Another era approaches for Edinglassie Stud

Cover image courtesy of Inglis

While the bulk of the breeding industry is this week camped on the Gold Coast, Mick Talty is packing up in Denman. On June 30, he and his wife Michelle are vacating Edinglassie Thoroughbred Stud after 32 years.

It’s a long innings in the one spot, a tenure that has seen Bob Oatley come and go and the approach of BHP Billiton. These days, Edinglassie sits directly opposite the open-cut Mt Arthur coalmine, with Mt Arthur Coal, in fact, the owner of the property.

When Talty moved in, it was 1991 and the mines were nowhere near as close. He ran Edinglassie with Oatley until the latter’s death in 2016.

For a long time, the farm has been an industry heavyweight, turning out the likes of Deep Field and his brother Shooting To Win, as well as the Group 1 winners Nechita (Fastnet Rock), God’s Own, Wonderful World and Bentley Biscuit (Peintre Celebre {USA}). There have been plenty of others, meaning it’s something like the end of an era in the Hunter Valley.

“We’d been thinking about this move for a while, and we’re not getting any younger,” Talty said, speaking to TDN AusNZ. “This really is a physical job where you’re hands-on all the time, so even though we’ve loved doing it, and we still love doing it, we just wanted to scale things down.”

Gallery: Just a glimpse of the many Edinglassie graduates, images courtesy of Sportspix

Twenty minutes south along the road to Denman, the Taltys are moving into their own 70-acre farm. Akuna Park is right on the Hunter River, with top-class grazing and, for its new occupants, a fresh start. Even the name is appropriate; ‘Akuna’ is an aboriginal word for ‘flowing water’ or ‘the way forward’.

“We’ve been building this farm for the last five to 10 years, and it’s time for us to appreciate it now,” Talty said. “We bought it as vacant land and we’ve gradually built a house on it, put up fences and yards. As I said, it’s time to appreciate it before we get too old to do that.”

At Edinglassie, Talty was running up to 120 mares, foaling down 75 to 80 of those each spring. He had 17 yearlings at this year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, all bar one selling in a replete sweep.

At Akuna Park, he will stick to some 30 of his own “low maintenance” mares that will keep life simple, and straightforward even.

“We’ll have all our own horses there, and what I call a few low-maintenance types who’d be dry or maiden mares,” Talty said. “We’re just trying to get away from all the tough physical work in terms of foaling down and yearling and weanling preparation, all that.

“Plus it’s getting harder and harder to find staff and, as I said, we’re not getting any younger. We want to have less responsibility and more time to ourselves, to not necessarily be tied to the farm and to do things like travel more, for instance. After 32 years, it’s time to sit back.”

Since spreading the word about his exit from Edinglassie, Talty has been told he’s semi-retiring, but he doesn’t see it that way. He and Michelle aren’t exiting the industry, but rather investing in their own smaller numbers and branching out, and without the strain of outside-client responsibilities.

“We’re not retiring or going away,” he said. “I may do some more bloodstock work in trading, and this move will free up more time for that sort of thing. We still love the game and we’re still passionate about it in every way.”

Protected by mining

Edinglassie is one of the more interesting properties in the wider Hunter catchment. Talty has been leasing it from BHP Billiton, and it has co-existed alongside open-cut mining for years.

It is also a historically important property, encompassing the old Edinglassie homestead with its charming sandstone, and the collection of domestic dwellings at Rous Lench, a little to the east.

The original, settled history of this farm began in 1825 when a 1280-acre land grant went the way of George Forbes, which was the same year that Englishman James White sailed to Australia. In 1839, White bought Edinglassie and stocked it with sheep and Angus cattle.

It was one of the very first properties in the district to be taken up on that side of the Hunter Valley, and it formed ‘the vanguard of the young wool industry in the Hunter when the colony was still an outpost of civilisation’.

As such, the Edinglassie homestead, which still stands today, is of great significance to New South Wales and is heritage-listed. It was among the properties Belltrees, Ellerston and Waverley that the White family managed in its pastoral heyday.

In 2012, Edinglassie fell under a specific Conservation Management Plan (CMP) for BHP Billiton, the latter undertaking an extensive plan to preserve the original homestead and its surroundings owing to its listing under the NSW Heritage Act 1977, and its listing as being ‘culturally significant’ by the Muswellbrook Shire Council and National Trust of Australia.

