Tribute To A Champion

This article is from the March 2020 Horse Deals magazine.

He was too tricky for me and difficult to work out,” says owner, Julia McLean, “and that’s why I called him Algebra.” Julia might not have been able to work him out, but she knew others would be able to figure him out. And that they did, with the 15.3hh former racehorse being shortlisted for the 2012 London Olympics and the 2014 World Equestrian Games as a Reserve. He did not make either Australian team, and with the benefit of hindsight that might have been to Australia’s loss. Despite that, and with seven-time Olympian, Andrew Hoy OAM in the saddle, Algebra became a very well-travelled and successful international eventing horse, and this is his tribute.

Back in 2012 and on the eve of what was thought to be his London Olympic call up, Horse Deals did an Off The Track story on the grey “pocket rocket.” He was bred at Meringo Stud on the South Coast of NSW, the stud that also bred Takeover Target, and was foaled in 1998. He was always going to be grey, as both sire, Azzaam (USA) and dam, Sand Dollar (NZ) were grey, with the dam going back to Grey Sovereign. Both the sire and dam lines go back to the great Nearco, noted for his flawless conformation as well as his speed, and declared, “the unbeaten patriarch of the most dominant sire line in Thoroughbred history.” Algebra too was blessed with good conformation which has served him well and enabled him to retire “as sound as a bell.” Given the name, Kambah Grey by a group of owners who frequented the Kambah Tavern in Canberra, Algebra raced 13 times for $700.

“I happened to visit Algebra’s trainer, Daphne Matangi at Queanbeyan Racetrack, and saw this beautiful grey horse in a yard,” says Julia. “I had always wanted a grey show horse and I thought he might make a Show Hunter. Daphne explained that he was too slow on the flat and was being sent to Melbourne to try over the jumps. I bought him and he came home with me as a rising four-year-old. He was out in the paddock for about a year and we would bring him in and give him a hack about every month or so. I then sent him off to be trained and he came back with an unflattering opinion of his future prospects. He then went to Lizzie McRoberts to give him some more exposure from pony club events. They really hit it off and it was soon evident that Sam, as we called him at home, could jump. He was Zone 16 B Grade Eventing Champion at his second or third outing and went One Star.

“Lizzie had to concentrate on her university studies and so we sent him to eventing rider, Natalie Blundell to ride whilst we advertised him in Horse Deals. We could have sold him several times as soon as the ad came out, but the prospective situations didn’t feel quite right. My husband John (Glenn) said, why don’t we keep him? So that is what we did and we kept Natalie on him.”

“That was really good for me,” says Natalie. “Lizzie had done a great job with him and I had seen her in the bareback highjump at Albury just springing into the air over 1.40m. We knew he had talent, it was just a matter of working out his mindset. I took him slowly to build his confidence. He is a very careful horse and did not want to hurt himself; he still doesn’t have a mark on his legs. He won Scone One Star in 2007 and then moved pretty quickly through the grades. He was fourth at the Camden Equestriad CIC Three Star in 2009 and was eighth in his debut performance at the Adelaide Four Star in 2010. He was fifth at Melbourne CCI Three Star in 2011 and fourth at Adelaide later that year. At the beginning of 2012, he was a member of the winning Australian Trans Tasman team and was third individually at Kihikihi in New Zealand. With the pressure still on for London selection, we did the Sydney CCI Three Star and were eighth and then jumped clear around the track at the Melbourne Three Day event that was the final domestic Olympic trial.”

“But he just did not get picked,” continues Julia; “Sam stayed at home. Natalie continued to ride him and leading up to the WEG in Normandy in 2014, we were asked to position the horse in Europe in case he was needed. So friends and family raised funds to support Natalie for six months in the UK where she was based with Sam and Andrew Hoy. They did Badminton (in the very wet year), Burghley, placed tenth at Luhmuhlen and they placed at Wiesbaden. Natalie had a wonderful experience competing and in training camp with the Australian team, but again, Sam did not get selected.

“Natalie had been over in the UK and Europe for six months and decided to come home. Sam stayed at Andrew’s and we thought we would sell him and we were looking for a forever home for him. Then one day Andrew said, he is here in my yard, how about I take him for a ride?

“It has been a real privilege to be Algebra´s partner for three years towards the end of his competition career,” says Hoy. “I had known Algebra for a long time when he was ridden by my student Natalie Blundell, who achieved longlisting for the 2012 London Olympic Games and 2014 World Championships with him; a remarkable result. When Natalie returned to Australia at the end of their 2014 WEG campaign, Algebra remained at my yard in the UK. During this time I took over the reins, just to keep him fit and mobile, and we discovered that Algebra was not yet ready to retire. This little horse with the heart of a lion still had the fire in him, so we partnered for the following season, always having agreed with his owners, John Glenn and Julia McLean, that we would retire him immediately if we felt he didn´t enjoy the competitions any longer.

“2015 was certainly our most remarkable year; Algebra won two CCI3* (now CCI4*-L) classes in Montelibretti, Italy and Haras du Pin, France. A result only matched by one other horse in the world that year, Michael Jung´s European Champion, Takinou.
“In 2016, Algebra was formally qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics and we continued our career to the 2017 season, competing at fantastic events and Nations Cups all over Europe.

“Algebra was and is the most remarkable horse. He never accepted any limitations due to being small and his body being designed for speed rather than fancy dressage movements; he always gave it his all, every day in our partnership.

“The team and I still miss him; he was the smallest horse with the biggest heart. A lion in the shape of a little grey horse!“

“2017 was going to be his retirement year and I flew out to Italy to watch him take third place in the CCI Three Star at Montelibretti,” adds Julia. “Sam was coming up 19 then, and he owed us nothing. Because he had given us so much pleasure, we decided to bring him home. Two days out of quarantine he led The Off The Track section in the Melbourne Cup Parade down Swanson Street. He came home to Yass and the following week we had a retirement party for him. There were 125 guests including Lizzie McRoberts, Natalie Blundell and Andrew Hoy and Sam had a ball.

He played the chairs game that starts off with him jumping a row of chairs and finishing up jumping just one. He came out with his campaign rug on to be photographed with his admirers and Andrew gave a mini masterclass on him.

“He is back home enjoying the best possible retirement, which is not always possible with international competition horses. We had been offered a lot of money for him twice, the second time when he was 16 years old and Andrew was riding him. He has retired as sound as a bell and perhaps could have kicked around for a couple more years, but we wanted him to retire happy and healthy and at the top. He is happily retired and lives out in a big paddock looking after the babies and comes in for dinner every night. I thought that perhaps I could do some dressage on him, but he is still Algebra and too tricky for me.”

Article: Anna Sharpley

Sign up to our newsletter