In an era of thoroughbred breeding where the small guys are falling away, what does it take for a new, boutique operator to nudge into the yearling landscape?
When the big farms are only getting bigger, and the gap to the small farms is getting wider, who in their right mind would want to start a business breeding thoroughbreds, and can it work on a small scale?
These are the questions that have faced Adrian Whittingham over the past few years, a man whose new business is the boutique breeding operation Cross Park. This month, the first green shoots of his venture became obvious when he sold his first commercial yearling at the Inglis Classic Sale.
“It was bittersweet,” Whittingham told The Straight. “And bittersweet because part of me was thinking she’d be passed in and we’d keep her, and I actually wouldn’t have minded if that had happened.”
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