The Nathan Tinkler-owned Caulfield Guineas winner All Too Hard has been sold to Vinery Stud, the under-siege mining magnate’s thoroughbred operation has confirmed.

The sale of the colt, a half-brother to racing superstar Black Caviar with the potential to generate millions of dollars in stud fees, comes as Tinkler’s business empire crumbles.

Patinack Farm spokesman Troy Palmer described the sale as a “win-win” for for Vinery and Tinkler’s thoroughbred venture.

“While it is disappointing to sell All Too Hard, we have retained an opportunity for him to service some of our mares and naturally, the more success he enjoys on the track and in breeding, the further he will enhance the reputation of his sire, Patinack’s Casino Prince,” Palmer said.

Vinery Stud general manager Peter Orton said a deal to buy All Too Hard had been tabled well before the colt won the Group One Caulfield Guineas in October.

“We have been negotiating this deal for the past six months as we always believed All Too Hard was one of the most exciting stallion prospects we have seen for many years,” Orton said.

Champion jumps trainer Paul Nicholls has admitted his embarrassment over the acrimonious departure of Kauto Star from his stable.

The recently-retired legendary jumper was taken from Nicholls by owner Clive Smith to be retrained in dressage against the trainer’s wishes.

Nicholls was at Cheltenham where the stable produced four winners on Saturday including up and coming jumper Unioniste.

“After the week we’ve had, I can assure you I’ve never had a more embarrassing or unenjoyable week like that in my life,” Nicholls said.

“I apologise for everything that has gone on and I’ve never been more embarrassed, so to end it with a win like this is great. It’s onwards and upwards.

“This horse will have a month off now. I’ve got novice chasing to go back to if I want and he’ll have an entry for the RSA in March.”

Unioniste was the first four-year-old to land the established Grade Three handicap chase, and had only sneaked into the line-up as a first reserve.

Just over half an hour later his stablemate Zarkandar claimed top honours against title holder Grandouet and reigning champion hurdler Rock On Ruby in the stanjames.com International Hurdle.

Far West cemented his position as the best juvenile jumper seen so far this season in the Triumph Hurdle Trial while Shooters Wood took out a handicap chase.

Brisbane jockey Ric McMahon will miss the Magic Millions carnival through injury but is determined to be back to ride exciting sprinter Better Than Ready in his autumn campaign.

The winner of four of his six races, Better Than Ready gave a sight of what was to come when he set a Randwick 1200m record of 1:08.19 in the Brian Crowley Stakes in October.

Trainer Kelly Schweida elected to give the colt a break rather than press on with his spring campaign with the Sydney autumn in mind.

The three-year-old’s regular partner McMahon suffered a dislocated AC joint and rib cartilage damage when he was involved in a fall at the Sunshine Coast on December 9.

His mount Olliedale was unable to avoid another fallen runner, Any Poet, near the 500m in the Maiden Handicap (1000m) and had to be put down after being fatally injured.

Last Wednesday, McMahon saw a specialist who told him he would be unable to ride for several weeks.

“The best option is to rest it until it heals in two to three weeks then I can do some physio and start riding trackwork in the new year,” he said.

“I’ll definitely be back for Better Than Ready when he resumes at the end of January.”

McMahon is just one of several injured Queensland jockeys with Dan Griffin unlikely to ride again this season as he recovers from injuries incurred in a three-horse fall at the Gold Coast on November 24.

Fellow jockeys Dean Tanti and Luke Rolls, who were involved in that fall, are also sidelined.

“Dan’s cruciate ligament disappeared in his left knee and he has a grade two tear of the medial ligament in the same leg,” Griffin’s manager Glenn Perry said.

“He will have an operation where they take one his hamstrings out and use that to replace the knee ligaments.

“Apparently there are five hamstrings in the leg but only four are needed for leg function.”

Griffin has won the past six Gold Coast jockey’s premierships, eclipsing the previous record of five set by the late Ken Russell in the 1980s.

Tanti has a broken left ankle and elbow as well as a broken right wrist and will be out for three months.

Rolls suffered a fractured wrist but will seek a medical clearance on December 23 to resume riding.

The new owners of Black Caviar’s half brother All Too Hard will offer a 10 per cent share in the valuable colt.

The Caulfield Guineas winner, the most valuable asset in Nathan Tinkler’s dwindling Patinack Farm thoroughbred empire, was sold to Vinery Stud in a $ 25 million deal finalised on Saturday.

