aus) (Commands {Aus}), who was bought by the Murphys for A$55,000 carrying Politeness at the 2010 Magic Millions National Sale. She was the first mare bought by the Murphys under their new regime and her Street Cry (Ire) colt will be offered at Inglis Easter.

Royston said a long term plan for the farm could include the addition of stallions.

“Maybe down the track with the support of some of our major clients we'll look to move into the stallion market but that's down the track at the moment,” he said. “It's a very expensive market to get into at the moment.”

Given the current track record of Sledmere, one could reasonably back the Murphys to enjoy success for years to come.