Former USA and Perth Wildcats pro basketballer Todd Lichti enjoyed his first major success as a breeder when Villa Verde won the LR Debutants Stakes at Caulfield on Saturday.
Villa Verde (2f Not A Single Doubt – Young and Free by Kenmare) is from the first group of yearlings that Todd and his Australian-born wife Sue offered at the Inglis Melbourne Premier Sale. She made $95,000 to the bid of trainer Shaun Dwyer at Oaklands Junction.
Lichti bought into the family when paying $10,500 for Young and Free at the 2010 Inglis Australian Broodmare Sale in June 2010. “I wouldn’t normally look at a 16-year-old mare, but Young and Free was in foal to Not A Single Doubt and I thought he was a young sire on the up. She was a well put together mare and good value at the money.”
Villa Verde will target the LR Ottawa Stakes on Melbourne Cup day and will then be spelled before preparing for an autumn campaign.
In the meantime, Lichti will present seven yearlings in the Kiah Glenn draft at the 2013 Melbourne Premier Sale. “We’re hoping to sell at least one stakes horse and two or three city winners each year. Our aim is to offer nice, tight drafts of good types that will sell well.”
At the same time, Lichti acknowledges the generous assistance he’s received from several experienced industry people like Adam Sangster, Ian Rimmington, Brian Messner, James Price plus Kiah Glenn in South Australia, Goulburn Park in Victoria and Oaklyn Farm in NSW.
Lichti was born in California and his interest in racing and breeding was sparked when he came to Australia in the late 1990s to play with the Perth Wildcats, and again when he and Sue settled in Melbourne ten years ago.
“Horse-racing isn’t followed by many people in the United States, but in Australia it’s much more part of the culture. Every morning, getting a coffee, you’ll meet someone who owns a horse or knows something about racing.
“I always wanted to try it, and Australia seems like the best place in the world to do it. And the Melbourne Spring Carnival is fairly intoxicating!”