News

Close Encounter of the Thoroughbred Kind

16th Feb 2016

Breednet - by Tara Madgwick - Tuesday, 16 February 2016

Abandoning a lifelong strategy of purchasing 'fillies only' has delivered this highly successful and well known breeder with the thrill of a lifetime and a very real chance of winning the Group I MRC Blue Diamond Stakes on Saturday week.

When exciting colt Flying Artie galloped into Blue Diamond contention with a powerful win in the Group III MRC Blue Diamond Prelude last Saturday he carried the colours of Sydney owner breeders Paul Whelan and Wilf Mula.

The pair have enjoyed much success over the years, usually racing horses they have bred including the recently retired stakes-winner Dublin Lass.

Mr Whelan is a regular at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale as a vendor and his Luskin Park draft has produced past stars such as Group I winning colts Foxwedge and Rock Classic.

Last year at Inglis Easter, on the day after arriving, Mr Whelan went for a wander as you do during the lunchtime lull to say hello to some fellow vendors.

"I was walking down one of the alleys in Stable Two and this horse came around the corner," Whelan recalled.

"He came quite close to me and I remember thinking, 'I'm too close if this horse does anything' and it seemed to take forever for him to pass and as he did I thought, what a ripper of a horse!

"I watched him parade for the people that were looking at him and he was big, strong and correct.

"It was his stature and strength that I couldn't get out of my mind and his cool head. It can get quite tight in there with horses and people in narrow spaces and he was cool and calm.

"If he was a filly, I'd have bought him then and there."

Mr Whelan got back to business and concentrated on selling his draft, but when he got home after the sale decided to find out what had become of the colt by Artie Schiller (USA) from Flying Ruby.

Goodwood Farm had passed him in shy of his $50,000 reserve so Mr Whelan contacted Inglis to see if an offer might be accepted.

"I rang James Price and he told me the horse had already gone back to Victoria, but I was still keen so we had him vetted and checked the x-rays, which were all good so I decided to buy him for the $50,000," Whelan revealed.

"I fleetingly thought, 'what am I doing? I buy fillies. I'm a breeder. What do I want with a colt!

"But then I though this is a fun horse, so let's have some fun.

"I put my kids into him, who are all now absolutely delighted and rang Wilf Mula to see if he would like half.

"I said to Wilf, 'I've bought his colt… but he's by Artie Shiller' expecting him to say, who? And he surprised me by saying 'I love Artie Schiller!', so that was that."

Flying Artie was Super VOBIS eligible so it made sense to have him trained in Victoria with Mick Price given the task of preparing the colt, who on pedigree was not really an obvious early two year-old.

"On breeding you would have to think he'd be better at three," Whelan said.

"His mother Flying Ruby was a good tough, durable stakes-winner and she's from the family of Better Loosen Up and they don't come tougher than him."

Better at three or not, Flying Artie is more than good enough right now and is a firm second favourite in Blue Diamond markets behind his stablemate Extreme Choice with Damien Oliver to ride.

This year at Inglis Easter, Mr Whelan will put his vendor's hat on once again with Luskin Park to present another top class draft of eight youngsters by Snitzel, I Am Invincible, Sepoy, Smart Missile, So You Think, Foxwedge and All Too Hard. CLICK HERE to view the entire catalogue.