Queensland’s Element Hill, the farm where now retired Hong Kong champion Golden Sixty and Australian Horse of the Year Typhoon Tracy were born and raised, has been sold after more than 12 months on the market.
And while the buyer, who had earlier purchased the neighbouring property also previously owned by prominent breeders John and Fu Mei Hutchins and run by their son Josh, is not from a racing or breeding background, he intends to operate Element Hill as a spelling facility.
That’s good news for long-time Element Hill managers Mitch and Di Fraser who will stay on at the farm under its new ownership to operate the thoroughbred spelling business.
Selling agent Clint Donovan of Donovan & Co revealed Element Hill’s new owner, whose identity has not been disclosed, was keen to explore the thoroughbred industry with the spelling farm as an entry point for the businessman.
“Really importantly, he's not a horse person, but he does have an underlying interest and is very, very keen to get involved in racehorse ownership, and they are going to run a boutique racehorse spelling business,” Donovan told The Straight.
“It's the perfect farm for it as it has sensational water, great pasture, great fencing, and management that have produced some of the best horses or maybe the best horse in the world at one period of time in Golden Sixty.
“It’s exciting that it is going to stay, maybe not in the breeding industry, but certainly in the horse business. I'd say whichever smart trainer or trainers decide to support him will have a new owner.”
The new owner previously bought the neighbouring 186-hectare Allawah farm where he runs beef cattle but more recently he added the 64-hectare Element Hill Stud, which is a heavily equine infrastructure-focused property, to his portfolio.
Allawah and Element Hill, which enjoys Logan River and Running Creek frontage, are located diagonally across from each other near Innisplain in South East Queensland.
One of the key selling points for Element Hill was the Hutchins’ custom-built six-bedroom home and an additional four-bedroom manager’s residence.
Allawah has about 70 acres of irrigated lucerne, an original homestead and two two-bedroom staff accommodation lodges. It also features a 10-horse stable and vet crush, a hay shed and cattle yards.
“He bought the cattle block, and then he was going to build a $3 million house on it, but it was going to take three years to build,” Donovan said.
“So, he said, ‘hang on, why not just buy this one that's beautiful across the road that's already there?’.”
The Hutchins conducted a dispersal sale of their breeding stock at the 2024 Magic Millions National Sale, which included the selling of a Wootton Bassett half-sister to Golden Sixty who sold at the Gold Coast for $1 million to North America’s Mt Brilliant Farm.
The Hutchins elected to sell Element Hill and Allawah to focus on their other business interests while still racing a team of horses with various trainers across Australia.
