Cover image courtesy of Woodside Park Stud
Written by Bren O'Brien
The Rowsthorn family have confirmed their continued involvement in the thoroughbred industry, rebranding to Morningside, having sold out of its Woodside Park Stud business to Eddie Hirsch.
Hirsch's acquisition of Woodside Park, based at Tylden, north of Melbourne, was confirmed this week, with the stallion operation, which includes Foxwedge, Rich Enuff and Tosen Stardom (Jpn), to continue from the Tylden farm.
Previous owners, the Rowsthorn family, will focus solely on its operation at Nagambie, under a new moniker on its 1100-acre property on the Goulburn River.
“We made the decision to become a boutique operation and focus our efforts on breeding high-quality progeny,” owner, Mark Rowsthorn, said.
“While we enjoyed our time in the stallion business, the strategy to diversify our operations at Nagambie, to include cattle and cropping, meant we were better off leaving stallions to the bigger operations both in Victoria and the Hunter Valley."
"While we enjoyed our time in the stallion business, the strategy to diversify our operations at Nagambie, to include cattle and cropping, meant we were better off leaving stallions to the bigger operations both in Victoria and the Hunter Valley." - Mark Rowsthorn
However, the Rowsthorn family and their Morningside business will still be strong supporters of Woodside Park.
“Importantly, Morningside will continue to support the stallions at Woodside. We thank all the clients who supported Woodside Park Stud over the years,” Rowsthorn said.
Will and Tom Rowsthorn will lead the Morningside business with a focus on improving the quality of its broodmare band.
“The Morningside property has a long history of producing Group-winning progeny and we are keen to emulate that success," Will Rowsthorn, Morningside’s general manager, said.
Will and Mark Rowsthorn (left and second from left)
Hirsch, the founder of United Petroleum, purchased the training property neighbouring Woodside Park at Tylden in 2019, and has been previously involved in the business through his ownership of resident stallion Foxwedge.
The Melbourne-based businessman has spent significant money upgrading the training facility, now named Hirsch Park, from where John Salanitri has been based.
He is now set to play an even stronger hand in the stallion game with his acquisition of the main farm, bringing on board former Inglis employee Mark Dodemaide to help manage the new Woodside Park business.
“I’m thrilled to have both my racing and breeding businesses now based in Tylden. All the current Woodside Park Stud staff will remain part of our team and we are excited for a prosperous future in the stud business,” Hirsch said in a statement.