The package also includes a Hunter Valley property at Aberdeen and stallion Onemorenomore, a Group One winner as a two-year-old.

Neil Werrett, a partner in Vinery along with retail mogul Gerry Harvey, said five shares were available in All Too Hard as a racing and breeding proposition.

“We’ve had a lot of people wanting to get involved in him so we are going to sell 10 per cent of him to both race as well as have an interest in him while he stands at stud,” Werrett told racingvictoria.net.au.

“We’ve already had interest from one other major stud as well as individual breeders. At the moment we’ve got five shares left.”

Werrett, also a major shareholder in champion Black Caviar, was the underbidder on All Too Hard who was sold at the 2011 Easter sale for $ 1.025 million.

The colt will continue to be trained by Michael, John and Wayne Hawkes who produced him in the spring to win the Caulfield Guineas and run second in the Cox Plate.

Werrett said he would meet with the Hawkes team this week to map out an autumn campaign which could include taking him overseas.

“We need to speak with John Hawkes about that before we finalise any plans for All Too Hard’s autumn campaign,” he said.

“We do want to shuttle All Too Hard when he does go to stud so we will be looking for an overseas stud for him to stand in the future.”

All Too Hard is by Patinack’s foundation sire Casino Prince out of Helsinge.

Black Caviar, meanwhile, is in pre-training ahead of a planned return to the track in February’s Lightning Stakes which has been renamed in her honour.

The mare hasn’t raced since her dramatic win in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot when she came the closest she ever has to being beaten.

She came out of the race the worse for wear and spent some months recovering from muscle soreness.

Jockeys Nash Rawiller and Peter Robl will be able to eat a little more than they usually do this Christmas after being sidelined by stewards at Rosehill on Saturday.

Rawiller was outed for shifting in aboard Passarli at the 700m on to eventual winner Regimental Pride in the two-year-old race on the program.

He vigorously defended himself in two separate hearings but to no avail with his ban to start after Sunday’s racing and end on December 28.

Robl was outed for two charges in the 1900m race, which he also lost on protest when Scream Machine was declared the winner over his mount Marden.

Scream Machine’s rider Kathy O’Hara was the victim of interference early in the race and again at the top of the straight.

Robl asked chief steward Ray Murrihy to put his Santa hat on and give out a little Christmas cheer and was duly rewarded with his two bans to be served concurrently.

He will ride at Thursday’s Magic Millions meeting at Wyong and return on January 2.

The bans mean the two jockeys miss the Villiers Stakes meeting next Saturday and the Summer Cup on Boxing Day.

Kathy O’Hara has escaped serious injury in a fall at Rosehill after two-year-old debutante Shadowofyoursmile almost came down in the first race.

The Garry White-trained filly copped a bump from another horse and after O’Hara hit the ground, continued to race through the field.

O’Hara came back with a graze on her face and ice on her shoulder but said she was OK.

The Rosehill Gardens Handicap (1100m) was won by Regimental Pride who went into the race with two starts under his belt.

His jockey Glyn Schofield was confident throughout and sent the horse to the front in the straight but had a momentary fright when he sensed another horse coming.

“I had the race won at the top of the straight and took my time to chase them,” Schofield said.

“Then I saw a head appear but I realised the horse didn’t have a jockey on its back.”

Regimental Pride ($ 6.50) beat favourite Let’s Frolic ($ 2.50) by a short neck with a half length to Howdah ($ 5) third.

Shadowofyoursmile came through her ordeal with no apparent problems while the winner will back up in the $ 200,000 Wyong Magic Millions on Thursday.

“This was like a trial to him,” trainer David Payne said.

“He only had to walk over and will walk home. It’s not like he had a float trip and that’s what takes it out of them.

“As long as he does well over the next couple of days he will go to the Wyong race and then to the Magic Millions at the Gold Coast.

“It was a good win and a good gallop for him.”

Tim Martin will assess Let’s Frolic as a Magic Millions prospect over the next few days but may take the option of not running her again and waiting to see if she makes the race.

The $ 2 million Magic Millions Classic (1200m) is at the Gold Coast on January 12.

Group One-placed mare Soft Sand has a new trainer after being purchased jointly by BC3 Thoroughbreds and Arrowfield Stud.

