Written by Trent Masenhelder
Cover image courtesy of Commercial Real Estate
The state-of-the-art New South Wales Southern Highlands equine property Bong Bong Farm, formerly the home of Waratah Thoroughbreds, has been acquired by Ciaron Maher Racing (CMR) after an agreement was reached, via a lease agreement, with Racing New South Wales (Racing NSW).
The 97.5-hectare property boasts 40 paddocks, four architecturally designed barns containing 61 boxes, 1250-metre turf and sand training tracks, a swimming pool, a hyperbaric chamber, an equine spa, treadmills and an ocean walker.
The world-class facility is just over an hour away from the team’s Warwick Farm base and becomes the most significant property acquisition for the stable since taking over the Ballarat facility.
The architecturally designed barn | Image courtesy of Commercial Real Estate
CMR CEO Ben Sellenger told TDN AusNZ the acquisition of the property will “make a world of difference” to the business.
“It’s really exciting times; Sydney is one of our biggest strategic levers,” he said.
“It’s going to make a world of difference as we continue to grow in Sydney.
“It (this facility) really is the backbone. We’ve grown a lot in Sydney, primarily out of Warwick Farm. What that means is you obviously use the boxes there for horses that are still getting their base fitness, they might not be ready to run… this allows us to consolidate that and really scale the numbers.
Ben Sellenger | Image courtesy of Ciaron Maher Racing
“We will be able to optimise their performance, just by the nature of the facilities that we’re going to have access to.
“From looking at a heap of facilities over the last year and trying to grow in Sydney, these are the best we’ve seen, so we’re really excited to move in there.”
“From looking at a heap of facilities over the last year and trying to grow in Sydney, these are the best we’ve seen, so we’re really excited to move in there.” - Ben Sellenger
The Bong Bong facility will be used for horses who are spelling, in pre-training and full training, with a further emphasis on it acting as a nursery for the younger horses coming through the CMR system.
“Forgetting for a second that it is a majestic property with state-of-the-art facilities that our sports science team are just salivating over at the moment regarding what they can do, the acquisition of a central property where we can spell, pre-train and train all of our horses and absolutely control the process from start to finish is critical and will allow us to consolidate several third-party locations into one area,” Sellenger explained.
The 1250-metre turf and sand training track | Image courtesy of Commercial Real Estate
“There’s probably space for about 80-100 horses spelling and we still have 78 boxes at Warwick Farm that will become a pure racing stable; if you’re in there, you’re ready to jump out, ready to trial or you’re up and running.”
The property will be run by Matthew and Lyne Henderson - a couple who have extensive experience in the thoroughbred industry, including spending the past seven years managing Archer Park in Queensland.
“They’re really great horse people,” Sellenger said.
“We had a hell of a lot of people interested and we were lucky enough to secure their services.
“We’re piecing together what we hope is a real A-team to move that property forward.”
“We’re piecing together what we hope is a real A-team to move that property forward.” - Ben Sellenger
Racing NSW CEO Peter V’landys AM said the result was a win for both the governing body and CMR.
“Racing NSW has invested in infrastructure to ensure that we have sufficient capacity to house horses in training and ready to race,” he said.
“This is imperative as it ensures that our field sizes are at their peak which then maximises revenues.
“To procure trainers of the calibre of Ciaron Maher and David Eustace takes this investment to another level. The quality of horses and their expertise will only increase the revenues of the New South Wales racing industry.”
