Peter Gelagotis Racing or P.G.R as it is known is a well-known stable in the horse racing community. Spread across 4locations P.G R has produced winners after winners every year. Manny Gelagotis, the affable manager of the brand lets us in on how they manage to pull this off.
Q: Have you had a chance to take a peek at the Easter Yearling Sale Catalogue? If yes, what do you think of this year's offering as compared to last year?
A: Yes, I have had a good look at the catalogue this year and it might lack in numbers being a smaller select book but the quality is endless – it's going to be a very strong market selling over 2 days only.
Q: Are there any specific sires, whose progeny get first preference?
A: The good sires really excel in this sale like Snitzel, I Am Invincible & Redoute's Choice and everyone wants them. In this Sale itis difficult to separate the ones that can slip through because the best buyers all over the world attend and all the best judges so it comes down to type, pedigree, and confirmation and unfortunately you will have to pay the overs to get the horse you want.
Q: Are there any sires you currently see as underrated?
A: Dundeel appears to be going very well and Pierro is one of my favorites being the sire of my great 3yo Levendi who was the dominant horse of his age last year winning at Group 1 level.
Q: What do you look for in a horse, be it a sprinter or stayer?
A: Great walk & Temperament is everything to me and then I assess confirmation with a good strong gaskin and shoulder.
Q: What is your process when buying horses?
A: Very thorough process and stringent vet examinations in scope. We also have a pretty simple process that relies heavily on our judgement based around confirmation and type and a great walk. James Bester a world class judge of horseflesh assists in the yearling process and has been pivotal to the success of our racing brand and recommending the majority of the best horses we have raced like Levendi & Hvasstan in particular – one of the best judges and has taught me all I know about yearling acquisitions.
Q: Who was your idol when starting out in the industry?
A: Bart Cummings was always an idol purely because he had structures and beliefs in a process and created his own legacy based around patience and hands-on approach – superb trainer who has left a legacy of success that will never be matched and a very cool customer under pressure that never panics.
Q: Tell us about your first winner?
A: Lesvos Ruler was by Kingston Rule and was homebred and turned out to be a very good horse winning over 10 races and became a very good jumper so he was the reason we caught the bug and it’s been an amazing journey ever since.
Q: What do you like best about buying the Riverside Stables?
A: Inglis is a very good company to deal with and the new riverside facility is a great new investment that really makes the horses and buyers very comfortable and the state of the art facilities allows you to feel most welcome and creates a great theatre to buy off the vendors and comfortable facility which makes it a very special environment to buy horses.
Q: What energizes you and brings you excitement?
A: Success excites me and winning excites me even more in particular developing yearlings to get to the very top and see them win big races brings a huge personal thrill to Team Gelagotis. I thrive on finding the best horses at sales and thrive on winning on the big stage and racing does better than any other sport if you have the privilege to get to that point and thankfully, we have which is the most amazing experience.
Q: What have been your Inglis SaleHighlights?
A: The Inglis sale highlight was purchasing Hvasstan for$260k and this horse won at Group 3 level and had 2 very unlucky 4ths in the Australian Guineas & Victorian Derby and he has just recently thrown his first winner at stud in Queensland, so this was a huge thrill. He holds great significance also for the fact he won his Group 3 during Caulfield Cup week when our father passed away unfortunately through an illness so he will always hold a special spot in our family hearts as our Father introduced us to racing and will always be remembered by this great memory.
Credit: Pallavi Shevade pallavi.shevade@secretariatsworld.com