Syndicator James Harron has sights on two-state feature success with million-dollar colts Espionage and Bodyguard

Syndicator James Harron is enjoying a great season with his expensive colts which can continue this weekend in the Silver Slipper and Blue Diamond.

Breeders’ Plate winner Espionage (outside) makes his return to racing in the Group 2 Silver Slipper at Rosehill on Saturday. Picture: Grant Guy

The million-dollar colts with their riders wearing the conspicuous dark green and gold epaulettes of owner James Harron drew clear of their chasing rivals and crossed the line virtually together.

Espionage edged out Bodyguard narrowly but for Harron it was the best possible result, albeit this was only a heat of the official two-year-old barrier trials on Randwick’s Kensington track last September.

Fast forward nearly six months, both colts remain unbeaten and are chasing big-race success in separate states on Saturday.

Espionage is early favourite for the Group 2 $300,000 TAB Silver Slipper (1100m) at Rosehill Gardens and Bodyguard among the main contenders for the Group 1 $2m Blue Diamond (1200m) at Caulfield.

A battle down the straight between Espionage and Straight Charge in the G3 Breeders' Plate!@GaiWaterhouse1 quinellas the race and wins her 8th edition of the race. pic.twitter.com/yNdrv51RGN

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) September 30, 2023

Harron, the leading owner-syndicator who also has Fearless in the Blue Diamond, went to $1m to purchase Espionage and $1.6m for Bodyguard at the Magic Millions Yearling Sale last year.

When you are spending seven-figure sums on young racehorses, there is always pressure to perform.

“You do feel pressure, at the end of the day you want to get results,’’ Harron said.

“But we are really fortunate as it feels like this has been a great season for us so far and we are enjoying what these colts are doing on the racetrack.

“They are well-bred, well-conformed horses in the right stables and it feels like we have a deep crop of quality two-year-olds.

“It’s getting to the pointy end now and we are hoping one of our colts puts their hand up in a big race.’’

If Espionage, Bodyguard or Fearless can win on Saturday, then the colt will be worth a significant sum as a potential stallion prospect – the primary reason Harron set up his colts syndicate with the backing of his commercial partners.

“The people we have in the syndicate are very loyal through the good, bad and indifferent of horse racing,’’ Harron said.

“We pool our money together and invest in yearling colts, we buy somewhere between 10-12 colts a year.

“Then we split them up between mainly three trainers, all based at Randwick, Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, Peter and Paul Snowden, and Michael Freedman.

“The ones that aren’t quite reaching that grade are sometimes sold domestically or we have sold with success to Hong Kong and that helps manage the cash flow of the operation.

“The main outcome is to try and produce stallions to be on-sold to stud farms.’’

"$1.6 million dollars worth of horse flesh!"

Bodyguard wins the Maribynong Trial Stakes. 💪@[e-mail]/78cHKIQMZ2

— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) October 7, 2023

Harron had instant success in the first year of his colts syndicate when Capitalist romped away with the 2016 Golden Slipper. The colt was subsequently on-sold to Newgate Farm Stud where he is fast becoming one of the nation’s most exciting young stallions.

Then there was King’s Legacy, brilliant winner of the 2020 Inglis ATC Sires and Champagne Stakes Group 1 double.

His first yearlings are being sold this year and attracting plenty of buyer interest.

“Capitalist is very special, he keeps doing the job and getting winners everywhere,’’ Harron said.

“As a sire he is going from strength to strength and has his best quality of yearlings coming through this year. He is ready to go to the next level.

“King’s Legacy had over 200 mares in his first crop and they are selling really well. He’s got a big future.’’

In a season where unbeaten juvenile sensation Storm Boy has already been sold to Coolmore in a deal that potentially values the colt at a world record $60m, it underlines what’s at stake for Harron and his syndicate of investors.

“The Storm Boy deal lifts everything around it,’’ Harron said.

