TRACK TALK – Astin

 

 

 

TRACK TALK | Astin/Adrian

22/03/2014 by PHAR LAP from THE BLACK TYPE BUGLER

 

 

 

Today is ISSUE 16 of TRACK TALK. We will spend some time with one of the top trainers in our great game Derby Fever. The powerful Astin/Adrian stables. Breeder and trainer of the accomplished DOOTY DA DOO, the Breeders’ Bowl  Mile winner and Eclipse Nominee.

 

DOOTY DA DOO

               SIRE   T.M. OPERA                           DAM SIRE DANZIG                               DAM SIRE A.P. INDY                                                            

          

 

  

Stables Winning strike rate (Astin) 18.8 %              ITM   49.6 %

Stables Winning strike rate (Adrian) 61.1 %              ITM   25.1 %

 

 

Member of the All-Stars Racing residency   

 

PHAR LAP:  Hi Astin, thanks for taking the time for this interview.

Astin: No worries Phar, thanks for having me, this should be fun.

 

PHAR LAP: Where do you come from Astin?

Astin: I live in Adelaide, South Australia, but I work FIFO (fly in/fly out) in Roxby Downs, which is a mining town in the outback and I spend two weeks out of every three up there. I spent my childhood in Melbourne and Hong Kong before moving to Adelaide for work.

 

PHAR LAP: Have you a racing background and can you give us an insight on how you got involved in this great game.

Astin: I found this game sometime in the late nineties I think, I can’t remember how exactly but I was playing shareware games like ‘Homestretch’ and I think I was trying to find more games like that and just lucked out I guess. I have zero racing background. Never even been to a race meet.

 

PHAR LAP: Could you tell us how long you have been breeding and training in Derby Fever.

Astin: I’m not sure of the exact date but I was in the second wave of trainers who joined. Some of my first horses’ past performances pages say their first non-CPU trained races were March 99’ so let’s go with that.

 

 PHAR LAP: DOOTY DA DOO is your best horse so far, correct me if I am wrong, can you tell us about some other stars in your stables.

Astin:  Yeah, there a few I would like to show you

 

KOO KOO KACHOO (Multiple G1 winner who I was very fond of. I thought she was just an allowance winner for the longest time but she had a very nice 5yo year. Also Eclipse nominated if I recall

                

                     SIRE   PULPIT                               DAM SIRE NIJINSKY                           DDS LYPHARD 

   

GUNS LIKE GIRLS (A classy sprinter who won the Sand Castle Turf Sprint among other graded races).

             SIRE DANEHILL DANCER                   DAM SIRE UNBRIDLED                     DDS MR. PROSPECTOR

                

 

 VHEISSU (Gets a mention because I think, if I recall, she was my first G1 winner and I have a real soft spot for her.

            SIRE   SPEIGHTSTOWN                    DAM SIRE SAINT BALLADO                   DDS ROUND TABLE

       

 

 RADIANT WOLF (Another of what I like to call my ‘Golden Generation‘ where my horses actually started winning big graded races and I stopped getting paranoid about not being able to win them. Plus, he’s by Wolfhound a very cheap sire put to one of my favorite cheapish back-ends.

             SIRE   WOLFHOUND                DAM SIRE RAINBOW QUEST                      DDS DIXIELAND BAND

   

 

ALEX ENGLISH (Another G1 winner from that crop of youngsters that stepped my stables up a level).

                 SIRE   KINGMAMBO                     DAM SIRE SEATTLE SLEW                             DDS UNBRIDLED

 

 

PHAR LAP:  Breeding and training are passions of yours Astin, have you any horses that are getting you excited?

Astin: Let me show you a few

 

SEEING MEANS MORE (My only Eclipse winner and the winner of this year’s Breeders’ Bowl Sprint. He went through a very hot vein of form last year which he may not ever get back to but nabbing the BB win and an Eclipse was pretty mighty of him.

             SIRE DANCE IN THE DARK                         DAM SIRE STORM CAT                     DDS SEATTLE SLEW   

    

 

OF WHITEHORSE (Won the Breeders’ Bowl Dirt Mile last year and I’m hoping is able to push on into 2014 and continue to compete in that division).

             SIRE DANEHILL DANCER                         DAM SIRE PIVOTAL                               DDS STORM CAT             

     

 

OF OAKVILLE (I use this back-end combo a lot and it has worked for me a lot. She won an Equinics race for me this year which are always nice. Her form trajectory looks good).

                     SIRE MONTJEU                                 DAM SIRE NIJINSKY                              DDS LYPHARD             

   

 

SUPERMAJIC (A super-fast horse in his prime, popped a 101 in his second race and didn’t look back. A G1 winner and graded winner on both surfaces).

                SIRE AWESOME AGAIN                     DAM SIRE SECRETARIAT                                    DDS DANZIG             

 

 

UPS AND DOWNSIZE (Won the Sand Castle Turf Classic and looked destined for bigger and better things but he really hit the wall and never regained that form. One that could’ve been so much more).

                     SIRE KINGMAMBO                           DAM SIRE NIJINSKY                                    DDS KRIS. S             

   

 

Astin: Let me show you a couple of my promising 2 year old’s.

OF VITI LEVU

                       SIRE FRANKEL                              DAM SIRE KINGMAMBO                          DDS STORM CAT           

   

 

OF TAHITI

                     SIRE DANSILI                                   DAM SIRE PIVOTAL                                    DDS STORM CAT           

   

 

PHAR LAP: Breeding is one of the most exciting aspects of the game in my opinion. Have you any secrets you would like to share with us, we all would like a horse of DOOTY DA DOO’sclass and quality.

