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Clarken Racing | Clarken Racing News 53049 Will Clarken Calls On Sa Government To Increase Prizemoney

Will Clarken Calls on SA Government to Increase Prizemoney

Will Clarken Calls on SA Government to Increase Prizemoney

Adelaide’s Racing Carnival is not short on brilliant Group 1 action, but it’s the prizemoney on offer which needs to be seriously looked at, says trainer Will Clarken.

From April 30 to May 21, Morphettville Parks hosted four top-class afternoons of racing – Oaks Day, Sangster Day, Derby Day and Goodwood Day.

But not so brilliant in Clarken’s opinion are the stakes on offer – the elite feature on each day offered just $502,250 for participants and connections.

Compare that to the $1.5 million Northerly Stakes which Ironclad participated in on December 3, his runner-up placing netting the stable and connections $270,000.

The same amount of money was on offer in the Gold Rush which Beau Rossa ran in last Saturday – and that was a Group 3 event.

This is why Clarken is frustrated at the moment.

“You can say it’s (prizemoney in Australia) all over the shop a little bit – you’ve got Group 1s worth half a million and Group 3s worth a million and a half,” he told HorseBetting.com.au.

Most hard-working Australians would certainly not sneeze at half a million dollars, particularly with cost-of-living pressures soaring under the current federal government’s watch.

But the problem is Clarken runs a small business where horses and feeds, equipment, staff, transportation and accommodation – among other expenses – are not cheap.

And he will not be silent while the likes of Western Australia, Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria leave his home state for dead regarding the stakes those jurisdictions offer their participants.

“It’s certainly hard, and running any small business is hard,” he said.

“The other states are sailing away from you, and we want to compete with them and buy yearlings at the same price.

“Feeding costs and general costs in South Australia are the same as they are in any other state, so it is very hard.

“But we remain optimistic and hopefully there is a change in sight.”

Clarken believes the needs of many in the South Australian racing industry are not being listened to by their state’s lawmakers.

“We just need more money in South Australia, unfortunately,” he said.

“If the state government would listen to its participants and the racing authorities so we could get our fair share of the pot cash like the other Australian jurisdictions, then everything would be rosy.

“But instead, they continue to bend us over a barrel and treat us like we’re not them.”

The hard-working conditioner said policy-setters in the SA Government could learn a great deal from their WA counterparts.

“One thing I’d say about Perth racing is they’ve been brilliantly organised, so accommodating and so good looking after us,” Clarken said.

“It’s been quite amazing. It’s been the best jurisdiction to accommodate us coming here.

“I think it’s just a matter of state government support. But also, I think WA needs to have a good level of that because it’s so far away.

“They have to cater for you, but they’ve done it beautifully.”

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Keeping it in the family

Later in the day, a pair of lots sold for $200,000 respectively to secure their placings as the joint-second-top lots on the second day of trade. Lot 273, the first of the duo to go under the hammer, is a filly by Yulong’s Written Tycoon who sold to Ridgeport Holdings, Clarken Bloodstock, and Suman Hedge Bloodstock (FBAA). The filly is out of Blue Morpho (Hussonet) who from 16 starts on the track managed three wins, including landing the 2018 Laelia Stakes (Listed, 1600m).  Clarken and his training partner Niki O’Shea know about the family, with the filly’s brother, the unraced Windrow, and her Alabama Express half-sister, who Clarken bought for $80,000 at the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale in 2021, both residents of their Murray Bridge stable.  “The quality always makes money and there have been some really nice types and there’s been no doubt that they have been well received. We were narrowly beaten on the Zoustar filly [Lot 255] earlier today and we were lucky enough to get the Written Tycoon filly a second ago,” Will Clarken told ANZ Bloodstock News. “I’ve got her two relations who have shown great promise and haven’t been to the races yet. Written Tycoon has been a good stallion to the yard and we’ve got Kuroyanagi who was Group 1-placed in the Blue Diamond and it’s going to be for the same ownership group [Ridgeport].” “We’ve got four so far [on the day], we’ve been sent a few and I think there’s a couple more on the list for the rest of the day, but we really came here to buy what we thought was the best filly and the best colt and I think we’ve done that. “Adelaide has been a really happy hunting ground for us. We bought Beau Rossa here and he was narrowly beaten in a Group 1. I bought Galaxy Patch out of here, Prawn Baba and  both of them have run in a Hong Kong Derby [Galaxy Patch second in 2024] and I just know the sale and it’s been really good for us. “Let’s hope the Magic Millions lives on here in South Australia. Obviously there are some changes ahead, but it’s a great asset to have a sale in our backyard.”Story from ANZ Bloodstock News