The mare had been trained by Colin Little at Caulfield and has won four of 12 starts including the Listed Kevin Hayes Stakes.

She will be prepared for her next campaign by Paul Messara.

The four-year-old was runner-up to Appearance in the Group One Myer Classic at Flemington last month before a spell.

Soft Sand will chase a Group One win during the autumn with an international campaign also possible.

Messara campaigned Ortensia overseas this year, winning Group One races in Dubai and England with the sprinter.

Chris Waller hasn’t climbed to the top of the Sydney training ranks without backing his own judgment.

He’ll be doing that again at Rosehill on Saturday when he starts Moriarty in the Christmas Cup despite a distance query on the import.

“I’m starting to turn into a stubborn old man. I think he’ll stay and I’m going to stick by it,” Waller said.

Moriarty is third favourite for the 2400m race behind Cantonese and last-start ATC Cup winner Fiumicino.

And contrary to what many might think, Waller believes Moriarty’s best chance of success on Saturday will be if the race develops into a real staying battle.

Moriarty has enjoyed good runs in his past three starts between 1900m and 2200m but hasn’t picked up and dashed in the straight, finishing in the placings.

Waller says the key will be getting Moriarty to settle in the first half of the race and then “get serious” in the second half.

“If my theory is right I think he needs it to be a true staying test to win,” Waller said.

“That might mean not being ridden too pretty.”

Cantonese will front up for his 14th start of the campaign but the horse has continued to show trainer Bjorn Baker no signs he’s had enough.

Apprentice Jenny Duggan has had plenty of success on Cantonese but cannot use her claim in a Listed race and connections have gone for Jim Cassidy.

“We’re probably looking to find a little bit more,” Baker said.

“Jenny has ridden him exceptionally well so we may find or we may lose.

“But what it comes down to is Jenny can’t claim and Jimmy Cassidy can ride him at the weight and he’s a champion rider.”

Veteran Fiumicino continues to stave off retirement and co-trainer Michael Hawkes says the nine-year-old has thrived since his ATC Cup win – his first victory since 2009.

“It’s amazing what a win does. It just gives them so much more confidence,” Hawkes said.

“As long as he puts in a run like he did the other day he’ll be hard to beat again.”

Embattled jockey Danny Nikolic will have to wait until May to face a hearing on assault charges.

A two-day committal hearing due to start in the Melbourne Magistrates Court was adjourned on Wednesday because of a problem with “witness availability”.

It was the jockey’s second hearing this week.

Nikolic is accused of assaulting another jockey, Mark Pegus, Pegus’s girlfriend, Rikki-Lee Hull, and a police officer in three separate incidents last year.

Prosecutor Senior Constable Nathan Sinclair said the case was ready to go but had been delayed until May because of witness availability.

Magistrate Ian McGrane adjourned the case until May 30 but asked Mr Sandy Robertson, for Nikolic, to ensure there would be no further delays.

Nikolic faces a total of six charges including using a telecommunication device to menace a person at Caulfield on January 17 last year.

He was charged with one count of recklessly causing injury, one count of assault and two counts of intentionally causing injury to Mr Pegus at the Caulfield racetrack stables on January 18 last year.

He was also charged with assaulting Ms Hull at the Barkly Hotel on March 7 last year and assaulting police officer Julio Salerno when being questioned at St Kilda police station on April 6.

Nikolic appeared in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal on Tuesday in a bid to overturn a two-year ban from racing.

After closing arguments that case was adjourned when judge Michael McNamara reserved his decision.

Nikolic had been disqualified over charges that he threatened Racing Victoria chief steward Terry Bailey during a race meeting at Seymour in September.

Charges levelled against trainer Con Karakatsanis and his father Tony over a breach of raceday rules will be heard next month.

Racing Victoria stewards issued a total of five charges against the pair for attempting to treat the smart sprinter Howmuchdoyouloveme before it ran on the opening day of the Melbourne Cup carnival.

Stewards found a bag containing naso-gastric tubing equipment in Howmuchdoyouloveme’s box during a stable raid.

Tony Karakatsanis, a licensed stablehand, admitted to stewards that he placed the bag in the horse’s stall but said he thought it contained hay.

Howmuchdoyouloveme was permitted to run in the Yellowglen Stakes at Flemington on Victoria Derby day but finished down the track.

The Racing Appeals and Disciplinary Board will hear the matter on January 7.