Calvin McEvoy had a budget for his star Melbourne Cup runner.
But it didn’t matter. Not only did he ignore it, he doubled it.
The end result is the Melbourne Cup favourite [that’s already delivered a Calfueld Cup.]
McEvoy knew that Half Yours had been well-bred by Colin McKenna and had all the hallmarks of a promising stayer.
Issue was that Ciaron Maher knew that too, who had trained and even owned part of the horse.
Eventually the two Ballarat based trainers would duel it out online – for the benchmark 64 winner.
Now Maher doesn’t lose much, but he eventually conceded defeat when it came to this bidding war.
It has ended up being an inspired buy from McEvoy and his racing manager Ryan Moore.
“My budget was $120,000 and we end up spending $305,000,” Calvin told Betsy with a smile.
“To be fair, we thought the profile of the horse was $120,000 to $150,000 but we knew that he would make more than that because the horses that were selling on Inglis Digital have been making good money.”
“And then we had a partner in to come in with us up to $250,000 but that was then firm at their top, and after $250 they were out.”
“So that would normally make us say stop, but I don’t know, we just kept going.”
And Calvin is thanking the racing gods he did. Half Yours has delivered a Caulfield Cup – and holds top-billing for the Melbourne Cup.
The younger McEvoy said despite easily eclipsing his budget, his co-trainer and father Tony remained calm and supportive as he kept bidding.
“It was myself and Ryan Moore who kept going and going and look, to be fair, Dad supported us but he just said sell it, make sure you get it sold,” he said.
“He’s pretty good like that, happy to back us in, as long as you can get the job done and get the horse sold and syndicated, which to be honest, he was very easy to do.”
“He was easier to sell than we thought he would be.”
“And looking back now, it was a lot of money, but if you’re buying a tried horse with a similar profile from New Zealand, you’re probably paying $250,00 you know?”
Col McKenna was one of the most respected figures in the racing community and had bred Half Yours.
“I think Colin bred him to win the Jericho,” Tony said during the week with a smile.
“He would have been so excited to have a runner. When you look into his pedigree, it takes a long time to breed a horse like this. And you need a lot of time to breed a horse like this.”
“We are not doing it in Australia anymore and Colin had this plan and he would be so proud to have his horse running in this race.”
Calvin said the patience showed by the McKennas with Half Yours is a key reason why he has been so successful.
“He looks very much a bargain now. I wish they all were like him,” he told Betsy.
“I can just imagine he would’ve been quite a big, raw horse as a young horse, and knowing Col and Janice, they would’ve been let the horse develop, and I think that’s probably coming into his own now. We’re reaping the rewards of breeding.”
Back to the bidding for Half Yours. There was one other bidder who kept pushing up the price but bailed out when it hit the $300,000 mark.
“I presumed it was Ciaron, I knew he had an ownership interest in the horse but it had to have been him,” Calvin laughed, “it’s fantastic because he does alright already doesn’t he?”
“So I take the chance to remind him of it when I can.”
Regardless of whether the McEvoy family add a Melbourne Cup to their collection on Tuesday, Calvin said this spring has reminded the racing world the duo can train winners across a variety of distances and age groups.
“It’s been great. I think there has been a little bit of, I suppose, recognition for us because we’ve probably been pigeonholed a little bit as two-year-old speed trainers and I think that’s because we’ve mainly bought two-year-old, speed type of horses,” he said.
“We haven’t bought many imports, we haven’t had that many opportunities to showcase us as Australian trainers of stayers and I hope the Caulfield Cup maybe opens some doors for us and maybe some others.”
