Stars Emerge For Bhima

GOLD COAST, Australia–For a fledgling Thoroughbred nursery, it is imperative to achieve early results on the racetrack to fuel buyer confidence in its product. Shoppers combing through the Bhima Thoroughbreds consignment at this week's Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale can be confident of the young operation's track record, with Mike and Kate Fleming's nursery having produced three Group 1 horses in 2016, five years after its inauguration.

That trio is headed by I Am A Star (NZ) (I Am Invincible {Aus}), who was prepped by Bhima for New Zealand stud Wentwood Grange and sold for A$40,000 at the 2015 Inglis Classic sale. I Am A Star became the first 3-year-old filly to defeat elder mares when winning the 2016 G1 Myer Classic at the Melbourne Cup Carnival for owner Matthew Sandblom. Heatherly (Aus) (Lonhro {Aus}) was twice Group 1-placed last year after winning the G2 Rubiton S., and Heavens Above (Aus) (Street Cry {Ire}) finished second in last autumn's G1 Queen of the Turf S. at The Championships before winning the G3 Sheraco S. in the spring. The Flemings also raised the 2014 G1 Flight S. winner First Seal (Aus) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}), who was sold by Curraghmore Stud for NZ$700,000 at the 2013 NZB Premier Sale.

Another feather in the cap for Bhima in 2016 was the fact that three of its graduates covered their first books of mares at stud: Group 3 winner and Group 1-placed Scissor Kick (Aus) (Redoute's Choice {Aus}) at Arrowfield Stud; Singapore champion and Australian Group 3-winning sprinter Super One (Aus) (I Am Invincible {Aus}) at Newgate Farm; and stakes winner and G1 Caulfield Guineas-third Ready For Victory (Aus) (More Than Ready) at Sun Stud.

“For the size of our operation, to have three horses go to stud in one year and be reasonably successful on the track was a huge result for a farm that only has 80 permanent mares and breeds 50 to 60 foals a year,” said Bhima owner Mike Fleming. “I would think that's a very good result for what is a small team. It's great for the staff because you're only as good as the people you employ, and we're lucky enough that for the size of us, we have a very good team on board.”

Like the Thoroughbreds he now rears, Fleming was bred and raised for success in the Thoroughbred industry. He was born and raised in Christchurch, New Zealand, not far from Riccarton Racecourse, and inherited a love of racing from his father. Fleming worked with various trainers before and after school from a young age, and eventually left school to pursue a career as a jockey. He enjoyed success and rode a number of winners, but retired early after growing too big. Pinpointing a second career in the Thoroughbred breeding industry, Fleming moved to Waikato and spent 15 years working for various New Zealand studs as well as spending a 12-month stint in Japan. Fleming's final role in his home country was a three-year tenure at Cambridge Stud under the tutelage of legendary stud master Sir Patrick Hogan.

Fleming took up the opportunity to relocate to the Hunter Valley in 2004 when a position opened to manage Brooklyn Lodge Stud. After seven years with that operation, Fleming and his wife Kate rolled the dice and struck out on their own in April of 2011, leasing a property and starting up under the name Broadwater Thoroughbreds. Broadwater was rebranded as Bhima Thoroughbreds in April of last year, and in June the Flemings purchased their own 740 acre property in the Hunter Valley. The Flemings offer full-service broodmare care from preparing for covering through foaling, foal handling and weaning, as well as sales preparation.

“The transition has been good,” Fleming noted. “I've been very lucky to have some good breeders and clients around me for a number of years since I've been in Australia and it's just evolved from there.”

Fleming's foundations in New Zealand continue to drawn in business.

“We have a very good relationship with some keen New Zealand breeders that are breeding in the Hunter on an annual, seasonal basis,” Fleming explained. “Their mares that are coming into the Hunter will be bred here and shipped back to New Zealand.”

Fleming said the Bhima service offers Australian breeders some freedom that may not be available at other farms.

