Alistair McFarlane

UNTIL a decade ago Alistair McFarlane had very little knowledge of the thoroughbred industry, beyond being an occasional racegoer.
However since deciding to become actively involved in racing, that situation has changed dramatically, and recently he has been making a significant impact on the scene in South Australia.
Firstly as president of the South Australian Racehorse Owners’ Association, then as the breeder of multiple Gr.1-winning Crown Oaks heroine Hollow Bullet and stakes winner Red Hot Mama, and currently as a committee member of the South Australian Jockey Club.
Quite remarkably, Alistair was only drawn into the business after looking enviously across a fence at his neighbour’s thoroughbreds.
“My wife Patricia and I had bought Tori Park, which is 116 acres (45ha) of rolling, big gum country in the Adelaide Hills in 1995,” he said.
“At first we had cattle on the place, but one day I was looking across the fence and saw the horses next door. By then breeding cattle had given me a lot of enjoyment but when I saw the thoroughbreds I thought ‘how much more enjoyable would it be breeding those beautiful animals’ - so I went out and bought two mares.
“Originally they were just going to be lawn mowers and paddock ornaments, but before long I was completely caught up in the racing and breeding side of things.”
His initial purchases were Australia Wealth who was by Bluebird (USA) from the Commoner (USA) mare Harvest Red, and the minor race winner Super Play (AUS), by Kildare Pride from the Derby Day Boy (USA) mare Rolikawa.
However, both were to prove more valuable than lawn mowers, with Australia Wealth producing the Made of Gold (USA) Gr.2-placed winner Lust For Dust among others, while Super Play was responsible for the multiple winners Miss Balhannah and Superdan.
At about the time Alistair was first venturing into the horse market and making new acquaintances, he was introduced to Ralph Satchell, the proprietor of Willow Grove Stud at nearby Woodside.
In those days Ralph was standing Stargazer (NZ), a son of Star Way who had won six Gr.2 races while in the care of the late T.J. Smith, and the Gr.1-winning Habeas Corpus (GB) horse Keepers.
“I told Ralph I was thinking about going into breeding and would like to send Australia Wealth and Super Play to Stargazer and Keepers,” Alistair said.
“That was fine but Ralph pointed out to me that it would be at least three and a half or four years before I had a runner I had bred myself. He suggested I buy a 20% interest in three yearlings he had.”
One died prematurely, another was Star Games who won three races in Adelaide, while the other was Astrolante who proved to be a Group-winning performer while in the care of Ken Sweeney.
However, to begin with Astrolante who was by Stargazer from the Semipalatinsk (USA) mare De Lante, proved a particularly frustrating proposition for he was not first past the post until his 17th start . . . and subsequently lost that race on protest.
Fortunately Astrolante improved with age, and as a five year-old, with Jarrod Lorensini aboard, he defeated Blue Ted and Inflewinzer in the SAJC Port Adelaide Cup-Gr.3 (2400m) at Cheltenham.
At the time, Alistair who managed to listen to a broadcast of the race through the internet and Patricia, were in Canada where he had spent most of his business life.
He was born at Dumbarton, on the Firth of Clyde, just seven kilometres from Loch Lomond but his parents John and Jessie decided to emigrate to Australia in the early 1950s.
“My father had been a foreman in an aircraft manufacturing company and my mother had a haberdashery shop in Dumbarton’s high street, but the economy in the United Kingdom had been devastated by the war,” Alistair said.
“With the situation so bad, my mother and father decided their future wasn’t very bright in Scotland, and an uncle who had moved to Australia said it was a great place, so they decided to follow him and settled in Adelaide.”
Alistair continued his education at Brighton High School, where among his school mates was William Inglis and Son Victorian director and auctioneer Peter Heagney, who was later to play a role in the sale of Hollow Bullet.

HOLLOW BULLET (Tayasu Tsuyoshi (JPN)-Beat the Bullet by Bite the Bullet (USA)), winner of more than $1.4m including the VRC Oaks-Gr.1 and Storm Queen Stakes-Gr.1, was bred in SA by Alistair and Patty McFarlane.

After completing his education Alistair went into real estate sales, and although he persisted for about four years he was not entirely comfortable in that cut-throat environment and began looking around for a greater challenge and more excitement.
This ultimately led to him into securing a job as a kangaroo shooter north-west of Brisbane at Winton, which is renowned as the home of the Waltzing Matilda story and as the birthplace of the Queensland and Northern Territory Air Service.
