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Macau-owned venture to cease operations out of the former Eliza Park at Kerrie after Inglis Premier Yearling Sale.
Thoroughbred Breeders' Victoria (TBV) is hopeful that leading breeders may look to establish a Victorian base after it was revealed yesterday that Sun Stud will undergo a major restructure after the Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale concludes in March.
Racing.com first reported yesterday that Sun Stud is set to close its Kerrie operation, based out of the former Eliza Park property. The Macedon Ranges farm is likely to remain in the hands of Sun Stud owner Cheng Ting-Kong and his Sun International Group, but the farm will be leased should a tenant be found.
It is home to seven stallions – Bel Esprit (Royal Academy), Fiorente (Monsun), Magnus (Flying Spur), Palentino (Teofilo), Ready For Victory (More Than Ready), Squamosa (Not A Single Doubt) and Thronum (Snitzel) – while National Defense (Invincible Spirit) also shuttled from the Irish National Stud for the last two years.
No decisions about their stallions and any future plans have been made.
Staff were informed of the downsizing plans on Monday but declined to comment when approached by ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday.
However, TBV executive officer Charmein Bukovec believes the chance to lease or possibly acquire such a prolific property – one that has produced some of the finest horses to grace the turf over its two decades in operation – offers a rare opening to establish a foothold in a prosperous industry.
"It is sad to hear the news about Sun Stud given the rich history the farm has, producing champion horses like Black Caviar and Redzel," Bukovec told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday.
"While this chapter of Sun Stud is ending, there's no doubt that the next chapter is going to be an exciting one for them as they continue with a smaller broodmare band.
"The restructure of Sun Stud provides an amazing opportunity for a new establishment to call Victoria home or for a farm to expand its operations to the Kerrie base. Victoria has gone from strength to strength and the state provides both an ideal environment to produce an equine athlete and an ideal formula for success with strong support from the Victorian government and Racing Victoria.
"As we've seen time and time again, Victorian breeders get results on the track with recent examples including Ole Kirk, Dirty Work and North Pacific."
Bukovec points out that the Racing Australia Fact Book, which was released last month and encompasses statistics up until the 2018-19 season, shows that breeding is once again on the rise in the garden state.
"It highlights that more breeders are choosing Victoria," she said. "Victoria was one of only two states to record an increase in foals [along with Western Australia] and has been increasing year-on-year in recent times."
It comes at a time when the contentious issue of mining has once again reared its head in the Hunter Valley, widely regarded as Australia's premier nursery.
For instance, Coolmore Australia has been touted as potentially eyeing off a Victorian base given its long-lasting battle to stop the Maxwell underground coal mine and its former iterations. The mine was again given government approval on December 22.
"For over 10 years, Coolmore has had a coal mine across the road we have been trying to stop happening. That mine has been stopped four times, it has then been sold to a company called Malabar and they are now trying to do another mine," Coolmore Australia principal Tom Magnier told RSN927 in November, when final public submissions were being taken.
"We are defending it with all that we have. It's an underground mine this time, but there's no difference to the threat to our farm.
"We have just short of 10,000 acres up here of what I believe is the best place to raise horses in the world. We have amazing river frontage to the Hunter River, we've got undulating paddocks. The Hunter Valley is exceptional.
"But I'm not going to lie to you, there have been people in Victoria who have been saying to us that if you come to Victoria, we will help you. I've got my head down and I'm trying to fight this, as Godolphin are, as all the stud farms up here are.
"But if they don't do something about this up here, it could come to a stage where a cluster of the thoroughbred industry could look to move to Victoria. It's not at that stage yet.
"We are fighting tooth and nail, but it might come to that stage where people can't fight any more."
Godolphin, who is also set to be significantly impacted by the Maxwell project, already has a Victorian presence through its Northwood Park property in Seymour.
Turbulent year for Sun's Cheng
Sun Stud, owned by Macau tycoon Cheng since 2012, was established as Eliza Park in 1998 by Lee Fleming after he acquired the Kerrie property 12 months prior. Initially named Eliza Park International, the organisation adopted the Sun Stud moniker in 2016.
The downsizing of Sun Stud, which will see the operation dramatically reduce its racing and bloodstock portfolio, comes after a difficult year for Cheng.
It was revealed by The Age, the Sydney Morning Herald and 60 Minutes in February that Cheng, who came to prominence as a casino junket operator in Macau, was under investigation by Australian authorities for money laundering in his dealings with Crown Casino.
Cheng has never been charged with or convicted of money laundering offences.
His company Suncity has been scaling back its Australian operations, according to The Age, with the imminent restructure of Sun Stud another step in that direction.
Sun Stud is not the first bloodstock enterprise to change course, with Aquis Farm last month announcing a major restructure.
Aquis, the platform of Hong Kong billionaire Tony Fung, has been one of Australia's leading investors in recent years. While they are still expected to be very active at next week's Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, chief executive Shane McGrath told ANZ Bloodstock News' Tim Rowe that the coronavirus pandemic had provided the right circumstances for change.
"With Covid, it has given us the opportunity to put steps in place to introduce a new strategic plan for Aquis. We have elected to change the way that we are doing business and there will be a lot more in the future," McGrath said last month.
"Across most industries, people have had time to reflect and review and we're going to try to be a little bit more innovative in how we do business and we'll implement new things.
"There will be more changes in store over the next six to 12 months as we implement our new strategy."
