Merseyside-born Robert Sangster's impact on thoroughbred racing was once compared to that of The Beatles' impact on music.
Most of the tributes that poured in after Sangster passed away last Wednesday in London after a 10-month battle with pancreatic cancer, spoke of influence, vision, his knowledge and dominance of horse racing. Top Hong Kong trainer David Hayes, who flew to visit Sangster less than a fortnight ago and will return for the April 19 funeral, was deeply saddened by the 67-year-old's passing.
'Robert was a lovely man, with a great sense of humour, always a fantastic sense of fun. He was my father's biggest client during the 1980s and they had great racetrack success, but his influence was greater than that,' Hayes said. 'He internationalised racing in Australia, and I don't think our Lindsay Park Stud would be where it is today without Robert's interest.'
It was no surprise that two horseracing visionaries such as Sangster and Hayes' late father, Colin, became close after meeting in the early 1970s, not long after the trainer began to develop Lindsay Park - then just a nice patch of land outside Adelaide - into a world class operation.
Sangster also had horses in other yards, and his northern hemisphere success spilled into the southern hemisphere, where winners included Beldale Ball's Melbourne Cup, Derby and Oaks victors, and champion sprinting mare Special.
'Robert had a major impact on the beginning of my career,' Hayes recalls taking over Lindsay Park when Colin retired in 1990. 'I was in my 20s and unproved, but Robert backed me to the hilt. And when you get a major international player's support like that, clients who might have been thinking about jumping ship were probably influenced to stay, and others were encouraged to move to me just to follow Robert.
