Anthony Delpech and Devin Heffer proudly show off the Champion Owners trophies at the recent Equus Awards function at Hollywoodbets Greyville (Candiese Lenferna)
Hollywood Racing achieved a long-held dream when winning the Owners Championship last season and they are proud in more ways than just one. They make no bones about numbers having won them the trophy as having a lot of numbers is something they view as a necessity.
Devin Heffer said, “Of course, we want to own champions and winning the Group 1s is where we want to be. It’s twofold. On the other side of the coin, having the high volume of horses ensures we can fill fields and have racing happening on a daily basis. It’s also good marketing for us, showcasing our brand and our support of the game. It’s really nice to see the knock-on effect it is having. Now you’ve got companies like World Sports Betting who own quite a few horses. It makes for some good banter and good interactions on the course.”
A further indication of Hollywood Racing’s emphasis on the importance of numbers is seen in their fruitful partnership with Ridgemont. Ridgemont choose the horses that will run in their own colours and these will be the ones that will have been identified as the best quality, as they are an advertisement for Ridgemont’s breeding operation. However, Hollywood Racing are not ignored in that process as Devin himself is always a partner in the horses that race under Ridgemont’s name and in their colours, for example the exciting Gr 1 winner Direct Hit. Hollywood Racing are happy to race the Ridgemont horses that aren’t identified as the cream in order to keep the numbers up and have bought a lot of Ridgemont’s sales horses too.
Besides the knock-on effect, Hollywood Racing showcase their innovations, such as allowing celebrities to name horses, which also attracts new people to the sport. There is also the Race Coast Syndication initiative. The incentives involved make it an attractive and viable proposition for syndication managers and members, especially if new owners have been brought in. So, it is clear that Hollywood Racing have a vision that one day their big numbers will not be necessary or even possible as there will be more competition at the sales. If that stage is reached, they will need to have honed their game to pick out the best quality.
Devin emphasised that the current hard work of the whole team had an end goal of being able to match the best in the gathering of champions to both race and breed with. He did not hide his admiration for their chief competitor for the Champion Owners title, Drakenstein Stud, who won the Breeders Championship for a second time.
He said, “It was really exciting to win the championship. We’ve been knocking on the door for the last few seasons. Obviously Drakenstein have dominated and a lot of that comes from their Group 1 success and their stakes success. But they’ve also been around for a lot longer than us. Their success has been built around a lot of preparation and work and we’ve got to keep reminding ourselves of that. It’s not an overnight success. It takes years and years of preparation and planning. In that sense the future is very exciting.”
Devin praised Ridgemont for their input in ensuring Hollywood Racing’s nous, as big owners and fledgling breeders in the Sport of Kings, follows an upward curve.
He said, “Obviously a lot of our mares have now gone to Ridgemont, which is exciting. We had one of our first foals the other day out of our Gr 3 winner Shantastic (Rafeef). There are a few other foals on their way and those ones will likely run in Hollywood Racing’s colours when they are ready for the track. We’re invested into Ridgemont now and it’s exciting when you have these horses with black type ambitions, because for breeding purposes it makes such a huge difference. It’s really cool now being part of that process and also changing our approach to everything. They’ve got a really good winning mindset and a drive to achieve these higher honours and get the black type. It’s motivated us now to work harder, to choose better. They’re also advising us a lot on operations and everything. It’s been a really good relationship with them and they’re going to play a big role for us going forward as well as us with them. It’s really exciting.”
He continued, “Hollywood Racing won the championship, but it is important to note that a lot of teamwork has gone into getting us to that level. A lot of hard work has been done by people behind the scenes in terms of picking the horses and buying the horses. A lot of that comes down to Anthony Delpech, our Racing Manager, and then the husband-and-wife team of Jo and Tony Mincione. Jo is basically our Bloodstock Manager and Tony is more of the numbers man, evaluating the pedigrees further in terms of data etc.”
Hollywood Racing are also proud of their operations out of Ashburton Training Centre. Vengi Masawi is the racing stable Trainer and his assistant is Megan Trott. The Life After Racing operation, where horses can also go for rest and recuperation, is run by Nicole Wille. The pre-training is run by Jo Brown.
Devin went on to say he is excited about a number of forthcoming runners. They have Cool Gambler with Mike de Kock. This R5 millon colt is a three-parts brother to Hollywoodbets Durban July winner Sparkling Water (Silvano), being by Hawwaam (Silvano) out of Sparkling Water’s dam, Espumanti. Cool Gambler is one of about 70 three-year-olds the Hollywood Racing team can look forward to.
There is also the Equus Champion Miler, One Stripe, whom they own in partnership with Rikesh Sewgoolam, being prepared for the Gr 1 Breeders’ Cup Mile by Graham Motion in Maryland, USA. He is nearly ready for his North American debut, which could be either at Colonial Downs or Gulfstream Park, and there is also the possibility of a Gr 1 at Woodbine in Canada for him, which is scheduled two weeks after the aforementioned races. Hollywood Racing are the majority shareholder in One Stripe and the fact he is still an entire with huge stallion potential makes his North American campaign particulary exciting.
Devin can also look forward to the like of Direct Hit and Mon Petite Cherie representing the partnership of Ridgemont and himself. Devin pointed out that this partnership had 40 wins last season at an unbelievable strike rate of 26.7%, the highest strike rate on the log for any entity that had more than 100 runs. Devin was high in his praise of East Cape trainer Alan Greeff, who has done so well with the Ridgemont/Heffer horses and it is no coincidence that one of Greeff’s other biggest owners, Peter Moor, had the second highest strike rate on the log, 24.2%.
The upward trend and buoyancy in the Race Coast racing regions at present are thanks largely to the efforts, expenditure and excellence of Hollywoodbets and Greg Bortz, and Hollywood Racing deserve all the success they have. Devin concluded by saying he was particularly proud when seeing the high level of prize money for racing in the Race Coast regions compared to previous years, particularly when the smaller trainers get on the board and can win a portion of it.
