One of Australian racing’s most ambitious operations is to be revamped with the sale of the racing stock of Victorian-based Wadham Park.
Managing director and trainer Dale Sutton said the sale of the stable’s 37 racehorses was not the end of racing for the operation that moved from Queensland to Victoria in 2004.
“We still have a lot of foals and yearlings coming through … the (racing) colours will be seen again,” Sutton said.
“We recently undertook a complete review of all our operations and came to the decision that our immediate focus will be directed to the breeding part of the organisation.”
Wadham Park is the racing side of the enterprise first established in Queensland by Peter Rowsthorn, the former chairman of Australia’s biggest transport company Toll Holdings.
It operated in conjunction with the organisation’s breeding arm, Woodside Park.
The Wadham Park dispersal will be held as part of the Inglis Melbourne Thoroughbred Sale on August 17.
Among the horses to be sold are the city-winning mares Ravenous Lass, Simply Put, Lis Nediym and Zeftabaa as well as several unraced two-year-olds and a broken-in yearling colt by Testa Rossa.
Sutton said the sale and the suspension of racing operations represented a “change of direction” rather than the end of racing for Wadham Park.
“We are very excited about the future, with a number of facilities and resources available at Wadham Park to be utilised in the expansion of Woodside Park,” he said.
The Wadham Park horses to be dispersed will continue to race until the sale.
