Cooks Seeking Next Great Import

Francis and Christine Cook have been racing horses in Australia for the better part of 25 years, and have enjoyed some of their greatest successes as of late with imports from Europe and New Zealand. Thus, it should have come as no surprise to see them inspecting horses at the Northern Horse Park this week, searching for their next great import from the country that is plundering some of the world's best middle-distance races at an increasing rate.

“We'd be looking for the superior middle-distance and staying-bred horses, which we know the Japanese are very good at breeding,” said Francis Cook during his first-ever visit to the JRHA Select Sale.

It's understandable why the Cooks are hungry for more success with that type of horse, having been involved with Group 1-winning imports Foreteller (GB) (Dansili {GB}), Moriarty (Ire) (Clodovil {Ire}) and Preferment (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}), a yearling purchase who won last year's G1 Australian Cup, G1 The BMW and last spring's G1 Turnbull S., as well as the 2014 G1 Victoria Derby, for the Chris Waller stable. Foreteller and Moriarty were in-training purchases by Waller's team.

“We've managed to win eight Group 1 races with those imported horses, Foreteller and Moriarty from France and Preferment, our first foray into New Zealand bloodstock, who we bought as a yearling. He's won a Derby and three other Group 1s and is still racing.”

The Cooks use Waller as well as trainers Joe Pride and Matthew Smith in Sydney and were accompanied to Hokkaido by Smith and his wife Melissa, who previously worked in Japan and is fluent in Japanese.

The Cooks race their horses in partnerships, campaigning the colts and geldings in their own names and the fillies under their Mystery Downs banner. Cook explained that he leases his fillies to his partners for a three-year duration.

“The fillies, I always own 100% of the horse and lease them out, and we retain between 20% and 50% of the fillies for their racing career, which is usually a three-year lease,” he said. “And we lease them out at a 20% lease fee, so people who don't have the capital to get involved in racing can enjoy racing with us. The horses race in our colours and at the end of the three years they revert to us, so I'll either have a horse that's worth very little or occasionally one that's worth a lot. With the colts and geldings, we have lots of 10% and 20% shares of a select group of horses, which we race with other people.”

Cook, who is also on the board of the Racehorse Owners Association, added, “we enjoy the racing along the way, and the fact is that owning a horse 100% outright and racing it on your own is not a lot of fun, and we've brought a lot of people into racing by doing this.”

Mystery Downs also encompasses the Cook's breeding stock. They breed commercially from a broodmare band of roughly 16, but Cook admitted he gets more enjoyment out of buying at the sales.

“We love going to sales and inspecting horses and we get so much pleasure out of that, just testing your eye, testing your arm, and seeing what you can turn up,” he said.

While horses like Real Impact (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and Admire Rakti (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) have proven the merit of the Japanese horse in Australia in recent years by traveling Down Under to win Group 1 races, the obvious problem with exporting young horses from Japan to Australia is that the Japanese horses will cross into the Southern Hemisphere, putting them at an age disadvantage in Australian 2- and 3-year-old races. Cook said to combat that problem, he may export any Australian purchases to France, where they can test their abilities in the Northern Hemisphere.

“It's expensive to transport them to Australia; it's something like A$40,000 or A$50,000, so we've been told it's best, if you buy a foal, to leave it here until it's at least one or two, and the yearlings maybe another year,” he explained. “And we've been told a good way to kick it off is maybe to send them to France and race them in France for a few starts and test their ability and get them seasoned, then look to bring them back to Australia if we think they're good enough or move them on if they're not.”

Of his first visit to the Select Sale, Cook said, “the Japanese people are so friendly and so obliging, so it's a pleasure to come here and be treated so well. The horses are a high-quality animal. We like the deep girths of a lot of these horses; they have a lot of lung capacity and the way they walk out.”

“They also disclose the reserve prices, which we found very interesting,” he added. “It gives you an idea, if you're going to go for the more expensive horses, you know you need other partners to do it before you buy, or you just lower your sights and look for some of the newer stallions.”