You can take the boy out of the bush but you can’t take the bush out of the boy could have been coined to describe the majority of males born and bred in the WA Goldfields.

It’s also been the stomping ground for numerous racing men like Yarradale Stud’s Ron Sayers who have made a name for themselves in Perth going all the way back to iconic owner-trainer Paddy Connolly.  It’s also a appropriate phrase for the fairer sex and Lyn Sayers fits that bill albeit as a much more refined example of the Kalgoorlie migrants living closer to the coast.

Lyn is a Goldfields girl and she was married to Ron for 30 years until he was cruelly taken in May 2022.  Ron was a champion bloke and a shrewd businessman who graduated from selling drill-bits from Coolgardie to Laverton before developing Ausdrill into a billion-dollar international mining company.

“Lyn reckons wherever you go in racing, you meet people from Kalgoorlie,” Yarradale’s Irish-born manager Davy Hanratty said at the Magic Millions National Sale earlier this month.  “She doesn’t have to travel far with her Goldfields friends Tony and Libby Patrizzi next-door neighbours!

“Lyn purchased two broodmares on the Gold Coast and we’re not finished yet.  The emphasis is on quality and we will also be buying at the Inglis Great Southern Sale in Melbourne.

“Rebel Heart (More Than Ready) cost $400,000 and she’s in foal to The Autumn Sun while Flirting (Medaglia d'Oro) made $200,000 with a positive test to Too Darn Hot (GB).  They will both be bred back to Playing God.”

Hanratty also revealed Yarradale will be looking for a quality stallion prospect for the 2025 serving season.  Gingerbread Man (Shamardal) is the sole stallion standing at Yarradale this season and his latest talented 2yo coming through the ranks is the Wally Daly homebred Spice Is Right.  He won an Ascot nursery on Anzac Day and then split Rainline and Golden Kathleen at Belmont before going out for a winter spell.

Hanratty chipped in $40,000 for NZ-bred maiden mare Toni Too (Tavistock) at the Gold Coast.  Her final win was at the Gold Coast on New Year’s Eve and she’s a half-sister to the dam’s of Jericho Missile (RL Magic Millions 2YO Classic) and Resortman (G3 Eurythmic Cup).

L-R: Susan & Davy Hanratty with Lyn Sayers and Flirting (Medaglia D'Oro) at the Gold Coast Magic Millions National Sale