All Too Hard to save the Farm with overseas success

A successful overseas campaign by Caulfield Guineas winner All Too Hard will go a long way to saving the crumbling empire of Nathan Tinkler’s huge Patinack Farm thoroughbred operation.

All Too Hard

All Too Hard has been entered in the Dubai World Cup Carnival and could also go to Royal Ascot and Hong Kong. Photo by: Race Horse Photos Australia

As Tinkler continues to down size his Australian racing business, he is planning an international campaign to enhance the future stallion prospects of All Too Hard following the three year old’s outstanding effort over the Melbourne Spring Carnival.

All Too Hard downed arch rival Pierro in the Group 1 $1m BECK Caulfield Guineas (1600m) at Caulfield on October 13 and followed that up with a courageous second to Ocean Park in the Group 1 $3m Sportingbet Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley on October 27.

Black Caviar’s half brother’s stud value soared to a reported $20m following his Group 1 success and Tinkler is hoping to build on that figure with success on the world stage which could see the Casino Prince colt in demand in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres.

All Too Hard has been entered in the Dubai World Cup Carnival in March and plans have also been made to race him at Royal Ascot in the English summer as well as an appearance in Hong Kong later in the year.

“We want to capitalise on what Black Caviar did in England earlier this year,” Palmer said last night.

“All Too Hard’s best racing days are ahead of him and the plan is to race him overseas, take him to the world.”

As well as relying on the hype surrounding Black Caviar with her remarkable record of twenty-two wins from as many starts including twelve Group 1 victories, All Too Hard has established himself as a future top line sire after his Caulfield Guineas win and second in the Cox Plate.

Tinkler has been forced to down size his thoroughbred numbers as a  result of a cash flow problem resulting from his business dealings and as well as selling off a lot of racing and breeding stocks has closed down his Hawkesbury and Flemington operations.

Patinack Farm’s head trainer John Thompson has been left to oversee the Brisbane and Sydney training operations while the breeding side of the business will continue to operate in the Hunter Valley and in the Gold Coast hinterland.

“While enjoying success, the racing operation is losing money and unfortunately part of the rationalisation will include the closure of our Flemington stables in Melbourne and a reduction of horses in work,” said Patinack Farm chief executive officer Troy Palmer .

“We intend to restructure the business so it becomes more about breeding to race rather than racing to breed.

“There are simply too many horses in work and the reduction in numbers will greatly assist John Thompson and his team in coordinating better placement of horses and a much greater focus on quality.”

As well as All  Too Hard getting huge accolades for his Spring Carnival success, Patinack Farm was also in the Group 1 winner’s circle with smart filly Nechita who provided jockey Christian Reith with his first Group 1 winner in the $500,000 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) at Flemington on November 3.

All Too Hard is the winner of four races from nine starts and has collected almost $1.5m in prizemoney for Patinack Farm.

About The Author

Mark Mazzaglia

Mark is a passionate journalist with a life-time involvement in the racing industry. He spent many years as an analyst and form expert at the Courier Mail and also has hands-on experience working with some of Queensland’s top trainers.