Author: Sean Buckley
Chad Scofield and Danny O’Brien relive 2013 Cox Plate win
Sean Buckley interview – Does he regret selling Nature Strip for $80k?
The short answer is no! Sean Buckley discusses the success of Ultra Racing and Nature Strip in an exclusive interview with racenet.com.au:
“It is a business that is developing every day and it is an industry I love being a part of,” Buckley said.
But when you strike early in your racing career, like Buckley did with Miss Andretti, that is risk reward. But in this sense, winning a race at Royal Ascot, with a horse sourced from Western Australia, is not about the bottom line.
“I still remember seeing trainer Lee Freedman singling Waltzing Matilda and drinking out of the trophy in the car park. I had my wife and kids with me, we had been to Dubai for a holiday, we got invited to the Royal Box, it was just the best day ever,” Buckley said.
And it was a whirlwind week from the Tuesday when Craig Froggie Newitt getting home, leading fellow Aussies, Magnus into third and Takeover Target into fourth.
“I got offered $10 million from an Arab Sheik for her to run in his colours on the Saturday in the Golden Jubilee, but knocked that back. It wasn’t about the money.”
Miss Andretti failed in the Golden Jubilee, finishing 15th, with Takeover Target second to Soldier’s Tale but she’d come home and straight up in the spring won the Group 2 Schweppes at The Valley and Group 1 Age Classic at Flemington in Cup Week.
So too it wasn’t about the money with watching Nature Strip win on Tuesday night either.
“You could say I sold a horse for $80,000 that has won $18m, but honestly that is good for business, I don’t regret selling, I strive to breed a horse like that, I breed plenty of horses every year, I can’t keep them all,” Buckley said.
$500,000 for Strikeline:
“I have a budget every year to buy mares and I think we paid $500,000 for Strikeline off the track, sent her to Star Witness and she produced a horse called The Barrister that we sold to Hong Kong.”
And Sean Buckley now has Strikeline, the mother of Nature Strip, back in foal to Nicconi and you would suggest without much argument, that it won’t be sold.
It might seem though a touch ironic that is was both Miss Andretti and Strikeline which gave Buckley unwarranted headlines over an alleged embryo transplantation scheme. It was something that saw Buckley banned from racing horses (only) in Victoria until the matter settled with no action taken (but some damage done reputationally).
“I complied with every direction of the authorities and the stewards in relation to the inquiry. I was open and transparent, there was never any intention of any subsequent foal being registered with the studbook, we were simply regenerating their breeding cycles and it has worked.
“It was an embarrassment at the times, but we had never done anything wrong, and the right outcome
was reached with Racing Victoria.”
Miss Andretti defeating Gold Edition at Caulfield in 2007
Buckley and headlines are no strangers. His expensive UltraTune advertising campaigns features the likes of Mike Tyson, Charlie Sheen, Pamela Anderson and other Hollywood celebrities, featured almost annually as the most complained about to with the Australia’s Advertising Standards.
“They kept changing the laws and we kept changing the ads,” said Buckley, “it was like a cat chasing a mouse, but we might have spent $3m on blocking out ads for a month and get $1.5m in publicity out of the backlash, they almost paid for themselves,” he said.
But that business nouse isn’t lost on Buckley as an investor or entrepreneur.
“It’s a good question what we can do to boost the image of racing or attracting a younger appeal. I still say it’s a rich man’s game. Horses are getting more expensive, and as good as syndication has been, I am not sure how much more recommitment on spend or new money is coming in.
“It is a sport and industry that relies heavily on the gambling dollar, as well as one that struggles with public perception on cruelty, the whip and animal welfare.”
A Buckley like UltraTune campaign mightn’t be the answer. He had actor Alec Baldwin – as Donald Trump signed to be his next advertising star – I’m not sure that could carry over into a racing relevance, but it is worth listening to someone who works and lives and has been successful outside of the – dare I say – racing bubble – while a major investor in it at the same time.
Read more from this interview with Sean Buckley over at racenet.com.au
Sean Buckley – How did Ultra Tune start?
Ultra Tune entreprenuer Sean Buckley discusses the start of Ultra Tune – the acquisition of a failing company in the 90s and how he turned it around into the successful empire that it is today.
Sean Buckley – Ultra Tune – exclusive interviews:
Exclusive interview with Sean Buckley – Ultra Tune Executive Director, discussing life at Ultra Tune, exclusive behind the scenes and plans for the future. How did Sean Buckley get Mike Tyson to shoot an ad with Ultra Tune? How did losing everything in the 1980s effect Sean Buckley? How did he start the business? Find out in this exclusive interview.
