ONE to 23 It takes a lot for fourth generation horse breeder Jan Clark to leave her draft of horses at a sale – but this was exactly what occurred on March 19 last year – just two days before the start of the Gold Coast March Yearling Sale. Clark, along with Daandine Stud’s Mark and Sarah McCann, were presenting three yearlings at the sale – but mid afternoon on that Saturday their attention switched to Rosehill for the world’s richest juvenile race, the Golden Slipper. What happened next was the stuff of fairytales. The Daandine homebred Capitalist raced into history – becoming the first colt to complete the Magic Millions 2YO Classic and Golden Slipper double. There were cheers and tears from near the bar at the Magic Millions complex and for Clark her long time thoroughbred dreams were delivered in the most glorious style. “It was a dream for all of my life to win a Slipper and for Capitalist to win it and to have a miniature Slipper trophy on the mantelpiece as the breeder is hard to describe,” Clark said. Not only did Daandine Stud breed Capitalist, they also bred his sire, leading sire Written Tycoon.
“I guess that is what makes it even more special and incredible. For a small farm like ours to breed and sell a Golden Slipper winner who was by another group winner we bred and sold is unbelievable.” Written Tycoon was sold at the 2004 Gold Coast Yearling Sale for $50,000 to then Sydney based trainer Grahame Begg. He showed immediate talent winning on debut at Randwick. Later that season he won the Group Two Todman Stakes. “Right from the start Written Tycoon was special. He was an outstanding foal who developed into a great yearling. We were down in Barn A and he was the best yearling we had at the sale and he sold accordingly.” “He was a precocious youngster and when he got to the sale grounds he was very professional – manageable and sensible. I think a good horse has to have some spirit – not silliness, but I like them to have that spirit.” “He was popular at the sales and in the end Grahame Begg bought him. He was our only lot in the first four sessions and he set an equal top price for Daandine.” After kicking away his stud career at a modest fee of $6,000, Written Tycoon has established himself as one of the hottest sires in the land. During most of his stud career the good looking son of Iglesia has been based in Victoria, but it was a short stint in Queensland that led to a Golden Slipper winner. “I was all organised to send four mares to Written Tycoon but it turned out to be the year of EI so the mares couldn’t be transported down to Victoria,” Clark recalls. “Then when Eliza Park decided to bring him up to Queensland I just had to support him – so I bought two young mares to send to him and one was Kitalpha, who I purchased from the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale.” The resultant foal of the Written Tycoon-Kitalpha mating was a colt that would later establish himself the champion juvenile of the country. IT TOOK MM AUCTIONEERS APPROX 15,300 MINUTES TO OFFER 5,500 HORSES IN 2017 – AN AVERAGE OF 2 MIN 47 SECS PER HORSE written-tycoon.indd 73
~ 73 ~ 27/11/2017 1:25 PM