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Supplement to SPORTING POST • FRIDAY 19th - SUNDAY 21st APRIL 2013
“IF Micky ran for president I’d vote for him!” That’s an enduring quote from former Daily News racing editor Robyn Ramsay, made back in the early ‘Nineties – the days when racing used to be frontpage news and Summerhill’s assault on the summit was barely in the planning stages. Mick Goss hasn’t made it to the highest office yet, but with eight consecutive national Breeder Championships for Summerhill, life at the top is no longer a dream. The story of Summerhill Stud is woven together by a number of varied and brightly coloured threads and it traces its roots back to several different families and several different parts of South Africa, and indeed the world. The Goss fables began six generations ago, when Michael Goss arrived as part of the 1820 settlers’ Irish contingent. Mick’s great grandfather Edward was a noted horseman, and Mick’s grandfather, Pat Goss, founded Isihlito Stud in East Pondoland in 1937. Two years later the stud transferred to “The Springs” in the Cedarville district of East Griqualand. Pat Goss famously owned St. Pauls (by Asbestos II out of Seraphine, an old Vogel Vlei family) who won the 1946 Durban July Handicap in record time. St Pauls remains the smallest ever winner of the race. He was 14.2hh, and won several Pony and Galloway handicaps on his way there. Pat Goss passed away in 1948 and the farm and family trading business passed into the hands of his son, Bryan. Unfortunately a heart condition forced him to choose between farming and trading. The trading business was profitable, while the horses weren’t, so the decision to give up breeding in 1966 wasn’t difficult. Bryan sold the farm, but continued his trading activities at Lusikisiki. Mick grew up the son of a farmer and a trading station proprietor, which did nothing to dilute his love of horses. “Whilst I didn’t inherit their worldly goods, what I did get from my father and grandfather, was the ‘disease’. For as long as I can remember, horses were in my blood, and it developed into an obsession. I knew most of the racehorses in the country and their pedigrees. I knew the names of all the July winners from the ’40s onwards, and I was addicted to Duff’s Turf Guide from the time I first sat on a potty.” Mick attended Durban High School and excelled both academically and on the sports field. He played Natal Schools
rugby and won a scholarship to Stellenbosch, where he studied law. While at ‘varsity, he represented Western Province under 20’s and under 25’s. After graduating, he completed his articles in Pietermaritzburg. He qualified as both an attorney and as an advocate, and established his own practice. And then, 17 years later, he gave it all up for Summerhill. There is no known vaccine for horse-disease! Mick and brother Pat (Jnr) decided to breed horses part time on a small scale. Their first purchase was the mare Cosy Rosy in 1977 and the Goss name was first tied to Summerhill when the brothers sent broodmares to board there. They also had racing interests. Mick and Pat’s father bequeathed them an unraced horse called Heliotrope, a R900 purchase, who won his second start in 1978. Mick recalls “At that time I’d just been awarded a scholarship to the USA. At the interview confirming this, I was asked, ‘Is this the best day of your life’. I had to answer candidly, ‘No, that was yesterday, when I had my first winner.” Their next purchase was the filly Pagoda, who became a seven-time winner. “If I wasn’t hooked on racing by then, that was tickets and tax,” he chuckles. Despite his keen interest in racing, Mick had no serious visions of going into the bloodstock business, but that all changed over lunch one day in 1979. Mick was discussing the future of Summerhill, which was a client in his practice, with some pals, including the mortgage holder on the farm. A restructuring was in progress, and he was looking for investors. By the time the coffee and cigars were on the table, the bond holder was convinced to convert his loan to equity, and Mick put together a syndicate to purchase the farm. It is an occupational hazard of the profession that nobody wants to pay legal fees, so Mick was persuaded to convert his bill into a 6.25% equity, too. Elder brother Pat, a successful
businessman, had brought in a much-needed injection of cash in 1981 and each year in the early 80’s, Mick and Pat bought two fillies to race with a stud career in mind. Of their first eight acquisitions, five produced stakes winners. Among the foundation mares were Coconut Ice, who got the useful Bianconi; and Final Wonder, who got Bloodline Million winner Last Watch. These foundation mares have family at Summerhill to this day. In 1983 Summerhill received its greatest blessing in the form of stallion Northern Guest. Mick and Pat had gone to England to buy a mare from Queen Elizabeth (“We didn’t bugger around”), tagging on a trip to Ireland, to find a service for the acquisition. Mick spotted “the most charismatic animal I’d ever set eyes on”. The brothers bought Northern Guest for a whopping R400.000, way beyond their means, but persuaded themselves (and the vendor) that they would syndicate the animal back home. No such luck. Mick then dreamed up the idea of a lavish party, inviting every (monied!) person he knew, and with the aid of the fabled Irish jump-jockey Tommy Stack, eventually managed to sell the shares. However, they bought back as many as they could whenever they could afford it. Northern Guest became champion sire of South Africa in 1985 and again the following year. He was twice champion juvenile sire and champion broodmare sire ten times. “There is not a pebble in the road nor a pane in a window at Summerhill that Northern Guest didn’t contribute to!” In 1987 Pat launched a store chain, Mick bought out his shares in Summerhill, and moved to the farm full time. “I had 90% of my worth invested in Summerhill, and was giving it only 10% of my time, while I had 10% in my practice, and I was giving it 90% of my time. It wasn’t difficult to realise that I had to look after my interests in the farm, and since my emotions were more on the farm than they were in the
