TBV president to part with pristine Lauriston Thoroughbred Farm
$5 to $6 million price tag for O’Brien’s piece of paradise near Coronet Bay
The birthplace of Global Glamour (Star Witness), the high-profile Group 1 beacon for women to embark on racehorse ownership globally, is on the market.
James O’Brien had a decision to make whether to get bigger or scale back his breeding operation and the Thoroughbred Breeders Victoria president has decided on the former, prompting his decision to offer his pristine 56-hectare Lauriston Thoroughbred Farm for sale.
Located in the growth corridor near Corinella and bordering Coronet Bay, east of Melbourne, the property offers an expansive north-facing modern homestead with bay views.
It also has a 12-box barn, parade ring, 10 undercover yards and five floodlit day yards and access to the beach, providing an ideal opportunity for a pre-training and spelling business.
O’Brien had been contemplating selling the farm for some time, the move coming a year after electing to agist his 12 mares at other studs and outsource yearling preparation to other consignors.
“Last year, we found it tough at the start of the season [to get staff], so I outsourced the mares and I have reflected on it for the past 12 months, plus with spring, it’s probably the right time to sell,” O’Brien told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“I have thought about it over the last little bit and I realised I wouldn’t be buying the quantity of mares and the rationale, with staff availability and staff costs, it made more sense to sell the facility.
“We are focusing more on the quality side rather than the numbers side [with our mare portfolio].”
Lauriston Thoroughbred Farm is being offered by Magic Millions and Donovan & Co with a view to targeting the equine market.
While the property offers significant landbanking appeal, being on the edge of the Coronet Bay township and close to Corinella, as well as San Remo and Phillip Island, and about an hour and a half drive to the Melbourne CBD, Donovan & Co’s Clint Donovan says Lauriston Thoroughbred Farm’s beach access made it an ideal opportunity to continue as a thoroughbred operation.
“I am of the firm belief that the beach access that already trains some of Australia’s best names, being about a kilometre from this property, it really means the farm lends itself to a syndicator or an owner who wants to do their own spelling and pre-training, or maybe even a trainer who wants to control the narrative and do their own pre-training and spelling,” Donovan said yesterday.
“The whole pre-training and spelling thing is a massive angle on top of the landbanking, but by the same token, it’s set up currently as a breeding farm and it’s good for that.”
O’Brien’s own successful pre-training business, which is based five minutes’ drive from his breeding property, will continue to operate as normal with trainers Peter Moody, Chris Waller and Mick Price and Mick Kent Jnr among his main clients.
Saturday’s Everest (1200m) runner-up I Wish I Win (Savabeel) spent Monday and Tuesday at the farm and nearby beach, while Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) winner Verry Elleegant (Zed) is another high-profile former resident.
Donovan suggested that Lauriston Thoroughbred Farm had a valuation of $5 to $6 million and saw it in a similar vein to Mornington Peninsula stud farms such as Musk Creek Farm and Two Bays.
“It has the same topography and the same latitude, it’s just the other side of the bay, and James has bred successfully off the farm,” Donovan said.
“It is a very genuine sale, so we welcome all comers to tell us what it’s worth.”
O’Brien has bred numerous high-class horses from Lauriston Thoroughbred Farm, but none more so than the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained dual Group 1 winner Global Glamour, a $65,000 Magic Millions graduate who was raced by a syndicate of 40 women from around the world.
She won $1.5 million in prize-money and was later sold for the same amount as a broodmare to Coolmore and Gerry Harvey.
Lauriston Thoroughbred Farm is being offered for immediate sale by written expressions of interest closing at 4pm (AEDT) on November 17.