Astin: I think you ignore the back-end (DS and DDS) of a pedigree at your peril. I’ve been reasonably successful at pairing cheap sires with strong back-ends over the years. Certain DS and DDS combos just seem to work so often that they’re hard to ignore once you find them. It’s a bit harder to research than it used to be without YOSS and planoaxius’ search tools but it’s still the best part about the game. Contradictory to what I just said about cheap sires is the fact that building up a group of mares is pretty important for sustained success in the game so churning out a few royally bred females is going to help you if you can afford it. Completely ignoring all the rules and experimenting with different stuff is another thing I would recommend. The game has a funny way of rewarding you for trying new things.

 

PHAR LAP: Without giving away all your secrets, have you any favorites as Sire, Dams Sire and Dams Dam Sire?

Astin: Sires-wise I have a thing for anything Japanese. Mike’s downgrade is a little speed bump in the road but hopefully the ‘top of the pile’ sires are still quality. Nijinsky II all the way (up until Mike took him from me…boo!) Nijinsky with a side of Lyphard, a dash of Sharpen Up, a sprinkle of Kris S or a slathering of Seattle Slew were a perfect recipe for a success.

 

PHAR LAP:Do you prefer scratch breeding or breeding to your good retired race mares? Do you like using he mares?

Astin: I mostly bred scratchies in the beginning until I stocked up on mares with the lines that I wanted. Now they’re hard to look past and with the new pricing structure you can send cheap sires to nearly every mare you even remotely want to use for next to nothing. I use he-mares if they’re well-bred/ a stakes winner or occasionally if they were a very fast allowance horse and I have some credits handy.

 

PHAR LAP: Ok Astin, we all know breeding is only one aspect of the game, once you get a good horse and get your maiden out of the way, the skill of the trainer then comes into play. Do you have any training preferences you would like to share with us? I am sure there are fellow trainers out there that would appreciate some advice from a trainer of your standing.

Astin: I am super easy on my horses to a fault I think. Most of my horses don’t really come on till late in their 3yo season because I’ve been babying them. I rarely win 2yo graded races as I don’t enter them and basically have zero chance of making the Derby but I get quite a few that break out for good 3yo-4yo seasons where I get most of my enjoyment out of them.

 

PHAR LAP:If you could pass on one piece of advice, what would that be?

Astin: Don’t listen to anything I’ve said, just go back and read the Lenny article again because he’s way better at this game than I am.

 

PHAR LAP:Here we go Astin, jockeys!!!  Great people, but they can be a real pain in the backside sometimes. Do you call the shots or let them ride their own race?

Astin: All three of my BB wins have come from me calling the shots and yet ironically I let the jockey decide for 99.9% of my horses. Jockey instructions seem to be a bit like the dirt/turf/dirt switch trick; they work straight out of the box sometimes but then its effectiveness wears off and so I just go back to letting the little guy call the shots.

 

PHAR LAP:Do you pay big incentives to get the best jockeys?

Astin: Not really, just enough that it seems to work most of the time

 

PHAR LAP:Do you have a favorite Jockey?

Astin: The one named after me, A Hewitson even though I never use him, the poor fella.

 

PHAR LAP:All right Astin, let’s look to the future, have you any big goals you have set yourself?

Astin: I kinda just play the game. I don’t set out to win anything in particular, I just like running horses that can compete in their division each week and give me a little bit of enjoyment whether they be allowance horses or graded beasts.

 

PHAR LAP:Have you any big races to win on your bucket list?

Astin: Maybe the Melbourne Cup equivalent and some more Breeders’ Bowl races. The Derby would be cool but like I said before I never really have too many chances that far advanced at the time.

 

PHAR LAP:If I was new to the game or had a problem horse that had me stumped or needed some help, where would you recommend I go?

Astin: The chat, the forum etc are great places for that sort of help. Joining a residency would be my first port of call when starting the game though, I’ve been in a few in my time and there are plenty of great people in each who are willing to pass on their knowledge.

PHAR LAP:Can you recommend any Horse Racing Movies or Documentaries?

Astin: Strangely enough I’m not really into horse racing that much in real life. I get involved in the Spring Carnival when it comes around each year and I will keep an eye on the big events in Europe and the US but other than that it’s mostly about this game so other than Seabiscuit I’ve watched very few racing related movies.

 

PHAR LAP: Are any there things in the game you would like changed or improved on?

Astin: Instead of some of the pop-up pages I’d like some things to be streamlined. For example; when you go to the jockey pages you have to click each individual jockey to get to where the incentives are hidden and adjust them, I’d rather have those sliders all on the one page so you could just go down and adjust all of them at once. It’d be easier to keep track of what you’ve already done. More breeding search options would be nice too. A replication of the planoaxius tool where you entered a combination of Sire, Dam-sire and Dam’s dam-sire to retrieve all the current progeny examples in the game would be awesome.

 

PHAR LAP:Well Astin, it has been a pleasure to hear your story, you are well on your way to becoming one of the great trainers in the game and I am sure our community will enjoy your thoughts and learn something from your experiences. Phar Lap and the Black Type Bugler thank you for your time and we hope success continues to ride with you.

Astin:  Thanks for having me!

GIDDEY UP from PHAR LAP (gcliffo)