Easter curtain opens for Longwood as Tartan Fields prepares for ‘Green Book’ farewell
Christian excited about maiden draft at blue riband Inglis auction while Esplins won’t be lost to industry
This year’s Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale heralds a new chapter in the development of Victoria’s Longwood Thoroughbred Farm, while it closes the book on the blue riband auction for the Esplin family’s Tartan Fields.
Michael Christian, the principal of the rapidly developing Longwood Thoroughbred Farm, will offer five yearlings at Riverside Stables next week, reward for he and his partners’ heavy investment in top-end broodmares in recent years and Hamish Esplin will bid farewell to Tartan Fields by consigning three yearlings at the “Green Book” sale.
The Esplin family’s 86.6-hectare NSW Central Coast farm Tartan Fields, first developed by Hamish’s late father Phillip, was recently placed on the market as they embark “on a change in direction” and the responsibility of consigning their bloodstock will be placed in the hands of Vinery Stud in the future.
“We probably didn’t know this was going to be the last draft at Easter, but it won’t change our focus and the way we approach the industry, it will remain the same,” Esplin told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“To be honest, my family and I, consisting of my mother (Michele), my brother (Patrick) and my sister (Elise), we’ve done it for a long time now, operated farms, under various banners. Twin Palms back in the day when dad left Arrowfield in the ’90s and then Tartan Fields since we moved to Kulnura.
“It is a big commitment, not just in terms of bloodstock, but in terms of attention.”
The evolving of the racing and breeding industry has also helped the Esplins make the call to sell Tartan Fields.
“We love racing, really, and we particularly love racing fillies and that’s what we’ve done reasonably successfully over the years, so we will still be able to do that, but let other people consign our yearlings,” he said.
“I have got a couple of young kids, my brother’s got kids and we’ve all got jobs and mum’s getting a bit older, so we decided as a family that would be the focus.”
Tartan Fields will offer a first-crop filly by The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice), a half-sister to Group 1 winner Plucky Belle (Mossman) (Lot 26), a Dundeel (High Chaparral) half-brother to dual Group 3 winner Pedrena (Mossman) (Lot 206) and a colt by Contributer (High Chaparral) (Lot 470) – the only progeny of the stallion available at the Easter sale.
A self-confessed racing and breeding “purist”, Esplin says the Easter sale holds a form of mystique with his family and the fact he has three yearlings in the select catalogue is a feat in itself.
“People talk about type and everything and that is true, but the reason why people love Easter and love the ‘Green Book’ is because it’s got the best pages,” he said.
“These pedigrees are hard to find and hard to come across, which is why you have to pay a lot of money if you want to buy one.”
Christian also perceives the Easter sale as the pinnacle of the Australian yearling sale series and, if last year’s investment in broodmares is any guide with a spend of $3.7 million, the Longwood Thoroughbred Farm name will be a feature of Riverside Stables in April for years to come.
“When we started out three and a half years ago we wanted to get to a point to be able to bring a really nice draft to Easter,” Christian said.
“It has taken us that time, but we feel like we’ve got six really nice horses to come to a sale where people demand excellence and we feel like we’ve not only got really good pedigreed horses, but we’ve got wonderful physical types as well.”
As well as consigning a Trapeze Artist (Snitzel) half-brother to the Group 3-winning Queensland Winter Carnival-bound $1 million colt Brereton (Zoustar) (Lot 185), who is the sixth foal out of Group 3 winner Fuddle Dee Duddle (Red Ransom), Christian will also offer a Trapeze Artist half-brother to dual Group 3 scorer and Group 1-placed Bella Nipotina (Pride Of Dubai), the third foal out of Bella Orfana (Star Witness) as Lot 73.
“That is the exciting part as Fuddle Dee Duddle and Bella Orfana are half-sisters and Brereton is very current,” he said.
“He’s just trialled and he will be heading to Queensland for a stakes campaign and, of course, we’ve got Bella Nipotina running in the Group 2 Sapphire Stakes next Saturday (at Randwick) and then onto the Group 1 Sangster Stakes in Adelaide. It’s a family on the move.”
Longwood Thoroughbred Farm also has an I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) colt out of Group 3 winner Lubiton (Snitzel) (Lot 264), who was purchased by the farm and Sheamus Mills for $620,000 at the 2020 Inglis Chairman’s Sale carrying the colt, another example of Christian and his partners’ heavy investment in elite mares.
“One of the reasons we bought the mare Lubiton was because she’s a wonderful physical type,” he said.
“She’s a Snitzel mare and a Group 3 winner. We bought her with a long-term view, this is only her second foal and we hope and expect she will be at the farm for the next ten or 12 years.
“This is the first foal we’ve presented and we’ve been really lucky that he’s a really nice, athletic I Am Invincible colt that I think will be well received.”
Longwood’s draft also includes a Trapeze Artist colt out of Group 2-winning juvenile Samara Dancer (Hinchinbrook) (Lot 399) – who was also purchased at the 2020 edition of the Inglis Chairman’s Sale for $750,000. The farm will also offer a Justify (Scat Daddy) half-sister to three-time Group 1 winner Le Romain (Hard Spun) (Lot 283), who Christian is offering on behalf of breeders Tony and Mark Carusi.
Tartan Fields’ The Autumn Sun filly, the tenth living foal out of Queensland Guineas (Gr 2, 1600m) winner Winning Belle (Zabeel), holds special significance for the Esplins.
“One of the best deals my father ever made was to buy Winning Belle off the racetrack and she’s been great to us,” said Esplin, who also expressed his gratitude to the loyal staff at Tartan Fields.
“She’s thrown Plucky Belle, a Group 1 winner who we still have, and two other Group 1-performed horses and then to take a punt on a stallion like The Autumn Sun and get a filly of her calibre (is fantastic).
“We’re the kind of people who say we’re never selling a filly like her, but sometimes you just have to. We’ve got enough daughters anyway and you’re in the market to find good homes for them. She is a special filly for us.”
As for the pending sale of the Esplins’ Tartan Fields farm, 85 kilometres north west of Sydney, the agents reportedly received 600 enquiries in the first ten days of it being listed.
“It is a lovely property, we’ve always known that, and it’s got a special appeal to it,” Esplin said.
“It has got these trees that have been growing there since the days the Cottees owned it almost 100 years ago growing fruit.
“It has got this history that you can’t repeat in five minutes, it is one of things where you are buying land someone has spent a lot more time than we have developing.”