WA owner-breeder Bob Peters lured east to chase Sydney riches with star mares
Successful WA owner-breeder Bob Peters plays his cards close to his chest, but his two trump cards for the spring are shaping up as major players in Sydney’s richest races.
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Bob Peters can seem a contradiction. He’s a private man with a very public persona.
When it comes to the media, the Perth-based owner-breeder is always obliging but you get the impression he can’t wait for the interview to be over. He answers every question but doesn’t say a lot.
Well, almost every question.
“How many broodmares and racehorses do you own?’’ I asked.
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“That’s one question I won’t answer because I’m too ashamed,’’ Peters said. “It keeps growing. I’m trying to keep the numbers down but I can’t so I get embarrassed.’’
His reply sums up the man to a tee. Peters is quiet and humble, his gentlemanly, polite manner is at once comforting yet guarded.
As the Peters-owned and bred Arcadia Queen prepares to make her Sydney debut in the Group 2 $200,000 Theo Marks Stakes (1300m) at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday, much is known about the man, but do we really know him? Probably not and I’m guessing that’s how he likes it.
Peters made his fortune selling cars. He was so good at it, he retired at 30 and bought a farm. His voracious work ethic meant retirement only lasted three months.
At 32, he was asked to join the Western Australian Turf Club committee in 1975. His business acumen has been a good fit for the race club where he also had a stint as chairman as part of a lifelong commitment to WA racing administration.
Peters is intelligent and his peers describe him as a strategic thinker. It explains partially why he has been so successful in racing for more than 40 years.
He has raced the winners of eight Perth Cups, nine WA Derbies, 13 WA Oaks, five Kingston Town Classics, three Railway Stakes, two Goodwood Handicaps, an Australian Cup and the Kennedy (then Chrysler) Mile.
Quite simply, Peters is Perth racing. A proud Western Australian, he has been happy to be the big fish in a smaller pond, making sporadic eastern states raids during carnival periods.
“This is home, this is where we are, this is where we live and this is where all the family is,’’ he said from Perth this week.
Although Peters has the wealth to buy at the top end of the yearling market every year, he gets more satisfaction out of breeding his own champions, which he has been doing successfully for decades.
The Peters’ honour roll of big race winners includes Congressman, Old Comrade, Real Love, Miss Margaret, Delicacy, Perfect Reflection, Galaxy Star, Star Exhibit, Enticing Star and Arcadia Queen.
But when Peters has sent his best horses interstate, he has mainly concentrated on the Melbourne carnivals and his runners in Sydney have been few and far between over the years.
“We haven’t had many Sydney runners but we have raced a lot in Melbourne,’’ he said. “It’s easier for us to get to Melbourne, just the one flight and they go (race) the same way.’’
Peters did have a very successful association with the late George Hanlon, the legendary trainer who prepared three Melbourne Cup winners during a celebrated career that earned him Hall of Fame status.
Hanlon also trained a number of top gallopers for the Perth-based owner, including Congressman, who ran the closest of seconds to Imposera in the 1988 Caulfield Cup, Spectrum and Centisle.
“We had a great relationship,’’ Peters said of Hanlon.
“George didn’t waste words but he would ring on a Sunday morning and talk for an hour.
“He was good with you ‘fellas’ in the media, you would ask a question and he would ask you one back. He was too good for you blokes!’’
This was the most animated Peters got during our 20 minute interview and it was probably because he wasn’t talking about himself or his horses.
But Peters accepts he will be the focus of plenty of media attention after deciding to concentrate on the Sydney spring carnival with his outstanding mares Arcadia Queen and Enticing Star.
The reason is simple – the $14 million The TAB Everest (1200m) at Royal Randwick on October 19 and the $7.5 million Golden Eagle (1400m) at Rosehill Gardens on November 2.
“You have to look at Sydney when you have those sort of races on,’’ Peters said. “They have certainly made a difference.’’
Both mares have already been selected for starts in The Everest – slot-holder The Star snapping up Arcadia Queen while Chris Waller used his slot to secure a start for Enticing Star. Arcadia Queen is also eligible for the Golden Eagle.
Arrowfield Stud supremo John Messara is indirectly responsible for Peters deciding to concentrate on Sydney’s spring carnival this year but putting him into contact with Everest slot-holder The Star.
