Our questions are answered by the founder of OTI Racing, the hugely successful Australian-based racing and bloodstock operation who recently enjoyed a banner week at Britain’s most prestigious race meeting
Australian-based syndicate company OTI Racing & Bloodstock has been a well-established name for over 20 years, but 2025 will go down as a landmark year.
The venture, set up in 1999 by Terry Henderson and former Australian test cricketer Simon O’Donnell, who is no longer part of the business, has registered more than 150 wins at Group or Listed level, which include 18 G1s with horses such as Gailo Chop, Manighar and I’m Thunderstruck.
The newest name on the list is Docklands, who launched what became a memorable Royal Ascot when capturing the first race of the week, the G1 Queen Anne Stakes. OTI bookmarked the meet when Sober landed the Queen Alexandra Stakes, the closing event of the five-day stand.
Since 2003 OTI have become pioneers of the practice of sourcing talent from Europe for future careers in Australia, and Sober could now be campaigned towards the Melbourne Cup.
“I’ve won a Melbourne Cup with Doriemus in 1995 and OTI has had a day where we had two Group 1 winners and a Group 2 winner on the same day – but the experience at Royal Ascot was probably the most high-profile,” says Henderson.
Including breeding stock, OTI has around 200 horses. “OTI has been going for about 25 years and I’ve been racing horses for about 40,” adds Henderson. “We’ve won all the big races in Australia other than perhaps the Golden Slipper and the Cox Plate. We do put great value on European racing because of the quality of the horses.”
Which racing figure past or present do you most admire?
Andre Fabre(right). He is as good a trainer as there has ever been in France; his record speaks for itself. He’s an astute judge of placing horses and I find him a really pragmatic man to deal with when it comes to acquiring and racing horses with him.
He trained our first Arc runner Sevenna’s Knight and he used to train Sober – not that he had anything to do with the sale as he was part of the Wertheimer brothers dispersal. We had looked at the horse a couple of years ago and he wasn’t for sale then. We had a pretty good idea of the horse by the time he came up for sale.
Which is your favourite venue, and race, anywhere in the world?
One of my favourite tracks is York but of course I love the other great venues like Flemington, Longchamp and Ascot as well. York is a very fair track, a lovely big, open track. Horses seem to get their chance. It’s flat which means it's more akin to an Australian course which we’re used to racing on. I love the place for its town as well.
I would get shot if I didn’t say the Melbourne Cup was my favourite race because of its prestige in Australia.
Who is your favourite racehorse and why?
In terms of the horses we have owned it would be a toss up between Gailo Chop, which Hubie de Burgh helped us buy, and Doriemus who won the Melbourne Cup.
Doriemus was a three-year-old A$4,000 yearling, trained in New Zealand. We bought him off the trainer who stayed in the horse and we raced him in Australia for six seasons. He started in four Melbourne Cups. He won the Melbourne-Caulfield Cup double in 1999 and he won the Queen Elizabeth Stakes as a six-year-old. He was the top stayer of his period.
We bought Gailo Chop with Emmanuel de Seroux and Hubie de Burgh in his three-year-old career. He came to Australia and won the Mackinnon, then went back to Europe where he picked up a tendon injury. We took him to Australia to rehabilitate and he won two more G1s there.
What is your fondest memory in racing?
It’s pretty recent – a combination of winning the Melbourne Cup and what happened at Royal Ascot. The week at Ascot has to be put as one memory. Even at this stage it’s hard to appreciate the luck we had. To be involved with Harry Eustace who is a great young trainer was special. Docklands will stay in Europe. He will be aimed at the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot in October.
If you could change one thing in racing, what would it be?
I would consolidate Australian racing administration. I would consolidate it in Victoria first and then do it nationally and basically set up a model akin to France Galop. Things aren’t working at the moment. We have good stake money but it’s more expensive to race horses in Australia than it is in most other places. The way we administer racing in Australia is not conducive to efficiency.
Terry Henderson was speaking to Jon Lees
• Visit the OTI Racing website
• View the entire What They're Thinking series
Oisin Murphy: The normal person felt an attachment to racing that doesn’t exist anymore
Hugh Anderson of Godolphin: Cross Counter’s surge in the Melbourne Cup will live with me forever
Umberto Rispoli: Journalism is the real deal – he is a serious horse
John Velazquez: Winning the Kentucky Derby on Animal Kingdom is my fondest memory
View the latest TRC Global Rankings for horses / jockeys / trainers / sires