Phoenix rises to Wingham for Gleeson and Gifford
It’s taken Damian Gleeson longer than he thought it would to start redeveloping his new Wingham property, a former dairy farm and lifestyle block currently being transformed into a thoroughbred stud, and longer still to make a permanent move home to his native state of NSW.
But the Phoenix Thoroughbred Farm principal, who has been running the Victoria-based broodmare agistment and sales preparation stud for more than two decades, is on the verge of the next phase of his well-travelled career in the thoroughbred industry.
Gleeson and his partner Deb Gifford would probably already be a permanent fixture on their 140-acre NSW Mid North Coast farm if it hadn’t been for upheaval after upheaval in the past 18 months.
“We purchased the first part of it three years ago and we just purchased some more land,” Gleeson says.
“We have been trying to develop it but it’s been very difficult under the circumstances with Covid, bushfires and then floods.
“We’ve had the whole gamut, but we are up here now doing some developing, setting up paddocks and once we’ve sold in Euroa, we will move up here and set up the rest of it.
“It has pushed us back a little bit, but the thing that has pushed us back the most has been wet weather.
“It has been incredibly wet up here since January. Construction and fencing and everything like that has been quite difficult due to the wet, but we are getting there now.”
Located to the north side of Wingham, near Taree, and a comfortable three-hour drive to the breeding heartland of Scone, Phoenix Thoroughbred Farm is in the same region as well-known breeder Ian Smith of Edinburgh Park Stud.
“This coastal side is a little bit off the beaten track of the Hunter but I grew up in the Hunter, so I know what the Hunter Valley country’s like and this is just as good,” he said.
“It’s black soil country that we’re on, the fertiliser history has been good on it and the tests we’ve had done show that it’s good country.”
Gleeson, who has already sold two Victorian properties and will put Phoenix Thoroughbred Farm’s main holding at Euroa on the market in August, has profitably ridden the stunning wave of rising land values in recent years.
“This whole area (NSW Mid North Coast) has gone up a minimum 25 per cent. A farm like this, it would make a lot more money than what we paid for it,” he said.
“We were lucky as it was in the middle of the banking Royal Commission, there was nobody at the auction and the guy needed to sell, so we were just in the right place at the right time to purchase.”
Gleeson and Gifford, herself an accomplished horsewoman, intend to run Angus cattle on their new farm in conjunction with the thoroughbreds. They plan to take on outside clients but, in keeping with the move north, want to scale back on numbers.
“As well as the horses, we’ve done quite well out of cattle over the past few years, so we will continue to do that as well, “ he said.
“They are an enjoyable sideline, plus they work in well with the horses.”
Gleeson expects his 98-acre Euroa horse property, 160 kilometres north east of Melbourne, to command strong interest from a range of equine enthusiasts.
“I just don’t think it’s thoroughbreds, either. It’s the whole equine industry which seems to be going ahead and buying farms,” he said.
“Quarter horses are booming, the equestrian industry booming, so there’s a whole market out there for all sorts of horse farms I think.
“It’s a multi-purpose property. You could spell horses there, you could pre-train there.
“We have been breeding horses there for over 20 years, so it works for anybody who wants to use it (for those pursuits).”
Gleeson couldn’t be happier about his pending move to Wingham.
“It’s a great area up here and I have always wanted to come back to NSW,” he said.
“I started off in the stud game in NSW and I always wanted to come back here and the location is perfect. We’re close to Newcastle Airport, we’re close to the beaches and good restaurants.”