Homebred Enthaar leads ambitious plans for Emirates Park
Lootah family planning to once again stand a number of stallions at its historic base in the Hunter Valley
The iconic Emirates Park brand has been enjoying a resurgence of late with Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) and Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) favourite Enthaar (Written Tycoon) its latest trailblazer on Australian racetracks and the filly’s arrival on the major stage is timely with the stud farm’s owners setting a new long-term strategy for their bloodstock interests.
The Lootah family, founders and owners of Emirates Park, has reduced its prized broodmare band from 280 to 60 and is now planning to once again stand stallions at its historic base at Murrurundi in the Hunter Valley.
They took back their famed 4,000 acre property, purchased in the 1980s, from leaseholders Aquis last year, and, during the Fung family-owned operation’s three-year tenure there (2017-2020), took the opportunity to review their own breeding and racing business, setting an ambitious course for the future.
“One key thing is that Emirates will be a long-term operation as we have the next generation coming through and that’s the exciting thing, we know it will be here for another 30 years at least,” Emirates Park general manager Bryan Carlson told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“Hussain’s (Lootah) goal over the last few years was to buy fillies to put back into the broodmare band, build up families and breed to sell and keep. The main goal is to breed a Golden Slipper winner.
“Long term, we will have stallions again. It will be a maximum of three to four and we will stand the best and send those mares from the broodmare band to them,” said Carlson.
Since the late 1980s Emirates Park has produced many top class horses including Al Maher (Danehill), Secret Savings (Seeking The Gold), Shamekha (Secret Savings) and purchased and raced Golden Slipper-winning fillies Estijaab (Snitzel) and Mossfun (Mossman).
Australia’s leading two-year-old filly, Enthaar, is an Emirates Park homebred and carries the same racing colours as Estijaab and Mossfun (Mossman), the famed green with white sash, which represent Hussain Lootah, the 31-year-old son of founder Nasser.
“Mossfun and Estijaab we bought and it would be good to win a third (Golden Slipper) with a home bred,” added Carlson.
“For Hussain and Nasser and myself, I think it shows we can breed a good horse. Hussain is so passionate about their matings and breeding and, seeing the results now, it’s all paying off.
“They are not in the media all the time but they are so passionate and I think to win a Blue Diamond with a very good filly is what they want and shows what we are doing is working.”
Unbeaten at her first two starts, coming in the season’s two-year-old curtain raiser, the Gimcrack Stakes (Gr 3, 1000m) and Chairman’s Stakes at Caulfield (Gr 3, 1000m), Enthaar has been labelled a potential superstar by industry pundits.
“She’s always been a very nice type but you don’t know until they get on the track. She looks to be a very exciting horse for the future.”
While the racing dream is well and truly alive, Emirates Park has also reset its focus on breeding to sell quality stock.
At last month’s Magic Millions Yearling Sale on the Gold Coast two of their graduates sold for seven-figure sums, including a colt by Enthaar’s sire, Written Tycoon (Iglesia), for $1.2 million to Spendthrift Australia.
Shortly after the hammer fell, Carlson confirmed that they would retain a share in the colt, the most expensive son of Written Tycoon ever sold at public auction.
“We are trying to create that brand where people are buying good horses off us.
“We want to stand out at the sales and bring quality horses that people know are for sale.”
Testament to Emirates Park’s commitment to mix it at the pointy end of the market is the fact they have recently brought in some major industry players to join their team.
In December, highly respected horseman Tony Scott, who was previously stud manager for Aquis Farm when the group was based at the Hunter Valley property, was engaged to manage their young stock.
“Having experienced people around you makes a business. Going forward we will slightly build up those key areas and look for those people,” said Carlson, adding that necessary, practical improvements will also be made to the farm’s infrastructure to support their strategy.
“I think the farm is going in a great direction. We don’t want it to happen overnight but slowly.
“If we can work that way and have good stallions and results every year it will be an exciting journey ahead. This year and next we will be a bit light with drafts at the sales but going forward we will have around ten yearlings at most sales.”
Hard-hit by drought in recent years, the farm at Murrurundi is the greenest it’s been in decades.
With so much feed around Carlson wisely encouraged Nasser and Hussain to take advantage and invest in some cattle early last spring.
Now, as you drive past the property along the New England HWY you can see sizable herds of steers and heifers grazing happily on lush pastures.
“The farm looks fantastic. We use the cattle to go through the paddocks after the horses.
“We bought them at the right time and we are growing it up to be a small-scale cattle operation.”
While winning a Blue Diamond or Golden Slipper might be of paramount importance over the coming years, Carlson’s pretty chuffed to be making his first foray into selling cattle online today under the Emirates Park banner.
And he can safely expect some good results. A bit like the yearling market at the moment, cattle are commanding huge prices.