DISCARDED TWICE. NOW HE'S GOING TO THE MELBOURNE CUP.

Sometimes the best horses aren't the obvious ones. Sometimes they're the ones everyone else has given up on.

And Defiantly might just be the perfect example.

Last night in France, Defiantly completed an extraordinary transformation, producing a dominant performance to win the Group 2 Prix Kergorlay at Deauville by 5½ lengths, defeating a high-class field and securing his place in the 2026 Melbourne Cup.

But perhaps the most remarkable part of the story is where it all started.

Because this wasn't a horse everybody wanted.

In fact, Defiantly had effectively been discarded twice before Australian Bloodstock came along.

€310,000 → 41,000 GUINEAS → DISCARDED AGAIN

As a yearling, Defiantly was very much the horse everyone wanted.

He sold for €310,000.

The pedigree was there.

The expectation was there.

The price tag certainly suggested the talent was supposed to be there.

But racing doesn't always follow the script.

By the following year, the market's opinion of him had changed dramatically.

The €310,000 yearling was sold for just 41,000 guineas.

A huge fall from his original valuation.

Then came another twist.

After beginning his racing career and showing glimpses of ability, Defiantly was effectively discarded again.

This time, however, someone else was watching.

Australian Bloodstock.

Rather than focusing simply on what Defiantly had already achieved, our team was interested in something completely different:

What hadn't he achieved yet?

We believed there was considerably more there.

Australian Bloodstock was subsequently able to negotiate a private deal to acquire 100% of the horse.

At the time, he was merely a lowly maiden winner at an obscure Irish country track.

He wasn't a fashionable Melbourne Cup horse.

He wasn't the obvious horse everybody was chasing.

But that's exactly the point.

SEEING THINGS OTHERS DON'T

For more than 24 years, Australian Bloodstock's buying philosophy has been built around trying to identify horses before the rest of the market catches up.

Anyone can identify a horse after it wins a Group race.

Anyone can look at a ratings sheet and buy the horse sitting at the top.

The difficult part is finding them before they become obvious.

Our methodology looks much deeper than simply wins and losses.

We analyse race profiles, sectionals, racing patterns, pedigree, physical development, distance suitability, age, improvement curves and the quality of opposition.

But there's another question we continually ask:

Is this horse actually being given the opportunity to show what he's capable of?

Sometimes a horse's form tells you what he is.

Other times it hides what he might become.

We believed Defiantly belonged in the second category.

THANKFULLY, SOME LOYAL AUSTRALIAN BLOODSTOCK OWNERS BACKED THE PROVEN METHOD — AND LIKE MAGIC, THE HORSE STARTED TALKING

Royal Ascot provided the first serious clue.

Defiantly produced a terrific staying performance in the Ascot Stakes, going down narrowly to Kizlar.

Then came Goodwood.

This time there was no narrow defeat.

He won by three lengths.

The horse Australian Bloodstock believed was hiding underneath the exposed form was beginning to emerge.

But handicaps are one thing.

Group racing is another.

Last night's Group 2 Prix Kergorlay was going to tell us whether we had simply found a nice staying handicapper — or something considerably better.

We got our answer.

Five and a half lengths.

Against a high-class European staying field.

Defiantly didn't sneak into Melbourne Cup calculations.

He smashed the door down.

And with the Prix Kergorlay carrying a Melbourne Cup ballot exemption, he has now guaranteed himself a position at Flemington on the first Tuesday in November.

AND HERE'S WHERE THE STORY GETS REALLY INTERESTING...

Defiantly isn't a one-off.

He's actually the second horse from two this European season where Australian Bloodstock has gone searching away from the obvious names and identified a horse we believed had the potential to develop into a Melbourne Cup contender.

The other is Wine Dark Sea.

Again, not the obvious horse.

Again, identified before he'd established himself at Group level.

Again, purchased with Australia and the Melbourne Cup firmly in mind.

And just days ago, Wine Dark Sea stepped into Group company and won the Group 3 Geoffrey Freer Stakes at Newbury, defeating a quality field and satisfying the Melbourne Cup qualifying conditions.

Now Defiantly has followed him.

So think about that for a moment.

Two horses targeted from left field.

Two horses Australian Bloodstock believed were better than their profiles suggested.

Two horses stepped into Group company.

Two Group winners.

Two Melbourne Cup horses.

Two from two.

That's something we're enormously proud of.

IT'S EASY TO BUY THEM AFTER EVERYONE KNOWS

There's no great secret to identifying a horse after he's won a Group race by five lengths.

The challenge in bloodstock is identifying him before he does it.

That's where Australian Bloodstock has always tried to operate.

We're prepared to look in places others aren't looking.

We're prepared to buy horses that aren't fashionable.

We're prepared to sit there clocking obscure races most people don't even glance at — let alone do the work.

And occasionally you find one where the market has already made its judgement.

In Defiantly's case, the market made that judgement more than once.

€310,000 as a yearling.

Then 41,000 guineas.

Then discarded again.

Then Australian Bloodstock negotiated a private deal.

Now he's a Group 2 winner.

Now he's a 5½-length winner over a high-class European field.

And now he's got a ticket to the Melbourne Cup.

THE SEARCH NEVER STOPS

Australian Bloodstock has been fortunate enough to win Australia's greatest race twice.

Protectionist in 2014.

Gold Trip in 2022.

Both came from Europe.

Both required looking beyond what a horse had already achieved and trying to understand what he might be capable of in Australia.

More than a decade after Protectionist gave us our first Melbourne Cup, the search continues.

The data has improved.

The analysis has become deeper.

Our methodology continues to evolve.

But the fundamental philosophy remains remarkably simple:

Don't just look at the horse everyone can see.
Try to find the horse others can't.

There is still a long road between Deauville and Flemington.

We know better than most how difficult the Melbourne Cup is to win.

But before you can win one, you've got to find the horse capable of getting you there.

This year Australian Bloodstock went looking for two.

Wine Dark Sea — Group winner and Melbourne Cup qualified.

Defiantly — Group 2 winner and Melbourne Cup golden ticket secured.

Two from two.

And perhaps there is no better advertisement for the Australian Bloodstock buying philosophy than the horse who was once worth €310,000, sold for 41,000 guineas, discarded again — and then given another chance.

His name seems rather appropriate now.

Defiantly.

Discarded twice.

Written off.

Found by Australian Bloodstock.

And now he's going to the Melbourne Cup.

Photo courtesy Racing And Sports