Trevor Folsom: The new face of the old Tartan Fields

Cover image courtesy of Milangall Park

Trevor Folsom has been in racing a long time but you might not have heard of him. He was in Double Ranga, that daughter of Exceed And Excel and dam of Scarlet Rain (Manhattan Rain), and he was in Runaway (Manhattan Rain), a Geelong Cup and VRC St Leger winner, and Woodbine (Hussonet {USA}).

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Folsom has broodmare interests at Ridgmont Farm and Arrowfield, and some of his closest allies include John and Paul Messara, John Kelly of Newhaven Park and Brian Siemsen of Black Soil Bloodstock.

If the name doesn’t yet ring a bell, it will through 2023.

Folsom is the new owner of the Esplin family’s Tartan Fields, some 200 acres in Kulnura, north of Sydney. In its past, this neat, well-serviced property bred the likes of Reset, Charge Forward, Plucky Belle (Mossman) and Land Of Plenty.

When it went on the market in March 2022, a “change in direction” according to Hamish Esplin, it was expected to fetch a pretty price, and it did. Folsom and his wife Jacquie, Coogee residents, paid north of $10.6 million.

Tartan Fields was renamed ‘Milangall Park’ and its reinvention began. Today, only months later, it has its old rural charm but with a flood of investment into its fences, facilities and future.

Folsom has reopened the property as a spelling and rehabilitation farm, just 90 minutes north of Sydney and within simple reach of Newcastle and the blossoming regional racing centre of Scone, Milangall Park will muscle into contention as one of the best-equipped, best-located facilities of its kind.

Who is Trevor Folsom?

In private enterprise, Folsom is the co-founder and chairman of the venture capitalist firm Investible. That adventure began as far back as 1998 with Blueprint Management Group, which Folsom founded in partnership with Creel Price and sold out of, for nine figures, around 2008.

For Folsom, his everyday routine is things like investment, advisement, portfolio expansion and start-ups. He is a board member and non-executive director of Kip McGrath education centres, a former chairman of Car Next Door and an entrepreneur in residence at the University of New South Wales.

He is a high-flyer, high-achiever, and high-ender. Folsom is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a prolific angel investor and a continual mentor in investment circles.

He’s also a husband, father of three, and a surfer, and one of those people bitten by racing at an early age.

“When it comes to racing, I’ve been an owner and something of a spectator to date,” Folsom said, speaking to TDN AusNZ. “Now I’m becoming a contributor by maintaining this beautiful farm we’ve bought as a thoroughbred facility.”

Folsom’s emergence as an industry heavy-hitter follows years of interest in racing and breeding. Right back into his early youth, his father was a Canadian dairy farmer who bred performance horses, and Folsom himself was a Canadian migrant to Australia as a child.

“We bought farms in western New South Wales, which were more sheep and wheat but we always had horses around,” Folsom said. “So I always had an interest in them but I didn’t do anything with it until I bought an ex-racehorse when I was playing rugby in Brisbane. That was just for fun type of riding when I was 22 or 23 years old.”

Folsom didn’t spend much time learning about the pedigree of his off-track racehorse, but time in Brisbane and success in business eventually expanded his racing network. He got to know Neil Douglas, co-director of Ridgmont Farm, and Julian Blaxland at Blue Sky Thoroughbreds (FBAA).

“Getting to know these sorts of people was a natural introduction for me to racing,” Folsom said. “I began to buy small shares, initially with Julian, and I spent a bit of time with Gai Waterhouse, bringing the kids to the track in the early mornings and back to the stables.”

Those were the years 2010 to around 2012. In that time, Folsom raced Double Ranga, who was named after his first two children and who was a one-time city winner through 13 lifetime starts.

The chestnut mare was bought as an Inglis Easter yearling by Julian Blaxland for $120,000 in 2010, and her Group 2-winning daughter Scarlet Rain was her first foal, later selling for $950,000 to James Harron at the 2017 Magic Millions National Sale.

“I stayed in Double Ranga and she’s still breeding at Arrowfield today,” Folsom said. “She was probably the earliest transition for me from part-owner into breeding stock, and that gave me good exposure to that side of the industry.”

Folsom’s business acumen has crept into his attitude to racing. He was already successful in private enterprise when he moved into thoroughbred shares.

“I had been very successful in a corporate sense and I didn’t go into racehorses until I had that success,” he said. “It made it a lot easier, obviously. But I never got above my ambitions. I always tried to maintain 10 to 12 runners and only in part-ownerships. My philosophy, which is much like in business, was to surround myself with really good people which allowed me to build a business, and that’s what I’m doing with Milangall Park.

