Vinery establishes sales partnership with Millennium Farms

Tom Simon’s Vinery Sales has formed a partnership with Ro Parra’s Millennium Farms, the operation announced Tuesday. The new partnership will combine the current sales division at Millennium Farms with Vinery’s existing customer base; this expanded sales division will be managed by Derek MacKenzie, director of public sales at Vinery.

Vinery Sales will be active at all auctions in Kentucky, New York, and the Mid-Atlantic region under the new partnership.

“The opportunity to partner with Vinery Sales is a significant step designed to increase our presence at all major sales, and we look forward to selling horses for Vinery and its clients,” Millennium Farms business manager Jay Ted Neel said. “We are also thrilled to add Derek MacKenzie to our team at Millennium Farms, and we look forward to helping Vinery Sales continue to provide superior customer service.”

MacKenzie, a native of Canada, worked at the Irish National Stud and Windfields Farm before becoming farm manager at Green Gates Farm in Lexington, Ky. He joined the staff at Vinery in 2008.

Simon’s broodmares and their offspring will move to Millennium Farms, located in Lexington. Last summer, Simon put his U.S. properties on the market with the intent of reducing his involvement in the bloodstock business; his Florida training facility was purchased by Barbara Banke’s Stonestreet Stables in December 2012. Vinery’s Kentucky stallion roster, headlined by top international sire More Than Ready, moved to WinStar Farm in Versailles, Ky., earlier this year. Simon will continue to operate Vinery New York at Sugar Maple Farm in Poughquag, N.Y.