Winning Rupert’s owners play it safe as colt retires to stud
THREE-YEAR-OLD superstar on the rise Winning Rupert’s racing career is now over after connections decided to cash in on the colt, selling the Bjorn Baker-trained runner to Newgate Farm on Wednesday.
It is understood that connections were worried that the surgery to remove bone chips from the knee of Winning Rupert would impact the horse’s ability to fulfil its boundless talent.
The initial figure for the sale of the horse was speculated to be $8 million, but the fee is now being reported to be significantly less than that.
The reported $8 million stud deal for Winning Rupert is incorrect. Definitely less than this. I believe in the vicinity of $5m @superracing
— brad davidson (@braddavo) January 24, 2017
The horse’s trainer Bjorn Baker confirmed the news this morning via Twitter, stating that Winning Rupert is the ‘fastest horse’ he has trained.
The FASTEST horse I have EVER had anything to do with. Injury has him retired to stud @newgatefarm.
Thanks for the memories WINNING RUPERT pic.twitter.com/AyMgk2V7in— Bjorn Baker (@BBakerRacing) January 24, 2017
The trainer told Newscorp on Tuesday before the sale was confirmed that he had lofty ambitions for the prodigiously talented three-year-old.
“From my point of view as a trainer he is the quickest horse I’ve had so I would love to keep him for the spring,” Baker said.
“He is the big horse I have for the spring but at the same time too he had a knee operation on Friday (to remove bone chips) so you have to take that into account as well.”
The colt registered five wins from six career starts, which reaped almost $600,000 in stakes, alongside a $500,000 bonus he earned for winning a series of races in Brisbane over the summer.
Money trumps fame – where did the honour in racing go?
Sport in the 21st century has transformed from a prominent past-time to prove who is the best into a money making exercise that resembles a business that is looking to meet quarterly sales marks.
Are we truly entering an era where the potential prestige power of a colt is superseded by the amount of money it can earn via sale to stud?
Sure, there are huge amounts of cash on offer to win the big races but to the racing enthusiast it has never been about the prize money, it has been about proving which horse is the best.
Who didn’t get tingles down their spine when Hartnell and Winx paired off at the corner of the straight during the 2016 Cox Plate before the wondermare blew the rival away?
To us, that is what horse ownership should be about, but that is not to say a stud career cannot be fulfilled after the completion of a racing career.
Ever heard of a colt by the name of Frankel?
The English superstar could have been retired early in its career when it was demolishing rivals left, right and centre but connections elected to see where the train would end.
Frankel became arguably the greatest horse the world has ever seen across 14 unbeaten races which saw the colt named the highest rated horse in history by Timeform.
After retirement it was estimated that Frankel’s value is £100 million for stud purposes, a truly unfathomable number and one that would not have been achieved without the race wins to back it up.
Such is the allure of cash – especially given the emergence of Hong Kong and Singapore racing – that big money will always be on the table for horses that show the least bit of promise.
We are hoping the sport of racing maintains its aura as the ‘Sport of Kings’.
We want to see the best-of-the-best competing against each other, and if that means forgoing an instant payday in lieu of seeing your horse take out a group one race than that is a risk worth taking.