The Bloodstock Agents’ Federation of New Zealand (BAFNZ) is the leading professional body representing accredited bloodstock agents across the country.
This series takes an in-depth look at the varying backgrounds of BAFNZ members and their work within the thoroughbred industry.
Successful Auckland bloodstock agent Paul Willetts cited a chance meeting with an Auckland owner as a turning point in his career.
After breaking into the thoroughbred world on leaving school, Willetts subsequently ventured overseas to gain further experience and on return made the decision to start his own business in the mid-1990s.
It proved a tough road, but persistence and a good break saw his operation overcome a shaky start.
“It was very, very hard going and I look back now and think how did I survive, but I carried on and tried to make it work. Eventually it did and I’ve been at it ever since,” Willetts said.
“I met my major client John Thompson at the sales, he just came up to me and started talking and from there I started buying a few horses for him and the rest is history.
“He’s a very under the radar sort of owner and he’s been my mentor through life and in bloodstock.”
Their association spans three decades and with Group One success along the continuing journey.
“He’s been a great friend to me over the last 30 years, he’s been fantastic and still is,” Willetts said.
“He’s raced quite a lot of good horses, Rangipo won the Derby, Sound The Alarm won the Railway and Penitentiary and Atapi were other good ones.
“Sound The Alarm and Penitentiary were early ones I bought for him and were pretty cheap horses.
“I also told him to buy one horse and he said I’m going to tell my neighbour to buy it because he’d had a lot of bad luck in the racing game and that was Kaapstad Way.”
The son of Kaapstad won nine races, was a multiple Group One placegetter and earned more than $1 million.
While Willetts has been based in Auckland for a number of years, his roots lie in the South Island.
“I was born on the West Coast and grew up and went to school in Nelson, I didn’t have any family connection with racing and it was during school that I got into it,” he said.
“For some reason that I can’t remember, around 12 or 13 I became besotted with pedigrees and that was the start of it.
“I left secondary school and got a job in Lower Hutt with the Friday Flash and Turf Digest at Taita in 1976.”
Willetts then decided to broaden his horizons and headed overseas.
“Luckily enough, a farm in England took me on and spent a year at Whitsbury Manor Farm in Hampshire and then in Germany and worked at a stud in Cologne,” he said.
“I came back to New Zealand when I was 25 and worked at Anton Koolman’s stud farm at Otaki, Gressier Lodge.
“I did a season there and then went to Christchurch and did a bit of pre-training work, but that didn’t work out. Eventually, I applied to Wrightsons to be a pedigree writer and they took me on in 1985.
“I went to Auckland and worked with them for eight and nine years in the pedigree department and out in the field until 1992 and then worked for Pioneer Bloodstock with Drew and Felicity Watson.
“They were big players in the early to mid-1990s and when they broke up, I had a crack myself and established my bloodstock agency in Auckland about 1995.”
Soon after, Willetts made the call to explore further opportunities across the Tasman.
“I began buying horses there and bringing them back or buying horses over there for clients and probably 80 per cent of my business now is with Australians,” he said.
“I bought Robert Heathcote’s first horse and of course we bought (seven-time Group One winner) Buffering not long after.
“I’ve also had a big association with Three Bridges Farm, they’ve gravitated from a small farm in South Australia to one of the leading farms in Victoria.”
Willetts attends all major sales across Australasia, with two particular areas of interest.
“I love buying weanlings and broodmares and I’ve got quite a sophisticated database, which I keep up to date every day,” he said.
“There’s about 350,000 horses on it, everything is named and what they did on a racetrack. If a broodmare had 10 foals, I can tell exactly what they looked like and it’s been invaluable.”
Q & A
Do you remember the first horse you bought?
“I bought a few for Graeme Sanders when I worked for Pioneer Bloodstock and one of the very first was Ballroom Babe for $3250 off Keith Gudsell. She won both Sires’ Produce races and became a great broodmare. The first one I bought in Australia was a filly called Kaminka for Rob Heathcote and she became the Queensland Filly of the Year.”
Do you have any sale day superstitions?
“No, not really.”
Best horse(s) you’ve ever bought or being associated with?
“The most talented would have been Amelia’s Dream, she only had two starts and won by eight lengths and then won the Silver Slipper by about 10. She was the raging favourite for the Golden Slipper before she broke down.”
Best value for money purchase(s)?
“I’d have to say my horse, I bought a weanling by Wanted for $10,000 and three of us decided to race him. We called him Leicester and he won the South Australian Derby and about $800,000 and sold him to Hong Kong for $2 million.”
Do you have a favourite nick/cross when sourcing yearlings?
“I was very big on pedigrees in my early days but now it’s more conformation.”
Favourite current sire and of yesteryear?
“I’ve always been a fan of Castelvecchio and bought a few nice ones by him and Just Awesome, the sire of Sound The Alarm. He only lived for two years and everyone we bought turned out way above average.”
Most memorable day at the races?
“John Thompson and I jumped on the first plane out of Auckland for Melbourne, got a rental car and went to Geelong to watch John’s horse win the Geelong Cup. That was Pacific Dancer, who was last on the turn and came down the outside. We couldn’t stay for the presentation, as soon as the race was over we were out of there to get a plane back home.”
