Hawke's Bay couple Greg and Jo Griffin are on
the move next year, announcing plans to relocate their Lime Country Thoroughbreds
operation to Think Big Stud in New South Wales.
Established in 2007, Lime Country has emerged as one of New Zealand's leading sales
consignors of mares, weanlings, yearlings and two-year-olds.
They will continue to offer their current services of sales preparation, broodmare
agistment and racehorse spelling at their new location.
Their relocation is the next step in a business model that will see a strong
focus in the future on trading mares and weanlings at the top of the market
with new and existing business partners.
Their new property at Think Big Stud is owned by successful owner Dato Tan Chin
Nam, a close friend of the late Bart Cummings, whose roll of honour includes four
Melbourne Cups, three Cox Plates, a Caulfield Cup, three Derbys and two Oaks
with outstanding horses such as Think Big, Saintly, So You Think, Viewed, Catalan
Opening, God's Own, Allez Wonder, Wonderful World, Faint Perfume, Norzita and
Eurozone.
Nestled on the banks of the Wingecarribee River in the Southern Highlands of
NSW, the 300 acre Think Big Stud boasts a state of the art foaling complex,
surgery barn, yearling barn, quarantine barn, horse-walker, treadmill and 1200m
turf track.
The farm will adopt Lime Country branding and while Think Big currently stands two
stallions, they will be retired on the property. The Griffins have no plans to
stand stallions in the immediate future.
"Good luck, good health and may God bless you as our partners," Dato Tan Chin
Nam said.
Lime Country will relocate on February 15 and their launch in the Australian
market will be marked by the sale of a number of youngsters at the Australian
Easter Yearling Sale in April. They will include the Think Big-bred Redoutes
Choice colt out of Faint Perfume.
"We are honoured that Dato Tan and his family have entrusted us with their stud
and horses that remain at the farm," Greg Griffin said.
"There are a staggering number of exceptional horses that have been raised,
spelled, pre-trained and prepared at Think Big over the years and it will be
fun to share in the future success of So You Think and Eurozone through their
progeny with Dato Tan's family.
"We have spent the last 10 years building our business in New Zealand and this
is the next natural step forward for us. We already have some fantastic
Australian clients who we will enjoy being closer to and we are keen to provide
our clients in New Zealand and Asia and new clients from America and Europe,
our services for their Australian interests, too.
"We have the yearling sales at Karaka in New Zealand in January ahead of us yet
where we have almost 30 yearlings to offer so we are heads down for the next
few months. We look forward to welcoming clients, present and future to Lime Country
in NSW next year."
"Dato is delighted with this outcome after exploring his options for the last
few months," Think Big Stud's managing director and Dato Tan's racing manager
Duncan Ramage said.
"In this new relationship, Dato Tan will retain ownership of the land which is becoming
more precious over time. While at 90 years of age, passing the operations of
the stud itself to Greg and Jo Griffin, a young, energetic and ambitious
couple, means his horses can remain at the property and continue to be cared
for to the highest of standards.
"This new partnership also provides job security for a great number of Think
Big's current staff, some of whom have been on the team for years, live as
locals and have family and children of their own."
Some existing Lime Country staff will also make the move.
"Our staff have played a huge role in our success and it's wonderful that some
have chosen to move to Australia with us," Griffin said.
"We are pleased that some of the existing Think Big staff are staying on and
with a number of new appointments, we will have an outstanding team working
with us in Australia."