40-year drought ends

Affable Central Victorian veterinarian and stud master Greg Hargreaves admits his philosophies on horse husbandry are perhaps a little unconventional by mainstream harness racing practices – but for him, it’s all about the animals.

Hargreaves, known warmly as “the Doc” for his role as Veterinary Steward at tracks across Northern and Western Victoria, expanded his interests in the sport three years ago, by getting together “a few broodmares and a couple of stallions” to establish a stud at his Wedderburn property.

And he couldn’t have been more pleased when two-year-old gelding Double The Hunter (Camlach – Double Header (Real Desire) gave him his first success as a breeder in more than 40 years at Stawell on Monday.

Double The Hunter was trained by a distant relative of Hargreaves, Tim Mortlock, and driven by Jack Laugher.

“It’s not a bad feeling at all. It’s been a fair while since I bred my last winner – 1973 actually, but I hope it won’t be too much longer before the next one comes along,” Hargreaves said.

“I’ve sold 28 that I’ve bred over the past few years, and some of them will make it I think, but I’m just enjoying being back involved after all this time,” he said.

Hargreaves grew up at Wedderburn and was involved in horses hands-on with his dad, Ken and Ken’s cousin, legendary Korong Vale trainer the late Jack Hargreaves, who raced horses together.

“We had the farm and my old man used to breed them and supply Jack with some horses, and some feed – we cut the chaff and grew the oats.  They’d go 50-50 on the earnings, I think,” Hargreaves said.

“I loved it and used to follow the horses very closely as a kid from the mid ‘60s to the late ‘70s.”

Prior to getting back into the sport, Hargreaves bred his last horse as a 15-year-old.

“We had a mare Lady Vivian who had a foal at foot, and my dad let me select the sire.  Future Monarch was the go-to then, and he was a Maurie Conway’s at Hopetoun,” Hargreaves said.

“The service fee was $200, and I remember us loading the mare and foal in the float, taking them up to Maurie’s, letting them out in the yard with the stallion, then once the job was done, loading them back in the float again and going home.  It was pretty simple stuff…and we got a foal!

“It was a horse called Phildarpete, and it went on to win six but by the time the thing was racing I was off at uni.  Once I graduated and started work, I stopped taking much interest.  I guess I came back to the sport when I started at the trots from 1993.”

Hargreaves, who is also a farmer and sheep breeder, said Wooltech Stud was established by circumstance and opportunity, after drought forced him to reduce sheep numbers.

“There was 10 years of drought, and I was going to run out of water, so I sold off a lot of sheep I would have kept. But once the seasons turned around, sheep were expensive to get back into and of course the next year there was feed everywhere,” he said.

“Someone suggested that I run a stallion in a paddock with some mares.  I thought about it and decided to give it a go.  It was a good time to start and standardbred broodmares are about the cheapest livestock there are – people will virtually give you quite well-bred mares.

“I went a bit overboard, though, and I ended up with two stallions, Camlach and Danny Bouchea because I had some trotting bred mares and some pacing bred mares.”

Sire Devilish Smile with foals and mares to keep him company.

Hargreaves said his mode of operation is to keep horses in conditions that are as natural as possible for them.

“People had this idea and told horror stories about running a stallion with the mares in the paddock, that they’d be kicking each other.   But I haven’t had any problems at all.  As long as there’s enough space for them to get away from each other if they want to, they sort it out.

“The stallion isn’t always the boss, either.  They’re the protector of the harem, but there’s a definite pecking order, and there isn’t always a stallion at the top.

“Even after the stud season is over I keep the stallion with the in-foal mares to keep him company.  I just don’t like to have horses by themselves – they’re herd animals.

“I’ve also run the horses and a mob of lambs together in a 180-acre standing oat crop.  It’d be asking for trouble to put a single horse in with a mob, but running them together, they grazed the crop to the ground with absolutely no issues.”

Greg Hargreaves at his Wooltech Stud at Wedderburn.

Wooltech Stud currently stands Devilish Smile for a fee of $600, and some promising youngsters among those he’s bred so far is keeping Hargreaves keen.

“I’ve only got 10 foals this year, and I really want to keep it at something like that. The horses compete on the farm with the other stock, and I farm with my son, who’s not interested at all.  But I will keep breeding a few, and the $12,000 VicBred bonus for Australian-born stallions is a good incentive.

“My next goal now to work toward my trainer’s licence.  I’ve got my stablehand licence, and I want to work towards training a winner before I go out!”

Terry Grange

NewsAlert PR Mildura