Spendthrift Farm discontinuing Australian operations

Spendthrift Farm announced in the final days of 2021 that it is discontinuing its operations in Australia and putting its 600-acre farm in Victoria up for sale.

Spendthrift had acquired the former Yallambee Stud in 2015, under the leadership of farm owner B. Wayne Hughes, who died last August.

“We have made it a point at Spendthrift to branch out and try new things,” Spendthrift’s U.S. general manager Ned Toffey said in a press release. “Naturally, not every idea is going to work, but I will guarantee you we will continue to take that approach.”

Young Spendthrift shuttle stallions Omaha Beach and Vino Rosso returned to the United States in December after their second Southern Hemisphere seasons at Spendthrift Australia, in which they were booked full. The stallions, whose first U.S. foals are yearlings, could continue to shuttle to another farm for the Southern Hemisphere season, with plans not yet announced. Spendthrift also stood Australian stallions Dirty Work, Gold Standard, Overshare, and Swear, and housed a broodmare band of about 50.

Gary Cuddy, Spendthrift Australia general manager, told the Australian press that management hoped to make a “turnkey” sale of the property and bloodstock to one buyer.

“Hopefully, there would be one buyer that would come in and buy land, horses, machinery, and that sort of stuff in a walk-in, walk-out basis,” Cuddy said. “That would be the ideal scenario. . . . It’s very early days, and we’re working on getting the right wheels into motion.”

Spendthrift owner Eric Gustavson, Hughes’s son-in-law, pledged that his team will work with Australian staff “to help make this as smooth a transition for them as possible.”