practice, the next step was easy.” He acquired the adjacent property almost by accident. “I was at Summerveld one day, mediating in a dispute between the turf clubs and the trainers. It got a bit heated, so we took a break for some tea. I went to the loo during the recess, and I was standing at the urinal next to Steve Lapin, Hartford’s financial director, when he asked me for the umpteenth time when I was going to buy the farm. I told him I didn’t have five bob to rub together, there was no inheritance here, and it was unlikely ever to materialise. Then the penny dropped. This was 1989, South Africa was in turmoil, perhaps anything might “go”.” Mick and Cheryl were the owners of a venerable old home in Hillcrest, built by the Ellis Browns of coffee creamer renown. “With tongue in cheek I said to him, Steve why don’t we just swap the two properties, mine in Hillcrest for Hartford. He didn’t even wash his hands, we did the deal right there.” Cheryl was abroad at the time. It took him two weeks after her return to break the news, by which time he had given up his practice and was completely reliant on racehorses for a living. It might have taken longer to tell Cheryl, but another development forced his hand, something which had the potential to drive them to insolvency. In June 1989, Barend Du Plessis (Minister of Finance) met with Mick and several of racing’s biggest decision makers, “He broke the news to us that Chase Manhattan and Citibank had withdrawn South Africa’s international credit facilities and that the Government was advising racing to reposition itself. It was a time of political uncertainty, the country would be on a cash basis and was technically bankrupt, and racehorses represented the top end of the luxury goods business. There would be little discretionary money left in SA. The Minister swore the gathering to secrecy, promising that the government was about to release Nelson Mandela and negotiate an orderly transition to a democracy. This was no time to be giving up a lucrative career in law for a horse farm. Inspired by a suggestion of his wife to turn their new home into a hotel for their international clients, Goss confided the Minister’s advice to the TBA’s Chairman, Lowell Price, and offered to lead a mission abroad to share the joy of
Mandela’s release with the world. By November 1989, the airwaves were alive with “Mandela” conjecture, and suddenly it was fashionable to hand in an SA passport at Heathrow again. This was South Africa’s time. He contacted the sister to Queen Elizabeth’s Lady-In-Waiting, and asked her to assist in hosting a gathering at racing’s headquarters of the English nobility and anyone else with money to invest in racehorses. That was scheduled for December, and 220 people turned up. So did SABC TV, SATOUR and several of our top wine estates. Goss made the speech of his life. “We reminded them of the lives South Africa had lost in the Empire’s cause, how 500 000 horses had left our shores to fight in the Colonial wars, never to return. And we said, chaps, we are in trouble and we need you. Listen, we were desperate. There was no great boardroom strategy in that. Everything we did here was really a response to the situation we were in. We didn’t have a lot to lose.” The response was incredible. Racing in the Cape had long been popular with a number of British owners, but the Goss speech produced a huge increase in expatriate ownership, which has lasted to this day. It also produced something every bit as important because the following morning, Sheikh Maktoum’s bloodstock manager, Michael Goodbody, met with the Summerhill boss and Graeme Hawkins. He asked how they could assist and offered to send a stallion to help the cause. Much to Goodbody’s surprise, Goss was hesitant. He explained that he couldn’t absolutely trust his country’s government to honour its pledge to release Nelson Mandela, and he was afraid of dragging the oil-rich ruling family of Dubai into a political minefield, considering that as “brown” people they would be victims of the system in place in South Africa. Respecting his honesty, they waited until a few days after Mandela was released the following February, and soon Braashee was on his way to Summerhill. It was a relationship that lasted over 2 decades. When the Gosses arrived at Summerhill in 1979, there were six staff members, with few skills. Unemployment in the district exceeded 80%. Thirtyfour years later, the farm employs
370 people, Hartford House is a household name in hospitality with a restaurant proclaimed recently by the senior critic at the Wall Street Journal among the top three country eateries on the planet, a horse-feed factory, a school of equine management excellence, and a deep social responsibility commitment. Mick famously sets huge store in investing in his team and devolving responsibility to key staff. Some, like Annet Becker (broodmare and foal care manager), and Tarryn Liebenberg who is in charge of the pre-training of 100 horses, arrived in their early 20’s. Stallion manager, Greig Muir, has been at Summerhill for 26 years – “I came to South Africa for a holiday, visited Mick and never left.” Linda Norval, who sells the stallion nominations and is responsible for client relations, arrived shortly after the gates opened and apart from a brief interlude, has been there ever since. Heather Morkel, now head of the School Of Excellence, came as Mick’s PA 17 years ago, and has since occupied the positions of the first CEO to the Equine Trade Council, and Group Business Manager. Another pillar is agriculture, in particular a decision to go organic. Artificial fertilisers were banned, cattle were put on the land and the average birth weight of foals increased by seven kilos. Prior to this reversion to nature, 11 mares died within a fortnight, attributed to contaminated feed. “Never again,” swore Goss who, on John Slade’s advice, resolved to switch to ingredients from the stud’s own feedmill. The end result was Vuma Horsefeeds, which revolutionised the feeding of horses in South Africa through an alliance with the celebrated “chicken kings” of Australians, the Ingham brothers, who famously developed Woodlands Stud (now Darley), and owned the legends, Octagonal and Lonhro. At Nationals Summerhill has 28 yearlings catalogued for the National Sale, of which sixteen are colts and fillies by Kahal, among them a half sister to champion filly Icy Air, and half brother to Pierre Jourdan. The others include a filly by Australian champion sire Encosta de Lago, whose dam is by Danehill, from an Irish Gr1 female line, and a Dylan Thomas colt.