Racing’s Rich Listers – some court the thoroughbred spotlight, others shun it

Among the top 200 wealthiest Australian people profiled in the recent Australian Financial Review Rich List is a host of racing identities who share a passion for the thoroughbred industry.

Eddie Hirsch bought four mares at last week’s Magic Millions sale on the Gold Coast, but his investment easily flew under the radar.

With 24 million-dollar lots and Zougotcha selling for $5.25 million, Hirsch’s quartet cost a relatively modest combined price of $435,000. 

The four mares were mostly acquired to support Hirsch’s new recruit, the first season Group 1 Randwick Guineas and Doncaster-winning Celestial Legend.

The new stallion will stand at petroleum billionaire Hirsch’s Woodside Park Stud in Victoria with the support of wealthy Hong Kong businessman Bon Ho, who raced the talented but injury-prone Celestial Legend, and whom he maintains a 50 per cent interest.

Hirsch is no less ambitious than the Coolmores, who bought Zougotcha, or Zhang Yuesheng of Yulong, the biggest buyer of them all, but he wants to play the thoroughbred game his way.

Hirsch, who made his fortune through United Petroleum service stations, was last week listed at no.72 on the Australian Financial Review’s Rich List with an estimated $2.27 billion.

He is one of a string of top 200 Rich Listers who choose to direct some of their wealth towards the thoroughbred industry for a mix of business and pleasure.

A self-made billionaire, Hirsch has little interest in spending millions on a single mare, or buying a seven-figure yearling colt, whereas the likes of Fairway Thoroughbreds’ John Camilleri offers a different perspective, preferring to spend more on less to increase his chances of breeding or owning a champion. 

Hirsh and son-in-law Anthony Bueti, who runs Woodside Park Stud and its racing operation Hirsch Park at Tylden, west of Melbourne, were at the Gold Coast for the Magic Millions, but if you didn’t know who they were you could easily have walked past them without the blink of an eye.

And that’s the way Hirsch likes it. 

When asked why he doesn’t participate at the top end of the bloodstock market, which his wealth would allow, he purportedly told associates that if it was all about money he’d build another service station.

More recognisable at the Gold Coast than Hirsch and Bueti was avid breeder and racehorse owner Gerry Harvey, the Harvey Norman founder who operates Magic Millions with his wife Katie Page.

Their wealth climbed 13 per cent over the past year to $3.82 billion, according to the AFR, while champion mare Winx’s breeder Camilleri was also ringside when his agent James Harron successfully bid $2.5 million for Group 1-winning mare Lady Laguna.

At 58th, Camilleri’s family wealth was estimated to be $3.82 billion while fellow poultry kings and racing family, the Inghams, were ranked at 125th on the annual list with $1.36 billion. 

The late Bob Ingham’s daughter Debbie Kepitis and her husband Paul, who bid a record $10 million to buy Winx’s first living foal at last year’s Inglis Easter Sale, were in Brisbane for last month’s Doomben Cup meeting to watch their homebred Lindermann in the $1 million feature race. 

The Inghams are long-time Rich Listers but this year’s release has a new  “racing man”, Melbourne entrepreneur Nick Wakim, who made the nation’s wealth index for the first time courtesy of his company Phoenix Lithium’s rising fortunes. AFR counts his wealth at $1.17 billion, placing him 142nd.

Wakim’s entry into racing has developed over the past decade, with the 58-year-old focusing on a quality-over-quantity model through his Hilldene Farm thoroughbred business. 

With Phoenix Lithium in good hands, Wakim plans to spend more time involved in his racing enterprise.

“I can take a back seat, appoint a professional team and CEO and then sit on the board,” Wakim told the AFR. 

“I want to spend more time with my family and horses now. It doesn’t mean I’m shirking my responsibilities, but I don’t have the same drive and the passion I had to be at the helm.”

Another Rich Lister, Cotton On’s Nigel Austin, arguably experienced his most significant horse racing moment this year: the Group 1 William Reid win and subsequent retirement of high-priced Zoustar stallion Schwarz to Rosemont Stud.

The Geelong-based thoroughbred operation, which Austin owns with his brother-in-law Anthony Mithen, paraded Schwarz in front of breeders at the Magic Millions, the rising five-year-old’s presence garnering rave reviews for the stallion’s physique and temperament.

Austin was ranked 67th with a fortune of $2.42 billion, a year-on-year decline of 1 per cent.

Jonathan Munz, ranked 73rd with an estimated wealth of $2.25 billion, is undoubtedly one of Australian racing’s most powerful figures on and off the track.

The owner of The Everest-winning sprinter Giga Kick, a shareholder in Waikato Stud’s superstar young sire Super Seth, and numerous high-class fillies and mares as well as the private training facility Pinecliff on the Mornington Peninsula, Munz is seen as a major racing politician through his position as chairman of the Thoroughbred Racehorse Owners Association.

Other racing Rich Listers include Brian Flannery (139th, $1.2 billion), whose family entry into racing began in stunning fashion through 2022 Victoria Derby winner Manzoice, and seven-time Melbourne Cup-winning owner Lloyd Williams (157th, $1.03 billion). 

Mike Gregg (150th, $1.11 billion), who has teamed up with Hawkesbury trainer Brad Widdup under his Mulberry Racing banner, has been a major player at the yearling sales over the past two years and the fruits of that investment can be expected to flow in the next few seasons.

Advertising guru John Singleton, a long-time racing lover, is 196th on the Rich List with wealth of $776 million while James Packer (30, $4.98 billion), whose father Kerry punted with Lloyd Williams, is known to have owned a horse or two as has Western Australian billionaire Kerry Stokes (10th, $12.69 billion).

Pokies giant Bruce Mathieson (130th, $1.27 billion) had a difficult year, copping a 27 per cent financial haircut in part due to being the largest shareholder in battling casino group Star Entertainment, but he can console himself by looking at the photos on the wall of his long retired three-time Group 1 winner Foreteller. 

Prominent harness racing identity Kevin Seymour (190th, $794 million) also featured on the AFR’s Rich List.