“We've always been consignors and looked after some Australian breeders that prefer to have their horses on agistment farms that don't stand stallions,” he noted. “I think that gives them a bit of freedom to mate their mares where they want to; they don't feel they're obliged or bound to be breeding to horses other than what they really want to. I think that works well for them.”

Fleming said expanding the business to standing stallions likely isn't in the cards for Bhima.

“I think with the way the stallion industry has evolved, with your big farms–your Coolmores, and Darleys, and Arrowfields, and now Newgate coming onto the scene standing a large number of stallions–and the success rate of stallions, it's hard to get it right on a one or two off,” he said. “I think that's probably not a track we're looking at going down. We're happy with what we're doing, looking after our client base and looking after their yearlings, whether they're consigning to sales or breeding to race.”

Fleming stressed that success comes down to attention to detail and first-class care for the horse.

“Your horses are only as good as what you feed them,” he noted. “It's eye for detail, surrounding yourself by a good team and good staff, and employing and entrusting yourself with the best people in the industry to try to get the best results.”

Bhima has reared two of the best progeny of top young sire I Am Invincible in I Am A Star and Super One, and Fleming said the Yarraman Park sire–who is expected to have a big sale with 47 catalogued–is one who has always been on his radar.

“I think both myself and our clients and breeders have always been a big fan of I Am Invincible,” he explained. “With the huge Danehill influence in Australia, with Danehill and Redoute's Choice and that sireline, everyone is looking for an outcross sire. You've got a lot of Danehill-line and Redoute's Choice-line mares now that need to go somewhere, and that's why when you get an outcross horse that works, he certainly gets well patronized.”

Bhima's Magic Millions draft includes two progeny of I Am Invincible: lot 526, a colt out of a half-sister to G1 Golden Slipper and G1 Blue Diamond S. placegetter Zizou (Aus) (Fusaichi Pegasus); and lot 793, a filly out of a half-sister to three European stakes winners. Other potential highlights include lot 229, a Sepoy (Aus) filly out of Miss Atom Bomb (Aus) (Encosta de Lago {Aus}), a half-sister to Horse of the Year Winx (Aus) (Street Cry {Ire}) and 'TDN Rising Star' El Divino (Aus) (Snitzel {Aus}); lot 234, a daughter of Snitzel (Aus) descending from the great family of Redoute's Choice; lot 535, a Pierro (Aus) colt out of Trafalgar Miss (Aus) (War Pass), a half-sister to Group 1 winner Sizzling (Aus) (Snitzel {Aus}); lot 769, a Sebring (Aus) filly out of a half-sister to dual Group 2 winner Bring Me The Maid (Aus) (Sebring {Aus}); and lot 805, an Exceed and Excel (Aus) colt out of dual Group 1 winner Episode (Aus) (Scenic {Ire}), and therefore a half-brother to First Seal. Offering some international appeal is lot 98, a Fastnet Rock (Aus) filly out of Honor Patti (Honour and Glory), a half-sister to American Horse of the Year Wise Dan (Wiseman's Ferry).

“We've got a draft of 20 that are a very even line of horses,” Fleming summarized. “The majority are by proven sires–Snitzel, Redoute's Choice, I Am Invincible–we have a very nice I Am Invincible colt and filly.”

He added, “We have a couple by Pierro and All Too Hard, young horses on the track that people are sitting on the fence on now. Their oldest are 2-year-olds and people start to form an opinion in Australia by the time they get to Christmas with their 2-year-olds, and they're trying line up how they're going. I think it's probably a bit too early for both those horses, but they seem to be looking like they're leaving the right sort of stock.”

Fleming said all signs were good in the final lead-up to the sale.

“We've been here since [last] Tuesday, parading since Thursday, and it's been constant,” he said. “It's picking up day by day and the right people are here. There's a good buzz about it. The sale has had very good increases the last two years. It's always the first sale, everyone is keen to buy a horse and it sets the tone for the rest of the sale series, what comes out of here, so hopefully it'll be a successful sale and that'll set it up for the rest of the year.”