Off The Track - Royal

As seen in the April 2019 issue of Horse Deals magazine.

There must have been some reason why we did not pounce on Royal for this feature when he was declared 2018 Runner Up National Champion Large Hack at Werribee last December. We must have had another horse lined up for that month, however, we put Royal on the list for a future story. Well, we didn’t have to wait long, as we were reunited with Royal and his owner and rider, Chris Lawrie at Canberra Royal in February. Royal was declared Best Novice Hack. It is an anomaly of the show horse world in Australia that you can be Reserve Champion National Hack, or Champion for that matter, and still be a Royal Show Novice horse. Royal went on to win his Open 16-16.2hh class and was declared Reserve Champion Hack and we were on to it. Chris Lawrie has produced and ridden countless National and Royal Show Champions and Royal might just be the best hack he has ever had.

Royal was bred by Tori Park Stud in the Adelaide Hills. Foaled in 2012, he is by the successful Sadler’s Wells stallion, High Chaparral (Ire). In fact Royal is very much like his father that won over two million - big, bay and beautiful. Royal is out of Pat and Alastair McFarlane’s 2006 South Australian Broodmare of the Year, Beat the Bullet (by Bite The Bullet). Royal raced as Last Bullet and trained by John Hyam at Morphetville, he won three from 20 starts and amassed $156,820 in prize money. The McFarlane’s retained part ownership of the horse and he returned post racing to Tori Park Stud at Balhannah and this is where Chris picks up the story.

“The McFarlane’s were selling Tori Park and scaling down their operation and the estate agent, Deanne Hunt, who sold us the property we are on had been there to list the stud. She saw a lovely horse in the paddock and called us to say we should go and have a look at it. It took us three to four weeks to go and have a look at him, even though they are only about five minutes away from us. Pat and Alastair are lovely people who have bred and raced horses all their lives. Two horses came trotting up the paddock, a plain one and a pretty one. Hop on and have a ride, Alastair said assuringly; no I said, we might take him home and have a ride. That was May last year.

“We brought him home and hoped on him and he just hacked around and he had a really, really good nature, so we bought him. That’s not even 12 months ago; he just has an easy nature, a nature to be a hack. We took him to his first show early the following October, a Show Horse Council Show and he was Champion. We found that he was an easy horse to deal with; he doesn’t care where he goes, or who he is with; he eats and drinks morning and night and he is one of the easiest horses we have ever had. He is an easy horse to condition as well. He is a naturally topped up horse and he is built on the bit which is a great help. We took him to about four or five country shows and he won and we then decided to take him to the SA Horse of the Year. We didn’t start him in the Newcomer, we went straight in to the Open and he won again.

“We took him to the Nationals and he could barely canter left and right, let alone in an indoor arena. I trotted in, trotted across the diagonal, cantered left and cantered right and trotted out. That was all we could do and he was declared Runner Up Large Hack. He was just so good at Werribee all the time and no trouble. We gave him a bit of a break and prepared him for Canberra. He was a bit funny in the Novice, but he got better with each class. He can be a bit green and he likes the company of the other horses, but he never takes much persuading; he is a really nice horse. I have heard that the High Chaparrals can be quite sharp, but he is good and we can’t complain at all.

“We always thought Royal was a nice name for a horse, but you have to get a horse that suits the name and it is an easy, short, sharp and shiny name. We call him Alastair at home after Alastair McFarlane, because the horse thinks himself a bit of a blue blood and from the right side of town! He is just a lovely horse, easy to deal with and almost too good to be true. He has three nice paces and he just hacks along and being built on the bit really helps with the picture. He is trainable with a receptive brain and willing to do what is asked of him which is quite rare in a Thoroughbred; often you just sit there and hope.” As we know success is not just one sided and Chris allows horses to show what they have, he doesn’t force them. His sympathetic ride encourages quite green horses to travel well and he has reaped the rewards.

“We will take him to Sydney Royal” continues Chris, “and then he can have a spell, because we have done a fair bit with him in just ten months.”

Story: Anna Sharpley.

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