“There's no such thing as a mistake.”He doesn't mean it literally, of course. Evan Sandhu knows perfectly well how horses can make us repent of words and deeds. But he also understands that the greater your ambition, the more essential humility becomes.At Keeneland last November, Sandhu bought a mare named Sing Me Home (GB) (Muhaarar {GB}), carrying what proved to be a filly by Yaupon, for just $25,000. But both had already been sold on by the time the mare's 2-year-old by Justify, Nola Soul, won the Chesham Stakes at Royal Ascot in June.On the face of it, Sandhu might have been demoralized by the experience. As it is, he is adamant that he will only take positives: not just gains in friendship and counsel, but also the assurance that his new Amplify Stables near Toronto must be on the right track.A mistake? Well, sure, but no bigger than that made by the original vendors. And their program, at Glennwood, is recognized as an undisputed paragon among farms of its size. Just as they were able to make sense of the risks in culling the mare, with others from the same family at their disposal, so a relative novice like Sandhu was perfectly justified in taking a profit. After all, Nola Soul was far more likely to lose than win at Ascot; never mind the possibility that something might go amiss with any horse, at any time.Unsurprisingly, the man who approached Sandhu was Craig Bernick of Glen Hill Farm, who had bought Nola Soul as a $220,000 weanling at the 2024 Keeneland November Sale. Bernick was candid with Sandhu about trainer Fozzy Stack's esteem for his colt, who won at Leopardstown on debut last month.“He was very transparent,” Sandhu says. “Early on we couldn't agree on the price. I was like, 'I don't think that's enough, I want to keep her.' However, we talked a little more and I realized the financial sum was fair. I was happy just to start a friendship with somebody that can offer me a little mentorship in the future. And I might take a bit of a discount on the transaction, because that mentorship could save me years and maybe millions of dollars in experimentation.”So when a friend sympathized with Sandhu for his “mistake,” he made the reply cited above: that there was no such thing.“By doing this I met a great guy, who has been very generous with his time,” he said. “And you can't replace friendship with any kind of money.”Nola Soul (nearside) at Royal Ascot | HorsephotosMoreover, he could only be heartened that his shopping at Keeneland, with the valued help of Jesse Korona, had been unerring.“We have a 10-checkpoint list that we go through for the mares,” he explains. “We don't care how they ran so long as they fit our criteria, such as broodmare sire, the kind of fillies produced, stallion-making family, physical. And this was a lovely, classy mare. Her Yaupon was a precocious foal, quite a handful, and I worried that she would either run somebody over or run through a fence! But if she goes on and does something fantastic, good for her. I mean, I'm the breeder of record with my friend Jesse. So, fingers crossed. Whatever happens, she'll be a great addition as a broodmare. Because Nola Soul shows that the mare can throw class.”But Sing Me Home also represents a wider validation, in attesting to the transformative scope of the Ontario Thoroughbred Improvement Program. For Sandhu was emboldened to make the trip to Lexington by its Mare Purchase Program, which that sales season divided a $400,000 budget among local breeders importing in-foal mares of a given value, reimbursing up to 50 percent of the purchase price up to a maximum of $25,000 per mare.“The program's awesome,” Sandhu says with enthusiasm. “This was the first time we bought any kind of horse in Kentucky. Of the four mares we bought, three qualified. I spent $80,000 of my own money and got $38,000 back within a week. And obviously we knew about the program beforehand: without it, I wouldn't have spent as much.”It is certainly a laudable scheme on the part of an industry rallying from hard times through the determination and imagination of its leading horsemen. A $35 million reset has admittedly been held up by contention with Woodbine, but Sandhu is optimistic of resolution soon. For Sandhu channels the patriotic ardor of his family, as immigrants from India, towards a renewal of the Canadian Thoroughbred. Having bought the old Ballycroy Farm in Loretto in 2022, they have meanwhile developed a full program of breeding, boarding and pre-training, now extending to three stallions in Signature Red, Frac Dancer and Town Prize.“Around the end of COVID my dad was looking to get a farm,” Sandhu explains. “We're from a kind of farmer pedigree line and he said, 'I want to get back to land.' And when he bought the farm, he said, 'Do horses on it, pigs, goats, figure it out. But no apartments. Just don't sell the land.”In embarking on his Turf adventure, Sandhu conceded that he might be 10 years behind where he needed to be, financially.