COLOR me racehorses!
Jason Micallef has his own very successful business with tiles, but nothing could stand in the way of the lure of the thoroughbred.
So much so that he and his wife Tahlia (pictured) launched Monarch Racing Syndications last year and the couple went close to celebrating a stakes breakthrough in the $200,000 Listed Ramornie Handicap at Grafton earlier this month.
Monarch’s former Godolphin sprinter Bacchanalia, ridden by Justin Huxtable and having only his third start for his new connections, finished a close second at $51 ($91 was bet) to Ka Bling ($19) under his 58kg joint topweight.
Micallef couldn’t be trackside on July 17 because of commitments with his ColorTile retail and wholesale business, having three stores in New South Wales.
But he wasn’t far away either.
“I was at Port Macquarie and watched the race on television in a local pub,” he told us.
“Whilst naturally it would have been fantastic to win the Ramornie, it was still a huge thrill to almost land our first feature success in little more than 12 months since getting Monarch Syndications up and running.
“I got up and walked outside with a big smile on my face.”
Micallef will chat with Warwick Farm trainer Richard Litt this week to plan Bacchanalia’s next target.
“Bacchanalia won the Gosford Guineas as a three-year-old in December 2021 and Group 3 Star Kingdom Stakes at Rosehill Gardens in March 2023, and is a horse I have followed,” he said.
“When Godolphin decided to put him up for sale online in February through Inglis Digital, I was pleased to be able to buy him for $70,000.”
The Exceed and Excel gelding was having his 26th start at Grafton, and has won six races and been placed as many times.
From a well-known harness racing family, Micallef could easily have been swayed into the standardbreds rather than thoroughbreds.
“My grandfather had a really good pacer named Lady William, and I actually learnt how to attach all the gear to the horses and also learnt to drive,” he explained.
“But I was also very keen on rugby league and rugby union and made representative teams, and couldn’t do everything.”
South Coast-based Micallef recalls his first involvement in a racehorse five or six years ago was a Star Witness mare called Starchild, trained by the now Hong Kong-based Mark Newnham.
“I had a very small interest and she ran second at Nowra at her first start,” he said.
“But I didn’t stick and she won a race at Nowra after I relinquished my share.”
The racing “bug” had well and truly bitten him all the same.
Before launching Monarch Syndications, Micallef tasted black type success, winning the $250,000 Listed Canberra Cup (2000m) in 2021 with French import Mr Marathon Man.
Ridden by Robbie Dolan, the Litt-trained gelding started at $17 and beat 13 rivals.
“We bought him online the previous year for $70,000 and he won around $250,000 prizemoney for us,” Micallef said.
Fielding requests from family and friends to be involved in a racehorse, Jason and Tahlia Micallef decided to start their own syndication business last year.
“We’ve already got 16 horses on our books with trainers in two States,” Micallef said.
“Richard (Litt) and David Pfieffer are our NSW trainers.
“Both are based at Warwick Farm, and have been very helpful with their support and advice over recent years.
“The same with Simon Zahra, who is our Victorian trainer and based at Flemington.
“We’ve got owners from all over Australia, and make sure we look after them in the best possible manner to ensure they have a great experience.”
Micallef had a heart-warming tale to relate which explains why Monarch Syndications is making definite inroads into the syndication business.
The couple bought Secret Plan, a gelding by boom sire I Am Invincible from a High Chaparral mare, online for $60,000 in October last year after he had been racing in Western Australia where he won five races in Perth, and also had three starts in Victoria for a victory at Warrnambool.
“We bought him solely to help get Monarch up and running and our name out there, and didn’t intend syndicating him,” Micallef explained.
“But we got an email from WA from a chap called Peter Towie.
“He was keen to take a share in a young horse, and told us he had got cancer and beaten it.
“Instead of putting him in an unraced horse, we came to an arrangement to enable him to race a tried horse (Secret Plan) with us.
“Peter is so keen he has already flown to Sydney twice to see his horse race at Royal Randwick.
“Richard (Litt) is taking Seret Plan north this week to race at Doomben (where he ran second to another Warwick Farm representative Wategos on May 25), and Peter is flying to Brisbane to be trackside again.
“That’s what racing is all about, and absolutely what we are all about looking after our clients.”
Story John Curtis, July 29, 2024 - Pics Bradley Photos & Supplied
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