‘He was a star for us’- Swettenham Stud welcomes back Adam McLaughlin

Cover image courtesy of Swettenham Stud

Swettenham Stud on Wednesday announced the appointment of Adam McLaughlin as stud manager, a role that will commence on July 10 after McLaughlin’s arrival from Ireland.

His name won’t be a mystery to many in Australian circles, with McLaughlin relocating to Swettenham from Coolmore Ireland and, while a regular visitor during the shuttle season, it will be the first time McLaughlin will be permanently based in Australia.

The Irishman first visited Swettenham in its Nagambie foothold during the 2021 breeding season. That spring, he looked after Highland Reel (Ire) on shuttle duties and, according to the farm’s General Manager, Sam Matthews, he left a deep impression.

“He was a star for us that season,” Matthews said when we caught up with him on Wednesday. “Adam always wanted to come back to Australia, and this was the right time for him to make that move.”

McLaughlin is upping sticks from Tipperary, where he has lived for the last few years. He has a partner and two young children, aged two years old and eight months, all of whom will follow him to Nagambie in the coming months.

It’s a huge migration, but McLaughlin is already familiar with the Swettenham surroundings and the way things roll on the farm. He and his family will live onsite in the hub of the Swettenham family.

“His background includes Shadwell as well as all his work with Coolmore on mares, foals and stallions,” Matthews said. “He’s got a broad range of experience, and his attitude and work ethic is well-aligned to what we’re all about here. He’s a very genuine person and he knows his stuff.”

In 2021, Matthews spent a lot of time with McLaughlin, visiting nearby farms to introduce him to the way of things in Victorian breeding. Some of those visits included helping out befriended breeders with online sales, inspections and directions about where weanlings and yearlings should be heading.

“Adam came to a few sales with me and he ended up helping out a lot of farms,” Matthews said. “It was actually really impressive. He was a stallion hand at the time, but the way he presented, and the way he put up his hand to help out, it was excellent. He was the first one to put up his hand for things.”

McLaughlin was one of the faces leading horses in a lot of Inglis Digital videos from mid-2021. He walked horses for Bill Shelton and the guys at Ealing Park, among others. In other words, he had no tickets on himself, and nothing was too much trouble.

“He is the first one to put his hand up,” Matthews said. “Adam is happy to delegate when he needs to delegate, but he’s happy to get his hands dirty too. He is a person that will show you how to do things but work with you to get them done.

“He won’t just sit in the office and point fingers, or get it all done himself. He knows the happy medium, which is a very important way to be, particularly in such a busy role during the breeding season when it’s hectic. It’s five months of madness.”

The role of stud manager has been vacant at Swettenham since last year’s catastrophic flooding. It’s a hands-on role and a big role, typically filled by candidates much older than McLaughlin.

He will handle all the responsibility of the outdoors staff, and he will also have a degree of responsibility over the on-farm bloodstock. McLaughlin will oversee the veterinary aspects of the operation, which are extensive, along with the smooth, seasonal, day-to-day running of Swettenham Stud.

“We’ve been incredibly lucky with our staff the last few years,” Matthews said. “We’ve had a lot of long-term employees, and we are full up for this coming season. Everyone gets along and there is a lovely working environment here, which we’re really looking forward to sharing with Adam and his family when they arrive.”

'You learned and you learned quickly'

This season, McLaughlin will arrive to a Swettenham roster that includes gang-busting Toronado (Ire), Wooded (Ire) by Wootton Bassett (GB), local hero Rubick, old flame Puissance De Lune (Ire) and young gun I Am Immortal.

It’s been about four or five years since the farm opted out of yearling preparation, and that has made a significant difference to staff contentment, according to Matthews. All yearlings are sent out-of-house in the sales season.

“I think that was the making of a new culture at Swettenham,” Matthews said. “Our staff knows that it’s head down, bum up throughout the spring, and then they get a very good break thereafter. The season can get very hectic, as it does for every farm, and come the end of December, the stallions are turned out and it’s basically about looking after the mares and foals into the early part of the year.”

Gallery: Swettenham Stud's stallion roster in 2023

That will make it a relatively unique environment for McLaughlin, who has handled the full kit and kaboodle of breeding and yearling-sales seasons with other operators.

“Generally my previous roles have been on the ground, but last year I got a promotion within Coolmore to area manager, which meant that an entire area was up to me look after and control, so in hindsight it was a good lead-up into this gig,” McLaughlin said, speaking to TDN AusNZ. “I won’t be coming down to the position without a clue. I’ll have an idea of management and looking after a property.”

McLaughlin is originally from County Tyrone, which is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland. None of his family was connected to racing but, as most Irish kids are, he was exposed to horses and riding from a young age, and the gradual ease into thoroughbreds occurred.

“I was the only one into horses and I started at a riding school,” he said. “I turned out quite good at that and I went from breaking ponies on the weekend to sport horses. It was actually a friend who suggested I give a try to racing and, to be honest, I didn’t have a clue about it at the time. That’s how I ended up with John Jenkins in England, and that was an education. You learned and you learned quickly.”

Jenkins is in Royston, England, sandwiched between Cambridge and Luton to the north of London. It was a baptism of fire for McLaughlin, but from there he went to Olly and Hetta Stevens at Robins Farm and, later, to William Haggas. At Shadwell, which was his formative experience in bloodstock, he was embedded in the rehabilitation yards.

“Once I’d made my way to Newmarket, that was when I went to Shadwell and later on to Coolmore,” McLaughlin said. “It’s all been a brilliant grounding leading to this role in Australia.”

The Swettenham move will be the first time McLaughlin will live permanently in Australia. For years, he has experienced the Australian summer in a temporary fashion, flying in around July and departing in early December.

“It will be strange to get to December time and not have to pack a bag,” he said. “We are all looking forward to it, and my partner is really looking forward to the Australian summer. It’s going to be a really good move for all of us.”

McLaughlin will arrive in Australia on Tuesday night. For a month, he will ease into the role at Swettenham before his family arrives, all the while getting child seats organised for the car and the myriad of furniture demanded to raise very young children.

However, the part he is most looking forward to is just getting stuck in.

“At this stage, I’m really excited to be getting started,” McLaughlin said. “We’ve been in discussions with visas and such for a long time, so it will be good to just get down and get stuck in with the team, to meet everyone again and see the new people who have arrived since I was last there, and the clients too.

“I land on Tuesday and the plan is for the family to join me after a month or so. There’ll have to be a few shopping expeditions before that to get everything ready for them. You know yourself.”

McLaughlin has the likeable manners of so many of his Irish compatriots. There’s no arrogance or big-noting; he is as Matthews said, a genuine fellow. In a fortnight or so he will assume the position of stud manager at Swettenham, and it’s a valuable appointment. And the Swettenham team knows it.