The turn of the calendar into February will signal an end of an era for Dorrington Farm’s Robert Crabtree.
Two-and-a-half years after agreeing to sell his picturesque property near Nagambie, the prominent Victorian breeder will officially hand over the keys to a Chinese conglomerate which has bought the prime landholding on the banks of the Goulburn River.
The breeder of top-class mare Scandinavia, stallion Magnus and Helsinge, best-known as the dam of the unbeaten champion Black Caviar, Crabtree has owned the 122-hectare farm since 2017, a move which allowed him to expand his thoroughbred business.
But five years on, the offer received in 2022 by Crabtree from a group of Chinese investors was compelling enough for him to part with Dorrington Farm on his terms.
The deal led to a long settlement period, which has allowed the former Melbourne car dealer to manage and grow out his young horses on the fertile pastures of Dorrington Farm.
Crabtree revealed that he will retain eight of his current crop of yearlings to race, joining a group that includes this season’s Debutant Stakes-winning two-year-old Miss Celine, a Magnus filly who ran fourth first-up in last Saturday’s Blue Diamond Preview at Sandown, an unraced juvenile sister to Group 1 winner Mizzy called In A Tizzy and her three-year-old sibling She’s Got Pizzazz, a last-start winner of the Listed Twilight Glow in the spring.
“Look, it is the end of an era in a sense. But of course, your horses go on, and hopefully we're still attached to many of them,” Crabtree told The Straight.
“(The delayed settlement) gave horses the time to mature to the point where I can race them, and I am thoroughly enjoying that prospect.”
To facilitate the sale of the farm while maintaining his bloodstock interests, Crabtree’s broodmares will move further up the Goulburn River to Noorilim Park as part of a joint venture arrangement between Dorrington and Peter and Glen Carrick.
“What we're doing is we're selling with Noorilim in a joint venture, so all of our foals are in the Sydney sale,” Crabtree announced.
“We've got a Blue Point filly out of Catchy, a Stay Inside filly out of Group 1 winner Sheidel, Toronado-Eleesha filly, a Home Affairs-Blue Grass Music colt, and she is the dam of a Group 1 winner in America, a Blue Point colt out of Sistonic, a Toronado filly out of Anise, and they're all going through the Sydney Weanling Sale.
“They are beautiful horses and they're all going unreserved.So, it's going to be a very exciting thing.”
The southern hemisphere’s first foal sale of the season, the Inglis Australian Weanling Sale will be held at Riverside Stables on May 5 and 6.
Located in Victoria’s thoroughbred heartland North East Victoria, Dorrington Farm was purchased by Crabtree and his wife Sylvie from Bob Scarborough in 2017 when it was known as Wood Nook Farm, a thoroughbred nursery for more than six decades.
He sold his property at Hastings on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, which allowed him to take on the new farm which has a deep history and was once a stallion operation when owned by former Australian Test cricketer Jack Nitschke.
It is unclear whether the new owners of the property plan to continue using it to breed and raise thoroughbreds or whether it’ll be used for other purposes.
As a long-time breeder and former president of Thoroughbred Breeders Victoria, Crabtree has witnessed the ups and downs of the industry from the 1980s through until the current dip in the market.
He acknowledged that the yearling market had come back “more than a fraction”.
“But. I think it's a change that was possibly needed,” Crabtree said.
“I think things did get a bit out of control. What's always refreshing in any market, whether it’s the stock market, horses, or real estate, is that over a period of time they go up.
“But, of course, it's not a straight line. It continues to be a challenge because everything's becoming more and more costly.”
Bren O’Brien
However, Crabtree says that the top-end of the bloodstock market remains healthy, particularly with the level of international investment by the likes of Yulong, Coolmore and, more recently, Resolute Racing’s John Stewart.
“I guess that's what I see as the benefit for the end users of the weanlings that we're selling in Sydney, particularly, is that the horses that are at the top of the market are where the strength is … and it's getting tougher for everybody in the middle,” he said.
Noorilim Park will consign three Dorrington Farm-bred yearlings at the upcoming Inglis Melbourne Premier sale: a Wootton Bassett half-brother to the stakes-placed National Choice, a Blue Point daughter of Blue Grass Music and a Magnus filly out of grand producer Silverbeat, the dam of four stakes winners from six foals to race.
