‘A unique asset’ – Osborne Park still part of the plan as Godolphin looks to reinvest in breeding properties

Osborne Park, a purpose-built training facility near Hawkesbury on the outskirts of Sydney, will remain part of Godolphin Australia’s property portfolio for the foreseeable future.

After exchanging contracts for the sale of Crown Lodge at Warwick Farm last week, management at Godolphin Australia is weighing up how best to utilise the 84-box training centre at Agnes Banks.

But one thing is for sure, Godolphin has no intention of selling the state-of-the-art facility on a sought-after parcel of land the international racing and breeding empire acquired for $5.5 million in 2010.

The 84-box facility that has 36 day yards as well as turf and all-weather training tracks was a key part of James Cummings’ methodology during his eight-year tenure as Godolphin Australia’s head trainer.

Nine-time Group 1 winner Anamoe and four-time Group 1 winner Hartnell were prepared extensively from Osborne Park throughout their racing careers. 

“At this point, we’re looking to maintain that asset (Osborne Park),” Godolphin Australia managing director Andy Makiv told The Straight. 

“It’s obviously quite a unique asset that took a lot of time, effort and cost in building. So, it’s an important property for us at this point.

“We are going through at the moment what we will do with it, whether we lease it or whether we use it in some capacity. 

“We’re retaining it in our ownership and what its future will look like, we’ll be able to tell you in a few months.”

Makiv confirmed Godolphin’s commitment to Osborne Park after finalising a deal for Racing NSW to buy Crown Lodge, which has about 125 boxes adjacent to south west Sydney’s Warwick Farm racecourse.

The acquisition of Crown Lodge by the racing regulator will allow trainer Ciaron Maher to consolidate his NSW operations, with the dual-state stable relinquishing leases on Leilani Lodge at Randwick and Bong Bong Farm.

The NSW Southern Highlands property Bong Bong Farm is also owned by Racing NSW, having purchased the Paul Fudge-developed facility for $22.5 million in 2021.

Maher, who will maintain his beach training base at Bobs Farm north of Newcastle, was the successful applicant to take over Leilani Lodge, High Street stables owned by the Australian Turf Club.

Since Anthony Cummings was forced last year to vacate the well-known stables, from where his father Bart also trained for decades, the ATC and Maher have invested heavily in upgrading the 59-box complex.  

The ATC will once again call for expressions of interest to fill those boxes. It’s unclear whether Maher will have to fulfil his financial obligations at Leilani Lodge until a new tenant is found.

The injection of capital from the sale of Crown Lodge, Makiv says, will allow Godolphin to invest in upgrades at its breeding properties, Kelvinside and Woodlands in the Hunter Valley and Northwood Park in Victoria.

“There’s some things that we’d like to do on the farms that we have. Northwood Park was developed 20 years ago; Kelvinside was developed 20-plus years ago, and Woodlands is an aging site as well,” Makiv says. 

“There’s certainly some investment and things we can do on the farms to get things back up to speed.”

Godolphin also owns Carbine Lodge at Flemington, with trainer Chris Waller now leasing the prime metropolitan stable following the end of the Cummings’ partnership and his securing of a contract to train in Hong Kong.

Maher’s decision to shift to Crown Lodge and away from Bong Bong Farm does raise the question of what Racing NSW does next with the purpose-built property.

Forming part of an extensive property portfolio, which also includes the currently leased Lynton near Goulburn, Bong Bong Farm effectively sat dormant for two years until Maher’s takeover in 2023.

Upon Racing NSW’s purchase of Bong Bong Farm, it soon after employed respected former trainer and horse breaker Greg Bennett, luring him back to NSW from Queensland, with the intention of operating it as a commercial pre-training facility. 

No horses ever entered the property and Bennett left by mutual agreement.

The price of rentals in the Southern Highlands, a popular area for high net worth individuals to reside as well as home to stud farms such as Silverdale, Milburn Creek and Rheinwood Pastoral, is understood to have been one of the drawbacks of Bong Bong Farm being able to attract staff to run the training operation at scale.

It also poses the broader question about the viability of private training centres when considering the rising costs of infrastructure and maintenance, as well as staffing costs.

The Victorian industry, in particular, has invested heavily in training facilities, with Cranbourne having more than 1000 horses in work south east of Melbourne while Pakenham and Ballarat have also become major centres.

Melbourne Cup-winning trainer Danny O’Brien placed his private facility at Thirteenth Beach near Barwon Heads on Victoria’s Surf Coast on the market earlier this year with the intention of preparing his horses from his Flemington base.

Donovan and Co’s Clint Donovan, who also brokered the sale of Crown Lodge as well as Segenhoe Stud in the Hunter Valley to Yulong, is the selling agent for Thirteenth Beach.

The Hayes family’s Lindsay Park property at Euroa is arguably the country’s best-known private training centre and remains a major asset in their arsenal alongside a stable at Flemington.

They also own stables at Pakenham with up to 50 horses in training at any one time at that centre.

While Godolphin has largely held onto its Australian properties since it first came to Australia in the early 2000s, it has on occasion disposed of assets or added to its portfolio through strategic purchases.

It bought Kelvinside at Aberdeen from former jockey Hilton Cope in 2003 and in 2006 it purchased Northwood Park at Seymour in Victoria, two years prior to its major buyout of Jack and Bob Ingham’s Woodlands thoroughbred breeding and racing empire.

Godolphin sold the former Ingham Enterprises-owned Belmont Park at North Richmond in 2017 and it sold Woodlands’ Cootamundra property Twin Hills around the same time to Olly and Amber Tait.

Olly Tait worked as Darley’s chief operating officer for 15 years, leading him to be a major figure in the deal for Sheikh Mohammed to buy the Inghams’ Australian racing and breeding business in 2008.

Tait left Darley in 2014, remaining in the UK as a consultant for about three years, prior to returning to Australia to run the 2500-acre Twin Hills Stud.