The first ever Landmark Classic Campdraft Sale took place at the old Showground
at Tamworth in the indoor arena. A venue that served the horse industry and
Tamworth well for many years. The NCHA Cutting Futurity held many successful
events there with people literally packed to the rafters, sitting on the cold wooden
benches in the middle of winter, squashed up close to each other for warmth more
than anything. The venue was the only indoor arena in Tamworth for a long time and
it was used for everything including holding the Golden Guitar Awards one year when
it was too wet to be anywhere else.
So it was the logical place to hold the first Landmark Classic Campdraft Sale…..and
that was where the inaugural event took place on Saturday, the 24th May 2008. It was
to go ahead in February of that year, but the Equine Influenza outbreak in 2007 and
subsequent lock down of all horse sports and events on the eastern side of Australia
for 6 months meant the date got pushed out to May. Pre works commenced on
Friday the 23rd May, starting at 10am for the 129 registered ridden horses, with the
Sale commencing at 12 noon. These horses carried either an Australian Stock Horse
Society or Australian Quarter Horse Association registration. Up until this point in time,
registered Sales were specific to one breed, but this was to be the first Sale that was
not Breed specific, but was for Campdrafting horses that were registered with one of
the major performance horse breeds or the other.
“History was made that day, for Landmark,
for the horse industry and the Australian
Sport of Campdrafting.”
“The first talk of Landmark running a horse sale
began with Charlie Maher looking over an Equine
Business Plan that I had previously presented to the
Performance Horse Industry in June 2006. This initial
plan was as a result of a number of clients looking for
Landmark to enter the Performance horse market
and bring a new concept to the industry.
I gave Charlie a look at the document which
happened to have a motivational quote at the
bottom of each page, which gave Charlie a great
laugh as he too was a great one for a quote! Charlie
was apparently known to often draw on a quote to
end one of his many successful store cattle sales.
Mine he thought “needed work”, but as it turned out
we did draw on the following two quotes in the early
stages of getting the Classic concept underway:
“Some succeed because they are destined to!
Whilst most succeed because they are determined
to”. And – “It takes as much energy to wish as it does
to plan”
So armed with these words of wisdom, we began to
put together a new plan that would hopefully gain
the support of the Landmark Managing Director,
(a Kiwi) who had not even heard of the sport of
Campdrafting, let alone witnessed a Draft in any
form.
As luck had it we were both at a Company meeting
which involved nine holes of golf at the Dubbo
Golf Club. Charlie was not only a terrible golfer,
but insisted on playing in Wrangler jeans and his
favourite boots! He lasted for four holes, I think,
before he set off to his Land Cruiser to drum up
more business and make better use of his time!
That night with the assistance of our former
Managing Director Richard Norton, who was then
the National Livestock Manager, Broome based
Landmark agent Andrew Stewart and a fair few
drinks we successfully secured “Enough Rope”, as
the boss told us to embark on what was widely
thought of as a well intended pipe dream, for
Charlie and I, (albeit we were armed with a cheque
for $50,000).
The truth is that I had put together a well rehearsed
sales pitch to be formally presented to the boss. I
would say honestly it might have had around a 50%
chance of being approved, but Charlie with his
special blend of humour, persistence and bullshit,
sold our story at the Dubbo Golf Club in a way that
only he could do!
By this time it was 2007 and talk of the now renowned
AELEC Centre was gaining momentum, so it was
decided to get a small group together to work on
the concept in more detail and in fact work out how
best to utilise the $50,000 the company had given
us and get the whole thing off the ground.
A meeting was held at “The Frog & Toad Restaurant”
in Tamworth comprising Charlie Maher, Jimmy
Matthews, Mark Haywood and myself from the
company as well as Phil Webb, Lindsay Knight, Mick
Ward, Michael Wilson and Richard Bull.
The original idea that Charlie and I had was to
nominate approved drafts such as Warwick, Paradise
Lagoons, Gundagai, Lucindale etc, so a number of
drafts were accessible across the country and pay
an incentive for sale horses that won one, two or
three of these drafts in the one calendar year.
Lindsay Knight with a keen interest in the
thoroughbred industry kept drawing back to the
Magic Millions concept and a specific event where
these sale horses all met on common ground and
as things turned out, this idea gained momentum
and plans were put in place for the first sale to
coincide with the completion of the new AELEC
Complex sometime early in 2009.
On the 24th August 2007 the Australian
Equine industry was brought to its knees
with the confirmed outbreak of Equine
Influenza in Sydney’s Centennial Park
This restriction affected all involved in the equine
industry with no drafts and in a number of cases no
income for those people who relied on the industry
to supplement or form the majority of their income.
After EI the whole industry was still a little numb and
I remember many calls from Troy Palmer telling us
to get the sale happening as soon as possible and
a decision was made to bring forward the first sale
to run at the Tamworth Showground facility on 24th
May 2008. (Exactly nine months after the outbreak
of EI).
At that first sale 129 horses were catalogued with
Charlie and eldest son Joe selling a Bank Fulo Cdees
gelding “Frosty Bank” at the first sale for $8,000. This
horse incidentally went on to win the CutOut at the
first Classic Campdraft with Michael Wilson in the
saddle.
After the initial sale success in May the 2nd event was
confirmed to run at the new AELEC facility with only
eight months between events. Charlie worked the
north of the country gaining support from the likes
of Peter Comiskey who judged the inaugural Classic
Campdraft as well as Cloncurry Agent Peter Dowling,
who remains one of our strongest supporters.
Like Charlie, I worked in the south gaining support
from the likes of Ian Laurie and Michael Hiscock,
who have both judged and won the event as well as
gaining the invaluable support of southern agents
like Greg Hulm who like Peter Dowling continues to
promote the Classic concept for us every year.
After Charlie moved on from Landmark he continued
to offer suggestions for the events ongoing success
and continued to support the sale along with Joe as
both competitors and buyers each year.
I have never worked with a more effective agent
in my time and loved his positive energy and his
practical way of viewing problems that came up
from time to time. There is no doubt that the Classic
would never have become a reality without Charlie
or if we did not end up working together at that
point in time.
I believe we complimented each other’s strengths
which resulted in the Sales success in the early days,
along with the support of the true workers like Mark
Haywood, Lachie Maxwell and Andrew Wishart and
not forgetting the ever present cattle managers in
John Vernon and Craig Poole. The Classic has always
been a strong team effort, something which Charlie
thrived on.
We were criticised in those first few years of running
a “Dictatorship”, that was closed to new ideas and
that we needed to form a Sale Committee, in order
to allow the Sale to grow. Charlie would often laugh
when we received these requests that came both by
phone and often in writing. – “Tell them to at least
let us F#*% something up before we are criticised!
Not before!”
Charlie Maher loved nothing more than to educate
a young horse and see it reaching its full potential,
often watching son Joe competing on one of these
projects. The Landmark Classic has grown to be one
of the most sought after titles on the Campdraft
calendar, showcasing the best young performance
horses in the country as well as I believe having
a positive influence on the industry and many
breeding programs that are in fact planned for sale
at the Classic well before the next breeding season
is even underway.
Charlie also wanted to see the Classic and its
concept create more opportunity for young people
to develop careers in the Australian Performance
Horse Industry. A devotion that saw him help shape
the careers and lives of many young people in the
Agency game and the wider rural industry in many
different ways.
