Champion Thoroughbreds | Champion Thoroughbreds Selection Process

QUALITY TRUMPS QUALITY here at Champion Thoroughbreds. We have strict selection criteria in place when choosing the next group of horses to join the stable. There is a detailed and exhaustive process designed to single out athletes that will succeed under the rigours of Australian racing.

We source quality horses to represent their owners on the racetrack. They need to tick a number of boxes for them to land a place on our ‘wish list’.

• Desirable physical attributes
• Athleticism
• A Group 1 performer on the pedigree page
• A well mated and/or proven cross
• A superior DNA and cardiovascular profile
• Our trainers opinion
• Clean clinical and internal vet reports
• A good attitude

We are realists. We’re not of the belief that every one of our horses will be stakes-performers, but we will eliminate as many of the negative elements as possible in order to offer the best group of horses with a buyable price tag, all with the qualities that we have found key to racetrack success.

THE YEARLING SELECTION PROCESS

Firstly there will be the assessment of every horse's catalogued pedigree in order to find the group of horses that meet our criteria based on their pedigree page. Statistically there are some 6,000 yearlings on offer at yearling sales each year, but only about 400 of these will become superior runners so we have developed some statistical techniques in order for us to eliminate many of the 6,000 that have little to no chance of falling in the desirable 400 elite runners.

The team will then head to the leading stud farms pre-sale for the first of the inspections. At this point in time we generally just take off the horses that are completely unathletic and/or have conformational defects that would make the horse hard to train and maintain soundness.

The second wave of inspections take place at the sales complex where special attention is given to the way the yearling has progressed since the first inspection. We are looking for a horse that has handled the pressure of the sales preparation and thrived, not one who hasn't progressed or indeed regressed which occurs from time to time.

We create a shortlist of the best athletic types from the shortlist of horses that meet our criteria. This is generally somewhere between 15-20% of the catalogue on offer although it can be as little as 10% at some of the lesser sales.

The third inspection of the horses on the shortlist is then made. The horses that pass this inspection are then given to Byron Rogers who performs a cardiovascular and DNA evaluation on the yearling at hand. This allows us to eliminate some yearlings that have cardiovascular systems that are not suitable for racing and/or horses that have a mismatch between their cardiovascular system and their DNA profile (as an example a stayers cardio in a sprinter genotype).

A thorough clinical veterinary examination is then completed by Dr James Whitfeld of those passing this inspection. Yearlings that pass this clinical exam are then x-rayed or have their x-rays inspected.

The horses remaining are then placed on the ‘wish list’ then given our dollar value according to the commercial appeal of their pedigree, their conformation and athleticism. The bidding begins and if we’re successful, these will be the yearlings with shares available to our owners. While this might seem a complex process, as we are looking to syndicate no more than 20 yearlings in a given year, it is important for us to do this process to ensure that the highest percentage of the horses selected are superior runners.

CHAMPION’S RECORD

Being a boutique syndication operation, Champion Thoroughbreds have never purchased a large number of yearlings in a given year. Despite this, our record of selection is one of the best in the industry.

Our headliners include…