Lime Country Transition Breeds Success

Tara Madgwick - Wednesday April 11
A little over a year ago, respected Kiwi bloodstock identities Greg and Jo Griffin transferred their highly successful Lime Country Thoroughbreds business from New Zealand to the Southern Highlands of NSW to take over Dato Tan Chin Nam's picturesque Think Big Stud.

 



$660,000 Fastnet Rock colt from NorzitaLocated an hour and a half from Sydney airport and a touch over an hour to the new Riverside Stables complex, the new Lime Country Thoroughbreds is ideally situated in top quality horse country.

Lime Country achieved outstanding results at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale this week selling four youngsters in Book 1 at an average $387,500 and a further two in Book 2 including a Dundeel filly from Shoot Fer Love for $110,000.

Top seller for Lime Country was this stunning Fastnet Rock colt from Group I winner Norzita that made $660,000 when bought by Aquis Farm. Click here to read more about him and the sale.

These great results follow on from Lime Country's earlier success this year achieving a 2018 Magic Millions average of $266,666 and 2018 Inglis Classic average of $107,500.

It's onwards and upwards in the sale ring for Lime Country, who in 2017 sold the highest priced Savabeel yearling in Australia with a colt from A Real Princess fetching $620,000 at Inglis Easter.

The preparation and sale of broodmares is also a high priority with Yattarna selling in the Chairmans Sale breeding session last year for $600,000 and a huge result at the MM 2017 National Broodmare Sale with of an average of $224,000 for five lots sold.

"It's great to be meeting the goals we have laid out in our business plan for Lime Country in Australia and we look forward to the next stages of meeting our targets in year two going forward," said Jo Griffin.

"We are continuously working to improve results for our clients and increase their returns.

"Dato Tan Chin Nam is continuing to reduce his broodmare band and we'll have a number of those coming up for sale over the Easter and MM broodmare sales with the sale of approximately 18 mares being off the property, a good number of which belong to the Tan family.

"No doubt there will be some serious upside for those who purchase these mares we'll be dispersing this season.

"Their sale allows us room for around 10 new full time mares to come on from existing and new clients."

The Lime Country Thoroughbreds business is split into three key areas :  


Broodmare agistment & sales stock  - room for 60 full-time boarding mares. Sales barns for up to 26 horses at any one time. Key yearling sales for the year are MM Book 1, Inglis Classic, Easter and also the Broodmare sales - Chairmans, Easter and MM Book 1 as well as weanling sales as required. 




Beautiful individual foaling paddocks with double size mare and foal boxes adjacent to each of the floodlit foaling paddocks. Multiple crush facilities strategically positioned around the farm to reduce the stress on stock at scanning time. Walk out service to the Hunter utilising our specially designed Renault horse van which is air-conditioned and fitted with cameras for the horses.


"We had great fertility in our first breeding season with mares fed, rugged and under lights allowing us to achieve a 90% conception rate in our dry mares by the 21st of September," Jo Griffin pointed out.


"With a compact band of mares nothing is missed or overlooked to achieve a positive result as early as possible for each and every mare."


Pre-training – a barn approximately with 18-20 in work year round utilising the 1200m turf track, treadmill, horse walker, all weather arena, roadways and lanes throughout the 300 acre property.




Spelling - 48 individual colt spelling paddocks plus larger paddocks for smaller groups.




For more information visit https://www.limecountry.com.au/and contact Jo Griffin on o428 960 669 and Greg Griffin on 0429 002 964.

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