'The real value in Cornerstone Stud lies in its staff and CEO'

Sam Pritchard-Gordon, the British-born son of renowned agent Grant 'Badger' Pritchard-Gordon, has joined the team at Cornerstone Stud in South Australia as the operation's bloodstock and nominations manager.

Cornerstone Stud stands five stallions - local talents Ambidexter and Valentia plus European imports Free Eagle, Sir Prancealot and Zebedee.

Pritchard-Gordon, a former trainer based in Victoria, answers our questions about his new role, the ambitions of Cornerstone Stud and wider issues in the Australian racing and bloodstock industry.

Can you expand on what you will be doing in your new position?

Cornerstone Stud is an 800-acre property based in the most idyllic of locations in the Barossa Valley; home to Penfolds and Yalumba Wineries. The farm stands five stallions and has around 140 resident mares, and we will be selling approximately 60 yearlings this season.

Ultimately, in my role I will endeavour to promote our stallions, service the existing clientele and to generate new opportunities.

How did the opportunity come about?

In a typical 'sliding doors' moment, I was enjoying a cold beer at Magic Millions in January and chatting with Ross Hatton about his new venture called Rathmore Bloodstock and how he was branching out from his client liaisons role at Cornerstone Stud.

In an ironic twist of fate, my wife phoned me during that conversation with Ross and said that Sam Hayes had advertised on Twitter for a new role at Cornerstone Stud and that I should seek him out.

Sam and I have been friends for a while and the subsequent six weeks has been an enjoyable pitch by Sam to persuade my wife and I to relocate to the Barossa. It was an easy decision to make once we had visited and enjoyed some proper South Australian hospitality as Sam and Emily Hayes' guests.

In previous quotes you have indicated you found training a bittersweet experience. What were the highs and lows?

Being a successful trainer isn’t just about work ethic and talent and although I felt I had an abundance of the former and an intermittent splattering of the latter, I was acutely aware that my window of opportunity was closing.

My 24-horse stable wasn’t growing and I wasn’t able to secure the yearlings I wanted and in turn wasn’t rewarded by the breeders. I’ve no doubt that every trainer experiences that despondency, but at 40 years of age I still felt I could make a go of a career in the industry beyond training and that expedited the decision.

What do you make of the Darren Weir saga, as he was one of the training superpowers you had to compete against in Victoria?

I’m simply despondent. Victorian racing is vibrant, progressive and highly lucrative, yet sadly there is a tiny minority of participants that have been allowed to succeed by 'pushing boundaries' as a result of previous eras of administration allowing such cultures to exist.

Thankfully, Racing Victoria is being thoroughly progressive now and the recent suspensions are almost certainly a reflection of the former chief steward in Terry Bailey implementing some much needed combatant tools and financing to police the sport properly.

In response to the question, I'm despondent because I often ran second and lost to horses to what are now suspended individuals. However, everything happens for reason.

What advice would you give to a young person wanting to get into training?

In hindsight I think I would have preferred to have held a licence without the financial burden of supporting a young family at the same time.

Obviously, your greatest recourse as a trainer is to fall back on experience gained from work with other trainers, but maybe just back yourself to go it alone at a younger age.

Back to Cornerstone Stud: Sam Hayes spoke of 'big aspirations' for the operation. What might those be?

Because of Sam Hayes’s heritage, his stature (6’5”) and affable disposition, he has developed a very loyal following within South Australia and is duly very well supported by a number of prominent owners and breeders, so Cornerstone would be considered the pre-eminent stud in the state.

With such backing we have to be competing on a national level in the sales ring and also for our share of interstate mares through standing top-end stallions to service a refined broodmare band.

South Australian racing seemed on a knife edge in recent months with the state announcing funding cuts, while Sam Hayes said the budget might threaten Cornerstone Stud's future in SA. What's the latest news on that situation?

South Australian racing has regressive prize-money due to the state government failing to adjust the Point of Consumption Tax Rate (POC) on the gambled dollar on the SA racing industry. It's the highest POC tax in the country and the corporate bookmakers duly divert punters away from gambling on our SA racing.

It's a very easy fix and it will be amended shortly, but let's hope that the state government can do this prior to the Magic Millions Adelaide Sale, which starts on March 12, to encourage local spending as we are selling a draft of 42 horses.

Sir Prancealot is quietly gaining quite a reputation on the international stage. How is he getting on at Cornerstone?

This stallion really excites me. I read about the success of his progeny in the west coast of America and that style of racing on similar surfaces translates cleanly across to Australia.

However, it is the quality of the foals on the ground that will carry him through that tricky third season; Off a A$16,500 service fee in 2016 he is producing a consistent product and adding a lot of quality to some lesser mares.

We're going to pitch a really imposing draft of weanlings at Magic Millions in June and I'm looking forward to marketing the stallion to an audience that is probably keen to find a proven stallion that looks to throw a consistent sales type at a service fee that is comparatively very appealing.

What are the vibes about the first southern hemisphere-bred yearlings by Free Eagle?

To have a jockey of Pat Smullen's standing and experience say this is the best horse that he rode was quite something. With that and the rising success of the High Chaparral sire-line in Australia, through So You Think and Dundeel, you would have thought that this stallion is going to have a big chance.

Archie Alexander picked up a cracking Magic Millions yearling through OTI Racing for A$80,000 and we have some lovely moving yearlings on the farm heading to Inglis Premier in Melbourne next week.

My father waxed lyrical about Free Eagle's northern hemisphere stock, so it would be remiss to ignore the wise words of a Badger!

Where else does the value lie among the Cornerstone Stud roster?

We stand Ambidexter, a son of Commands, for less than A$5,000 and he is doing a super job servicing the owner-breeders of SA, while Valentia, by Fastnet Rock, is imparting those 'beefeater' looks that are synonymous with his sire. As a winner of a Group 2 Golden Slipper lead-up, if this colt throws an early stakes performer in his first crop you might be reading that Cornerstone has found its own I Am Invincible or Spirit Of Boom.

But the real value in Cornerstone lies in its staff and CEO, as there are few stud operations that can offer such a finely tuned level of enjoyment for an investor within an environment that is so magical.

If you're travelling to Australia, please make the effort to visit the Barossa Valley and look us up.