“I rang Bob and I said what are you going to do with Arcadia Queen, shouldn’t you be looking for an Everest slot,’’ Messara said.
“He said, ‘oh, yeah probably’. I said I might have someone that could be interested and I put them (Peters and The Star) in contact with each other.
“I’ve had a bit to do with Bob over the years. He books mares to our stallions almost every year, he is usually a guest at my functions at Easter and he occasionally comes into our stallions.
“Bob is quite strategic, he’s a long-term thinker, and he’s not after overnight results which I feel is one of the main reasons he has been so successful as an owner-breeder.’’
Once Peters made the decision to miss the autumn carnivals with Arcadia Queen and Enticing Star, he sent the mares to the Rosehill stables of Sydney’s premier trainer Chris Waller to prepare for the spring.
Arcadia Queen, who could be the best horse Peters has ever raced, is the first to debut in Sydney when she lines up in the Theo Marks Stakes.
Enticing Star was nominated for Saturday’s meeting but she will be reserved for either the Group 2 The Shorts at Randwick next week or the Group 2 Golden Pendant at Rosehill later this month.
Watch #TheTABEverest hopeful Arcadia Queen hit the line in today's Canterbury Park trial @atc_races. The slot-holders, @cwallerracing and @HugeBowman would be pretty happy with that effort we think ðŸ‘ðŸ‘👠pic.twitter.com/uZlBaTDsuY
— Sky Racing (@SkyRacingAU) September 2, 2019
Arcadia Queen has won five of her six career starts and comes to Sydney with a burgeoning reputation.
“She has got better as the races went on,’’ Peters said. “If you look at her last campaign, it is not something we would normally do to a three-year-old filly but she just kept getting better.’’
Arcadia Queen’s record last preparation included successive wins in the Champions Fillies Stakes and WA Guineas before her Group 1 Kingston Town Classic triumph where she thrashed older horses, moving Peters to compare her with the best horses he has owned at that stage of her race career.
“So far she has shown the most, what this mare has done has been very good,’’ he said.
“But she has to go on with it, some of my others did. Miss Margaret won a stakes race at her first start at Flemington, she won the Group 1 mile race at Flemington when ridden by Shane Dye, and she won another Group 1 in Adelaide.
“The other horse I can compare Arcadia Queen with is Old Comrade.
“She has done more than he had done at the same stage of their careers but he had also won the Kingston Town Classic as a three-year-old and then came back and won it as a four-year-old. He then won an Australian Cup and a Railway Stakes.
“So far Arcadia Queen has done more than Old Comrade but that doesn’t mean she will go on and do what he did.’’
After Arcadia Queen won the Kingston Town Classic over 1800m at Ascot late last year, it was expected the mare would be aimed at the Cox Plate this spring, a race Peters covets more than most.
But the owner-breeder surprised many when he announced Arcadia Queen and his other brilliant mare, Enticing Star, would be going to Sydney for the spring to be trained by Waller for The TAB Everest.
Enticing Star’s sprinting ability is acknowledged but four-year-old mare Arcadia Queen’s race record would suggest she is miler-middle distance horse.
But Peters is convinced Arcadia Queen has the speed to be competitive over 1200m in The Everest.
“Only because it is Randwick,’’ Peters said. “The big, uphill track – it suits this mare.’’
Arcadia Queen is the $2.25 favourite to win the Theo Marks Stakes ahead of Trope at $6 so what is Peters expecting from the mare on Saturday.
“She will be pretty rusty, she hasn’t raced since December last year,’’ Peters said. “I wouldn’t be getting too excited this week.’’
Enticing Star has won eight of her 10 starts and was unlucky not to have secured a Group 1 win when second to Voodoo Lad in the Winterbottom Stakes (1200m) at Ascot late last year. But the six-year-old mare has looked sharp in successive Sydney barrier trial wins in recent weeks.
“There is another couple of races she can go in,’’ Peter said of Enticing Star. “We don’t have to rush with her.’’
Peters won’t be at Rosehill, he’s waiting for Everest Day, but Sydney race fans are about to become very familiar with his racing colours of cerise with white-crossed sashes and quartered cap.