Rushton Park: a thoroughbred's dream

Cover image courtesy of Magic Millions

For 15 years, the husband-and-wife team of David and Kayley Johnson have been at the helm of the Murchison property and together they have crafted a reputation of the highest order.

The Johnsons are regulars on the sales circuit and have raised and sold a plethora of classy gallopers under their Rushton Park banner, and have topped the Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale and the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale with their stock.

“It’s a farm that raises good horses. We’ve had horses off the place that have topped the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale, the Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale. We have been the leading vendor at the Inglis Great Southern Weanling Sale several times,” David Johnson told TTR AusNZ.

“We’ve had a good group of stakes horses off the place and lots of metropolitan winners, Country Cup horses and Hong Kong winners. The land just raises good, tough, sound horses.”

No quick decision

Putting Rushton Park up for sale has not been a decision made with haste. The Johnsons have made significant investments in the property. As horse people, they've thoughtfully designed the property to include everything necessary for raising successful thoroughbreds.

“It has certainly been a work of love. A lot of money, a lot of time and a lot of thought has gone into the property.

“At our peak we would have 80 to 100 mares on the farm, including dry mares. Most years we would foal around 50 to 60 mares and then we had all other stock such as yearlings and weanlings. We would have about 150 horses on the farm pretty well 12 months of the year.”

The property includes two picturesque homesteads that anybody would be happy to call home. The equine facilities are equally impressive.

Rushton Park has 56 paddocks of various sizes, a large machinery shed, workshop and hay shed.

Rushton Park a contains a barn with a tack room, an eight-horse walker. Vet facilities such as a mare and foal crush, nine steel vet yards and eight sheltered day yards.

In addition, there is a foaling hut, floodlit yards and CCTV. While 12 rubber floor mats and new equine double fencing for safety has been installed around the farm.

No expense or functionality has been spared or overlooked with a round yard, and staff amenities also accounted for.

The farm is also positioned in prime thoroughbred country in Victoria with easy access to Darley's Northwood Park, Blue Gum Farm and other studs with high-quality rosters for breeders. Rushton Park is also in close proximity to Tatura Racecourse if the property is purchased as a home base for a trainer.

With all the time and effort put in the Johnsons state it was an incredibly hard decision to come to but ultimately the right one as they hope to enjoy some downtime.

“Basically, we’d like to wind down and get a bit more of a different lifestyle at the moment. We have been here for 15 years and pretty well worked seven days a week for all those years.

“As owner-operators it’s hard to find downtime. We’ve got an 8-year-old child, we basically want to do some travelling and get the fire back in the belly,” Johnson told TTR AusNZ.

“Kayley and I are still going to have horses and we have another block in Violet Town which we currently run cattle on, but might do something else with it going forward.

“However, we’ll get our numbers down. We’re certainly not getting out of the industry; it's just more trying to slow down a bit as we’re both nearing 50 and we have pretty much been doing horses our whole lives. We’d like to do something different for a little while.”

All options open

The property is no one-trick pony with room for a potential training track and its close proximity to Tatura Park Equestrian Centre it is suitable for any horse lover. However, the Johnsons would love to see the property continue to be used to raise thoroughbreds.

“It’s very well set up. It’s a property that has been designed by horse people that understand what you need to run a stud. Kayley and I work here with one part-time person, so it’s easily run.

“We’ve got 70-odd horses on here at the moment but we designed it so you can manage everything very easily without a huge number of staff.

“The ground at Rushton Park is very fertile. We’ve got a good mix of dry country and irrigated country. So it’s got good undulations which is unusual for this area and it’s generally an area that’s quite flat but we’ve got some good hill country.

“It’s very turnkey, it’s the sort of place that we could move out on the Friday and someone could move in with 100 horses on the Monday and they wouldn’t have to spend a dollar.”

Kayley Johnson told TTR AusNZ, “And our location is actually pretty central. When you think about what’s around us. We’re very central to all the key farms in Nagambie, Euroa and surrounding areas. It’s not that far down to Romsey if you want to walk on to Widden and the likes.

