Sports|A Cosmopolitan Horse Comes to Australia
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Special Report: Melbourne Cup
A Cosmopolitan Horse Comes to Australia
By Ryan Goldberg
There are few better examples of the cosmopolitan makeup of this 153rd Melbourne Cup field than Dandino. The 6-year-old horse, who started his career in England and has at times left Europe for challenges in Japan, Hong Kong, Canada and the United States, is owned by dozens of Australians, ridden by an English jockey, and conditioned by an Italian trainer based in England. What matters is that he will be one of the favorites.
This was not always on his map. At this time last year, Dandino finished second to Joshua Tree in the $1 million Canadian International at Toronto's Woodbine Racecourse. The Italian Marco Botti, one of the rising stars in Europe, trained the winner, but his eye was caught by Dandino.
Darren Dance of Australian Thoroughbred Bloodstock recalled: "Marco said to me, 'I won the race, but the horse who ran second to me should have won the race.' And that was the first time we heard the name Dandino."
Dance and his wife, Elizabeth, started Australian Thoroughbred Bloodstock in 1997, and in 2011 they started selectively buying established horses from the Northern Hemisphere that could challenge for the big prizes in Australia. As a syndicate, they invite people to purchase 5 percent to 20 percent of the horses they select. Investors can then turn around and create their own smaller syndicates.
Dance made discreet inquiries with Dandino's owner, the Elite Racing Club of Britain, but it was unmoved. Dance heard that it had rejected an offer of 2 million pounds, or $3.2 million, for Dandino when he was 3, and he was still not for sale.
Dance pressed. Finally, he was told the owners might reconsider after Dandino raced in the Hong Kong Vase in early December last year.
"I remember thinking, if he runs top three they won't want to sell him," Dance said. "And if he runs bottom three I won't want to buy him. I was hoping for an unlucky run in the middle of the field."
That is exactly what happened. Dandino showed interest in the late stages and closed from the rear to finish seventh. His owners agreed to sell. The deal was closed in January, and Dance assembled a syndicate.
Dandino has since finished second in Group 2 races at Newmarket and Royal Ascot in England and won the American St. Leger at Arlington Park near Chicago. He was shipped to Flemington racecourse, the home of the Melbourne Cup, in late September and finished second in the prestigious Caulfield Cup in October.
Dance, who said he had paid 900,000 Australian dollars, or about $850,000, for Dandino, is one of several Australian owners who in recent years have paid top dollar for European stayers with the objective of winning the Melbourne Cup. Most owners in Europe, who usually race for smaller prize money, oblige. The strength of the Australian economy and its currency have put its racing industry in good financial health.
Marco Botti giving a drink to Dandino at the quarantine center in Melbourne last month. Though unfamiliar in Australia, the Botti name is well known in Europe.Credit...Julian Smith/European Pressphoto Agency
Dandino's previous owners had not been told they were selling to an Australian, though they might have suspected it. Dance always employs intermediaries in Britain.
"As soon as an Australian rings up, the price goes up," he said with a laugh. "In all negotiations, I'm always known as A-dot-client."
Dance sent Dandino to Botti. This was their second horse together; the first, bought in late 2011, was Jakkalberry. Success came immediately. He won the American St. Leger last year and then finished third in the Melbourne Cup.
"Two years ago, I had never heard of Marco Botti," Dance said cheerfully.
Though unfamiliar in Australia, the Botti name was famous in Italy and well known elsewhere in Europe. Botti, 37, is a third-generation horseman. His father Alduino and his uncle Giuseppe were champion trainers in Italy, and their sons thought of nothing else. Marco's brother Stefano, who is 15 months older, seems set to win another Italian training title. His cousin Alessandro Botti trains in France, and Alessandro's brother Endo, previously a champion jockey in Italy, is now a successful trainer there.
Endo Botti was the original trainer of Jakkalberry, who had won some quality races at San Siro racecourse in Milan. In the fall of 2011, his name cropped up on Dance's list of international prospects. He wanted to buy the horse, but he did not speak Italian nor did his British advisers. One of them, Chris Blomeley, called a friend who knew Marco Botti, and Botti agreed to call his cousin.
"It was only because he spoke the language and his cousin trained the horse that we ended up with Marco," Dance said.
Botti began his career in the saddle, as an apprentice jockey at 15, but he physically outgrew that and instead went to work for his father. In his twenties, he went to England for a different experience, and he never left. He assisted some of the best trainers: Luca Camani and Ed Dunlop in England and Saeed Bin Suroor in Dubai. In 2006, they encouraged him to go out on his own.
"I felt it was time to spread out," Botti said. "They said if it doesn't work out you can go back to Italy. But I was determined to prove myself in England."
He started with a dozen horses, assisted closely by his wife, Lucie, a former jockey. They now have 140 horses in a private facility that they recently purchased at Newmarket, England's storied training center. He runs a global operation: On Saturday, he saddled a horse at the Breeders' Cup championship in California before flying to Melbourne. Upon his return, he will ready his best charges for the Dubai carnival.
Botti could soon become a household name in Australia. For Dance's syndicate, he also trains Tac De Boistron, who recently won the Group 1 Prix Royal-Oak at Longchamp in Paris. As for Dandino, after he finished second in the Caulfield Cup, his owners celebrated as if they had won. Dance estimates that, with side partnerships under the larger syndicate, 60 people own a piece of Dandino.
"These are everyday Australians living the dream," Dance said. "And now to have the favorite in the Melbourne Cup, it's incredible."