“I’ve met so many good people, and it’s been fascinating how many people are available and willing to give the time and advice and help out. It’s pretty similar in the venture capitalist world, so it’s been really satisfying to experience that.”

New directions

For the best part of three years, Folsom planned to bridge into racing with a property. But where to find a property, and where to find one within two hours of Sydney?

“It was three years in the thinking,” he said. “I always saw spelling and rehab as the best entry, and that’s a big step from small-time ownership. The farm had to tick many boxes. Location, firstly, because it had to be within two hours of Sydney, and then a most important part based on the model was finding the right manager.”

When Tartan Fields emerged on the market last year, it happened to have Danielle Jacklin in tow. She’d been the stud’s manager for nearly eight years and, after meeting her, Folsom was determined she would stay on.

“My introduction to Danielle through the sales process was encouraging, but until we actually made the big commitment and settled on the property, we had to work out if we’d be a good fit for Danielle and Danielle a good fit for us,” Folsom said.

“The model could have been very different without her, like leasing out or going into partnership, but my desire was always to be involved, just with a manager that could guide the day-to-day and also drive the vision that I wanted to create around the property.”

For Jacklin, it was an anxious few months as the future of Tartan Fields sat on the commercial property market. There were 600 reported expressions of interest from developers, racing identities and private investors, so the relief that came with Folsom’s purchase was enormous, and the decision to stay on an exciting one.

“I’d been with the Esplins for nearly eight years,” Jacklin said, chatting with TDN AusNZ. “It was great to be able to stay on, but also to be part of the changes, the new direction that the farm is going in. I’ve been very lucky that it’s been Trevor and Jacquie that bought the farm. They’re great people that want to do some extraordinary stuff, not just for this farm but for the industry as well.”

Jacklin is a mother of two boys. She lives onsite and is a devoted, experienced horsewoman. She is priceless, according to Folsom, and she’s excited about the farm’s move away from racehorse breeding and towards racehorse spelling.

“Tartan Fields didn’t have any outside clients,” she said. “Now, it will be largely clientele based here, so that presents a very different situation for me. At the moment, a lot of my everyday working life is business-related in terms of getting new clients, changing the infrastructure and starting a new business from scratch. It’s been very enjoyable and very new.”

There are enormous benefits to having a familiar face in a new business. Already, Annabel Neasham has committed a few horses to Milangall Park, and word of mouth is spreading among trainers in the Sydney catchment.

The 215 acres of the property will eventually be able to host up to 100 horses, and there are far-sighted plans for Milangall Park to be a pre-training facility too.

“A DA went in just before Christmas for a new stable complex, and that also consists of a secondary barn with a water treadmill and a dry treadmill,” Jacklin said. “We’ll also be putting in a track with the round yard and walking machines, so it’s all happening.”

Friends in high places

The spelling and pre-training space is a competitive one around Sydney, but Folsom has no plans to be average. Milangall Park offers bespoke agistment packages and high-end nutrition, promising the mental and physical regeneration of visiting horses.

Part of this polish is down to Folsom’s background in corporate enterprise. What has it taught him about starting a business in the racing industry?

“The business of investing is a long one,” he said. “Patience is important. I won’t be an overnight success at Milangall Park because I want it to be generational. It was my passion and vision to invest initially, but the success will be built on the people we bring along for the ride.

“The most obvious corporate skill I’ve brought into it is the people side. We invest in amazing founders, and their success is to be able to attract other aligned people with the right skills. I’ve been very mindful that I’ve got a lot to learn, so this farm will be a collective of advice and support from others that have been here before.”

To date, that support has come from the likes of the Messara family and John Kelly, as mentioned. It has also come from Gary Cunningham and Harry McAlpine, and people like John O’Shea, Alan Stephenson, the proprietor of the commercial division at Harvey Norman, and Rosemont's Anthony Mithen.

In a few days’ time, Folsom will head to the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale with Black Soil Bloodstock’s Brian Siemsen, one of his finest friends. With allies like these, is the racing industry a new career for Trevor Folsom?

“It could be,” he said. “I’ve got lots of working life left in me still and my core business is still growing. But I can see the similarities between both, and I can see my ability to be able to transfer between my normal investment life onto the farm. And it’s hopefully something that my kids will want to be involved in too.”

Milangall Park is named after Folsom’s three children, Mila, Angus and Ally. Every detail has, to this point, been pre-planned and executed well.

“We paid nicely for the farm, no doubt about that,” he said. “When we paid nicely we thought it was too much, but everyone since has told us it was a pretty good price given the location, and I’m willing to run with that advice.”