Vinery buys half-brother to Black Caviar and a farm

Nathan Tinkler, the financially troubled Australian tycoon who owns Patinack Farm, has sold All Too Hard, a Group 1-winning half-brother to Black Caviar, to Vinery Stud in Australia, according to Australian media reports.

Tinkler, 36, reportedly will sell All Too Hard as part of $31.6 million deal that includes Onemorenomore, a Group 1 winner already standing at Vinery Australia, and a Patinack Farm property, the former Allanbridge Stud, in Aberdeen, New South Wales. Patinack’s website describes the farm as “the foundation property of Patinack Farm’s mammoth operation.”

All Too Hard is a 3-year-old Casino Prince colt out of Helsinge, by Desert Sun. He’s a four-time stakes winner this year, with his biggest victory coming in the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas on Oct. 13. In his most recent start, the Group 1 Cox Plate on Oct. 27, he narrowly lost to Ocean Park. He has won four of nine starts and earned more than $1.5 million.

Onemorenomore, a son of Vinery foundation sire Red Ransom, won the Group 1 Champagne Stakes in 2009. His first foals are yearlings of 2012.

Vinery’s Australian farm is owned by a partnership led Tom Simon, who owns Vinery’s properties in the United States, and which also includes Neil Werrett. Werrett co-owns champion racemare Black Caviar, the two-time Australian Horse of the Year who is undefeated in 22 starts, and was the underbidder when Tinkler bought All Too Hard for $1,025,000 as a yearling, according to Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald newspaper.

Tinkler made his fortune in Australia’s mining industry and has been a major buyer at select bloodstock sales in recent years. But his primary asset, a 19.4 percent stake in Whitehaven Coal, has plunged in value after a drop in coal prices. Earlier this year, an Australian court appointed a liquidator for the Patinack operation, although Tinkler has said that he intends to stay in the Thoroughbred business after reducing his bloodstock holdings.