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Peltzer's brother turns heads

Peltzer's brother will stay in South Australia and be trained by Will Clarken and Niki O'Shea after being bought for $240,000 in the opening session of Monday's Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale. Offered as part of leading SA nursery Mill Park Stud's draft, the colt (Lot 25) was on the shortlist of several good judges but was ultimately knocked down to Clarken's Racing Manager Lachie Weekley on behalf of the stable, owner Rob Chapman and bloodstock agent Suman Hedge. As well as leaving multiple Stakes winner and now young stallion Peltzer, who was purchased for $260,000 as a yearling, the colt's dam Miss Otto has also left Stakes-placed filly Madison Kate. Weekley said the stable targeted the colt and was buoyed by the record of Mill Park Stud, the property on SA's Limestone Coast which has bred or raised more than 20 Group 1 winners. "He's a beautiful colt, just a lovely, well-balanced horse," Weekley said. "He has a lovely So You Think head on him and he looks to have a lot of class. "You'd like to think he'd be that sort of miler type O like. "We tend not to rush our young horses, it's cliche to say but we'll give him plenty of time. "Mill Park Stud is such a fantastic nursery, Chris Watson and the team down there do such a good job and the stats are just phenomenal. "They've nearly got the alphabet of Stakes winners, which speaks for itself."   Story by James Tzaferis from Racing.com

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‘Quality’ So You Think colt heads to Clarken and O’Shea

A week on from claiming Adelaide Cup (Gr 2, 1200m) success with Silent Surrente (Fiorente), Will Clarken and Niki O’Shea secured a win in the sales ring when they went to $240,000 to secure a stunning colt by So You Think (High Chaparral) early on day one of selling at the Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale. Catalogued as Lot 25 and offered by Mill Park Stud, the colt is out of winning mare Miss Otto (Elusive Quality), making him a brother to Group 2 winner, and now Twin Hills Stud-based sire, Peltzer (So You Think). Bidding ringside at the Morphetville sales complex, the stable’s racing manager Lachie Weekley was thrilled to snare the colt, who was knocked down to Clarken Bloodstock in partnership with Suman Hedge Bloodstock and prominent South Australian businessman Rob Chapman. “He’s just got a lovely action and a really nice demeanour, beautiful head on him, great eye,” Weekley said.  “Very importantly he came off a terrific farm in Mill Park Stud down at Meningie, from Chris Watson and the team, their record is second to none and one of the best in the land.” The partnership, who purchased four lots at this sale last year for a combined total of $285,000, had to stay strong to win the colt, and plan to continue the momentum on the second day.  “We were right at [our limit on him]. We wanted to be pretty strong on him, obviously he’s a quality colt so we didn’t want to miss out and there was some good competition as always, with those nice horses. “The clients that we bought him for, they were keen to attempt to try and buy the best horse here and that’s what we saw him as. We did the job early and there’s a couple over the next day or two and that’ll be us.”  A close relation to 2019 Adelaide Guineas (Listed, 1600m) winner So We Are (So You Think), Weekley said the colt will be given time to mature and develop.   “He’s just a lovely horse and we’ll give him a bit of time. He’d be more that sort of three-year-old type. We’ll just let the ball come on to the bat.” Mill Park finished the first day as the leading vendors by aggregate, having sold 12 yearlings for $1,031,000, the only vendor to break the million barrier. 

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