A really interesting look at Ultra Tune and discussion with Sean Buckley about the company and the notorious television campaigns. Lots of fun clips from advertising campaigns, interviews with close friends and business partners.
Filmed by Industry Leaders in 2019
Sean Buckley – Gold Coast entrepreneur
Sean Buckley is an Australian entrepreneur now based on the Gold Coast with vast experience in many areas of business. Sean is Executive Chairman at The Ultra Group of Companies which includes (among others) Ultra Tune and Ultra Thoroughbreds – one of Australia’s largest and most successful Thoroughbred Racing and Breeding enterprises. Sean is a skilled entrepreneur with a diverse range of interests including sports, business and new technologies. He went about building Ultra Tune at the expense of his own comfort. He famously took $100 a week in wages so that he could invest back into the business, specifically the franchisees, because these were the people who were driving his long-term vision and the business model.
“Entrepreneurs need to “think outside the box”.
In 2016 Sean Buckley appeared on behalf of Ultra Tune and other independent after sales service providers at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association (the industry’s professional lobby group where he now sits on the board) enquiry into the monopoly that new car manufacturers were attempting to sustain on after sales servicing, Sean’s appearance and the background work completed by Ultra Tune proved decisive in opening up the market to greater competition in the industry with legislative changes resulting.
Sean Buckley answers: What has been the biggest challenge of franchising your brand? How did you overcome it?
Ultra Tune has faced various challenges over the years, not the least of which being an adverse legal finding after a court case with the ACCC. I was overseas at the time for an extended period of time and unfortunately (my own fault), didn’t take an active enough role in the pending case. As a consequence the company was issued with a hefty fine. This was an operational issue, that, once I returned to Australia was immediately rectified and, thankfully our clientele has seen it for what it was – a glitch in an overwise stellar 40 years of operation. What it did show me was the need to keep my finger on the pulse of the organization at all time. The implications could have been catastrophic, however, being such a well-established and credible company allowed us to ride this setback out and thereafter the company has comeback stronger and more effective than ever before.
Obviously the current COVID climate has been an enormous challenge for the business. I’ve been forced to make a series very tough business decisions in the first six months. A combination of a sound management team, great network of franchisees and thinking and adapting to changed circumstances have allowed Ultra Tune to survive better than many other comparable companies. We’re clearly not out of the woods yet, but by maintaining an adaptive and proactive approach, I’m confident, 5 years from now Ultra Tune will continue to be the leading independently owned auto-service company in Australia.
Sean Buckley answers: What do you think of the hypocrisy where women are allowed to ridicule men in commercials such as Allpest which requests the extermination of her husband?
Precisely that – hypocritical, hence why we flipped the Pamela ad and had the hero a female. If Pamela’s role had have been played by a man this year, the ad would
have been banned, but because it was a female heroine it left the PC brigade nowhere to go.
Sean Buckley answers: Why aren’t you targeting women in your adverts?
This is a two-fold answer. If you look at the demographics the split of our audience is predominately male – previously about 70/30, these days that is changing though, probably closer to 60/40. Our “target” audience – male or female – isn’t offended by the ad(s), in fact, independent audits we’ve had conducted indicated that only a very small % of people are concerned.
For example, this year we had the Pamela ad viewed more than 5M times on free to air TV and another 2M plus on social channels – of that 7M plus people who saw the ad we generated about 200 or so complaints to AdStandards (which were ultimately dismissed) – so I would suggest this is hardly significant number. The issue is “social media”everyone can have an opinion these days and voice it via social media. So if 100 people pool their resources they can
make a noise.
Those who find the ad comedic (the silent majority) or have no opinion are less likely to pass comment on social media so it “appears” there is a lot of negative press about them, when in actual fact – numbers wise it is inconsequential and, after each ad is aired we see our patronage increase by 20-40% immediately after they are screened. As I keep saying; “if the ads were hurting our brand we wouldn’t run them” – they do the opposite and in many instances we get positive feedback from men and women because we take a stance and thumb our noses at political correctness. The majority of people are over being told what they can and can’t do or like and applaud us for our position.
Sean Buckley – Partner with humm at participating stores
At participating stores Ultra Tune has partnered with humm where you can buy now and pay later with regular, interest-free instalments. If you’re new to humm little things, you can apply while you checkout with Ultra Tune by following the prompts. Approvals are instant (if you qualify), so you can start shopping right away.