When the Crosbys knew they had Found The One

7 min read
Sylvia's Mother, the filly named after a hit song from the 1970s, may never have been if not for the inspiration her breeder Rob Crosby took from the champion Black Caviar.

Inspired by watching the mighty Black Caviar (Bel Esprit) win her 25th and final race in the 2013 G1 TJ Smith S., Rob Crosby knew he had to up his game if he was going to have success in the breeding business.

A couple of years earlier, Rob and his wife Pam, who had been successful cattle breeders, decided to follow a long-held ambition to branch out into thoroughbreds, buying a few broodmares for their Tamworth-based property.

But inspired by watching Black Caviar parade at Randwick, Rob knew it was time to change things up. A month or so later, he went to the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale with an eye for a Bel Esprit mare with the same qualities as the unbeaten superstar.

"When I got to the sales, at the Magic Millions, the mare Found The One, was by the same sire and virtually a clone of Black Caviar in type." - Rob Crosby

"Six years ago, we went to see Black Caviar have her last ever race at Randwick. I studied the mare all the time she was in the parade yard. When I got to the sales, at the Magic Millions, the mare Found The One, was by the same sire and virtually a clone of Black Caviar in type," Crosby told TDN AusNZ.

Bel Esprit

"So, we just thought she was the best mare at the sale and we bought her."

She wasn't a cheap buy, at $220,000 in foal to Monaco Consul (NZ), but she was a full sister to a Group 1 winning sprinter in Bel Mer out of a stakes-winning mare in Drop Anchor (At Talaq {USA}).

Her first two foals never made the track, but in her third foal, the filly Sylvia's Mother (Snitzel), the Crosbys have a potential star. She has won four of her five starts and steps up to stakes company for the first time in Saturday's G2 Light Fingers S. at Randwick.

It will be a huge highlight for Rob and Pam, who took a leap of faith and now get to see the filly they bred on the big stage.

"You watch them grow up and then they go away to the trainer, it’s a huge thrill." - Rob Crosby

"It’s a big thrill, especially when my wife and I were there at birth. You watch them grow up and then they go away to the trainer, it’s a huge thrill. Then when she has finished her racing, she'll come home and be a broodmare," he said.

Building a breeding business

The Crosbys' breeding and racing operation currently consists of seven broodmares on their property, two horses in work and four or so preparing for life at the racetrack with Team Hawkes.

Typical of a small-scale breeder, they keep the fillies and sell the colts, with one of them, Sylvia's Mother's half brother by All Too Hard, Black Caviar's half brother, going through the Inglis Classic Sale this week as Lot 328 for $50,000.

The recently sold half-brother to Sylvia's Mother, All Too Hard x Found The One

"I always wanted to have some thoroughbreds, but all our lives, my wife and I, Pam, we’ve done everything ourselves but when we got older we thought we need to start trusting other people now, so now we can get some thoroughbreds," he said.

"The property we have at Tamworth is good soil and we rear them well. We keep on top of animal management."

A good start to life is key to a good racehorse, but just as important is getting them to a good trainer. For Crosby, it was a matter of picking up the phone and finding the right fit.

"Michael Hawkes got back to me and I thought he and his father who was my vintage, were people I could work with." - Rob Crosby

"I had a well-bred filly and I needed to give her a chance and I rang several trainers and talked to their racing managers and Michael Hawkes got back to me and I thought he and his father who was my vintage, were people I could work with," he said.

Michael Hawkes

Promising early signs

From very early on, Sylvia's Mother showed she was going to live up to her pedigree, with Crosby describing her as 'pretty special' from the time she was born.

At her first start back in August, Sylvia's Mother loomed to win at Warwick Farm but inexperience cost her dearly as she finished third.

She went to Hawkesbury to break her maiden then returned to that track off a break in December to win by four lengths.

She justified her short-price by winning at a night meeting at Canterbury in early January before claiming her first Saturday success on Australia Day at Randwick.

"At this stage, she hasn't been tested. Naturally as an owner, I've studied all the videos, and I told Brenton Avdulla when he rode her, as soon as she gets to the front, she pricks her ears and she did," Crosby said.

"The last race she won, she just picked them up in no time, she must have been laughing." - Rob Crosby

"I think the filly is just brimming with confidence because she is winning the races so easily. The last race she won, she just picked them up in no time, she must have been laughing."

Sylvia's biggest challenge

Crosby is well aware of the quality of her opposition on Saturday, including Group 1 winning fillies Oohood (I Am Invincible) and El Dorado Dreaming (Ilovethiscity) as well as boom filly Miss Fabulass (Frankel) and Group 1 placegetters Melt (NZ) (Iffraaj {GB}), Greysful Glamour (Stratum) and Nakeeta Jane (So You Think {NZ}).

Syliva's Mother will be up against G1 winning Oohood

The market has her second favourite, despite the fact she is up to stakes company for the first time and has never been up to 1200m.

"I'm sure the 1200m won't affect her. She's only raced at 1100m. Michael Hawkes said when she won the race at Canterbury, she's a racehorse and she just wants to win," he said.

The ups and downs of racing

At that sale back in 2013, Rob Crosby bought another former Patinack mare called Dawned (NZ) (One Cool Cat {USA}), a half-sister to stakes winners Beat The Fade (Maroof {USA}) and Dawn Till Dusk (Manntari {Ire}).

Her second foal, a filly called Dawn Dawn (All Too Hard) won two city races last year and has given the Crosbys a great thrill.

But in a harsh lesson of the up and down nature of the game, her half-sister Enjoy Elsie (Sepoy) promised even greater things before a mishap spoiled her prospects.

Dawn Dawn winning at Rosehill

"Elsie won a trial by ten lengths at Rosehill and watching that on television, was the biggest thrill I've ever had, it was like watching Secretariat," Crosby said.

"That was the biggest thrill I've ever had, it was like watching Secretariat." - Rob Crosby

"She won the next week by four lengths at Wyong. She was going that fast, going around the corner, she leant over like a bike rider does."

"Unfortunately she kicked out behind her and got her back leg caught in a walker and had to be retired. She was better than Sylvia."

It is that lost opportunity, says Crosby, which make Sylvia's Mother's emergence all the sweeter.

What’s in a name?

When Rob Crosby was a teenager in the 1970s, one of his favourite songs was by Dr Hook, and was called Sylvia's Mother.

Based on a true story about a lost love whose mother won’t let her come to the phone, it spent three weeks on top of the Australian Music Charts in 1973.

Life is sometimes stranger than fiction. The real Sylvia and her mother from the song were tracked down by a documentary crew a few years ago, and as it turns out, she had actually left the protagonist in the song to marry a Mexican bullfighter.

"The name came from the song when I was a teenager," Crosby said. "A lot of the people don't know the song, but if she happens to win on Saturday, they'll soon learn it."