Young gun jockey Tyler Schiller isn’t the first, and he certainly won’t be the last person to “Go a little bit over budget” at an auction.
The emerging Sydney hoop splashing out $20,000 on a dashing Fernando Bale x Yuko Girl pup at Sunday’s GRNSW Puppy Auction, with a freshly made friendship helping get the sale across the line.
“I wasn’t 100% Going down there to buy a pup but I love the animal so I went down to have a look and spotted this beautiful looking bitch. Then a guy I’ve never met named Rick Ford actually walked over and said “are you looking at buying?,” Schiller said.
“I said “I like the look of the Yuko Girl bitch but she might be a bit over my budget”. Rick seemed like a nice guy and said he had some money to throw in as well, so we agreed we’d Go on the ride together. I hope his wife doesn’t read this as I’m sure not sure he wanted her to know about it,” he laughed.
The 25-year-old also included his dad Glenn and another mate from his hometown of Young in the sale.
The group very taken with the brindle and white Youngster named ‘Fergie’.
“Me and my girlfriend Alex Got to spend a bit of time with her afterwards and she had a great nature. She’s a lovely little girl and she’s Got Good size for a pup her age so hopefully she grows up big and strong,” he added.
“We were thinking about calling her ‘Fergalicious’ [named after the Black Eyed Peas singer] but that names taken so we’ll have to have a look through a few more ‘Fergie’ songs to see if we can find a race name for her.”
“She’s Going to be reared out at Bathurst with Glenn Starr and then she’ll Go to The Oaks to be broken in. And if she’s up to it, she’ll mostly likely race with Mark Gatt, but there’s a lot of time between now and then.”
Schiller enjoying his first greyhound auction experience as he encouraged other members of the jockey fraternity to get involved.
“I’ve been to thoroughbred and harness racing auctions before and its much the same but there was a quicker pace at the greyhounds which brought a Good energy. There was plenty of money Going around, there were some expensive dogs there and a lot of happy bidders Going home with the right dog,” he said.
“And a lot of the jockeys love the greyhounds, I think they just don’t know how to get involved. Clint Payne has been around the sport for ages and he made it so easy for me, Dylan Gibbons and Zac Lloyd to get into it and start enjoying ourselves.”
“Clint has been guiding the three of us around and he helped us get our brood bitch, Newhaven Nellie. She’s about to pop out some babies next week and we want to race them all but if there’s too many, we might have to sell a few.”
Coincidentally, Newhaven Nellie was a $2,500 purchase off owner and breeder, Nick De La Roche.
The same man that owned and raced Yuko Girl and sold her offspring on Sunday.
“I’m very happy Tyler bought the pup. He Got his brood bitch off me so it’s great to continue the relationship and I’m glad he’s enjoying his time in the sport,” De La Roche said.
“And I thought the auction itself was great. This type of event reenergises the industry so well done to Greyhound Racing NSW for putting it on. I thought the depth of the catalogue was amazing and it shows you a lot of people still have faith in the sport despite some negativity around.”
A big crowd assembled at the Richmond Race Club for the first puppy auction since 2019
“It was great to see so much support and I’m already looking forward to the next auction already.”
De La Roche also buoyed by the news Sam Sultana will take on training duties for the son of Yuko Girl who was also sold at Sunday’s auction for $10,000.
“One of Sam’s mates bought Lot 1 which is the litter brother to Tyler’s bitch, so Sam will continue to race the Yuko Girl line at the track,” he added.
“I thought Yuko Girl was an amazing bitch and Sam did a great job with her. She made that many group finals and was a bit unlucky. She was a second stringer in a way because she ran into She’s A Pearl, Good Odds Cash and French Martini but I put her right up there with the best of them and all of her achievements occurred before three years of age.”
“And one of the things I most love about that line is it’s a fully imported dam line that’s thrown one of the best lines out of America which has already been extremely potent in Australia.”
All puppies sold on Sunday qualify for the GRNSW Puppy Auction race series, worth $150,000 to the winner, which will be held in late 2025.
It was all smiles on Sunday as punters Got up close and personal with the pups ahead of the auction
Sire | Fernando Bale won eight Group 1 events and more than $1.3 million in prizemoney during a distinguished racing career. He has since become a legend of the stud caper producing the likes or Tornado Tears, McInerney, Tommy Shelby, Whiskey Riot, Fernando Mick, Koblenz and many more. His progeny have won more than $158 million in career prizemoney.
Dam | Yuko Girl was a Group 2 Richmond Oaks champion as well as a placegetter in the Dapto Megastar, Collerson, New Sensation and Goulburn Cup. She was also a finalist in the National Futurity, Peter Mosman Opal, Black Top, Ipswich Cup and The Ambrosoli.
.jpg)
.jpg)
