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Y EARLING
SALE
From racing stables to the offices of a bloodstock agent to the rolling pastures of a stud farm - all of them carry instantly recognisable brand names. But what of the names of the individuals that work so hard behind the scenes to ensure these brands remain in the limelight? We spent some time with 3 individuals to find out more.
FAC E S behind the names DAMIAN SLOCUM:
Aquanita Racing
Damian Slocum doesn’t get much sleep. Nor would you if you had his job. But as National Racing Manager for the Aquanita Group he seems to relish the challenge of juggling myriad balls in the air and celebrating the successes as they appear. Aquanita is one of Australia’s largest Thoroughbred Racing stables that operates fundamentally as a co-operative under the Aquanita umbrella. Trainers run their own businesses but Aquanita provides to the co-operative administration, veterinary, floating, farrier and agistment services, state of the art training complexes to operate from and a multitude of services that range from annual selection and
KATRINA PARTRIDGE
Jolly, Tony Vasil, Simon Miller, Stuart
Board of Directors. Event management -
Webb & Nick Ryan. I guess I’ve been the
Coordinating owner functions – Open Days,
‘backbone’ of the business! The main aim is
Charity Golf Day, Raceday hospitality. Client
to provide our trainers with administrative
liaison - Raceday hosting of clients. Horse
support so they can concentrate on doing
Movements and contributing to month
what they do best and that’s ‘training’. The
end accounts processes. Stable Welfare
role is quite diverse, jack of all trades to be
Manager. ... I could go on and on!
honest and can involve any of the following:
Where did you work prior?
Assist trainers with Race nominations,
I studied Science at Melbourne University
acceptances, jockey engagements, race programming. Racing Administration – horse registrations, transfers of ownership, leases etc for our clients. Customer service - Owner communications via our state of the art Prism Horse Management platform which has been a new and welcome addition to our business. Database maintenance for accounting and communications. Logistics – scheduling of transport for our own
and majored in Zoology and Botany. I intended to further my development/ career in these disciplines with postgraduate work in Brunei for the Sultan of Brunei and Shell Oil Company. Had a 6 month wait after graduating with Honours and in the interim worked as a caddie at Capital Golf Club for Lloyd Williams and Crown Casino clients.
How long have you worked at Aquanita
and sales of yearlings etc.
and what does your role entail?
insurance.
Website – development and
An opportunity arose to assist Aquanita Racing in their Racing Department when based at Flemington back in 2001.
I have worked at Aquanita Racing for over
maintenance. Major projects – development
I envisaged it would be a short term role.
16 years in a Racing/General Manager type
and implementation of accounting and
Funding for the research project in Brunei
role and assisted trainers such as Robert
communications systems. Social Media –
fell through and I ended up continuing on
Smerdon, Russell Cameron, John Sadler,
Instagram, Twitter, Facebook etc. Weekly
at Aquanita and haven’t looked back….16
Dan O’Sullivan, Liam Birchley, Richard
and Monthly reporting to the Aquanita
years on!
purchase of yearlings and syndication through to website maintenance and regular client events.
fleet of horse trucks/floats. Coordinating our trainers and staff for annual yearling sales – accommodation, flights, marketing Bloodstock
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26/11/2017 9:32 pm