Mark Owens doesn’t hold any official title in the success story of Victorem (I Am Invincible), but there has been no more significant role than the one he has played in the promising 4-year-old's emergence as a potential Group 1 horse.
Owens, a hobby breeder who runs a metal roofing company on the Gold Coast, doesn’t officially feature in the ownership (his wife and brother do), nor is he listed as the breeder of Victorem, who is from a mare that he liked so much, he bought twice.
But he is certainly enjoying the ride that Victorem, who wears his Crossed Oars Thoroughbreds colours, is taking them on, including Saturday's victory in the Lough Neagh S. at Doomben, his sixth in 11 starts and his first at stakes level.
Breeding horses at any level is a complex caper, and when you are trying to balance that with running your own business, it can get stressful. In that situation, it is often hard to take a long-term view, but Owens' Victorem success, which began over a decade ago, is a vindication of his persistence.
"I bought the dam Playful Miss (Foreplay) as a weanling. I was going to pinhook her, but she got crook and I couldn't put her through the sales, so I kept her," Owens explained to TDN AusNZ.
"I live on the Gold Coast but being from Port Macquarie originally, when I decided I was going to race her, I wanted Jenny Graham to train her. We've always had a high opinion of Jenny."
Playful Miss would win four races from 15 starts, and while a mid-week win at Canterbury was the height of her performances, it was an enjoyable journey for Owens, his family and friends.
"A few of my brothers and mates down there went in on her and had a bit of success with her. Jenny always said we never got to the bottom of her, because she just tied up badly. She was a lovely mare and when I finished racing with her, I decided to breed from her," he said.
Life as a broodmare
Owens sent Playful Miss back to her breeder Michelle Kelly's property in the Hunter Valley to embark on the next stage of her career.
"When I sent her down there to Coolmore to go to Haradasun first-up, I sent her to Michelle's place," he said.
But Playful Miss's first experience wasn't a great one and Owens immediately began to doubt his breeding strategy.
"She got in foal to Haradasun and then slipped about a month before she was due. At the time, I said I'm dead set over this breeding game, and I said to Michelle, you take her back, I don’t want to get into this breeding game, it's for mugs."
"I said I'm dead set over this breeding game, and I said to Michelle, you take her back, I don’t want to get into this breeding game, it's for mugs." - Mark Owens
"She said 'No worries, I'll take her back' and in the end, she put her in foal to I Am invincible. I had some other mares with Michelle at the time, but I couldn’t take care of all of them."
It was a decision that Owens immediately regretted.
"I did it on the spur of the moment because I was disappointed losing the first foal," he admitted.
Victorem
A second chance to buy
As fate would have it, just over 12 months later, he had another chance to buy Playful Miss, this time with the I Am Invincible foal at foot.
"Something happened and she decided to cut back her mares. She said 'Mark I am going to sell Playful Miss, she's had a nice little colt to I Am Invincible, do you want to buy her back?'
Mark Owens jumped at the chance to buy back Playful Miss with an I Am Invincible foal at foot
He had given Playful Miss away, but appreciating that she now had a valuable foal, he decided to pay Kelly for her a second time.
"I bought the mare off her, gave it back, and then bought her back again, I'm a mug, I bought her twice!" - Mark Owens
"I bought the mare off her, gave it back, and then bought her back again, I'm a mug, I bought her twice!" he said.
The harsh reality of the sales
Victorem was only a couple of weeks' old when Owens assumed ownership and he then sent him to the 2015 National Weanling Sale, but the colt failed to get a bid.
He was then offered again in the 2016 Gold Coast 2YOs in Training Sale, where Owens was again hit with the harsh reality of breeding and selling horses.
"I breezed him up, and I was disappointed with what they offered for him at the time. It is hard when you are not a big stud, they don’t really look at your horses that closely," he said.
Victorem as a two year old
"He got passed in for $65,000, and a representative from Korea came in and offered me 70, and I thought, I don’t want him racing overseas, if I'm going to breed from this mare, I want him to be racing in Australia."
"I thought, I don’t want him racing overseas, if I'm going to breed from this mare, I want him to be racing in Australia." - Mark Owens
It was then he called on an old friend, who knew a bit about the colt's family, to help him keep him.
"I tracked down Jenny (Graham) at the sales and she liked the horse but she didn’t have the owners at the time. I told her that I’d stay in, you just tell me how much you want me to stay in for, but I want you to train him. By the time she had driven him back to Port Macquarie in the truck, she had him sold," Owens said.
"It couldn’t have worked out any better in the long run, but it’s pretty stressful at the time when you have got a few other mares and you are trying to pay bills. It has worked out really well for Jenny and I."
Trainer Jenny Graham with Victorem, or 'Arnie' as he is affectionately known around the stables
Victorem's emergence as a star
After missing the start on debut at Casino 'by 17 lengths' and finishing fourth, he then won his next five starts, including the rich Country Championship at Randwick in April.
He was then targeted at the $1.3m Kosciuszko first-up this time in, running fifth on the unsuitably heavy track. He then had a short let-up into the Brisbane summer, placing twice at stakes level before his emphatic 3.75l win on Saturday in the Lough Neagh S.
Next-up is the Magic Millions The Buffering at Doomben on December 29 before a likely shot at the $1 million Magic Millions Cup next month.
"He's fantastic and I feel the best is yet to come if he can stay sound and healthy. Jenny does a great job of looking after him," Mark Owens
"He's fantastic and I feel the best is yet to come if he can stay sound and healthy. Jenny does a great job of looking after him," Owens said.
Victorem wins the Lough Neagh S. at Doomben
A Playful family
Playful Miss has since foaled three fillies for Owens. The oldest, a 2-year-old, is being broken in.
"I'm syndicating one of them at the moment. Matt Parks from Symphony Lodge, who broke Victorem in, is breaking the 2-year-old by Mahisara in. He does a great job. The Denman yearling is down at Scone and the latest foal, by Territories, arrived in November," he said.
"She's a nice big foal, I think she's probably the nicest foal she's had so far."
Playful Miss recently went back to I Am Invincible, with Owens looking for a full sibling to Victorem,
"We've done a foal share with Yarraman. They were good, especially Harry Mitchell down there. I just hope she's in foal, we find out next weekend," he said.
Playful Miss has recently been covered by I Am Invincible
Despite Victorem's success, Owens is keeping his approach to the breeding game fairly simple and after this season will have only one other broodmare, Brazilian Princess (NZ) (Captain Rio {GB}).
He keeps small shares in a couple of horses he bred and subsequently leased, but his focus right now is on his horse of a lifetime.
"It's been such an exciting ride with Victorem. We are so lucky. He's the first real racehorse that we’ve had." - Mark Owens
"It's been such an exciting ride with Victorem. We are so lucky. He's the first real racehorse that we’ve had. We've had a lot of winners, just about everyone has won a race, but it’s taken a while to get one like this and I doubt I'll get another one as good as this," he said.