“But we've never backed down from a challenge,” he says. “We're a family of sportsmen and have always done what's unconventional. And we built the place up, in terms of clientele and staff, with a great team under Terry Brooker, our farm and racing manager.”Sandhu's father began with a single truck in 2013, but this is one highly entrepreneurial family. His uncle built a thriving transport business in California, and meanwhile the portfolio has expanded into food and beverages, real estate, warehousing and consulting–all, in Sandhu's phrase, by “bootstrapping our way.”“So high risk and high stakes have never been unfamiliar territory for us,” he remarks. “And I'm very hands-on. During business school, I used to fix and drive trucks for my dad. I always thought I would go into global consulting or investment banking. But when we got this farm, it fulfilled a craving. Because with horses, it's 24 hours a day. I live on the farm, I do the evening checks and take pride in grooming the stallions with my great team.”After testing the bloodstock water at a mediocre level, Sandhu heeded the seasoned counsel of Korona, David Anderson and Glenn Sikura, who all urged him that a sustainable business would require an upgrade in quality. But while its Kentucky-sired, Canadian-foaled stock may be tried on the market, the program's priority is to help reinvigorate the Canadian Thoroughbred on the racetrack.Evan Sandhu with Mage | courtesy of Evan Sanhu“I went to Lexington and think I saw 60 or 70 stallions over 12 days,” Sandhu says. “One day we want to bring a big-name stallion here, and try to bring Canada back to the limelight. I came to Canada when I was seven years old. Like my dad says, 'I don't care if you're Indian: you live in Ireland, you're Irish; you live in Canada, you're Canadian first. Don't forget your roots, but at the same time you better make sure that you're giving back to the land that you're on; that you're involved politically, community-wise, socially. So I want to work towards a legacy, and help bring Canadian racing to the next level.”That is anything but a parochial dream. Sandhu prizes the organic relationship between the North American and European gene pools, and in particular the transformative Canadian example of E.P. Taylor. Sure enough, it was the famously cosmopolitan strategy of Sing Me Home's breeders at Glennwood Farm that drew him to her page.For a while, indeed, the home screen on Sandhu's phone showed a picture of John Magnier and Robert Sangster. He admits with a chuckle that some friends and family found this a little eccentric.“But I told them that every time I pick up my phone, I remember that my mission is simple,” he says. “I have to be crazy enough to believe that I can breed Classic winners. Because it's going to take millions of dollars, and years and years of failure and success to get there. You need to be young to have ambition like that. Obviously, it's far-fetched for a guy who's just starting out in Canada, but that's the way I see the game. I've started to get the mentors and team in place, and hope to build a consortium of investors over the next six to seven years.“I have the 'last mover' advantage, where I'm talking to the bigger guys in the game and learning what mistakes to avoid. People have been very generous with their time, from Kentucky to Japan to Australia. I look up to the kind of horses David Anderson and his family have bred and sold over the years, by spending on the broodmares and doing it right. So maybe I'm naïve, but that's what I want to do: create product that can be sold all over.”In that context, culturally Sandhu thinks of grass as literally the sportsman's element: from cricket to polo to the racetrack.“As a Sikh, obviously horses are big in my background,” he says. “We had to breed warhorses that were really fast! Across time, our guys became horse traders. So, we're warriors-turned-farmers-turned-horsemen. And it's funny, one of my dad's maternal cousins is over from India for a visit and he has been telling me stories about my great-grandfather, who would buy horses from Malaysia and bring them to India. He would geld the colts and sell them to the British Army, or to local princes. So, he was a bit of a pinhooker!“It's more about legacy than money. They're not really a great investment, horses. But they are for your mind, your body. Since I started working with horses, I've been really fit, in my soul and physically. People feed off that energy, and the horses as well. For me, it's about future generations. I would like Canadians 20, 30 years down the line to say, 'Wow, that guy imported a bunch of these European Classic-style mares, brought them to Canada and gave us a shot.' I think there's a renaissance in Canada coming. I'm a very small part of that; it's guys like David Anderson and Glenn Sikura that are leading the way. But we bred eight mares on our farm last year. This year we had 45.”Most Indians reserve their sporting passion for cricket, where the Indian Premier League has become one of the world's premier sporting brands.“People here ask me if I have an affinity with cricket,” says Sandhu. “And I tell say that in Canada, we're going to try and build the IPL of horseracing.”The post Sandhu Embraces Ascot Pain For Long-Term Gain appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.