From small-time punter to millionaire owner, Michael Achurch is living every racing fan's dream - All thanks to bloodstock expert Dean Watt.
Extracts from "The Sydney Morning Herald" Friday October 29, 2004 Sport Friday (Page 35) Lead Story written by Darren Pendergast
Within an industry that can turn dreams into reality and reality into nightmares in equal doses, a tattooed 24-year-old father of one from Liverpool has proven one of the lucky few - a racehorse owner with the Midas Touch. Former landscape gardener Michael Achurch shares in the ownership of racing's latest superstar, Cox Plate winner Savabeel. The colt's success in one of the nation's richest races last Saturday has helped Achurch turn a small, first-time investment on an unraced two-year-old into a $2.5 million nest egg, with the promise of more to come in Saturday's $1.5 million Victoria Derby at Flemington.
Achurch has earned himself the nickname "Group 1 Mick" from the high-flying Graeme Rogerson stable for his uncanny knack of investing in a winning equine lottery ticket, not once but twice in the space of 24 months. "Some people are born under a lucky star," racehorse syndication guru Dean Watt said. "Everything Michael Achurch touches turns to gold. Some people have a rabbit's foot for luck; I've got 'Group 1 Mick'. He's my lucky charm."
Achurch's real-life fairytale began when he saw an advertisement on Sky Channel offering a share in an unraced two-year-old filly to be trained by Graeme Rogerson on the same day he cleaned up on the punt, winning $7,000. With a 10 per cent share in the filly costing $6,950, the former Ashcroft High student did the math's and decided to try his luck as a first-time racehorse owner. "I didn't know anything about horses, their breeding, nothing. But I thought I'd take a gamble," Achurch said this week.
"I just thought it'd be a bit of fun to own a horse. I told my missus I'd be happy if we got a winner at Kembla, but she [the filly) went on to win the Golden Slipper."
That filly was Polar Success. Achurch was stunned when Polar Success won the world's richest race for two-year-olds. Only a few weeks earlier Achurch had attended a family barbecue where he told his two sisters, Melinda and Amy he would give them $20,000 each if Polar Success won the Golden Slipper.
"I spruiked off not genuinely thinking she could win," Achurch said. "But we got lucky." Polar Success's Golden Slipper winnings enabled Achurch to pay-off the house he shared with his partner, Natasha, and their infant daughter, Emily.
Achurch bought his first house in his late teens after pooling together money he inherited from his father, Paul, who died seven years ago, and from an $80,000 compensation payout Michael was awarded after damaging nerve endings and arteries in his right hand on a broken soap holder in the shower of his family's housing commission unit.
Elated after Polar Success's Slipper win and having recently sold his first house for a tidy profit, Achurch again approached Dean Watt, who had sold Achurch his share in Polar Success and told Dean he'd be interested in buying a share in another horse. "I told Dean I'd be interested for sure but I want a middle distance or staying horse" Achurch said. "Dean showed me a selection of yearlings but pointed out a lovely colt by Zabeel. Dean said "he's quite expensive but has the looks to be a superstar and he's got a stallion's pedigree." So again, on Dean's advice, I decided to take the gamble." The colt in question, which cost Achurch $40,000 for a 10 per cent share, is Savabeel.
Savabeel's first tentative steps as a two-year-old last spring resulted in a debut win on the tricky Kensington track at Randwick in February. It was to be the start of a slow rise to the top. "Dean and Graeme always liked Savabeel," Achurch said. "They warned me early on to be patient with him because he's a stayer by Zabeel that will be better as a three-year-old. They were right." However, Achurch, who ended his association with Polar Success when the filly was sold for over $1 million, had turned his initial $6,950 outlay into a $300,000 windfall.
Achurch didn't dream Savabeel would emerge as another major money-spinner and attract mind-boggling offers. He didn't think he could be so lucky. "Some people can whack away for years, sometimes spending millions, and get nothing more than a winner of a country maiden, if that" Achurch said. "Getting a good horse is like winning the lottery. I've just been lucky."
Achurch, who was offered huge money for his 10 per cent share of Savabeel, hasn't squandered his good fortune. While helping out immediate members of his family; Achurch, who also part-owns a handy trotter named Hexus, has bought and sold "about three or four" houses, and he is currently in the process of overseeing the construction of his dream home on an acre block at Camden.
"Financially it has changed my life, but on a personal level I haven't changed one bit," Achurch said. "I might be driving a better car soon, but I still hang out with my mates and bum around in shorts, T-shirts and thongs, it's just been an amazing ride".
I've got a lot of relatives and it's good to see them also getting something out of the horses. Both horses have been big odds when they have won and the family has had some good wins". He has helped his sister, Melinda, payoff her house and he offered to buy a new home for his mother, but bought her a new car when she declined his offer.
Achurch's lucky streak is, however, bringing some pressure from his partner. "Natasha and I have held off getting married because we didn't have the money; but after Savabeel won the Cox Plate she said 'we are going to have the biggest wedding ever now'."
Dynamic Syndications congratulates our client Michael Achurch on his racetrack success and living every owners dream.
THE MONEY MAKERS
The star gallopers Michael Achurch has had a share in
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