Blue bloods take Lane way to conquer rival city’s Everest

They are the blue-blood group who plan to steal Sydney’s new, glittering, racing crown jewel.

The Everest favourite Santa Ana Lane at Randwick racecourse. Picture: Jenny Evans

They are the blue-blood group epitomising the Melbourne establishment, descending en masse on Royal Randwick on Saturday with plans to steal Sydney’s new, ­glittering, racing crown jewel, The Everest.

The William Street Syndicate, born out of the 121-year-old gentleman’s Australia Club on William Street, is probably the country’s most successful amateur horse racing group and owns The Everest favourite Santa Ana Lane.

A group of 120 doctors, stockbrokers, commercial lawyers, prominent Queen’s Counsels and wives and their family members, the oldest of whom is 89, travel to Sydney with high hopes for the glamour sprinter.

Should Santa Ana Lane win, it would prove a rare triumph from Victoria, which has seen its spring racing limelight stolen. The Everest has captured the imagination of the Sydney public, who will flock to Randwick in their tens of thousands.

Thanks to an innovative structure that includes “slot” ownership for each of the 12 horses in the race that can be bought and sold, huge prizemoney and a slick marketing campaign, The Everest has captured a new generation of fans including many aged 35 and under.

Syndicate members Michael Clemenger and Rob Clements. Picture: David Geraghty

The owners of Santa Ana Lane share that new-found love of racing. Veterans of the business and legal world they may be, but some are first-timers to the sport as well.

“There’s quite a lot of the owners who have never been in a horse before,” Rob Clements says with a chuckle.

A 78-year-old ex-commercial lawyer, Clements is the only syndicate member to have bought into every thoroughbred it has owned in its 41-year-history. “I got up at our last annual meeting and said I hope some of you realise what the odds are of getting a successful horse,” he said.

“I don’t know how many are in it for the money or not. But I will say that we have all done pretty well out of Santa Ana Lane.”

It is expected to thrive in warm conditions. The eclectic group of owners will share in about $6m should Santa Ana Lane win the $14m event.

And while The Everest represents everything new and glitzy in racing, Santa Ana Lane’s preparation encapsulates a more old-fashioned way of mixing business with pleasure.

A long lunch in late April at the O’Connell Hotel in South Melbourne, usually frequented by billionaires, chief executives and company directors, helped executives from gambling giant Tabcorp secure Santa Ana Lane for the slot the company holds in The Everest.

Ownership of the 12 slots is guarded fiercely. They cost $1.8m each for three years, helping Racing NSW pay for the huge cost of putting on the event. The slot ­owners in turn compete heavily for suitable horses.

From left, businessman Tony Shepherd, Western Sydney Airport executive Maryanne Graham, Racing NSW chief executive Peter V’landys and his wife Phillipa. Picture: Nikki Short

Tabcorp head of media Adam Hamilton led an eight-person ­selection committee that identified Santa Ana Lane at an internal meeting in January. From then, it was a matter of convincing the horse’s owners.

It took some arm-twisting given the popularity of the seven-year-old bay gelding, which has ­already won five Group I races, amassed about $5.3m in prizemoney and was recently named the Australian sprinter of the year, for Tabcorp to gain its Everest rights. For the past two years, they were held by horse sales company Inglis.

“We had a good four or five ­offers from slot holders and it came down to the package they could offer us,” William Street manager Michael Clemenger says during an interview in the Domino Room of the Australian Club.

“But what it came down to was how the prizemoney was to be split, what would happen with the trophy and what sort of entertainment package they could offer.”

Tabcorp, with a marquee at its disposal at the end of Randwick’s straight, was the winner after some tough negotiations that will see a good portion of the William Street group housed in the Tabcorp facility, and others dispersed through the racecourse’s grandstand.

There is some irony in a bookmaker having the favourite in the race. “It won’t be our best result betting wise if it wins, but on any other measure it will be great for us,” Hamilton says.

Tabcorp had commissioned ties in the William Street royal-blue and yellow colours, and has even gone as far as getting suit jackets made in the same livery. It will have its TAB logo on the ­jockey’s silks and has run a competition where 10 winners and their guests could each receive $20,000 if the horse wins.

From left, former NSW MP George Souris, Australian Turf Club chief executive Jamie Barkley and his wife Selena at the Everest Gala Dinner on Thursday night. Picture: Nikki Short

Then there is the deal for the trophy, which the William Street syndicate hopes to add to the glittering collection of treasures that occasionally appear at the bar of the Australian Club at the heart of Melbourne’s leafy legal district. “We’ll get to keep the trophy … but of course Tabcorp could borrow it any time they want,” Clemenger says. “And we have had dinners with them to discuss the colours of the (racing) silks and they’ve been good enough to look after us for Saturday at Randwick as well.”

While exact details are commercial in confidence, the syndicate and Tabcorp will also share the prizemoney roughly equally. If successful, Santa Ana Lane would provide Clemenger and his group with by far their biggest payout.

Clemenger is one of about 40 owners of Santa Ana Lane. Others include: Neil Young QC, who represented the then CrownBet in its ultimately unsuccessful court battle against Tabcorp’s merger with Tatts Group in 2017; another silk in Iain Jones; Michael Ramsden of corporate advisory firm Terrain Capital; and the former boss of broker Ord Minnett, Brendan Egan.

Championship jockey Glen Boss with his wife Sloane. Picture: Nikki Short

The William Street Syndicate was formed in 1978 among a handful of drinkers in the members bar at the Australian Club. They would name horses after nearby laneways before running out of map space.

Gurners Lane, the syndicate’s second horse, would prove a superstar in winning the 1982 Melbourne Cup — then worth the princely sum of about $310,000 — and Caulfield Cup in a stellar ­career. Further success would follow with Paris Lane, the 1994 Caulfield Cup winner, and de Gaulle Lane, which took home the 2001 Queensland Derby.

There has been plenty of fun along the way, including Paris Lane’s trophy being waylaid at a pub on the way to the Clements household on the night of the race. Wins also help pay for regular lunches and dinners and other gatherings. “There is an important social aspect to it, as long as they understand they can’t tell the trainer what to do!” Clements says with a laugh.

The syndicate would go 16 long years without a big winner before Santa Ana Lane was snapped up for a bargain $80,000 at the 2015 Inglis premier yearling sales in Melbourne on the recommendation of bloodstock agent Justin Bahen. That equates to only about $2000 per owner, who may have each already got more than $100,000 from Santa Ana Lane, before Saturday’s race is taken into account.

“If you’re winning group I races it is quite a bit of money, and it gets distributed out,” Clement says. “Geez, we’ve had some good fortune. We fell into Gurners Lane, for example. The luck in this game you have. It is amazing.”