NEWS

This result comes off the back of the sale-topping $3.2m paid for the Home Affairs colt out of Sunlight at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale. This means that the two top yearling prices recorded in 2025 belong to Coolmore Stud’s dual Group 1 winning sprinter.

The industry is clearly showing their faith in Home Affairs, the fastest son of Champion Sire I Am Invincible, becoming the next big thing in the Australian racing and breeding industry.

Straight Six Racing’s Michael Ward, formerly of Triple Crown Syndications, shares this view and was fortunate to secure a colt by Home Affairs out of the stakes-placed mare Royal Missile early in the sales season before the momentum really took hold. This colt is now presenting as outstanding value and has already been broken-in with the early feedback confirming Michael’s belief in the colt. Limited shares are available for those wanting to access a quality prospect, by the “talk of the town” first season sire, through racehorse syndication.

Whilst this edition of the race was won by Emirates Park’s homebred, Marhoona, those contenders in the field that were traded through public auction ranged in price from $30,000 to $1.6m, for an average of $582,692.

That price may seem out of reach for most ordinary Australians who hold the dream of owning a share in a horse that lines up in the prestigious race. Yet the reality is thankfully very different. Fortunately for everyone involved in this great sport of horse racing, price tags don’t necessarily correspond with race track success. For example, in 2017 She Will Reign won the Golden Slipper after being purchased for a bargain price of just $20,000.

What is clear though, it is vitally important who is behind the selection and/or management of the horse. To highlight this point, Emirates Park Stud has won 3 Golden Slippers in the past 11 years and for prices at both ends of the spectrum, namely $85,000 and $1.7m (in addition to this year’s homebred). Clearly they are doing something right and it isn’t solely due to having deep pockets.

Purchasing shares in racehorse syndicates has proven over and over again to be an attractive option for those with more “modest” budgets looking to be a part of one of Australian racing’s greatest days. The key is to find a licensed syndicator with a proven track record of success. And that comment is not just pushing one’s own barrow, it is simply a fact.

Straight Six Racing’s Michael Ward, formerly of Triple Crown Syndications, has previously been involved in selecting and managing 5 Golden Slipper runners, namely Hot Snitzel ($60,000), Charlie Boy ($80,000), Dothraki ($45,000), Cavalry Rose ($85,000) and Revolutionary MIss ($195,000). While none of them won the holy grail, each of them, owned by racehorse syndicates, proved the perennial depth and quality of the Golden Slipper by going on in subsequent years to win at either Group 1, Group 2 or Group 3 level and gave all of their respective owners the experience of a lifetime.

Straight Six Racing is currently offering two yearlings that have been identified as 2YO types, including a Pinatubo filly out of Glamorous Miss that is closely related to Skyhook, the Group 3 Pago Pago Stakes winner and a contender in this year’s Golden Slipper. Will we see another member of Skyhook’s family lining up in the race in 2026? Who knows, but one thing is for sure, the syndicate of owners being put together by Straight Six Racing is going to have a hell of a lot of fun finding out!

Perfectly rated in front by Kerrin McEvoy, Skyhook led the field into the straight and only extended his lead in the dash to the line, leaving the classy field in his wake. Following the race, TAB Fixed Odds slashed his price from $21 into $9 for next weekend’s premier juvenile race, the $5m Group 1 Golden Slipper.

Skyhook is attempting to become the fifth 2YO to win the Pago Pago Stakes-Golden Slipper double.

The dominant victory of Skyhook held extra significance for Straight Six Racing who purchased her close relative at this year’s Magic Millions sale. Skyhook is out of a 3/4 sister to Glamorous Miss, the dam of Straight Six Racing’s exciting new Pinatubo filly who will be trained by the in-form Bjorn Baker.

As the trainer of horses such as Ozzmosis, Stefi Magnetica, Unencumbered, Music Magnate, Overpass, Arapaho and recent Magic Millions 2YO winner O’ Ole, Bjorn has earned a reputation as a passionate and competitive practitioner who is always searching for new ways to enhance his training methods.

This thirst for success saw Bjorn rocket up the NSW metropolitan trainers’ premiership to finish equal 5th in the 2023/24 season, yet he has now continued this momentum further into the 2024/25 season where he is currently sitting in 2nd position on 61 wins, with only the indomitable leading trainer Chris Waller above him. This is a remarkable achievement given the stranglehold that Chris has long held in Sydney, however he now has to sit and watch the undeniable ascendancy of a former fellow Kiwi with a much smaller stable. To put this accomplishment into some form of context by indulging for a moment, if Bjorn Baker was to have the same amount of starters as the much larger Chris Waller stable over the remainder of the season (based on the number of starters in the first 7 months) and both trainers were to maintain their current strike rates, where Bjorn sits at 22.9% and Chris at 13.1%, then Bjorn would end the season as the premiership winner for the first time on approximately 176 wins to Chris’ 159 wins.

Now of course that isn’t going to happen as Chris Waller will continue to have 2-3 times the number of starters than Bjorn Baker given his much larger stable, however that should not detract from the extraordinary results Bjorn has achieved so far in 2024/25. His big race honour roll this season includes the $3 Magic Millions 2YO race, $2m The Ingham, $2m Sydney Stakes, $2m The Invitation, $1.5m Winterbottom Stakes, $1m Five Diamonds Prelude, the Zipping Classic, Inglis Banner, Hot Danish Stakes, Shannon Stakes, Gosford Guineas, Canterbury Classic, Sweet Embrace Stakes and Liverpool City Cup.

One gets the feeling that Bjorn Baker is on a mission to the top and is a name that will be making headlines for many years to come. At Straight Six Racing we are only too happy to team up with Bjorn to ensure that he continues to receive the quality of horse into his stables to enable him, and the owners that support us in our racehorse syndicates, to achieve their racing dreams.