By Emma Berry
This time three years ago, Australian owner-breeder Paul Makin was gearing up to sell his entire bloodstock operation through the much-publicised Paulyn Dispersal at Goffs, which included his G1 Irish Oaks winner Chicquita (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}), who sold for €6-million.
As he prepares to celebrate his 80th birthday, Makin, who has also tasted top-level success in both hemispheres with his five-time Group 1 winner Starcraft (NZ) (Soviet Star), admits that the lure of the racing industry proved too strong for him not to return. It wasn't long before he started making a few strategic purchases, such as the €1.8-million filly foal by Frankel (GB) out of the dual Classic winner Finsceal Beo (Ire) (Mr Greeley), who is now two and named La Figlia (Ire).
He says, “I'm an old guy and I tried to retire when I was 75 and now I'm five years older than that and I'm thinking to myself that I'm glad I didn't retire as I nearly experienced depression. The legs might be weak but it's important to work harder as you get older and to keep your brain active.”
Earlier this year, he bought the G1 Racing Post Trophy winner Marcel (Ire) (Lawman {Fr}) privately from former owner Paul Hancock, and though his dreams were shattered when the Peter Chapple-Hyam-trained colt injured his knee in his only start this season in the G1 QIPCO 2,000 Guineas, a new dream has begun with his horse's retirement to the National Stud in Newmarket.
“When I saw Marcel win the Racing Post Trophy I thought to myself that he could be better than Starcraft the way he came through the field from last to first,” Makin recalls. “He could have raced on at four but he'd already won a Group 1 and I knew the injury would put the whole of his 3-year-old career away. He's a beautiful horse, I love him, so I decided to stand him at stud.”
While a new stallion venture might prompt a rash of mare purchases from some owners, Makin is taking a different tack in his support of Marcel.
“I'm not going to send him any mares myself but I want to buy six or seven of his foals or yearlings,” he explains. “I was chatting to Dermot Farrington and told him I didn't want all the work of standing a stallion–it would be different if I had my own farm–so we thought then of the National Stud. They're very good people with 500 acres and well set up to do the job properly.”
In his strategy for Marcel's first season, Makin's plans will doubtless be music to the ears of breeders concerned with the rise in stallion fees and in the number of mares covered.
He continues, “Marcel is going to stand for £5,000 and I only want 80 mares to him, that's the limit. If I get 50 or 60 I don't mind–at £5,000 I'm not in it for money. I priced him like that in the hope of encouraging some Irish mares as it costs extra to ship them.
“I really believe in him. He's such a beautiful mover–very light on his feet–and he's from a family that I like and know a lot about. [Mulitple Group 1 winner] At Talaq is from that family and he was very versatile–he won from six furlongs to two miles, including the Melbourne Cup.”
As if to emphasise his belief in the family, Makin, a famously bold and flamboyant bidder, returned to the fray at Tattersalls this week to buy Marcel's half-brother by Lope De Vega (Ire) from Oghill House Stud for 150,000gns (lot 187). The colt will follow his brother to St Gatien Stables in Newmarket.
“Peter Chapple-Hyam will train him for me,” Makin reveals. “We were both disappointed that his brother couldn't train on. Peter's a great trainer and quite mad, but so am I–we're the perfect combination.”
As one colt joins Makin's select string of horses in training in Newmarket another is set to leave. His homebred Sky Kingdom (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire})–a son of Makin's dual Group 1-winning Starcraft mare We Can Say It Now (Aus) and recent winner of the G3 Prix du Prince d'Orange at Maisons-Laffitte–is off to Australia and will be trained by Starcraft's former conditioner Gary Newham.
“My family is in Australia and I'm in the process of moving back to Australia from Hong Kong. I don't spend a huge amount of time in the UK any more but I really want to do this stallion venture,” Makin says. “Dermot Farrington and Andrew Nolan from Goffs are both old friends and they are helping me with it. I like the involvement with the industry–I love the mystery of it all.”
The excitement of seeing Marcel's first offspring brought to the sales from 2018 and beyond will doubtless hold the stallion's owner in thrall to the bloodstock business for years to come.
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