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Davali’s Dynamic Duo
Pre-sale yearling inspections are meant to be a casual affair. Busy yes, but amidst the hustle and bustle prospective purchasers and vendors get to spend time chewing the fat before the serious business of sale time begins.
For Alison and David Hush it has been more hustle and bustle than fraternising as they show their Davali Thoroughbreds draft in Barn E at William Inglis’ Warwick Farm Riverside stables ahead of the Classic Yearling Sale.
Davali Thoroughbreds was established in July 2014 and began with six mares and five weanlings and has grown year on year to the stage where the Hush’s offer agistment for mares and foals, weanlings, yearlings and spelling race horses, and services including sale preparation, foaling down and walk-ins to the nearby Hunter Valley studs.
Located on 250 acres of the historic Twin Palms Stud at Luskintyre, bordered by the Hunter River, the property is centrally located two hours from Sydney, 40 minutes from Newcastle and 90 minutes from Scone.
Alison and David Hush spent 11 years setting up and managing Lustre Lodge, before launching Davali Thoroughbreds with a focus on personalised, hands on care for each horse.
“We plan to keep improving the business in the next ten years, just keep improving it by continuing to learn and develop,” Alison said during a break in parades. “We’ve been pleased with the way things have gone so far and in the next few years, we hope to build on our racetrack success and continue to improve the quality of our broodmare band.”
Davali have seven lots on offer at the Classic Sale, five fillies and three colts. “The inspections have been steady and we’re expecting a busy weekend which will be good. It’s exhausting and you are running on adrenaline but it’s what we do and it’s so rewarding to see your babies head off to start new careers.”
Like having to choose a favourite child, Hush says she loves them all equally but does say the Capitalist filly out of War Flower is already proving popular.
“She’s a strong, racy filly with a great walk and she has already clocked up a few inspections,” Alison said. “The Nicconi colt out of Water Of Life is also popular. He’s a big imposing sort, a real trainers horse. The Capitalist filly is also the first of ours to go through the ring so it would be nice to get the draft started with a good sale.
“We aim to breed racehorses, not show ponies,” Alison said. “We want to bring sound, tough horses to sell that will reward their new owners with a racetrack career and that is what we aim for.
“Of course it is great to get some return in the sale ring but it’s more important for us to breed a successful racehorses.
“Placing horses in sales is never an easy task. The pedigree might lead you to one particular sale, the type to another, and quite often, an owner will have a completely different idea all together!
“Our strategy begins with an estimate of the horse’s value, as we try to place yearlings in a sale where they are in the top 50 percent of the catalogue, above average, or preferably the top 30 percent. It is much easier to sell horses that fall above the average line in a group than below it.”
The last Capitalist filly Davali sold at a Classic Sale could give the farm a huge boost on Saturday. Dorothy Gail was born and raised at Davali for her breeders Twin Palms Stud, sold at last year’s Classic Sale and on Saturday is one of the leading chances for the $1 million Inglis Millennium
Davali sold yearlings at the Classic Sale have done well for their new owners including the likes of Eurosay, who sold for $18,000 in 2015 and earned over $144,000 when trained by Todd Smart. Cliff ($25,000 in 2015), Ballistica ($40,000 in 2017) and Table Of Wisdom (100,000 in 2015) all went on to earn over six-figures on the track while Smartedge is one with a special place in Alison’s heart.
“He was one of the first-crop of Davali branded foals and we sold him for $70,000 as a weanling at Inglis and he went on to win over $422,000 in Sydney and Brisbane. Hopefully it won’t be too long before we see a Group 1 winner with the Davali brand on its’ shoulder!”
All the Davali horses are Barastoc fed. “The yearlings are on Breed N Grow all the way,” Hush said. “If we need to we will add some Equi Jewel but in the main that are on Breed N Grow all the way.
“We like to keep it simple and it works. They usually lick the bins clean and they come in from the paddock with beautiful coats and it makes our job so much easier.
“A yearling preparation is pretty tough on a young horse but we’ve found that this way they have a base on them and they cope with a sale prep very well which is all you can ask for.”
The many hours of care and attention, grooming and polishing come to an end this week for the Classic Sale draft.
“The main thing for us is that they are well received, sell well for their owners and then go on to be successful for their new owners,” Alison said. “For us that is the biggest win of all.”