Glorious Goodwood victory caps $10 million season for Go Racing
Go Racing finished the 2024-25 racing season with a flurry of winners.
Hours after they sold their star filly Velocious for A$1.625 million, via Inglis Digital’s online auction, they celebrated their first winner at Glorious Goodwood in England as Omni Man won the Coral ‘Pipped At The Post ‘Winners ‘Handicap and then Izola closed out the season with a win at Sale in Australia.
“It was obviously a huge thrill to get a win at the iconic Glorious Goodwood meeting with such an exciting horse and to do it just a few hours after selling Velocious, it was a big night,” Go Racing Director Albert Bosma said.
The night perfectly embodied the season for the New Zealand-based syndication company, which hasleveraged the global nature of thoroughbred racing to produce their highest return to owners in a season yet, of over $10 million.
“This year we’ve spent $2.8 million on yearlings and breeze up horses and we’ve returned well over $10 million to our owners through prize money and sales proceeds this season,” Bosma said.
“That’s a new record for us, breaking last season’s record of a circa $7 million return off a similar spend.”
Bosma credits their global approach and partnership with Blandford Bloodstock’s Stuart Boman for the organisation’s recent boom.
“We put a lot of our success down to the way we have now structured our buying and management.
“We’ve developed a great partnership with Stuart, and both Go Racing and Blandford Bloodstock put a lot of work into selecting the horses. We have a few debates but the data we use and the way we approach sales has certainly led to our success exploding in the last couple of years.
“Taking the global view has meant that that we’re not just limited to a small pool of stallions in one place. We’re now buying horses from Europe, the USA, Australia and New Zealand.
“It just gives us the opportunity to compete in the best races around the world and access the best stallions and gives us the best opportunity to access all the auctions and find value, we’re not just restricted to a small area, that’s been an exciting development.
“We’re also racing horses internationally at some of the world’s biggest race meetings, which creates amazing opportunities for our owners.”
Bosma said that while they would miss last season’s Champion New Zealand Two-Year-Old Velocious on the racetrack, her sale had played out perfectly.
“It was a great result for her owners,” he said. “It was a real win-win situation: we were happy with the price, and I think Yulong, who bought her, were probably happy to be able to secure her at that price too. It’s nice when that result happens.
“It was a great bidding war to watch; it went on and on and on, and it was just as exciting as watching Omni Man’s race.
“We will miss her, but we still have her half-sister Alacritous who we think is very good and selling her at that price did soften the blow.”
The sale of Velocious follows the sale of Go Racing’s three-time Group One-winning mare Atishuwho was also purchased by Yulong at the Magic Millions’ National Broodmare Sale on the Gold Coast in May for A$2.7 million.
While Atishu and Velocious lit up the sales rings, both physical and virtual, this season Go Racingalso celebrated more than 50 wins on the track. Highlights include Maison Louis’s win in the Gr.1Queensland Derby, Atishu’s Gr.1 Empire Rose Stakes win at Flemington during Melbourne Cup week, Group Three success in Australia with Etna Rossa and Je Zous in Ireland, Listed success in New Zealand with Little Black Dress, and Masoun’s win in the Ladies Derby in Ireland.
Omni Man also ran a solid fifth in the King George Stakes at Royal Ascot, and his trainer Joseph O’Brien and jockey Ryan Moore both gave a glowing report of him following his impressive win at Goodwood.
“It was a really impressive performance,” he said. “Ryan Moore was really complimentary of the horse, and he won very well, he travelled strongly through the race, and showed a really good turn of foot in the last couple of furlongs, and went through the line really strong. He looks to be a very exciting stayer for the future.”
Bosma was equally rapt with the performance.
“He was a dominant winner in a very strong race,” he said. “Ryan Moore is one of the world’s top two jockeys, with James McDonald, so to hear his praise of him is very exciting.
“The world is his oyster, and he could go a hell of a long way. The plan is for him to be in Australia at some point, and I think he will give us a chance at some of the very best Group Ones there down the line.”
Meanwhile, in Australia, it was the Chris Waller-trained Izola who took the honour of being Go Racing’s final winner of the season, taking out the Laurels Function Centre Maiden Plate (2238m) at Sale in the hands of jockey Beau Mertens.
“It was a great win,” Mertens said. “She jumped really well, we had a lovely run in transit and she never felt like she was going to get beaten.”
Izola is another winner from 11 horses Go Racing purchased out of the 2023 NZB Book 1 Sale at Karaka in 2023, which also includes Group One winners Maison Louis and Velocious.