Lime Country take next step with acquisition of Hunter Valley farm

Media Release - Thursday May 13

Lime Country today announced the purchase of Ballygrove in the Upper Hunter Valley of NSW after moving from New Zealand to the southern highlands five years ago.  A blue-ribbon stud address, Ballygrove is situated on the Pages River in the picturesque Blandford area, 37 kilometres north east of Scone. The farm is ideally located to walk mares into the country’s best stallions that stand at studs such as Arrowfield, Coolmore, Godolphin, Newgate, Vinery and Widden.

Ranging from irrigable river and creek flats through to undulating open basalt country, Ballygrove is the perfect farm on which breed and rear thoroughbred horses.

Ballygrove will be the new home for Lime Country Thoroughbreds.

“The move comes after many months of looking for a property with the size and scale that we require together with a plentiful water supply.  Ballygrove comprises 285 acres, bores and river frontage, and stunning scenery. It is surrounded by farms that produce top quality racehorses and we really felt like we’d found the ideal place when we finally found it.” Jo Griffin said.

“The property we have been at in Burradoo has been outstanding. If we could pick it up and take it with us, we would. However, with approximately 90-95 mares being covered each season, and the majority of them visiting stallions based in the Hunter, we decided it was time to move closer to the stallions and to the heart of Australia’s breeding industry.”

“We had discussed the move with some of our longer term and larger clients and they were all supportive of the move. Greg and I are blessed to have some very astute business people amongst our client base who have been tremendously supportive of the business.”

Advertisement

The Griffins are already working with designers on a large new-build yearling barn, yearling paddocks and walkers, with particular emphasis on optimum safety for both stock and team members. “It is a luxury to be able to design a purpose-built yearling barn from scratch. We have a busy six months ahead of us as we will move before the season and will be prepping for the 2022 sales from the new barn.”

Lime Country has had another strong season of yearling sales results, with a 96% clearance rate across their 52 yearlings offered this year, averaging $183,511 across all sales, and their first million-dollar yearling sale on behalf of the Dubois family to Tom Magnier at Easter.

The core team at Lime Country will be making the 400km relocation with the Griffins but they will also be looking for new career minded people to join them. “There is a wealth of talent in the Hunter so we’ll be advertising some new roles for the farm over the coming months and look forward to expanding the team.”

News from Lime Country Thoroughbreds

Advertisment
More Reading...
Impressive First winner for Armory
Mapperley Stud stallion Armory recorded his first winner on Sunday when his two-year-old daughter Silhouette raced to a dominant victory in the Fusion Electrical Two-Year-Old (900m) at Trentham.
One to Watch – Sha Tin – You Don’t See That Every Day!
The Mark Newnham stable has been on fire in Hong Kong since the start of the new season and the former Sydney trainer produced a super promising winner at Sha Tin on Sunday by Capitalist that did everything wrong and miraculously still won the race!
Sires With Winners - Saturday October 25
Here is the full list of 136 stallions which had winners throughout Australasia today with winners and result details.
Pedigree Potential –NZB Ready to Run – Nicks that Click
A quality packed catalogue for the 2025 NZB Ready to Run Sale (November 12 and 13) is online with breeze up video now in place and in the lead up to the sale we’ll go looking each week for some horses of interest that jump out on pedigree for various reasons.
First Winner for King of Comedy
Novara Park Stud stallion King Of Comedy (IRE) is on the board as a sire, with his son Sir Ruby becoming his first winner when victorious over 1300m at Selangor Turf Club in Malaysia on Sunday.
Sires With Winners - Monday October 27
Here is the full list of 27 stallions which had winners throughout Australasia today with winners and result details.
Transatlantic Takes $1million Five Diamonds Prelude
Transatlantic’s lucrative spring carnival continued at Randwick with an arrogant victory in the $1m Five Diamonds Prelude.
Early Return Home for Cogburn
Group I winning Not This Time son Cogburn (USA) will return to WinStar Farm in Kentucky earlier than planned after disappointing fertility results during his first Australian covering season at Widden Stud.
Melbourne Cup Dream Alive for Kiwi Stayers
Gr.1 Melbourne Cup (3200m) dreams are still alive for connections of Kiwi stayers Mark Twain and Trav.
Yes Yes Yes 3YO Shooting for G2 on Monday
Last year’s Gr.2 James and Annie Sarten Memorial (1400m) set Savaglee up for Group One glory in Christchurch, and Matamata trainer Pam Gerard is hoping to follow a similar blueprint in 2025 with her Yes Yes Yes 3YO Affirmative Action..