For Carmel Size the process for buying doesn't stop at yearling selection – she wants her hands and eyes on her horses every day – but it doesn't even stop once the horse stops racing, it flows right through her horse's racing career and even into retirement.
"I think about the horses 24/7," Size said in between lots on day 4 at the Inglis Classic Sale at Riverside this week. "As an owner you have to know where your horse is all the time, from the time you buy it, to the time it passes on."
That love, bordering on obsession, for the horse is what drives the bloodstock agent and racing manager for Hong Kong owner Boniface Ho to get up at 2.30am, six days per week, to get those hands and eyes on her beloved purchases.
"As an owner you have to know where your horse is all the time, from the time you buy it, to the time it passes on." - Carmel Size
Ho has 17 horses in training, all selected as yearlings by Size, most with legendary trainer Les Bridge at Randwick, where Size "spoils" Ho's acquisitions.
Carmel Size with Secret Legend
"I know exactly what is involved in their education from the day they leave the sale," she says. "I am in charge of education and agistment. I see the horses in the racing stable every day, whether they be the horses here or others we have with Peter and Paul Snowden."
"I just love being around my horses and I help Les run his stable at home. Predominantly, my role there is to be around those horses that are earmarked to go to Hong Kong and ensure they get the very best life. I give them a bit of a spoil."
Hong Kong preparation
Size doesn't care if what she says doesn't sound like clichéd racing speak, she believes that old-fashioned TLC best prepares a horse for the rigours of being trained in Hong Kong.
"Yeah, some people might think I am crazy and it doesn't sound like racing terminology, but I want them to be like a kid's pony before they go to Hong Kong," she said. "The more calm and relaxed they are the easier it is for them to settle into that tough environment. They don't have the luxury of being in a paddock and putting their heads down there, they are in the stables 365 days per year. I think I look at these horses from a different angle, it isn't a mathematical equation for me, I look at the psychological angle and think about how they will cope."
"Some people might think I am crazy and it doesn't sound like racing terminology, but I want them to be like a kid's pony before they go to Hong Kong." - Carmel Size
And Size says that if that philosophy means a horse, even a high-priced yearling, isn't suitable for Hong Kong, it won't step foot on a plane.
"I have said to Mr Ho that we can't take certain horses there because of their temperament. If it isn't going to work for the horse, it isn't going to work for the owner. That's why I want my hands on the horses everyday, because I want to work out if the horse can take to the training environment there, it takes control of its own destiny there. If it doesn't like it, it will simply spit the bit out and not want to race. One thing I have been taught by some very good horsemen is that the happier the horse is, the more you will get from it. It's pretty simple."
"That's why I want my hands on the horses everyday, because I want to work out if the horse can take to the training environment there." - Carmel Size
"That's what I like to do at Les' stable, make sure that the horses are 100 per cent happy. Seasoning a horse is the most important thing you can do to ensure a horse is a success in Hong Kong. It has to be a bit battle weary to be tough enough to succeed."
And Size should know, not just about how good horse people think, but what it takes to make it in Hong Kong. Her father Neville Begg spent seven successful seasons training out of Sha Tin, and she then spent another few years with her former husband as he established his champion stable in the racing mecca.
"Sending a horse to Hong Kong when they aren't ready for it is like putting a kindergarten kid in high school," she says.
A legend of racing
Neville Begg was a welcome presence beside Size at her table at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale on Tuesday and at 88 the Hall of Fame trainer is still as lucid and engaging as ever. Begg is the type of racing man that when he talks, you simply take a knee and listen.
Carmel Size with Neville Begg
Begg won 139 stakes races and 39 G1s, six of those with champion mare Emancipation (Bletchingly), but more recently he was also breeder of the star colt Written By (Written Tycoon).
All of Begg's children had some involvement in racing including Written By's trainer Grahame Begg, and Carmel, the youngest of six, has clearly got "the bug."
"Dad must be horrified, after spending all of that money on private school fees that I still get up at 2.30am and go and work in the stables at Randwick." - Carmel Size
"Dad must be horrified, after spending all of that money on private school fees that I still get up at 2.30am and go and work in the stables at Randwick," she said with a laugh, but far from it, the proud father insists his youngest daughter stands alone in her racing insight.
