From racing with royalty to training for thousands of owners, the storied Clotworthy family adds a new chapter this weekend when heavily fancied Willydoit and outsider Interplanetary contest the G1 New Zealand Derby (2400m) at Ellerslie on Saturday.
Shaun Clotworthy, who trains in partnership with his wife Emma, is a second-generation trainer who has had some of the best mentors in the game: not just his father Kim, a top horseman in his own right, but also legendary National Hunt trainer Martin Pipe, whose impact on the British jumps industry was so profound that he has a race named in his honour at next week’s Cheltenham Festival.
“I had a little stint in England playing rugby in about 2000,” Clotworthy told the Idol Horse Podcast. “I had an injury break so I went and rode a little bit of work at Martin’s set-up in Somerset. It was amazing, I’d never seen that many horses train before. He had between 180 and 200 horses in work and he had quite remarkable uphill gallops. A P McCoy was the stable jockey then so I got to meet him, which was great, an incredible rider.
“(Martin) revolutionised the training of jumpers really, he did everything a little bit differently and so it was a good experience to witness all that and see how it worked. There were little things I picked up from him. Sometimes people used to criticise him and say that his horses were too light, but we’ve trained a few jumpers – they’ve got to be really fit and can’t carry any excess condition. So you probably take those sorts of things on board and the way that he organised things.”
The association with Pipe came about through Clotworthy’s father Kim, who was the Queen Mother’s New Zealand scout from the early 1980s until her death in 2002 and sourced jumpers like prolific chaser The Argonaut. Kim Clotworthy also owned the Colin Jillings-trained Uncle Remus, the 1977-78 New Zealand Horse of the Year whose major victories included the 1977 New Zealand Derby.
Almost 50 years on from Uncle Remus’ famous success, the Clotworthys may return to the New Zealand Derby winners’ circle at Ellerslie with either Willydoit or Interplanetary.
If Willydoit succeeds, the Clotworthys will be joined by thousands of Australian owners who have bought into the horse through microshare syndicator MyRacehorse. The New Zealand Derby would be the first major three-year-old feature won by MyRacehorse’s Australian subsidiary after Authentic won the 2020 Kentucky Derby and Seize The Grey the 2024 Preakness Stakes for the original American operation.
“It’s a really interesting model, how it’s run and everything and it was a little bit different than what I thought,” he said. “It’s created a lot of interest and it’s great for racing, great for the New Zealand industry because it’s highlighted with 3,000 more people involved. They’ve got their eyes on our industry now and on our product.
“Some of them are maybe already in horses in New Zealand, but there’s obviously a wider audience too in Australia so it’s been great for our industry. Quite a few people come up to me or touch base with us on Facebook who have a share, it’s quite wide the ownership.”
The deal with MyRacehorse, which was completed after Willydoit’s first trial, ensured that the son of Tarzino would remain in New Zealand until the Derby and that the Clotworthys will continue to train him until next month’s G1 ATC Australian Derby (2400m) at Randwick, should he make it there. After that, though, he will join Australia’s largest stable and Ciaron Maher will take over his management.
“It was an easy enough decision for us at the time we sold him,” he said. “Bryan Black, he’s a friend of ours and a stable client and he was in him right from the sales. Emma and I owned the rest of him. Bryan and Emma still have 50 per cent and MyRacehorse has 50 per cent.
“Ciaron is obviously a great trainer in Australia and he’s got great systems in place. The horse looks like he’s got quite a lot of potential and he will get his chance over there.”
Selling horses out of the stable while retaining a share is a formula that has worked for the Clotworthys before.
The only stakes winner for the Clotworthys to date is Hezashocka, who won the G2 Championship Stakes (2100m) before crossing the Tasman to join the Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr stable. A Group 3 winner and Group 1 placegetter in Australia, the Clotworthys have remained in his ownership – just as they will with Willydoit.
“It’s a lot easier when you’re just there as an owner,” he said. “We’ve been over a few times to see Hezashocka and we’ve got another horse, Otago, that ran in the Australian Guineas last year, also with Mick and Michael. We enjoy going over just to have a look at the horses with a little bit less pressure. I’m sure it will be the same with Willydoit.” ∎
