In a not too distant pre-internet past, Phill Cataldo remembers mailing Australian trainers VHS tapes of Kiwi horses’ trials and races in a bid to orchestrate a sale.
Many things have changed in the last 25 years, but what hasn’t is Cataldo’s knack for unearthing a superstar of the turf.
The accomplished bloodstock agent has consistently sourced top class racehorses from New Zealand, either as young stock from weanling and yearling sales or as untapped prospects off trials or a handful of race starts.
On Sunday, horses purchased by Cataldo account for a third of the field in the Gr.1 Underwood Stakes (1800m) at Sandown, with both I’m Thunderstruck (NZ) (Shocking) and Mr Brightside (NZ) (Bullbars) on his honour roll.
Speaking on Racing.com’s Thoroughbred News, Cataldo said he was proud of the record and reputation he’d built in the industry.
“The way that I went about it was all about taking the horse to the buyer, without them having to come here (New Zealand),” Cataldo said.
“I suppose you could say that I pioneered videoing racehorses in New Zealand and I used to send them out on the old VHS tapes around Australia to the leading buyers over there.
“The videos would entail the horse’s trials and races and footage of it walking around and it grew from there.
“Now that everything is live and accessible on the internet, horses are getting sold so quickly, sometimes within five or 10 minutes of going over the line.
“It’s definitely made it harder but the advantage I have is being on the spot and being able to describe the horse physically and see if it looks sound.”
He saw enough to know the horse would measure up in Australia and a deal was quickly done for Terry Henderson’s OTI Racing to purchase the son of Shocking.
Two years and 16 starts later, I’m Thunderstruck has won seven races and more than $7 million in prizemoney.
“I’m Thunderstruck had one trial in New Zealand on a very heavy track in July,” he said.
“It was as a late two-year-old and I think there were seven or eight in the heat – he sat at the back of the field and went from last to first pretty quickly and won impressively.
“He was a pretty obvious one to be honest but being there on the day in the middle of winter, I was Johnny on the spot and was able to secure him for OTI.
“Even in his trial he showed a really good action on the heavy ground and even when you see him on top of the ground he really does have one of the best actions you’ll see in a racehorse, it’s long a and low and he’s got a great stride length.”
Cataldo paid $22,000 on behalf of a client for Mr Brightside at New Zealand Bloodstock’s second-tier yearling sale in May.
The son of Bullbars was passed in as a ready-to-run prospect before being purchased by Lindsay Park after his first start in New Zealand.
He emerged with a string of wins in Victoria last spring before defeating I’m Thunderstruck in the Gr.1 Doncaster Mile (1600m) at Randwick earlier this year.
“With Mr Brightside, I bought him as a yearling form New Zealand Bloodstock at the May Sale and that was for one of my great friends and former clients in Laurie Laxon,” he said.
“Laurie was looking for a yearling that he could turn over as a ready to run horse and we managed to buy him for $22,000 which in hindsight was a great bargain.
“From there he went through the ready-to-run sale and didn’t make his reserve and then Ralph Manning was smart enough to buy him from Gavelhouse in New Zealand.
“He had one start in New Zealand and ran a great race – he was an unlucky fifth – and the Hayes stable snapped him up after that.”
Emerging galloper Ayrton (NZ) (Iffraaj), who will tackle Sunday’s Listed Testa Rossa Stakes (1300m), was also sourced out of New Zealand by Cataldo.
