Anthony Gafa - The Man Behind Bloodstockauction.com

While the name Anthony Gafa may not be overly familiar to all Thoroughbred industry participants, his burgeoning online business Bloodstockauction,com is certainly making an impact on their consciousness.

Jane Henning writes - Some may imagine that Anthony, aged 39, is simply a successful businessman with a great idea, but he is no stranger to the racing and breeding industries in Australia. Unlike many major players however, he is not the product of a Thoroughbred industry family, nor has he stepped into the shoes of a wealthy relative.

Of Maltese background, Anthony is the product of immigrant parents who individually migrated to Australia in the '60's before they met, not only aware that Australia was 'the land of opportunity', but also in order to remove themselves from an unstable country.

A former Crown Colony of the British Empire, Malta was heavily bombed in the Second World War and had several changes of government through the following decades.

Anthony's maternal grandmother was a wealthy landowner in Malta. "With no actual cash flow," explained Anthony, "she sold up all her property just to have the cash to buy one house in Chalmers St, Redfern – in those days a very working class area. It was a big terrace house with seven bedrooms over three levels and three kitchens. It was intended for the parents, six children and any future additions to the family through marriage."

His maternal grandfather died early and his grandmother supported the six kids, still relying on the funds from the sale of land in Malta. "Everybody in the family worked hard and there was a refusal to rely on unemployment benefits to carry the family," said Anthony.

Anthony's mother was the oldest daughter of six siblings and while in Malta, she had to stay at home and look after the younger children. She never received a formal education and went through her whole life unable to read or write, although she did learn to speak English.

In those much less racially tolerant days in Australia, she was very protective of her younger siblings and being very 'tough' physically and mentally, was the go-to conflict resolver of the family.

Anthony's parents met here and married. He was one of four children – the youngest and only son. Anthony's family had very little spare money while he was growing up.

The children were all sent to private Catholic schools and there was no money left over for luxuries.

"I remember taking toast to school when the bread was stale," said Anthony, whose Catholic faith is still very important to him.

His Father, a printer who held two jobs, was a habitual gambler, 35 years ago losing and then winning back the $10,000 they had saved hard for to buy a house.

Although there was always money for food, there were many weeks when his Father's whole pay had been spent. When Anthony was about seven years old, his family moved to Blacktown where his parents could afford their own house.

While both parents were a great influence on his life, his mother was a very big personality.

"She was the matriarch of our extended family, a great party person who was passionate about Aussie sport," he explained.

She passed away in 1990 from breast cancer – a huge loss for Anthony.

A resourceful child, it was evident early on that Anthony had an entrepreneurial streak. From a young age, he was impossible to beat at Monopoly – and that record still stands.

"I would bulk buy lollies and hold guessing competitions at school to get extra money," said Anthony, "but my first 'official' job was commission-only, selling lollies for charity as a 13 year-old."

Around this age he also started working with relatives who were carpenters and plumbers. His first three cars – all bombs - he earned as contra for work!

Anthony left school in Year 10, eager to get out into the working world. He was very good at maths and science – not so good at English. "My Father insisted that if I wanted to leave school, I needed to get a trade. I applied for many jobs and ended up with an electrical apprenticeship." Anthony has since lost his Father to cancer.

During his apprenticeship he scrimped and saved to secure money for a house, working for a large firm for the first four years.

"I could count on one hand my weekends off over that time – I was on a mission," Anthony recalled.

He started investing in property, a passion he still follows today.

He then set up his own business, AJG Electrical, with his sister Tanya as his first office employee. Tanya had been driving him to job interviews and otherwise supporting his progress since a young teen.

The business became a very large concern, however it wasn't all plain sailing.

"I lost a huge amount of money through some of my builder clients going broke during the GFC and had to remodel the business to make it non-reliant on large builders," he explained.

Anthony first became interested in racehorses around 20 years ago. At the same time, martial art was a big part of his life.

"From the ages of 13 to 25 I was very involved in kick boxing – I taught voluntarily and didn't drink at all during this time, although I'm making up for that now!" he joked. "I also played soccer for ten years, following in my Dad's footsteps."

Anthony had always loved horses and developed a great admiration for the Thoroughbred.

He was impressed by their strength and athleticism and loved to hear them come thundering up the track.

Anthony married his long term girlfriend Sara when he was 28. Also a very hard worker, Sara is a key person in the day-to-day running ofBloodstockauction.com.

In 2005 a cousin phoned Anthony and suggested they buy a yearling up at the Gold Coast June sales. Anthony contacted leading trainer Tim Martin and asked for his help. As Tim wasn't attending the sale, he put Anthony in touch with Vin Cox (an independent bloodstock agent at the time), who showed him the ropes and helped him buy yearlings.

The first time Anthony walked into a yearling sales complex, he was captivated. "I was already very familiar with and keen on property auctions, and the auction process is what most interested me in combination with the actual animal," said Anthony.

Their first horse was the Desert Prince gelding, 'Our Contender'. After only three starts for Provincial placings, he was spelling at a farm and suffered a life ending accident. Anthony decided he would like more control of the process and decided to buy his own farm. Vin Cox was instrumental in helping him not only buy horses, but also inspect properties.

Anthony and a couple of mates got together and bought the beautifully bred racehorse Dubai's Choice, a former $1.8m yearling.

Sold by Darley through a tried horse sale, the group bought him for $110,000 and left him in the care of Tim Martin.

"Although he had joint issues, Dubai's Choice went on to win a race in Sydney and place in Melbourne for us, which only made me keener than ever to get further involved," said Anthony.

At this stage in his working life, Anthony had his own successful electrical contracting company, property interests and a recruitment company.

In 2007, Anthony took that next step into the Thoroughbred industry and bought a farm in the Hawkesbury. Previously a Standardbred stud, major construction began. Anthony renamed it 'Jomar Park', a compound of his parent's names, Joseph and Mary.

The property has developed into a boutique broodmare farm, and a home where Anthony and his family currently live.

Always very focused on having his own family, Anthony now has three children - Mary, Eva and Anthony Jnr.

Anthony's core motivation in business is to be able to provide for his children at any level. His family and culture feature as the key elements in his life.

"I'm first and foremost proud to be Australian but I'm also a very proud of my heritage," he states.

Meanwhile, the attraction of the horse auction never diminished for Anthony. Having bought and sold at auctions for a number of years by this time under his own banner, he started to think that a technological take on this method was the way of the future.

"I was sitting out on the back veranda having a beer with my mate Craig Weeding and we started to develop the concept of the online auction house," Anthony explained.

"We knew what we wanted and how the product needed to be delivered."