Rushton Park hits the market as Johnsons take a breather
Successful breeders and vendors set for mid-career travel break after listing their 309-acre Victorian farm
Victorian thoroughbred nursery Rushton Park is up for sale, with proprietors David and Kayley Johnson set to take a sabbatical after 15 years creating their perfect thoroughbred property.
When the Johnsons relocated from Western Australia in 2008 and purchased the property, located at Dhurringile in northern Victoria between Tatura and Murchison, it was little more than ‘a block with a boundary fence’.
What they have put on the market now, in a sale being facilitated by Donovan and Co and Magic Millions, is a 309-acre superbly appointed thoroughbred farm ready for a new owner to walk in and start commercial operations immediately.
The success achieved off the farm by the Johnsons serves as extra incentive for any prospective buyer, with the couple having built a widely respected operation, foaling down up to 100 mares a year and consigning weanlings and yearlings at Australia’s top sales.
After several years of hard work and perseverance, often seven days a week, the Johnsons have decided the time is right to take a break from the rigours of thoroughbred breeding and travel with their eight-year-old son, Patrick.
“We want to go travelling for 12 months. We are really keen to do a lot of exploring,” Kayley told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“From the time we were 18, when we were together, and we had a mortgage at that age, we have done nothing but work. We are only a few years off 50 now and we thought with a young boy that is keen to do stuff, that it was time to take him out of school and spend 12 months or even two years travelling.”
While David and Kayley Johnson’s presence will be greatly reduced on the breeding and sales scene as they take the time to refresh, they will not be lost to the racing industry, with plans to once again pick up the thoroughbred business upon their return.
“We want to go and make some memories while [Patrick] is still young enough to want to hang around mum and dad, while we are still cool,” David said.
“We have done 15 years of seven days a week. It would be nice to slow down and smell the roses a bit. I’ll be honest, I’m tired and I don’t want to just walk away. I want to get the fire back in my belly and come back.”
After briefly considering either renting out or leaving Rushton Park idle for the period of their absence, the Johnsons decided the property was too valuable to not put on the market.
“It’s a beautiful farm, it’s too nice to leave it mothballed for a couple of years,” Kayley said.
David added: “We thought it would be nice for us to go and do something else for a while and somebody else can take the farm over and make their mark.”
Clint Donovan, of Donovan and Co, is co-ordinating the sale and believed Rushton Park presented a rare offering in the equine market.
“It truly is a turn-key scenario. David and Kayley have put a lot of love into it over the last 15 years and all their experience into building it and I think it’s evident in the ease of management,” Donovan said.
“It doesn’t want for anything, you could walk in tomorrow and start a business. There are two houses which are just lovely and the equine infrastructure is very, very good.
“This one is quite rare, given the size. It’s a commercial scale-sized property and it’s a lot more than just a lifestyle property. To have that capacity to foal down 100 mares is a decent size in anyone’s terms.”
The 309-acre property, set across two titles, has a main barn, vet facilities and a foaling hub, with CCTV throughout, as well as a double fencing and laneway system, with 56 paddocks.
The two houses include a main three-bedroom/two-bathroom homestead, which has recently been fully renovated, and a second country style homestead, built in 2015.
There is also significant infrastructure, such as machinery, hay sheds and workshops, staff accommodation and silos. The property has 100 acres of flood irrigation and an exceptional watering system.
Donovan said one of Rushton Park’s greatest assets was the mixture of flat and undulating land, meaning it is perfectly set up to resist both flood and drought. He also highlighted its location, right in the heart of Victorian thoroughbred country, as another selling point.
“There will be a broad range of equine lovers that it could fit for. It’s the perfect setup from a breeding and bloodstock perspective, but it could also easily convert into a training or spelling farm. It could also work well for polo or showjumping. There have already been a wide range of buyer enquiries,” he said.
The Johnsons have created a host of successes and memories at the farm. Among the fondest was cheering home Bella Vella (Commands), a mare they had secured a share in, to Group 1 victory in the 2020 Robert Sangster Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) during a Covid-19-enforced lockdown.
Star Rushton Park sales graduates include Group 2 winners Boogie Dancer (Sooboog) and Victoria Quay (Dundeel), stakes winners Quang Tri (Shalaa) and Mystery Love (Eurozone) and a host of stakes performers.
Among those to have been stakes placed are Bases Loaded (Deep Field), who finished runner-up in the Champagne Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) in April, while Mnementh (Eurozone), bred by Rushton Park, and Lord Von Costa (Von Costa De Hero), foaled and raised on the farm, have both won stakes races.
Horses raised and prepared from the property have also featured prominently in Australia’s leading sales.
At June’s Inglis Great Southern Sale, Rushton Park registered the third highest-priced weanling when a filly by Capitalist (Written Tycoon) sold for $460,000, a price which would have been a record at any previous Great Southern Sale. Rushton Park was the leading vendor by aggregate at that sale in 2021 and 2022.
The farm also sold the top lot at the 2018 Inglis Melbourne Premier Sale, with a Fastnet Rock (Danehill) filly fetching $500,000 to the bid of Godolphin Australia, while they also topped the 2019 Magic Millions Adelaide Sale when subsequent Wakeful Stakes (Gr 2, 2000m) winner Victoria Quay was secured by Suman Hedge and McEvoy-Mitchell Racing for $250,000.
The Johnsons’ plans are to maintain some of their thoroughbred interests after the sale of Rushton Park, while still operating in some capacity through the 2024 sales seasons.
“We are going to keep four or five mares and keep them with Sal Watkins at Willaroon. Sal is a good mate of ours and she has got a share in most of them,” David said.
“We will sell our yearlings and weanlings next year as per normal. If we are off the farm by then, we will prep them out of Sal’s place.”
“When we get back, we will look at buying another place down the track.”
The Johnsons will go on their break with nothing but love for their industry and with a strong desire to return.
“We would never have any complaints about the thoroughbred industry. It has been amazingly good for us. We moved over from WA 15 years ago and didn’t have a client and we have set it up from nothing,” David said.
“There are not too many industries you can do that in. The whole experience has been amazing.”
It is now down to Donovan and Co and Magic Millions to see what reward all their hard work at Rushton Park will yield, with written expressions of interest in the property closing on October 12.
“Enquiries have been very strong already, with the key selling point being that it’s a good size at 309 acres. It’s a very commercially capable facility,” Donovan said.
“I expect a good result and David and Kayley deserve one.”