Boland placing no limits on Anamoe's sire prospects

Cover image courtesy of Limitless Lodge

The first two horses that come to mind at the mention of Limitless Lodge are Winx (Street Cry {Ire}) and Chautauqua (Encosta De Lago), who both started their under saddle careers in the hands of top level eventer Tim Boland.

“They were such nice horses, they probably could have broken themselves in,” said Boland. “Like all the good horses, they were no trouble at all. I’m pretty proud to have them as my legacy.”

The Central Coast-based breaking and pretraining facility has an honour roll that also includes the likes of Home Affairs, Fangirl (Sebring), Shinzo, Switzerland, and Zougotcha (Zoustar) - all of whom have benefited from Boland’s tried and true system that continues to be trusted by some of the country’s leading trainers and owners.

A system that works

Boland has spent the last four decades at the top of Australian eventing, winning the Melbourne Three-Day Event in 2003 and being shortlisted for the World Equestrian Games in 1994.

He began riding ‘problem’ racehorses in the late nineties, teasing out their issues and getting them more consistent on the track, before making the move into pretraining. He still competes at the top level of eventing, with the pretraining and breaking business giving his endeavours a solid financial foundation.

Named after Boland’s top eventer Limitless, Limitless Lodge now spans three properties that offer breaking in, pretraining and rehabilitation, and spelling facilities all within 10 minutes of one another. Horses in his program have access to an indoor arena, jumps, barriers, and a water walker alongside the standard infrastructure needed to safely start them.

All parts of the facilities come into play whenever Boland and his team start horses, with around 140 to 150 yearlings coming through their system every year.

“I have a set system and it’s 26 days from start to finish,” he said. “All of the horses that we start here, I treat them like mini equestrian horses. They can all jump, they can all do dressage, they all have soft mouths. That is something I am very proud of. We could send the horses from our program anywhere and they would come back with a glowing report.

“It’s a system that works every time. And the advantage of having our own spelling facilities is that when they finish the program, they can go straight out to the paddocks here for a few weeks, then come back in for two to three weeks of work before they go elsewhere. It’s very low stress.”

On the horse’s side

What underpins the smooth running of this system is having a close knit team, which is something else that Boland is very proud to have.

“I’ve got a great, highly skilled team that I’m very proud of, as it’s very much not a one-man show,” he said. “It is a big team of people that work hard on these horses, and the one big thing they all have in common is they all genuinely love horses.

“A lot of people say, ‘yeah, I work with horses, and I do this, and I do that,’ but are you really on the horse's side in everything you do? Those are the kind of people I want to be employing.

“Those are the people who are not just turning up, they’re showing up 10, 15 minutes early and they’re getting on with it. And they’re doing everything with the horse’s best interests in mind.”

Gallery: Limitless Lodge's facilities, images courtesy of Limitless Lodge

When the right people come to Limitless Lodge, Boland makes the effort to ensure they want to stay.

“The people who want to learn, you are happy to teach them anything, and they tend to learn fast as well,” he said. “If you come across a good person, you must leave no stone unturned to make sure they stay with you.”

More often than not, what Boland has to offer is the upskilling and recognition that good staff truly desire.

“It’s not always about the money either, it’s more and more about the experience they are getting,” he said. “If they can become better horsepeople while working with you, that’s hugely rewarding. Equestrian skills always come back to being major assets in this industry.

“We have been working with Godolphin Flying Start students for the last couple of years and it’s always great when they come to town. They are really skilled people, they want to learn about everything and anything, and they want jobs afterwards, so we all need to snap them up because they really are beauties.”

Trusted by the clients

More recent graduates from the Limitless Lodge system include St Gotthard (Snitzel), unbeaten in both his juvenile starts including the G3 Ken Russell Memorial Classic, and Horologist (Written Tycoon), the third foal of champion mare In Her Time (Time Thief), as well as Fondness (Frankel {GB}), the first Australian-born foal of Anamoe’s half-sister Adoringly (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}).

Yearlings through his doors this year have included the Justify (USA) filly out of G1 Sires’ Produce Stakes winner El Dorado Dreaming (Ilovethiscity), the $1.05 million I Am Invincible daughter of nine-time Group 1 winner Avantage (Fastnet Rock), and the $1.1 million Extreme Choice filly out of Fashion Faux Pas (USA) (Flatter {USA}).

“St Gotthard was a very expensive yearling, so it was exciting to have a horse like him come to the farm,” Boland said. “He was broken in at Coolmore and then he came here to be pretrained in our system before going to Chris Waller.”

Waller is one of Boland’s major clients and while he isn’t the champion trainer’s exclusive breaker and pretrainer, he does receive a fair portion of the Waller crop.

“He is such a champion to deal with,” Boland said. “He just leaves you to it. He won’t ring me once during the process. It’s just not his style. We provide him with a report at the end of every week as to where each horse is up to, and the whole process is just so sleek and professional.

“We really enjoy being part of his team. He really makes you feel like a team, and it’s things like that which have contributed to him being a champion trainer.”

Many of the Waller horses, like St Gotthard, coming through the Limitless Lodge system belong to Coolmore Stud and partners, and are broken in at Coolmore’s Jerry’s Plains facility. Boland had a lot of praise for how horses arrive from the operation.

“Evan and the team at Coolmore do a wonderful job starting the Coolmore horses,” he said. “They always arrive here in great shape and with good minds already. It makes everyone’s jobs easier, and we’re grateful to be a part of their success story.

“I think they have got an absolutely terrific bunch of horses this year as well, so it’s very exciting.”

The next big thing

When looking over the stock he has worked with this year, Boland had one young sire that stood out above the rest.

“I’m like everyone, I’m very keen on Anamoe,” he said. “I feel like I am in a very privileged position - apart from Evan at Coolmore, I don’t think anyone would have had as many as we have. He’s going to be some stallion for sure, if they live up to our expectations. He’s such a great style of horse, he has a great attitude and they do too.

“It’s just hard to believe he can’t be a real star.”

Boland has been able to work with a lot of the progeny of the 2025/26 season’s star sire, Home Affairs, who scored 20 first crop winners and four stakes winners across Australia and New Zealand.

“He’s been great, hasn’t he?,” Boland said of the stallion, who came through the Limitless Lodge system during his racing career. “He’s made an absolutely fantastic start.”

One of Home Affairs’ rostermates has also left an impression, with Boland tipping him as one to watch as his first Australian-born crop turns three.

“I have had a few by St Mark’s Basilica and they have been beautiful sorts,” he said. “They’re not huge, but they are very athletic and they have good minds. You could do a lot worse than buy one or send a mare his way.”