Queenslanders buy well-known Scone stud Glastonbury Farms
Dunemann’s rapid industry rise takes on new dimension with acquisition of Hunter Valley property
Andrew Dunemann’s burgeoning thoroughbred interests have reached new heights with the Queensland-based owner and breeder and former National Rugby League player buying Hunter Valley nursery Glastonbury Farms.
Dunemann, whose scale of investment has skyrocketed since racing dual Group 1-winning sprinter Spirit Of Boom (Sequalo) and his brother Temple Of Boom, has partnered with fellow Queenslanders Gary and Lorilie Cunningham and their son Mitchell as well as Neil Douglas to take on the Scone stud.
The deal, negotiated in the middle of last year after initially being floated in late 2019, will come into effect on June 30 and it will see the semi-retirement of Glastonbury Farms co-owners Duncan and Di Grimley.
Fellow Glastonbury principals Yvonne and Mark Clerke will stay on as managers of the operation, which is to be rebranded as Ridgemont Farm.
Dunemann told ANZ Bloodstock News his rapid rise from racehorse owner and breeder to stud master came about after a discussion with Duncan Grimley about the potential sale of the farm and business came to light in late 2019.
From there, the proposal was put by Dunemann to the partners in his breeding operation, Boutique Thoroughbreds, who agreed to dramatically expand their bloodstock interests by investing in the farm.
“We were actually driving down (to the Hunter Valley) last year to undertake inspections for the Chairman’s Sale and I mentioned it in the car and the boys’ (Cunningham and Douglas) ears pricked up,” Dunemann revealed yesterday,
“By the end of that inspection period, we decided to have a look at it, see what it was about and get some figures on the table and go from there.”
They took ownership of the main Glastonbury Farms property on Segenhoe Road, which is 101 hectares, in September last year.
The trio also recently signed a contract to purchase the neighbouring farm, taking their total land holding to more than 200 hectares, which also encompasses a 700-megalitre water right.
Glastonbury’s 45-hectare Gundy Road property, about ten minutes’ drive from the main farm, is not part of the buyout and it will remain under the ownership of the Grimleys.
“It probably took three or four months to get the deal done and we now own this property and we’ve been lucky enough to get next door because, as most people know, getting next door is worth more to us than anyone else,” he said.
“We want to grow and we want to get to 120 mares on-farm if we can, and to do that we need extra land. The advantage is, it’s right beside us.”
Dunemann, who plans to appoint a yearling manager in the near future, has already moved from Brisbane to Scone to oversee the venture.
“You just don’t get a better location in the Valley in terms of the golden triangle. With our new farm, we’re literally across the road from Darley, you have got Vinery down the road, you’ve got Arrowfield, Kia Ora and Segenhoe all in that golden triangle,” he said.
“At worst, we have got a nice land grab and I wouldn’t think that it will go backwards in price any time soon.
“We want to be successful in breeding and selling horses but the fallback is that you’re always going to have property that is going to be valuable.”
He added: “Glastonbury has been pretty much a closed farm, so they have never needed too many outside clients. They have got friends really who have mares at the farm and we definitely want to keep them because they are invaluable.
“But we are going to definitely try and bring in new clients. People talk about what’s been bred on the farm and every year you get some of the best broodmares in Australia coming here to be bred (from Strawberry Hill Stud).
“They come here, they foal down and then they stay until weaning age and then they go back and then there’s other clients of the farm as well.”
To support the acquisition of the two land holdings, Ridgemont Farm will also ramp up its broodmare band at the upcoming sales to help bolster their breeding stocks ahead of the 2021 season.
“With the broodmare market being as strong as what I think it’s going to be, we haven’t put a number on what we want yet,” Dunemann said.
“But we plan to stick to our mentality and that’s going to be to buy in the upper middle market, buying nice covers with mares in foal, and trying to be in the bottom end of the top market, or the top-end of the middle market.
“We’re probably not there to stretch the big guys yet by buying the really expensive ones, but anything in the $300,000 to $500,000-$600,000 range, that’s what we will be looking at.”
While Dunemann raced the Boom brothers, he also currently has a share in star three-year-old Isotope (Deep Field), while Douglas has raced the Stuart Kendrick-trained pair Eric The Eel (Olympic Glory) (who now races as Tourbillon Diamond in Hong Kong) and Fullazaboot (Sepoy). The Cunninghams have also invested significantly in young horses with trainer Tony Gollan.
But the launch of Ridgemont Farm is likely to see the trio reduce the level of their racing interests, at least in the short term, while they focus on growing the full-service stud.
