Ridgmont’s new era continues with hopes of successful draft

Cover image courtesy of Ridgmont

Debuting with a draft at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in 2023, the emerging operation once again head north to offer their stock in 2024, with a noticeably different visual presence.

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To learn more about the new era for the family-run farm, and find out which yearlings have been drawing the attention of buyers, The Thoroughbred Report spoke to Managing Director Mitch Cunningham.

Refreshed identity ahead of 2024

With a bold new logo and branding, Ridgmont have been eager to carve out their own identity, one that is intrinsically linked to the values of the Cunningham family.

Explaining the process that’s landed Ridgmont with a distinctive appearance, Mitch Cunningham explained, “This is our second Magic Millions draft, but it's our third year of selling.

“We wanted to just do a bit of a refresh of the brand to better identify who we wanted to be as a farm. So we were looking to find something that was more simple, more elegant. We wanted people to arrive at Ridgmont at the consignment and just feel an immediate sense of simplicity, it provides a bias for the horse they're looking at.

“If they arrive at a consignment and everyone's well dressed and the brand is clean and easily identifiable, I think people start apportioning a premium nature to the animal they're looking at. So that was the rationale behind the rebrand.

“We've changed the colours and we've changed the logo, (so far) it's been very well received. I've had a few people stop in and say they like the new brand. It's something that we've worked pretty hard on and we're quite proud of.”

Part of the fabric used to forge the new identity is familial ties, which as Cunningham explains, has played a major role in the way the farm operates.

“The logo is six lines and it represents the six members of our family. We are trying to build something that is, is, you know, an extension of our family. And so that's why the six lines mean so much.

“The extension to that is we want our staff to feel like this is a real family business and they're working for a family business. We want them to feel that familial aspect to what we're doing there.

“They take ownership of what's going on at Ridgmont. So it's an incredibly powerful logo for what we're trying to identify as a farm.

“It gives me great pleasure to be running this farm now given that it's a family business and everyone in our family is heavily involved, we all love it, we all love doing it together.”

Sophomore draft presenting with high hopes

With the experience of offering a draft amongst the strength of the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale last year, Cunningham is eager to parlay learnings from 12 months ago into successful outcomes in 2024. Discussing the group of yearlings that have made their way north to be sold over the coming days, there was an air of optimism in his voice around their potential.

“I think we've got a much more considered draft this year,” he said. “We've got a draft of 13 horses who feel like they'll all make their mark.

“We've got horses that will be selling at the top end of the market and horses that will be selling below the sale average, but they're all quality horses.

Gallery: Some of Ridgmont's yearlings on offer, images courtesy of Magic Millions

“I don't think we're going to have to work particularly hard to sell these horses. They sell themselves in many ways. So what we took from last year to this year is this sale focuses very much on (the concept of) ‘is there an athletic horse in front of you?’ So these horses have all been prepared deliberately to present at the sale as athletes, with a nice page to back it up, we're really proud of the horses.”

Having entertained innumerable buyers over the preceding days, Cunningham has watched his yearlings stroll up and down their section for a range of bloodstock agents, owners and trainers, all trying to secure their next graduate from the sale that can soar to Group 1 highs.

But has there been a particular headliner? According to Cunningham, one in particular has been commanding large volumes of attention.

“The Frankel colt (Lot 612) has been the standout. He's got all the right people on him and he's been a superstar since the day he was born.

“To get him here, in the state that he is in, and having not turned a hair, is great to see, and we're very excited to see where he'll end up. The two Zoustar colts (Lot 323 and Lot 394) have (also) been very well-received.

“They’re two different profiled horses, but equally as exciting. The Too Darn Hot (Lot 50), that horse has just hit its stride once it hit the complex and people have loved it. We have the King's Legacy-Chintz filly (Lot 526), she has been really popular especially with the pedigree update last week.

“We've got a lovely spectrum of horses which are going to find their mark and sell well, I'm sure.”

What’s next for Ridgmont?

Against a backdrop of unease about pockets of the bloodstock market, Cunningham is keen to continue the push for Ridgmont to become entrenched in the upper-echelon of vendors in Australia, with the diversity of offerings a potential key to attracting consistent results.

“We've been searching around the world for mares over the last few years and we've been breeding them to the best stallions available

“I think what we want is to have a diversified (draft) when we come to Magic Millions and when we go to any sale, we want to have horses for everyone.

“So we've got those colonial stallions, but we've also got the best stallions from the Northern Hemisphere. It's an exciting spectrum of stallions that we've got in our draft this year.”

Despite the rumblings of mixed results away from the high-end colts, prospects that remain somewhat unaffected by economic conditions, Cunningham is confident that his draft shares many of those assets that will ensure a strong result for the farm in the coming days.

“I think we're somewhat insulated from that, because we are always trying to breed to sell at the top end of the market. Now, that won't always happen, but what does happen is, you've got horses, by the right stallions, with attractive pedigrees and good physicals.

“You insulate yourself from market volatility when you do that.

“This year we're just going to have an (Inglis) Easter (Yearling Sale) and a Magics draft, but we'll be shopping at all the sales this year.

“We've been building that broodmare band for the last few years and we'll continue to do so. A lot of our investment over the last two years has been in bloodstock, that investment is certainly starting to skew towards infrastructure at the farm.

“We've bought the neighbouring property, (which is) 220 acres, which we've started to fence up. We'll be building a yearling barn over there, and we'll be moving all our young stock up onto the hills up behind Ridgmont.

“It'll make the flow of the farm a lot more deliberate and logical. But there's significant investment to come, and I think, as you come to Ridgmont, and as the buyers comes to Ridgmont, they'll notice material change in how the place feels and looks.

“The combination of investment in bloodstock and infrastructure on the farm, I think puts us in good stead for the next five years to really be bringing punchy drafts to these sales.”