"She has been involved since she was a little girl, she has always been around it and she has had a racing life," he said. "She started in pony club, she worked in my racing office and drove me to the races for years, and of course she spent that time with John in Australia and Hong Kong."
Carmel Size with Lucky Legend at Kembla Grange
Begg believes that it isn't just about choosing the right horse to send to Hong Kong, but finding the right timing to ship from Sydney, with its green grass and afternoon sea breezes, to stable life at sweltering Sha Tin.
"With the weather, and that heat and humidity, it is amazing how much condition they can lose," he said. "If they arrive in June or July it can be devastating for them, they are just sweating all the time. The winters are surprisingly cold too, I've never felt colder. All the moisture in the air just chills you to the bone."
"Temperament is the main thing, the local mafoos (stable staff) aren't necessarily natural horsemen, soundness and I don't think pedigree means all that much. You need an athletic horse, but not too heavy as they are only training on the dirt track 99 per cent of the time."
Hong Kong buying policy
It was when Boniface Ho, along with most of Hong Kong's high profile owners, was engulfed in a bidding war for superstar Beauty Generation (NZ) (Road To Rock) back in 2016 that it was clear that a more prudent policy was required to find a superstar.
"We figured we would buy a group of medium-priced horses, rather than spend the $2.5million it takes to buy Beauty Generation and a tried horse that somebody has already raced," Size said. "We think we can develop our own horses and we just might jag a top-liner out of the group that we buy."
It helped that Ho and Size already had a handy prospect while that chequebook war waged for Beauty Generation, with another 3-year-old, Southern Legend (Not A Single Doubt), climbing through the grades in Sydney.
Southern Legend was a $280,000 purchase from the Corumbene Stud draft at the 2014 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale and won the L. Darby Munro Stakes before placing twice at G2 level in the following spring as a 4-year-old. Yet even with that solid CV, the gutsy galloper has exceeded expectations in Hong Kong for trainer Caspar Fownes, winning last year's SG1 Kranji Mile and collecting more than $18million in prizemoney.
That amount would be much more if not for Beauty Generation, with Southern Legend placing three times behind the freakish miler, and Fownes plans to head to Dubai World Cup carnival to get out of the superstar's shadow.
On Sunday the consistent 6-year-old is dodging Beauty Generation again, stepping up to 2000m for the first time in the G1 Hong Kong Gold Cup.
"He is staying on strong at the end of his mile races so I think he will see out the trip," Fownes said. "We looked at the program in Dubai and we are considering some of the 1,800m races for him there."
Fownes called Southern Legend "an ideal horse for Hong Kong."
" He is a beautiful horse for here, he has a perfect attitude and loves everything about it at Sha Tin. He works well, eats well. He is a dude. He likes travelling as well and so he will love getting on a plane and out of Hong Kong for a while."
Next generation
Size's old-school Hong Kong connections meant she was even more active at this week's Inglis Classic Yearling Sale, signing for four yearlings at an average of $197,500.
One of those was for an old owner of her father's, Charlie Lam, who parlayed his winnings from Sunday's 27-1 outsider Chiu Chow Kid (Bertolini {USA}) into a new horse.
Size can talk all day about conformation and pedigree, but she believes it all starts with "connection".
"I lead with my heart and I have to trust my instinct," she says. "I look at the horses I buy for myself, and for me it isn't a financial exercise. Every horse I bought back in the day was a multiple winner, but I never had the money to buy top horses. It's more than a horse to me, we loved each other, and I had a connection with Southern Legend. I love to have a connection with the horse. Mr Ho knows it is heart wrenching for me when the horses go to Hong Kong."
"I love to have a connection with the horse. Mr Ho knows it is heart wrenching for me when the horses go to Hong Kong." - Carmel Size
That connection is also why when a horse she didn't even buy, Sichuan Chief (Manhattan Rain) was brought back to Australia, via New Zealand because of quarantine difficulties, to be given a comfortable retirement.
"I look after them all, I try and give them away and if I can't find a suitable home for them then I pay for them," Size said. "I won't sell them to anyone and if it doesn't work out with the kids I give them to as riding horses, I will always bring them back. It might sound crazy to some people, but I believe it doesn't matter what type of animal it is, whether you have a cat or a dog, or a horse, you have it for life."