Dunemann has also played a key role in Gollan’s owner communication and online presence through video and social media content in recent years.
He said: “The biggest thing is, we’ve got to gain the trust of people in the game and I think we’ll do that – whether it happens overnight, I doubt it – but as new people taking on the farm, we are going to change things …we plan to take the business to a new level.”
Dunemann also revealed yesterday that he had called on the knowledge of many experienced industry participants in recent months as he prepares for the task of managing mares, foals, yearlings and racing stock on a day-to-day basis.
“We will make changes to the things we think we need to implement. I have spoken to quite a few people within the industry in the past five or six months getting their thoughts on Glastonbury and what they think we should be doing and what they do well and what we can do better,” he said.
“If you don’t listen to the key players in the industry, then you’re an idiot, so we’ll be implementing a lot of those suggestions.”
The investment in farm infrastructure in the coming months will see the construction of a purpose-built office and extra shade shelters for the horses.
Grimleys to say farewell to Glastonbury
The sale of Glastonbury also signals the end of full-time commitment to the industry by Duncan and Di Grimley after more than 40 years.
“While my children are interested in it (racing and breeding), they are not passionate about it, and to be successful in this game you have got to be passionate,” Duncan Grimley said from Inglis’ Riverside Stables complex in Sydney yesterday.
“We are in our 60s now and we were looking for an opportunity to carry the farm on and give everybody a chance to exit and come into a business that is up and running.
“I got to know Andrew – I don’t really know how – but the thought of it came up and he said, ‘would you mind if I had a look at it?’
“He had a couple of business partners and friends up in Queensland. He came down and said, ‘what about this, what about that?’ and came up with a deal that suited all of us.
“They have done the right thing by making the farm bigger; it’s a nice piece of land and they should do well with it.”
Now Byron Bay-based Grimley, John Singleton’s long-time bloodstock manager, will maintain his association with the larrikin owner and breeder.
“I still have got my own mares and they will remain at Ridgemont. I will have less mares, but I am still doing all of John Singleton’s work, so I will still be fronting his drafts at the sales, but not in front of Glastonbury or Ridgemount, just Strawberry Hill,” he said.
“I would imagine around the sales I imagine they will still be in the same rows together like has always happened.”
Glastonbury Farms, whose recent banner horse is Group 1-winning sprinter Gytrash (Lope De Vega), was established by the Grimleys in the early 2000s on the Gundy Road property.
“When we left Coolmore we had the place at Gundy Road and Mark and Yvonne were running it and the guy next door to that farm, his parents owned Glastonbury, and they wanted to sell it and he couldn’t afford to buy it.
“We went and had a look at it and made an offer – although he said this was the price, hell or high water – and so we bought it with the four of us and we’ve owned it ever since.
“We’ve built it up as we’ve gone. If we made money, we improved the farm. It’s never really been a public farm. It’s been more of a private farm for friends or close clients. We have Singo’s mares for the season and we have Gerry Ryan’s mares from Melbourne and another guy Craig Pearce’s mares come up.
“Most of the mares on the farm we would own shares in or they are owned by very good friends of ours.”
A life-changing moment for Grimley, then at Coolmore, was racing Fastnet Rock (Danehill), a Lightning Stakes (Gr 1, 1000m) and Oakleigh Plate (Gr 1, 1100m) winning sprinter who was also placed at Group 1 level in the ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m), the Newmarket Handicap (1200m) and T J Smith Stakes (1200m) at three before retiring to stud.
The champion stallion has now sired 171 stakes winners, with his service fee a reflection of his success, rising from $55,000 (inc GST) in 2005 to a high of $275,000 in 2013.
Reflecting on his time in the industry, Grimley said: “We’ve had a great run. We had Encosta De Lago, we had Fastnet Rock, we ended up with Merchant Navy and now we’ve ended up with a share in (talented juvenile) Profiteer with Henry Field.
“The racing’s been great, we’ve been all over the world, we’ve made some great friends and they will still come out here when we can travel again and visit them.”
Glastonbury Farms will offer four horses at next week’s Australian Easter Yearling Sale, the last under the banner at Inglis’ major auction on the calendar, in what has been a strong market in 2021.
“I was just talking to someone the other day and said if you’d gone to any expert in any field 12 months ago and suggested the horse industry is going to be 20 per cent up across the board, they would have said ‘you’re mad – it’ll be 20 per cent down’ and it’s the same with the real estate market, the new car market.
“What we are seeing now with the economy is extraordinary really. It looks like everyone wants to spend money and we’re in the right place at the right time.”