Talty has co-existed with Mt Arthur Coal across the road for years. BHP Billiton stated in 2012 that ‘concurrent and adaptive re-use options sympathetic to the significance of the place were noted as being crucial to the long-term conservation of Edinglassie and Rous Lench’.

According to the State Heritage Register, Edinglassie is significant because of its associations with the earliest European occupation of the area and that it represents one of the earliest settlements of the district.

The property and its buildings are good examples of their era’s type and style, and Edinglassie is a near-perfect demonstration of the Arcadian design approach, which refers to the siting of structures and elements in the landscape. Apparently, Edinglassie is rare in the region, in this regard.

“We have always had a good rapport with BHP,” Talty said. “They’ve been of great benefit to us, being able to lease a place like this. Horses do grow out well here and they perform well on the track, so sometimes the whole mining issue comes down to the differing opinions of people in agriculture and people in mining. Personally though, I’ve never had a problem with it.”

The current Edinglassie property is a remnant of the original land holding. It was given up by the White family as recently as 1959, after which it was subdivided and sold for mixed farming and dairying.

Mt Arthur Coal stepped in with the Electricity Commission in 1982, buying Edinglassie and Rous Lench as it swallowed the land around Mount Arthur to establish open-cut mines. In 1998, the BHP era began at the property, with Coal Operations Australia, a subsidiary of Billiton Coal, buying Edinglassie outright.

“There was no mining around the farm 32 years ago,” Talty said. “I came here originally and worked for Bob Oatley and the Oatley family, and then when he sold, we leased it in a partnership together until he died. After that, I leased it on my own and kept it going with Michelle.”

The future of Edinglassie is unclear right now. It will always be preserved, and Talty said the open-cut mine across the road will close in 2030. There have been a few interested horse parties in taking over the property, the details of which will come to light soon enough.

As for the farm’s famous brand, with its two circles forming an almost bulls-eye, Talty is equally unsure about whether he can take it with him to Akuna Park.

“It's a great brand and the one thing about it is you can’t mess it up,” he said. “You can’t put it on backwards or upside down or sideways. The only thing you can do is put it on the wrong shoulder.

“It was originally the Oatley brand, with the ‘O’ inside the circle, so hopefully the family will let us continue on with it as I think we’re well-associated with it now.”

Three decades of memories

After 32 years, Talty will be sad to drive out of Edinglassie for the final time in late June.

“It will certainly be a sad day after all this time,” he said. “But there also comes a time in life when you’ve got to take different avenues. I’ve seen a lot of changes here. I remember it before the mining hills were here, and when the mine across the road closes its doors in 2030, I’ll still be in the area but I won’t be at Edinglassie.”

Among Talty’s best memories at the farm are those with the broodmare Listen Here (Elusive Quality {USA}), who was the dam of both Deep Field and Shooting To Win. In 2016, Edinglassie enjoyed one of its best days out when it sold Listen Here for $3.4 million at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale. She went to China Horse Club and Bruce Perry Bloodstock.

“We’ve had three Caulfield Guineas winners and we sold Listen Here,” Talty said. “She was an extraordinary mare. She was bred on the farm and then raced, and she became the mother of Deep Field and Shooting To Win. She is a beautiful memory for us.

“But I also think of the number of overall horses that have come off the farm. Our job as studmasters, managers and so on is to minimise the risk so that horses go on to the races. If your management is good and your nutrition is good, and you’ve reduced the risk of injuries, hopefully they’ve got every chance of getting to the racetrack. I think we’ve done well in that respect.”

Talty’s clients have been exceptional since his announcement that he was moving on. Some of those clients have been with him since he arrived at Edinglassie three decades ago.

“We’re just in the process of finding new homes for those horses,” Talty said. “So far, it’s been absolutely no problem relocating any horses, and most of our clients here already had a good network of options anyway. June 30 will be our very last day here, and it’s been very busy.”

For weeks, the Taltys have been moving their things between Edinglassie and Akuna Park. It’s a tiring process, and all with one eye on the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale, in which Edinglassie has four mares via the Attunga Stud draft (Lot 860, 877, 971 and 1060).

“It’s a lot of years to pack up, and a lot of driving home every evening with the car full,” Talty said. “I keep finding stuff, asking myself why I didn’t throw that away 15 years ago.”