Spendthrift Farm to end Australian operation
Leading US-based stud Spendthrift Farm have announced the ‘difficult decision’ to disband its Australian operation in Victoria and sell their 600-acre Romsey property, just over six years after purchasing the stud.
The move to withdraw their operations from Australia comes little more than four months since the death of Spendthrift Farm’s founder, B. Wayne Hughes, in August of this year, with the industry icon having entrusted the day-to-day running of the Victoria farm to manager Garry Cuddy.
“This has been a very difficult decision for us. We have a wonderful team in Australia and will be working closely with them to help make this as smooth a transition for them as possible,” said Eric Gustavson, owner of Spendthrift and son-in-law of Hughes.
“The thoroughbred industry in Australia is one of the finest in the world, and we have great respect for the job they’ve done in building it. We’ve been fortunate to meet so many amazing people there and have very much enjoyed the experience.”
Since establishing the farm with the purchase of Yallambee Stud in April 2015, Spendthrift had enjoyed notable success in creating colonial stallions to join their US shuttlers on their roster.
This season sees the first two-year-olds by Group 2 winners Overshare (I Am Invincible) and Gold Standard (Sebring) hit the track, while foundation stallion Swear (Redoute’s Choice), a Group 3 winner and Group 1 runner-up in Spendthrift’s orange and purple quartered silks, has two crops of racing age. Meanwhile, this year’s breeding season saw the launch of Written Tycoon’s (Iglesia) speedy Group 2 winner and Group 1 placegetter Dirty Work on the Spendthrift roster.
The quartet were complemented by two-season US shuttlers Vino Rosso (Curlin) and Omaha Beach (War Front), who covered 103 and 104 mares respectively in 2020 at fees of AU$13,750 and AU$22,000, while Bolt D’Oro (Medaglia D’Oro) had previously shuttled to Australia in 2019.
The decision to cease stud interests in Australia leaves an uncertain future for their colonial stallion quartet, with the southern hemisphere breeding season having come to a close earlier this month.
Swear, a $725,000 yearling purchase for Spendthrift Farm out of the Inglis Easter yearling sale in 2015, had 139 live foals on the ground by the completion of the 2020 breeding season.
Meanwhile, Overshare, a $320,000 graduate of the 2016 Easter sale when purchased by Spendthrift, had covered 291 mares across the 2019 and 2020 seasons at an $11,000 fee, having secured a book of 80 in his opening season at stud in 2018. The stallion’s only runner thus far is the unbeaten Annabel Neasham-trained filly Lady Laguna, who was most recently a four-length winner at Rosehill in November.
The stallions also derived benefit from the introduction of Spendthrift’s innovative Share The Upside and Breed Secure initiatives, with the former having enabled breeders to access selected stallions on lifetime breeding rights, while the latter sees breeders only pay their service fee upon the sale of the progeny.
The stud is also home to around 50 broodmares, with Spendthrift having outlayed $2.39 million on acquiring mares at this year’s breeding stock sales, including the $800,000 buy of Listed winner Madeenaty (Exceed And Excel) at this year’s Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale.
Spendthrift’s US stallion farm in Kentucky, purchased by B. Wayne Hughes in 2004, is home to 25 stallions, including the prevailing three-time Champion US sire Into Mischief (Harlan’s Holiday), as well as his Kentucky Derby (Gr 1, 10f) and Breeders’ Cup Classic (Gr 1, 10f) -winning son Authentic.
“We want to thank all of our staff in Australia for their hard work over the years,” said Ned Toffey, Spendthrift’s US general manager.
“We have made it a point at Spendthrift to branch out and try new things. Naturally, not every idea is going to work but I will guarantee you we will continue to take that approach.”