He was just 21 at the time but soon found that, after having an introductory adrenalin rush, ‘roo shooting’ declined into a monotonous routine of long hours and hard work.
After a year he quit and returned to Scotland only to find opportunities still limited there, so he quickly moved on to Canada where he found employment in a gold and nickel mine in the province of Manitoba.
Once again that was not satisfactory either - for dramatic reasons.
“Not long after I started four miners, working right alongside me, were killed in a landfall, which made me think that wasn’t for me.”
With the 1960s coming to a close he joined a bank in Toronto on the shores of Lake Ontario, but after a while transferred to the electronics firm Tremco and by then he had met Patty, as she is fondly called.
They were married in 1970 and have two married children Paula who lives in Toronto, and Natalie who is working in Japan as an English teacher.
Alistair soon rose to be manager of the company, but in 1978 when his father became seriously ill he, Patty and the children returned to Australia only to be lured back to Canada about 12 months after John’s death.
At that stage Alistair began working for a group named Savin, which was a distributor for Ricoh, a manufacturer of photocopiers, fax machines and other items of office equipment.
Not one to shy away from a challenge Alistair later secured a Ricoh dealership which over a period of 10 years grew into a “nice little company employing 70 to 75 people”, but by 1995 he felt the time was appropriate to sell out.
The following year Alistair and Patty decided to settle in South Australia and purchased Tori Park.
All the while he had held a yearning for Australia’s rugged outback and took up shooting feral pigs around Bourke - about 800km west of Sydney - which led through to him buying North Kerribree station, spreading over 17,322ha (44,000 acres).
“It cost me about the same as a mate of mine paid for a nice holiday property on the Murray River, near Mannum,” he said.
“To begin with I had planned to make a small profit running sheep and cattle, but my reason for buying the place was recreational. I just love that red dirt country and the people who struggle to make a living out there, as well as the absolute solitude it provides.
“Besides, having a campfire at night under an enormous canopy with a few mates, armed with only a few good South Australian reds, and telling lies is an experience few have enjoyed but those who have will not forget.
“The last time I hunted out there was with the late John Morrish and that renowned character Joe Manning, of Cootamundra. During the stay we reduced the feral pig population by 106, much to the delight of the station manager.”
However with drought conditions prevailing in recent times, Alistair’s “little piece of paradise” has not proved to be so attractive of late.
“Before the drought we ran 3000 wethers, but in the last three years due to the severe conditions, I only agisted the block for part of the year. That meant the place wasn’t producing enough income to pay the basic costs so I sold it in October.
“I had a bet each way, however, as I still hold the mortgage and I will be going there twice a year on inspections.
“Also I can use the homestead for the five to seven days it will take to do a thorough job of inspecting the place, so I’m not completely cut off from the centre.”
While all that was happening Alistair, with the assistance of Ralph Satchell, was beginning to make his presence felt on the South Australian racing scene.
“I remember going to Mill Park Stud with Ralph in 1999, to look at some mares. I bought a Rory’s Jester mare named Classic Kiss in foal to Jeune and, hesitatingly, said I would also take a mare by At Talaq named Yahtzee, in foal to Turtle Island.
“There was another mare there and Ralph suggested I make an offer for all three but I declined saying two was plenty. The third mare was Cleopatra’s Girl, who was carrying a foal by Jeune which turned out to be Mummify.
“There do seem to be a lot of people with these ‘close call to greatness’ type of stories but I guess I can be mollified by the fact that the following year I bought Beat The Bullet from Lindsay Park in foal to Jeune for $11,000.”
On producing Imperial Faberges, a recent Adelaide winner, in 2000 on the advice of bloodstock advisers David Bridgland and Dean Mann, Beat The Bullet then went to the Japanese Derby-Gr.1-winning horse Tayasu Tsuyoshi (JPN), who was standing at Kambula Stud.
However when the time came for selection, the filly resulting from that mating was overlooked for the Adelaide Magic Millions Yearling Sale so Alistair decided to ring Peter Heagney to ask whether she could be considered for the William Inglis and Son Premier Yearling Sale at Oaklands.
“I remembered Alistair from our school days, and of course we were happy to have a look at her,” Peter said, “but I can tell you she only got into the catalogue by the skin of her teeth.”
It is history now, that on being knocked down to John McArdle for a mere $10,000, she was named Hollow Bullet. After winning a Bendigo maiden at two, she turned into one of the outstanding fillies of the 2004-05 season with victories in the VRC Crown-Oaks-Gr.1, STC Storm Queen Stakes-Gr.1. VRC Wakeful Stakes-Gr.2, MRC Tranquil Star Stakes-Gr.3 and Kevin Hayes Stakes-LR.
