Owner anger over Lil Caesar sale

Long-time friends Ben Weiss and Steve Sandor each owned 5 per cent of the former Chris Waller-trained galloper and raised concerns early about the process around the sale of the horse.

“I looked at this as a blue-chip opportunity as opposed to other racehorse ownership ventures,” Sandor said.

“You would think that racing a horse with someone as well known as Richard Callander and being trained by Chris Waller would be a safe-as-houses endeavour as an owner.

“I thought it was bulletproof, that it would be a fun experience, but the end result was the last thing on our minds.”

Sandor, who has owned small percentages in three other horses, bought into Lil Caesar on the advice of Weiss. Both formerly worked as medical support staff for the Richmond Football Club, including during the club’s most recent premiership in 1980.

“I raced and bred horses for 30 years but hadn’t owned one for 30 years,” Weiss said.

“Breeding had always been a passion of mine, I think that I know a bit about it, and I liked the bloodlines of this horse.

“I took 5 per cent in him and advised Steve to do the same.

“We paid all training fees for a year but the communication we received was poor.

“In fact, I didn’t even know about the horse’s first barrier trial.”

Weiss had concerns in October 2014 after receiving correspondence from the stable that the horse had limited ability and that the best option would be to sell him.

“A voicemail message came from Chris Waller, as part of the stable correspondence,” Weiss said.

“Waller said that the horse had limited ability and advised us that we should look at selling him, that he wouldn’t likely be a city-class horse.

“We were then told that he would be trialled again with the intention of that being used as a sale tool, to hopefully get us a good price.

“Two weeks later the horse trialled again and he won very impressively but, again, the voicemail message from Chris Waller said that he had limited ability and that we should sell but if a buyer could not be found then we would race in a few weeks.

“We only had 5 per cent each so didn’t have much say in the matter, (and then) a few weeks later we are told that the horse was sold for $140,000.

“My question is who decides at the stable whether a horse has limited ability?”

Lil Caesar was sold to Hong Kong interests in October/November 2014 for $210,000 while the owners were told that the son of Holy Roman Emperor had been sold for $140,000.

“The horse was sold as an early three-year-old,” Sandor said.

“On pedigree, we didn’t think that he would be at his best until he was a late three-year-old or four-year-old.

“We listened to the experts and we only had 10 per cent holding so we ran with what the majority believed, everything was out of our hands.”

Weiss sent correspondence to Waller Racing asking for an invoice for the sale of Lil Caesar.

“My beef was that things were always fishy from the outset,” Weiss said.

“I would send emails to the stable and all of the replies would come from Liam Prior.

“I asked to see an invoice for the sale of the horse and I would get a response saying that there was no such thing as an invoice, I was not satisfied with that response.

“I questioned the integrity of the process all the way through - we hadn’t even been told where the horse had been sold to.”

Despite not receiving the response that he was after, Weiss entered Lil Caesar into the Google search engine and found that he was now being trained in Hong Kong by Danny Shum, racing under the name of Lucky Year.

“I watched every trial that he had, I watched every race,” Weiss said.

“I wrote to Liam Prior and congratulated him for selling a horse to Hong Kong with such limited ability as he was doing exceptionally well for his new owner.

“I even contacted the Hong Kong Jockey Club wanting to congratulate the new owner and ask for full details of the sale but I received no response.

“After every win, I sent Liam Prior a note to say ‘well done on the sale of a horse with such limited ability’.”

Lucky Year has had eight starts in Hong Kong, winning four times and placing on three other occasions and collecting more than A$700,000 in prizemoney.

Weiss became further concerned when he heard details of the Racing Victoria inquiry into trainer Brent Stanley and jockey Glyn Schofield over the sale of the horse Equita to Hong Kong, with that horse also in the stable of Shum.

Further contact was made to Callander and Prior requesting an invoice for the sale of the horse yet nothing came.

“I got the same email response from Prior saying how much more could he do to show that all was above board,” Weiss said

“How on earth can you sell a horse overseas and not have an invoice?

“I warned them that I would take this up with Racing NSW Stewards if an invoice wasn’t produced.

“It wasn’t long after that when I received correspondence from Callander that we had been done for $50,000.

“He rang me and was tearful and apologetic, that his career was ruined.

“The next day, 5 per cent of the $50,000 was paid into my account.

“All I wanted was evidence of the true sale of the horse.”

Both Weiss and Sandor are yet to decide whether they will take further legal action over the matter.

“I am not interested in crucifying people,” Sandor said.

“Careers are in jeopardy.”

Weiss is still frustrated by the whole process.

“Chris Waller has rung and apologised for the misjudgement in selling the horse,” Weiss said.

“I just wished that we knew the answer to the question as to who advised that the horse had such limited ability - was it Waller, Prior, Callander or someone else?

“I take Chris Waller at his word that he had no involvement in any dealings around the sale of the horse.”

Both men are considering whether they will race horses again.

“This was my first horse purchase in 30 years,” Weiss said.

“It will likely be another 30 years before my next one.”