At the blue-blooded end of the rural market can there be two horse properties concurrently for sale that are worthy of a “once in a lifetime” tag?
There can, and there are. And, no surprise, you’ll need a big purse to get a look in.
One, the 86.6-hectare Tartan Fields at Kulnura, about 85 kilometres from Sydney in the central coast’s glorious hinterland, has just come onto the market.
The other, the 121-hectare Macedon Lodge, about 65 kilometres north of Melbourne, is the world-renowned nursery of seven Melbourne Cup winners that Lloyd Williams and his son Nick offered up for the third time in eight years at the beginning of the year.
The Williams’ property has so much pampering infrastructure for housing, training and buffing up to 150 racehorses, including a 75-metre-long saltwater pool, solariums, spas and 70 stables, that the multiple flats and two houses for the human staff are an incidental mention in the advert for this equine heaven.
Macedon Lodge was first proposed for sale in 2014 and again in 2019. Those currently interested are advised that the price has come down from the mooted $20 million-plus of the pre-pandemic campaigns, but they’ll still need to stump up well over $15 million for what genuinely is a once-in-a-lifetime facility. It is being marketed via a private treaty campaign through Inglis Rural Property and LAWD Melbourne.
Both the Lodge and Tartan Fields have private uphill training tracks and, to sweeten the deals, both are being suggested as having subdivision potentials.
Owned by the Esplin dynasty of successful NSW breeders and owners (whose silks are tartan), Tartan Fields is currently set up as a broodmare stud with facilities for up to 80 mares, including a maternity ward.
For on-site employees, there are three neat houses plus a manager’s residence. It is zoned RU1, and the sales literature mentions the potential for subdivision into four 20.2-hectare lots, subject to council approval.
Scott Wall of the Stone agency Wyong, which is orchestrating the sale, says what has the market excited – to the degree that he’s been leading daily site visits out to Kulnura since the expressions-of-Interest campaign opened in mid-March – is the size of the picturesque property set between Sydney and the Hunter Valley’s concentration of horse studs.
Although those interested will also need to have $10 million at least, Shaun Coffey, also of Stone, says the office fielded 600 phone enquiries in the first 10 days. It is primarily racing identities who’ve come on the line, he says. “Mostly trainers looking to consolidate their facilities into one like this. They say that it’s unbelievable to get this type of property on this scale up on the Central Coast.”
Wall says another aspect of difference to Tartan Fields is that “three-quarters of this property is usable for horses, with the balance being good for cattle … on the prestige market that makes it a very flexible property”.
He adds that “few parties who have inspected have considered breaking it up because it’s so unusual to get anything of this size in the area”.
Since the pandemic stimulated the regional relocation movement, lifestyle properties of any stripe have been attracting multiple buyers. But with a holding such as Tartan Fields “being 99 per cent set up for racehorse care and training”, Wall says, “and a lot of money being ploughed into the industry right now, the level of interest in this one is just magic. A lot of people are sniffing it out.”
While the Esplin family are downsizing operations away from Kulnura, Wall says Sydney-based solicitor Hamish Esplin, who recently became president of Thoroughbred Breeders NSW, will continue Tartan Fields’ operations in other locations.
Tartan Fields’ EOI campaign closes on April 14 at 5pm.