“There has never been a higher demand than now for a top class stallion prospect. The service fees they (stallions) command are very strong.

“It’s no different with the broodmare market. The (Australian racing and breeding) industry is going from strength to strength.’’

Harron hopes to have multiple runners in the nation’s ultimate stallion-making race, the $5m TAB Golden Slipper at Rosehill Gardens on March 23, but so much hinges on how his colts go on Saturday.

Espionage led in a Waterhouse-Bott stable trifecta defeating Straight Charge and Prost in the Breeders’ Plate back in late September but hasn’t raced since.

He's simply too good! King's Legacy does the Sires' - Champagne double with a peach of a ride from @[e-mail]/xNx1IBO3Vg

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) April 18, 2020

But the Breeders’ Plate form has certainly stood up with Straight Charge and Prost both winning impressively at their next starts and fourth placegetter Fearless doing enough to qualify for the Blue Diamond.

“We mapped out this race for Espionage a long time ago,’’ Harron said.

“After the Breeders’ Plate, we felt he would benefit from a nice break and decided to bypass the Magic Millions.

“Adrian has always had a very good opinion of this colt and Nash (Rawiller, jockey) has given us some very positive feedback about how the colt is coming along this preparation.’’

Bodyguard followed his narrow Kensington barrier trial loss to score a dominant debut win in the Listed Maribyrnong Trial Stakes at Flemington during the spring carnival then resumed with another stylish win in the Group 3 Blue Diamond Prelude at Caulfield earlier this month.

Harron described the talented Team Snowden-trained Bodyguard as visually a “magnificent horse”.

“Bodyguard has an amazing temperament and is the ultimate professional in everything he has done,’’ Harron said.

“All we have heard from the breakers, the riders and from Peter and Paul was about his wonderful attitude.

“We were very pleased with his performance in the Prelude and he has come on beautifully for the run.

“In a super competitive year, this is a very strong Blue Diamond, he’s one of the chances. We have a lot of respect for the opposition, but he’s a horse I wouldn’t swap for anything else.’’

Fearless, who cost $220,000 at the Inglis Classic Sale last year, was spelled after his unlucky debut in the Breeders’ Plate and resumed in the Canonbury Stakes, finishing fast to run Prost to a half-length.

Another 2YO winner for the @GaiWaterhouse1-Bott stable! Prost gets the job done in the Canonbury with @clarkyhk in the saddle. pic.twitter.com/yE8039HvZU

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) February 3, 2024

Harron said he was drawn to Fearless due to his physique and temperament, plus his admiration for the colt’s sire, Pierata.

“I loved Fearless as a type and I was a big fan of Pierata,’’ Harron said.

“This colt was at the top of our list at Classic last year and we thought we got him at good value.

“There has been a really good vibe about Pierata and his first crop are doing good things on the track this season.’’

Unlike stablemate Bodyguard who has drawn well in barrier six, Fearless has been allocated gate 16 although he will come in a couple of positions after scratchings.

“Fearless gets back and will need luck but the horse is in really good order,’’ Harron said.

“It’s a bit of an ask for him being his first time at Caulfield, but he has worked on his Melbourne leg the last week and Peter and Paul are delighted with him. We will just see how the race ‘shape’ unfolds.’’

Harron also has other promising colts emerging this season like Highness and Aardvark but Espionage, Bodyguard and Fearless are his big hopes for the Golden Slipper.

Despite all his success, Harron said he still harbours one driving ambition – to have one of his colt’s line up in his slot in The TAB Everest.

Harron has already won The Everest twice with Redzel (2017) and Giga Kick (2022) but they were sprinters he had to select to run in his slot.

“One of the main reasons we took the slot in The Everest was to have that opportunity for one of our colts to run in the race,’’ Harron said.

“Let’s hope we have one in the group this year that can progress onto The Everest – that is the dream for sure.’’

Originally published as Syndicator James Harron has sights on two-state feature success with million-dollar colts Espionage and Bodyguard