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."
