Group 1-winning racehorse owner Gerry van Ameyden will gift 10 per cent of the prizemoney from a well-bred unraced filly to the Rochester Football Netball Club, as part of the club’s May 19 supporters group luncheon in Melbourne.
A five per cent share in the same filly, bred for speed, will be auctioned at the club’s supporters’ group luncheon at the Royal Melbourne Hotel in the city on May 19.
Online bids for the five per cent share are being accepted via the club’s Facebook page, before the gavel comes down on the day of the annual fundraiser.
There are four items on offer in the auction, with the racehorse share the big ticket item as it will be co-owned by not only van Ameyden, but also Rochester born-and-bred brothers Andrew and Geoff Sharp.
The Sharp brothers and van Ameyden will be hoping to share a little of their magic when they race the filly in specially-made Rochester Football Netball Club-coloured silks.
Pakenham-based trainer Colin Scott purchased the filly for $20,000 and, as part of a fundraising auction being conducted by the Tigers, partnered up with the three men to offer a five per cent ownership share, as well as a further 10 per cent of any prizemoney won by the filly back to the club.
“Geoff is a business partner of Gerry’s and he was more than happy to do something for the town,” Andrew said.
“Colin Scott was with us in Sydney and said he already had a good one. Gerry then agreed to give a percentage of the ownership and 10 per cent of prizemoney.”
Van Ameyden is part-owner of 2019 Melbourne Cup runner Sound, which came to Australia from Germany in 2018, has twice run in the Caulfield Cup and finished third in the $1 million Moonee Valley Gold Cup.
Sound, now a 10-year-old stallion, also won back-to-back Zipping Classics and is credited with more than $2 million in career prizemoney.
He raced superstar stallion Hitotsu, which won the Group 1 VRC Derby, Australian Guineas and Victoria Derby on the way to $3 million in prizemoney before being injured and retired to stud.
NAMING THE FILLY
Connections of the as-yet-unnamed Colin Scott-trained filly may consider attaching a Rochester Football Netball Club-themed racing title to the thoroughbred when it comes time to register its moniker.
Often a horse’s name is a combination of the dam and sire — on this occasion, Songs of Ireland and Holler.
But here are a few suggestions that provide a connection to Rochester’s football history. The winning bidder will ultimately get to name the horse, online bids closing on May 17 before the May 19 auction.
• Dirty’s Dancer (in honour of champion player and coach David Williams).
• Giggle and Toot (a play on words from the musically-focused ABC children’s TV show and representative of champion player Phillip “Toot’’ Morgan).
• Tank’s A Lot Gerry (recognising the league games record holder Anthony “Tank’’ McPhee and the man chiefly responsible for the club’s potential financial windfall, Gerry van Ameyden).
• Campaspe Queen (representaive of the region).
• Pineapple Express (nothing to do with the movie, but more in keeping with the colloquial flood identity from 2022).
– Only a matter of hours after the Andrew Sharp interview, the name Gerry van Ameyden was back up in lights when another horse which he part owns saluted in one of Australia’s oldest races.
Connections pocketed $220,000 last Thursday when Rockstar Ronnie won Warrnambool’s Grand Annual Steeplechase, which has been run since 1872. It was the biggest payday of the eight-year-old jumper’s seven-win, 15-race career.
He started the 5500-metre race as a $6.50 shot.
His final odds were significantly less than the $15 that were offered when markets first opened.
The Sharps and van Ameyden all have a share in three-year-old colt Buenos Noches. It has won $435,650 from its two wins and two placings in a seven-start career.
The Sharps also have a share in Barthelona, which has won six races.
The Sharp brothers both went to Rochester High School, in the same class as the likes of Darren Gledhill, David Knight, Brendan Stewart, Daryl O’Neill and Gary Slattery.
Andrew played reserves football at Rochester. Geoff left the town in 1980 and Andrew followed him to Melbourne a decade later.
Their five sisters Liz, Judy, Kerry, Carolyn and Jan have all moved on from Rochester, but their mother Marj still lives in the town which has been her life-long home.
“Gerry asked what he could do to support the town after the floods. We said ‘you own a lot of racehorses’ and he wanted to help. He agreed to syndicate a horse to help the footy club,” Andrew said
Geoff and van Ameyden have been partners in the confectionery industry for a number of years and it was van Ameyden who introduced the brothers to horse ownership.
Also among the prolific racehorse owner’s stable is six-year-old Nugget, which drew barrier one in this year’s All Star Mile and finished fifth in the $5 million race.
The filly tied to Rochester has some quality breeding on both its dam and sire bloodlines.
One thing is for sure, the filly will be bred for speed and dreams of events such as the Everest will be foremost in the minds of connections.
Scott trained the as-yet-unnamed filly’s mother, eight-year-old mare Songs of Ireland.
Songs of Ireland had only 12 race starts for one win and four placings. That win came in a 1400m race at Pakenham in January 2018 and was the lion’s share of the mare’s $32,475 prizemoney.
Songs of Ireland was sired by David Hayes-trained Nicconi, which won $750,000, the bulk of that prizemoney from the Coolmore Lightning Stakes.
The sire is Group 1 winner Holler, trained by John O’Shea at Hawkesbury. The 10-year-old stallion had 14 race starts and won $748, 625 in prizemoney.
He won all his races over distances between 1100m and 1300m, indicating the filly will be a speed horse. That speed extends further back in the breeding.
Holler won his first start in January 2015 with James McDonald in the saddle and then hit the headlines in October of the same year when he won a Group 3 race for three-year-olds at Moonee Valley.
Three months later he won for a second time at Moonee Valley when he stepped up to Group 2 class and pocketed $120,000 for the victory.
His biggest win came at Randwick two months later, when he started as a $7.50 shot and won the Group 1 Canterbury Stakes for three-year-olds.
Holler was then taken to the United Kingdom, where he finished well back in the field of a star-studded Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot.
At his final two starts he finished well back in a pair of Australia’s biggest Group 1 races, the Manikato Stakes and the Darley Classic, which both carry $1 million in prizemoney.
His last race was November 2016, finishing with four wins and five placings.
Holler’s sire, Commands, won four races in a 15-race career and was twice placed at Group 1 level. The Danehill progeny is a full brother to Group 1 winner Danewin.
Andrew said he was hoping, at the very least, to win a race at Echuca or Bendigo in the Rochester colours.
“They have been specially made, predominantly black with yellow sleeves and a Tiger emblem on the chest,” he said.