Boyd’s Karaka buying spree less than grocery bill
WHEN LOUISE Boyd went along to the mixed bloodstock sale at Karaka, she’d never bought a horse at auction there before.
But she had a shopping list, ended up buying 11, and would have bid on a few more had husband Andy not dragged her away.
‘‘ I was quite surprised, there weren’t many people there and I bought what I wanted,’’ said Boyd who was one of only a few in an almost deserted auditorium.
But don’t for one minute think Boyd is one of those jet-setters who frequent New Zealand’s Bloodstock’s premier sale each year, splashing out hundreds of thousands of dollars on blueblooded yearlings.
The Boyds are like any other family, battling to pay off the mortgage on their little 14ha farm near Kingseat. And this was a bargain basement sale to beat them all, one lot after another failing to attract even a single bid.
Louise Boyd’s first foray into racehorse ownership couldn’t have been timed better – four of the seven weanlings she bought cost just $ 100 each, her unopposed lowest possible bids bamboozling Andy.
‘‘What do you want that for?’’ he’d ask. ‘‘Nobody else wants it.’’
‘‘Each time I went to the toilet or to get a drink, when I came back she’d be filling out more paperwork.’’
But if Andy, an engineer more used to trusting scientific principles than the vagaries of racing, thought his horse- loving
Louise Boyd getting to know some of the 11 horses she bought at the Karaka sales this week. wife had her fill on the first day, he was mistaken. She called the auctioneers that night to see if there were any more weanlings to go under the hammer the next day – and returned, even buying three broodmares, two for $300 each and one for $600.
‘‘My grocery shopping costs a lot more than the horses were,’’ she said.
But Louise Boyd wasn’t silly. When Andy shot off for a coffee, she secretly bought a two-year-old colt he’d taken a fancy to in the outside parade ring, shelling out a whopping $1100.
‘‘I knew Andy really liked him and he was really happy when I told him I’d bought him the colt as his wedding anniversary present.’’
The Oratorio colt was the only male among her 11 buys - ‘‘Everyone buys colts but I couldn’t afford them. But girls are good and anyway we haven’t got the fencing to separate colts and fillies.’’
So the obvious question is how can Boyd afford to try all the horses on the track? Even though they cost only $4300 all up, with training bills so crippling and stakemoney so poor, isn’t she mad to even try.
But Boyd has all that sussed, able to do most of the early work herself.
With the ability to break in and ride, she can get a feeling for which ones can run and which can’t.
She’s
worked
with
horses
since she was a child, rode trackwork for her hobby trainer dad in England, before coming here six years ago and now operates a non profit rehoming scheme for ex racehorses called Track Heroes.
‘‘We have 30 horses on the farm at the moment – three left today and another three arrived – and any that we can’t find homes for we keep.’’
Boyd is sent retired racehorses from many of the north’s leading trainers and studs and rides up to 10 of them every day, retraining them and dealing with behavioural issues, many of which would normally see horses sent to the knacker’s yard.
‘‘Nothing gets put down here. We’ve just spent $2000 getting a horse Xrayed to find out its problem rather than put it down.
‘‘ I love my horses and Andy loves handling the young ones too.’’
Track Heroes runs solely through sponsorship and donations, with everything from feed to covers gratefully received.
Boyd’s sale selections this week might have been cheap but they were far from random.
She bought three from Waikato Stud because she’d rehomed for them in the past and hoped their new sires Rios and would make it big.
It was through having retrained a two-race winner Nobility, that she selected her sister, a $ 100 Bachelor Duke weanling. She is also a full sister to Multivictory who has won six races in Hong Kong, two this season.
Her $ 100 Any Suggestion weanling got the big tick because she looks like she’ll end up grey, making her much easier to find a home for if she’s too slow.
And she chose one of her broodmares, Mintelle, because she’s in foal to Keeper.
‘‘We’ve rehomed a few Keepers and they’ve got something about them, they’re quirky and talented.
‘‘Hopefully, she leaves a colt and he can make us very rich.’’
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