Cover image courtesy of Bronwen Healy
Player and Roulston are a familiar sight at auctions around Australia, renowned for their sharp eye for quality and they are on the hunt this week for colts and fillies to add to an impressive recent list of purchases.
At the 2019 Inglis Melbourne Premier Sale, Player's International Thoroughbred Solutions (FBAA) signed for a Written Tycoon colt from the Gilgai Farm draft, paying $675,000. That colt developed into dual Group 1 winner Ole Kirk, now a resident at Vinery Stud.
Ole Kirk | Standing at Vinery Stud
The connections between Ole Kirk and the Shalaa (Ire) colt Semillion are clear. Both race in very similar interests, both carry the colours of Neil Werrett, both are in the Team Hawkes stable and both are out of Bel Esprit mares out of the family of the legendary unbeaten sprinter Black Caviar (Bel Esprit).
Semillion, already a stakes winner through his win in the Listed Inglis Banner on debut, has joined several illustrious family members as a Group winner with his tough on-pace success at Randwick on Saturday.
"Semillion has been a horse that has given the ownership group, and the trainer and myself a lot of thrills already in a young career. He was a lovely colt at the sales, bred from a very good farm at Dorrington Farm with Rob Crabtree and he was a horse that we identified early on as one we wanted to chase through," he said.
"He (Semillion) was a lovely colt at the sales, bred from a very good farm at Dorrington Farm with Rob Crabtree and he was a horse that we identified early on as one we wanted to chase through." - Mark Player
"As with a lot of successes in racing, there is whole teams involved. The major owner, the Hawkes team and myself all landed on the same horse and then we worked a strategy to try and secure the horse and we were lucky enough to do it."
Player signed the $300,000 docket for the colt, who came from Blue Gum Farm's draft, and from there it was quite literally off to the races.
"The Hawkeses have done such a magnificent job with him. We thought he was terrific on debut at the Valley, he came out very well next start, learned a lot and then he was a touch unlucky in the Blue Diamond. He put up a tremendous performance to run fifth," he said.
Semillion as a yearling | Image courtesy of Inglis
"We went into Saturday's race with a lot of confidence and he really justified that. For the owners to get that result on a big day during The Championships, it’s a fantastic result and it's why you are in the game."
Much like Ole Kirk, who was a stakes winner at two, there is every confidence from the Hawkes team that Semillion will only improve at three, with ambitions aimed towards another shot at Group 1 races.
The stallion influence
Picking the colt out of that Melbourne Sale last year seemed quite logical for Player given his maternal side, but the Shalaa factor was also in the agent's mind when identifying him as a colt prospect for his clients.
Mark Player | Image courtesy of Bronwen Healy
"This particular horse as a yearling was all quality. We saw an athlete in front of us when he walked and moved. You saw a horse that you just had hope and confidence would develop well," he said.
"When you find the individual out of a good female family, you can go in with confidence on the sire.
"When you find the individual out of a good female family, you can go in with confidence on the sire." - Mark Player
"He's a stallion on the rise, Shalaa. You look around the Sale here and there are some really lovely examples of him again and let’s hope he continues to make a really big impact on the Australian bloodstock industry."
The dynamic duo
Pulling together what he says is 'jigsaw puzzle' through the sales inspection period, Player leans on Roulston constantly, with the pair using each other as sounding boards to help shape their assessments.
Mark Player and Robert Roulston | Image courtesy of Bronwen Healy
"I really feel how we do that gives us an advantage. We do get along very well, which is important in any partnership, but we are both people with strong opinions and we aren't afraid to voice those opinions quite strongly," he said.
"What that does is challenge you all the time. If he says to me, 'I really like a horse', I might ask him, 'Why do you like it?' and it really focusses the mind.
"We are constantly challenging each other on horses and on the strategy of how we’ve got five colts to buy for one fund and five fillies for another across the year, and how are we doing that, to make sure our investors get the best opportunity."
"We (he and Rob Roulston) are constantly challenging each other on horses and on the strategy of how we’ve got five colts to buy for one fund and five fillies for another across the year, and how are we doing that, to make sure our investors get the best opportunity." - Mark Player
A dynamic duo during inspections, the pair have set roles through the auction period as well.
"When we're doing simple things like bidding, I can concentrate of bidding and Rob can concentrate on reading the room," Player said. "It allows me to focus on the numbers, while he can assess what is going on around us."
Player and Roulston have looked at every horse on the complex, with a view to securing both fillies and colts for their clients and the experienced agent offered a very bullish assessment of the quality of yearlings on offer.
Semillion, winner of the G3 Widden Kindergarten S. | Image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
"Going back through the many Easter Yearling Sales I have been at, I honestly believe that physically here, the types are as good or better than I have seen," he said.
"Vendors have done a fantastic job of presenting them. That comes down to many things, but the technical details are key to that, the guys and girls that are putting these together and presenting the horses are craftsmen and craftswomen.
"It’s inevitable that horses are better presented every year and I think we are seeing that."