“We’re also close to Tatura Racecourse if it ends up going as a spelling or pre-training farm, that facility is 10 minutes up the road.”

Without wanting to spend too much time speaking of the horrors of the floods we saw in 2022 that affected the area, prospective buyers should feel relieved Rushton Park was one of those properties that wasn’t affected and was in a position to lend a safe spot for farms with stock that were affected.

“Our property is pretty much flood proof. We had 30-odd mares rock up that we cared for during the floods. We were very fortunate to be one of the few farms in the area that doesn’t go underwater.

“On the other side of the coin we’re fairly drought proof as we’ve got a good amount of irrigation and water rights on the place in addition, we’ve got a lot of water storage.”

Fond memories

Kayley Johnson likes to reflect on all the good memories enjoyed by herself and her family at Rushton Park, one memory that she recalls the moment Bella Vella (Commands), who the Johnsons co-owned, took out the G1 Sangster S. in 2020.

“It gives me a bit of sadness that we are selling it. When Clint (Donovan) was here the other day, wandering about I stood there and thought, 'Wait, why am I selling it again?'

“I did feel sad. But, as David said, we have slowed down a little bit the last couple of years, and we sort of looked at do we really want to sell the farm or not? We looked at other options but it is with a heavy heart that we move on.

“We would like to travel to the Northern Territory and the top of Queensland and it’s just hard when you’ve got a farm and that’s always in the back of your mind.

“In a positive light there’s a lot of really good memories that we remember on the farm. We raced Bella Vella and she won her Group 1 during COVID. So, we remember sitting in our lounge room yelling from the ceiling. Those are the memories we’ll never forget from the farm.

“And those memories contribute to making the decision to let the property go emotional but it’s pretty much ready and the right choice.”

David Johnson said, “It’s ready now for the younger generation to come and have a crack.”

Donovan proud to offer another high-quality property

For Clint Donovan of Donovan + Co., to be entrusted alongside Magic Millions to sell Rushton Park and several other key properties of late brings great personal satisfaction.

“My business is about helping people move their assets and more often than not their largest. The core foundation of my business is trust and I’m chuffed that some household names of the Australian stud industry trust Donovan + Co., and Magic Millions with their transactions.”

Donovan echoed the sentiments regarding Rushton Park’s location and functionality.

“It’s a beautiful property that has been well set up. It’s 300 acres, flood free with great irrigation. The equine infrastructure is efficiently set-up for management.

“I believe it’s vital that with the current staffing shortages across the nation Rushton Park is a property that can be run by two or three people - for me that is a very attractive aspect.

“But from the barn to fencing, the water and the CCTV installation the entire farm is really, really well designed.

“David and Kayley (Johnson) are wonderful and equine welfare is right at the top of their agenda and you look around the farm and that’s what you see - with the installation of the rubber flooring for the farm presents and reflects safety for human and equine.

“There are plenty of amenities for staff or the owners. There are two houses, one is a modern country style and the other one got shipped from St Kilda and has been fully renovated. It’s beautiful and it’s actually over 100 years old.

“Kayley and David have just done everything to a really high standard.”

Donovan is also buoyed by the location of the property and feels it represents a plethora of options whether it be for breeding or pre-training/spelling.

“It takes one hour and 45 minutes to get to the Melbourne Airport. Then you are surrounded by the equine industry. Some famous names like Gilgai and Dorrington, Collingrove Park and Morningside Park are all very close. As well as the studs such as Darley - it’s just great horse country because you’re in close proximity to the stallions and racecourses and the area is proven to produce fantastic racehorses.

“It’s a property that could easily appeal to a syndication company for a spelling property, a trainer or it’s very easily converted to a pre-training facility because there’s a great spot for a track and the rest of the infrastructure is all there.”

Rushton Park presents a true turn-key opportunity in a prime Victorian location, offered for immediate sale by Written Expressions of Interest, closing Thursday, October 12, 2023.

CONTACT

Inspection by appointment.

Clint Donovan: +61 421 944 985 | clint@donovanandco.com.au

David Chester: +61 410 683 466 | davidc@magicmillions.com.au