Passionate breeder backs Trapeze Artist by putting up A$2m of his own money

Exuberant owner and breeder Bert Vieira will put up A$2 million (£1.15m/€1.36m) of his own money as a lucrative bonus, such is his unwavering belief in his four-time Group 1-winning stallion Trapeze Artist, whose first crop of rising two-year-olds are closing in on their racetrack debuts in the new Australian racing season.

The Sydney businessman, who bred and raced the Widden Stud-based sprinter throughout his illustrious career, will provide the owners of the first offspring of Trapeze Artist to win an Australian Group 1 two-year-old race with a A$500,000 bonus in each of the next four years.

While acknowledging studs and breeders had offered similar incentives previously - Coolmore this year ran a promotion whereby the buyer of the first Justify to win one of a selected group of races in Australia or New Zealand will take home a Ferrari - Vieira said on Monday that ‘Bert’s Bonus’ would go directly into the pockets of the owners of the successful horses by Trapeze Artist, bypassing trainers, jockeys, purchasers and breeders from clipping the ticket.

“I want people to enjoy racing, so I am paying forward, that’s what I am doing,” Vieira told ANZ Bloodstock News.

“I have been very lucky in business; I am lucky in racing, not that I win too much, but I have Trapeze Artist.

“With things that have happened in my life, good and bad, he came at the right time and I want to pay it forward. One night I thought about it and that was the way I am going to pay it forward.

“I am going to pay the people who actually pay for the horse, the registered owners, half a million dollars [if their horse wins a Group 1 two-year-old race]. It is an unexpected bonus [for the owners] and breeders have another chance of breeding this year to Trapeze Artist because this year’s crop will be entitled to the bonus too.”

To be eligible to win a share of the A$2m Bert’s Bonus, a juvenile by Trapeze Artist must be the first to win the Blue Diamond Stakes, the A$5m Golden Slipper, the ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes, the ATC Champagne Stakes or the JJ Atkins Plate in Brisbane.

Trapeze Artist was passed in as a yearling by Vieira with a reserve of A$300,000 at the 2016 Inglis Australian Easter Sale before being sent to Gerald Ryan’s Rosehill stables to be trained.

Named as the champion three-year-old colt in 2017-18, winning the Golden Rose Stakes, the TJ Smith Stakes and the All Aged Stakes in track record time, Trapeze Artist returned at four to finish runner-up in the 2018 edition of The Everest and bowed out in the autumn of that season having taken out the Canterbury Stakes, his fourth Group 1 victory.

Vieira knocked back offers worth tens of millions of dollars in order to retain ownership of Trapeze Artist after his three-season, 20-start career came to a close in the autumn of 2019, choosing instead to entrust Widden to stand the four-time Group 1 winner on his behalf.

The conventional wisdom of diversifying investments to spread the risk is not one Vieira contemplates when it comes to his thoroughbred breeding interests, such is his belief in Trapeze Artist.

Trapeze Artist happy in his paddockCredit: Widden Stud

Not only is Vieira backing his champion sprinter by putting up A$2m, he is also sending a huge number of his own mares to the son of Snitzel this year. He has six rising two-year-olds by Trapeze Artist who will sport his now well-known silks of black with the gold V, striped sleeves and gold cap.

“You don’t want to know the answer to that question,” Vieira responded when quizzed about his own support of Trapeze Artist’s 2022 book of mares.

“I am sending 80 mares to him this year. I bought another 15 mares to go with the 65 [I sent to him last year] because I believe in him.”

Trapeze Artist enters his fourth year at Widden Stud in 2022 at a fee of A$55,000.

His first-crop yearlings averaged A$173,602 across the Australasian sales this season, with 40 of his progeny selling for A$200,000 or more.

They sold to a top of A$850,000 for a colt, now named Trapeze Warrior, who was bought by Phillip Stokes at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, while a filly made A$500,000 at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale. She was purchased by De Burgh Equine and William Johnson Bloodstock for US operation Glen Hill Farm.

A confident Vieira added: “They are pretty good figures for a first season when no-one has seen the progeny run yet. Imagine what they (owners and trainers) will do when they see a Trapeze Artist win his first Group 1.”

The owner-breeder also cited early reports from Ryan and his training partner Sterling Alexiou, indicating a positivity about the progress of the Trapeze Artists who had been at their Sydney stable.

Vieira said: “There are people who are telling me a lot of positive things about the Trapeze Artists. There have not been any negatives so far. Mick Price and Ciaron Maher are raving about them, so we’re looking forward to watching them.

“I hope to give all of the A$2 million away, seriously. I hope I have to give it (A$500,000) away every year.”

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