She also finished second to Alinghi in the MRC 1000 Guineas-Gr.1 at Caulfield on a day Alistair remembers vividly.
By then Beat The Bullet had produced Red Hot Mama, to the brilliant speedster General Nediym. Secured by Melbourne trainer Rick Hore-Lacy for $65,000 at the Adelaide Magic Millions Yearling Sale she was also contesting the MRC Debutante Stakes-LR on 1000 Guineas Day.
“I flew over from Adelaide for the meeting. Red Hot Mama ran third in the Debutante and then Hollow Bullet came from nowhere to finish second. You couldn’t imagine just how excited I was to have placings in a Gr.1 and a Listed race on the same day.”
It was better, much better for he and Patty at Flemington 18 days later, despite having a distressing taxi ride to the course.
“We were caught in a traffic jam and it took 45 minutes to cover the last kilometre into the track,” Alistair said of their journey. “We only arrived just in time to see Red Hot Mama’s race.”
The situation improved immediately however, when Red Hot Mama raced away with the VRC Ottawa Stakes-LR and then Hollow Bullet produced a whirlwind finish to snatch the Crown Oaks after being badly blocked for a clear passage inside the final 400m.
“I was fuming at the 400m when she was boxed in. By the 200m I was philosophical because I was thinking a placing in the Oaks wouldn’t be too bad, and then I was just stunned when she managed to nose in front right on the post. It was a great day!
“Patty and I were given a suite at Crown, complimentary champagne and all the trimmings . . . it was 24 hours we will never forget.”
Now there is even more to look forward to for Alistair has retained a half-share in Bulleton, a Rubiton half-brother to Hollow Bullet and Red Hot Mama, who was passed in for $180,000 at last year’s Adelaide Magic Millions Yearling Sale and is currently in the care of David Hayes.
Beat The Bullet has a colt foal by Bel Esprit, in which Alistair is a shareholder, and she has been tested in foal to New Zealand Champion Sire Zabeel (NZ).
In addition, as the early years of the 21sr century were beginning to unfold, Alistair began contributing his business acumen to the administrative side of racing.
“It all began when Astrolante was running in Onkaparinga Cup at Oakbank in 2001.
“Although we were owners we weren’t able to get the tickets we wanted, so I started complaining about that and a few other things I thought were wrong.
“Someone said to me ‘if you feel that strongly why don’t you try and do something positive about it’, which led to me going on to the SAROA.”
The following year he was elected president and he held the post until 2004 when he stood down to take up his appointment on the SAJC committee.
During his tenure as president SAROA’s membership rose from 84 to more than 350 “through a concerted effort by a dedicated committee”, and a business plan which identified owners’ needs and aspirations was put into action in conjunction with TRSA.
Among other initiatives this resulted in an owners’ card - a very popular innovation - being introduced, but Alistair says he gained most satisfaction from the recruitment of “young, quality members to the organisation and the committee”.
“People such as Lindsay Park managing director Sam Hayes, Darren Thomas who is a director of TR Pastoral - the largest family-owned employer in the state, and up and coming lawyer Barney Gask and Michael French, marketing manager for Mitsubishi Motor Corp, joined.
“With young people like that, and others, becoming participants, I am confident the industry is now moving steadily forward in South Australia, but obviously we need to strengthen racing’s financial position to enable us to increase prizemoney.
“We need to do that to retain our existing industry participants and to encourage new ones to invest in the industry.
“At the moment the SAJC’s hands are tied by the limited amount of income we receive from the TAB, so we have had to produce income from outside racing, which is behind the club’s decision to propose the sale of Cheltenham Racecourse.
“If the sale of Cheltenham is sanctioned by the state government, this in turn would enable the club to redevelop Victoria Park and to build up our non-core business investments as well as increasing prizemoney by around $5000 a race.
“It’s a very important issue for the club and for the state’s racing community.”
Alistair is also heartened by the intention of the Hayes family to restore Lindsay Park Stud to its former glory.
“The fact that Lindsay Park will be standing at least half a dozen high class stallions within the next year or two, will provide leadership and inspiration for other breeders,” he said.
“I have shown my support by becoming a shareholder in Barely A Moment who will be joining Lindsay Park’s stallion roster next year.
“A number of other breeders and business people are also supportive of the way Lindsay Park is planning for the future, and that’s all very positive.”