Owners of Keats (IRE) after winning the Ladbrokes Moe Cup at Moe Racecourse. (Photo by Ross Holburt/Racing Photos)
Jack Dickens isn’t shy about playing favourites.
As the Director of The Mailbag and Mailbag Bloodstock, ‘Dicko’ as he is affectionately known may have identified and purchased over 30 horses, but eight-year-old Keats holds a special place in his heart.
“I just love him, he’s such an exciting horse,” he said.
Dickens and the Mailbag Bloodstock team purchased the son of Galileo in 2022 for $25,000, with the gelding now earning over $700,000 in prizemoney thanks to his nine career wins and 10 placings.
“Keats owes us nothing, but we owe the whole foundation of our business to Keats,” Dickens said.
“He's taken us from his win in the Benchmark 64 at Sale all the way to an All-Star Mile last year.
“Keats has allowed us to continue buying horses and building Mailbag Bloodstock to where we are today.”
Ever since Dickens and Mailbag Bloodstock purchased Keats, they’ve entrusted Gavin Bedggood to train him at his Cranbourne stables.
“We’re incredibly grateful for the work Gavin has done with Keats,” Dickens said.
“He came to us not having won in two years, and after one month with Gavin, he’s winning at Sale by almost five lengths.”
When reflecting on this year’s campaign, and the work Bedggood has done with Keats in the lead up to Saturday’s Victorian Country Cups Final (2000m) at Caulfield Dickens said he was “quietly confident.”
“After seeing his performance at the Moe Cup in October, and how well Gavin’s prepared him, I’m feeling good about what he’s going to be able to produce,” he said.
“He would love a track with a bit of give, but I'm feeling positive about how he will go.
“He’s a tough horse, tougher than we all are. He’ll do better in the heat than I will, that’s for sure.”
Keats finished seventh on the Victorian Country Cups Series leaderboard on ten points thanks to his wins in the TAB Werribee Cup (1600m) in December and the Ladbrokes Moe Cup (2050m) in October.
Dickens will be on track at Caulfield Racecourse this weekend, along with other members of Keats’ ownership group.
“You’ll quickly notice we’re a bit different to other syndicates on a raceday, we’re a bit rare on course,” he said.
“We’ll get a bit loose, have a bit of fun – we don’t take ourselves too seriously.”
It’s this point of difference that Dickens feels has bolstered his company’s success as a syndicate.
“We’ve proven ourselves as being good at identifying value at sales, but our business is really built on being the best at communicating with owners,” he said.
“When I started, the only thing I could control was the experience of owners when they came into our syndicate, and we pride ourselves on the transparency with which we speak to our ownership groups.”
Dickens credits Racing & Communications Manager Jono Rayner with the high calibre of owner communications, as well as Ash Carpenter from Stable Connect.
“They both really are world-class at what they do,” he said.
“I wouldn’t be able to do half the work I do without them.”
The uniqueness of Mailbag Bloodstock has led to a diverse ownership group, one that Dickens proudly describes as a little community.
“You’ll have young blokes from the local footy club bringing their families out to watch a horse they’ve got a stake in; alongside the classic horse folk you’re used to seeing at the small country races,” he said.
“The fact that we’re able to create this environment where the whole family can get involved really goes back to why I started Mailbag in the first place – I wanted to be able to show my kids what goes on when Dad heads to the track.”