Aeliana carries the hopes of Kathryn Wood-Enriquez and her fellow oenrs in the Cox Plate. (Photo by Bronwen Healy – The Image is Everything)
Six degrees of separation is a concept that everyone is six or fewer social interactions away from knowing each other.
Urban myth or otherwise, it’s got nothing on racing’s grapevine for connection, especially if someone is selling a racehorse and someone else has expressed a casual interest in buying one.
Like wildfire, the word in racing circles moves at a frenetic tempo. It is fuelled by the industry’s insular nature and often accelerated by a sense of opportunity.
In one instant, it caught and captivated Kathryn Wood-Enriquez, the part-owner of Cox Plate runner Aeliana.
Within 48 hours of expressing an ambition to own a racehorse during a social function she hosted at the races, Wood-Enriquez was being sold the dream.
When her phone rang, it was syndicator Denise Martin of Star Thoroughbreds fame, on the other end of the line.
“It was only one day I’d actually said to a particular gentleman, ‘I’ve always wanted to own a horse. I think that’s the next stage’,” Wood-Enriquez told The Straight.
“His wife, I think, went to school with Gai Waterhouse and I got a phone call from Denise Martin. And so it didn’t take very long.
“Because I have an engineering business, I’m always very orientated towards sales.
“And I just thought, ‘oh, this has actually worked really well. I’ve actually told somebody on a Saturday that I’m interested in buying a horse and by Monday, I’ve already got a phone call’. And I thought, ‘actually, that’s really good’.
“If Denise had taken a week to call or two weeks, I mean, I wouldn’t have lost interest but I may have thought, ‘maybe these are not the people for me’.”
Martin and Wood-Enriquez have become close friends, sharing a common passion that has grown alongside racetrack success with horses such as Foxplay, Invincibella, Olentia, Fiesta, D’Argento, Espiona, Noire and now Aeliana.
From one businesswoman to another, it’s a relationship that thrives on mutual respect.
Group 1 wins have translated into spectacular results in the sale ring as Australia’s broodmare market enjoys a surge in domestic interest, in line with trends in other countries.
“With the various bloodstock agents that Denise has used over the years, she’s bought really soundly,” Wood-Enriquez said.
“Together with the breeding, you obviously want to try to get that black type early and then get to winning a Group race before on-selling.
“I do like her business model in that respect.”
Aeliana will be a second Cox Plate runner for Wood-Enriquez and her husband Oliver under their Paramount Racing enterprise, after D’Argento made the running before finishing unplaced in Winx’s historic fourth win.
Wood-Enriquez, a devotee of Australia’s spring Cups while growing up in New Zealand, is now more enamoured with the Cox Plate.
The Cox Plate’s standing as Australia’s most prestigious race is matched only by Wood-Enriquez’s unfulfilled ambition to have a horse good enough to win one.
It’s one of the reasons she has been a Cox Plate day sponsor for almost a decade through her valve manufacturing company Powerflo Solutions, headquartered in Sydney but expanding on a global scale.
“For me it’s about giving something back to the industry … an industry I have always loved,” she said.
“I took a decision at least eight years ago to sponsor a race on Cox Plate day because this is the race (the Cox Plate) I want to win. This is the one.”
Kathryn Wood-Enriquez (centre in white) is looking for her first Cox Plate success as an owner. (Photo by Bronwen Healy – The Image is Everything)
Whether Wood-Enriquez gets to present one trophy before accepting a more famous one will be up to Aeliana.
A four-year mare, Aeliana will be challenged by the modern-day record books during a day filled with nostalgia at Moonee Valley.
An Australian Derby winner returning as a spring four-year-old hasn’t been sighted on the Cox Plate honour roll since Bonecrusher won the race described as “the greatest ever” in 1986.
Bonecrusher was the last of a mini era of household names to complete the double, following a rise to the top of Australasia’s weight-for-age ranks achieved by Dulcify (1979), Kingston Town (1980) and Strawberry Road (1983).
Aeliana’s task is obvious but not insurmountable, much like the one Sir Edmund Hillary, whom Wood-Enriquez crossed paths with as a schoolkid, faced as the first to climb Mount Everest.
A national hero in New Zealand, Sir Edmund left a lasting impression.
“When I met him, I thought he was a quiet, silent achiever who didn’t need to talk too much,” Wood-Enriquez remembered.
“He just gets out and does it and I think that is one thing I also live by: don’t tell me what you can do, just do it.
“I think this is why Denise and I get on. I love a challenge. In fact, if I didn’t have a challenge every day, I wouldn’t bother going to work.”
Like many in the racing industry, Wood-Enriquez will miss Moonee Valley’s distinctiveness, which has made it a point of difference among Australia’s major racetracks.
Business has taught her that nothing lasts forever.
“I don’t know what to think about the change going forward,” she says.
“I’m sure it is going to be good but I just think the Valley track as it stands right now is something that is just sensational. There aren’t many of those racetracks in the world.
“But I totally embrace change. We need to adapt because every industry is cyclic. It’s part of the course of life.”
As Moonee Valley as we know it has just about run its race, a $200 million reincarnation isn’t going to stop Wood-Enriquez from trying to win the Cox Plate in a new epoch if Aeliana falls short.
“This is the one I’ve been waiting for. I hope I don’t have to wait beyond Saturday, but if I do, well, you know, so be it,” she said.