Racing: Sir Patrick Hogan made every post a winner

Patrick Hogan reckons his entire legacy came down to the incomparable Sir Tristram. Photo / Dean Purcell

Sir Patrick Hogan says he'd have made a great All Blacks halfback - it would have suited his competitiveness.

Yes, he has the cunning of a Sid Going, the never-say-die of Australian George Gregan and the brilliance of Aaron Smith.

But hang on, halfbacks are cocky. That's not Hogan. Massive competitiveness and humility rarely sit in the same room. In Hogan their conciliation is legendary.

If you were given one word to describe Hogan it would be humility. To come from a Waikato middle-class farming family to one of New Zealand's richest would have most of us crowing. Hogan has allowed his horses to do the yapping. Only Hogan sees the competitiveness in himself.

Following any one of the 30 years he topped the Karaka Yearling Sale you struggled to get a boastful word. Just a wry Irish smile. Irish are legendary horsemen and Hogan epitomises it.

It showed when he purchased Sir Tristram. He knew what bloodlines he wanted. Sir Tristram was it, even though he didn't fit the "lovely" English thoroughbred. Plenty tried to talk him out of the horse. He syndicated 50 per cent, but even some of those investors pulled out when they inspected the stallion on arrival. One was breeder Fred Bodle. Later Bodle won the Melbourne Cup with Sir Tristram's daughter Empire Rose.

Sir Tristram became world famous and his sire son Zabeel followed on.

"I've been told no one can come up with another sire and son becoming champions without a gap between them."

Hogan is not demonstrative, but absorbs all nuances. He doesn't say a lot about the presentation New Zealand Bloodstock will make to him before selling starts for the final session of Book 1 tomorrow morning, but you know it will mean a lot.

The turmoil of giving it all away after taking himself to being revered around the world doesn't immediately show, but he declares that tomorrow night when the final horse goes through the ring he will: "Go and hide somewhere for half an hour."

Hogan reveres loyalty and gives plenty. Staff members stay for decades. Ask longtime Cambridge Stud general manager Marcus Corban for one word to describe Hogan, he says: "Perfectionism".

Bloodstock agent Barry Lee, a former manager for Hogan and a lifelong friend, almost always accompanies the studmaster. "If I was allowed two words they would be 'hard working'. He never stops ..."

Retired master trainer Colin Jillings and wife Alison, along with another master horseman Dave O'Sullivan, were enjoying Hogan's hospitality in the Cambridge Stud marquee yesterday.

"I remember taking Diamond Lover (Railway winner) to Sydney for Patrick in the mid-80s. She didn't do well when we got there and I called Patrick and said I'd like to bring her home without racing.

"Patrick asked if I'd give her a break of a couple of weeks in Sydney then keep trying, but my experience is if a filly or mare doesn't arrive in top condition in Australia, they don't improve.

"I could tell Patrick was really disappointed, but instead of conveying that he said: 'Get all the staff and your mates together, go to a flash restaurant, eat and drink as much as you can and send me the bill.'

"I told him I felt too sick about the whole thing to do that, but that the gesture meant more to me than anything I could think of at the time."

Hogan doesn't want fanfare tomorrow night. "And I'm looking forward to getting around Cambridge Stud and the Karaka complex in the future with a nice glass of pinot noir."

Sir Patrick Hogan will be Cambridge Stud's legacy, but the Irishman will tell you it really all came down to Sir Tristram.

"I put $80,000, all the money I had at the time, into him and said if it doesn't work after six years I'll go back to what I know - pigs and cows."

Interesting that a pair of equine testicles could elevate an entire thoroughbred industry to worldwide dominance.