Generation Next: Communication, transformation, and following your passions with Georgia Griffin

Cover image courtesy of Sharon Chapman

“Horse mad” Georgia Griffin’s love of the horse was cultivated from the start; the daughter of Lime Country Thoroughbreds owners Greg and Jo Griffin had ponies from as early as she could remember, with thoroughbreds not entering the picture until later.

“My parents didn't start the thoroughbred side of the business until I was about seven,” Griffin told TTR AusNZ. “They started with sheep and beef.”

Combining skills garnered from touring the world with polo horses and showjumpers, the Griffins launched their boutique stud operation in 2007. Initially offering breaking, pretraining and spelling, the breeding side of the business quickly flourished, which saw them quickly rise to become leading consignors in New Zealand. Griffin was introduced to thoroughbreds in the spelling and broodmare paddocks, but the first one that touched her heart was a big brown gelding most often ridden by a woman.

Forging a connection

“The first proper racehorse I really remember was a beautiful horse called Mufhasa,” she said. “He raced over in New Zealand and won plenty of races.

“But specifically, he won two big races during the Hawkes Bay Carnival, which was (near) where we lived, and during those two races, he had female jockeys on as well. I remember that very clearly.”

Dual New Zealand Horse of the Year Mufhasa (NZ) (Pentire {GB}), racing in Australia as King Mufhasa, loomed over the trans-Tasman racing scene from 2007 to 2013, collecting 20 wins across his six-year career. Bred by Colin and John Thompson at Rich Hill Stud, the tough brown gelding was trained for the majority of his career by Stephen McKee. He was a winner on debut as a 2-year-old, and bowed out with a second-place finish in the G1 Windsor Park S. as a 9-year-old.

Mufhasa cultivated a solid relationship with top Kiwi jockey Sam Spratt, who steered the gelding to all eight of his Group 1 wins on New Zealand soil, including both G1 Telegraph S. wins. In total, 13 of the gelding’s victories came with Spratt on board, and another three were in partnership with Lisa Cropp, who steered him to his first stakes win in the Listed Kelt Memorial H. in 2008.

“And somehow - I can't remember exactly how - I actually got to meet his owner, David Archer, and he took me down to the mounting yard, and I just remember he was a big, black, beautiful horse.”

Auckland-based insurance broker David Archer paid NZ$50,000 for the strapping son of Pentire (GB) as a yearling and was rewarded with Group 1 wins on both sides of the Tasman, including the G1 Toorak H. at Caulfield in 2011.

“He ended up winning 10 Group 1s,” Griffin recalled. “He's the first racehorse that I really remember. I think that's kind of the first horse that pulled me in.

“I don't think the connection was really made (before), because they (her parents) didn't have any of their own racehorses, so I only saw them in the paddock just as horses.

“It was cool going to the races and being able to see (the racehorses). I think that's kind of when it all clicked, that this is what they do once they leave the farm, and what they do before they come back and become broodmares. It fills in the gaps a little bit.”

Hands-on approach

As Griffin got older, she was drafted into helping the business, working after school - and sometimes before - around the farm.

“Much to my disappointment at the time!” she joked. “I remember having to be in the yearling barn or in the foaling unit while my friends were off doing far more exciting things. Then all through the school holidays as well - every Christmas Eve, every Christmas Day, every Boxing Day, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day - because that's obviously the busiest time of year with all of the yearlings.”

“As I got older, I really did love it,” she was quick to add. “Especially the yearling side. I think I started to understand it a bit more and I fell in love with the industry, so it wasn't such a chore anymore.”

For Griffin, the transformation that the yearlings would make over their preparation has always been a highlight.

“They come into the barn knowing nothing, and you take them up to sales as a finished product,” she said. “I think sometimes it's easy to forget just how young they are, they’re babies. We ask so much of them, and they give so much to us.”

Griffin recalled Bright Flight (Zoustar), the 2018 filly from Listed Ethereal S. winner Gliding (Flying Spur), who sold for $600,000 to Paul Moroney Bloodstock and Go Bloodstock at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in 2020.

“She was really special,” Griffin said. “She won a city race - she wasn't a world beater, but she was just beautiful. Beautiful.

“And just like the Zoustar fillies tend to be, she was hyper intelligent. She was one that really sticks out.”

Crossing the Tasman

In 2017, Lime Country Thoroughbreds relocated to Australia, first taking over Think Big Stud in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, before moving to their current home in the Hunter Valley. Griffin initially thought she would stay in New Zealand, but “only lasted four months” before following her parents across the Tasman. She balanced studying a business degree at Wollongong University with foal watch and yearling preparation at the family’s stud.

“I actually ended up doing the majority of it from home, I was still doing foal watch through the season, and I'd be doing my assignments while I was on for a watch,” she said. “It meant that I could still attend my tutorials in the daytime, then I'd have a sleep and then finish off my assignments that night.”

After university, Griffin split her time between the yearling sales and John O’Shea’s stables at Randwick, building her skills in the side of the industry she hadn’t touched before.

“John O'Shea was generous enough to let me go and work for him in between doing the sales,” she said. “That was a great way to work in a racing stable. And it's funny, I grew up on a stud and had horses my whole life - you think you're pretty capable - but the first morning I went in, I had no idea how to put the racing gear on.

“It was quite humbling. It took me about a week to learn how to put it all on properly to the point where I was satisfied no one's going to fall off after my terrible job of saddling!”

Griffin admits she “skipped a few steps” in landing her next role as the racing manager with Triple Crown Syndications. Off the back of a sales season spent building connections with clients, she applied for the role and joined the major syndicator run by Michael and Chris Ward.

“It was my first big girl job,” she said. “My first job that wasn’t hands-on in the industry. I love the breeding side of it, but I was living in Sydney at the time and I wanted to learn more about the racing side, because there's probably not as much of a crossover as people might think there is.

“I worked there for nearly two years, and that was through Mazu and Revolutionary Miss being in the highs of their careers, which was a great time to be there, and I met some lovely owners.”

Her new role, which revolved around client communication, fed her passion for connecting with owners. In her time with Triple Crown, Griffin enjoyed Mazu’s (Maurice {Jpn}) victory in the G1 Doomben 10,000 and his brave third to Giga Kick (Scissor Kick) in the $15 million The Everest, and Revolutionary Miss’s (Russian Revolution) narrow second to Daumier (Epaulette) in the G1 Blue Diamond S.

New beginnings with Bjorn

After two years with Triple Crown, Griffin returned to the sales circuit in 2023, unsure of what direction she wanted to take her career next. At the Magic Millions Gold Coast National Yearling Sale that June, an opportunity with Bjorn Baker Racing presented itself.

“Luke Hilton, Bjorn's racing manager, had actually said to me maybe a year and a half earlier they had my job - client relations - available,” Griffin said. “And he said to me, ‘I think you'd be perfect for us’.

“At the time, I was really happy where I was and I kind of forgot about it until I was up there. I think I must have seen something on Bjorn’s social media, and I called Luke and I said, ‘Oh, I'm just checking, is that job still available?’

“And thankfully it was. I met with Andrea (Baker) and Bjorn a week later, and it was all locked in.”

Throughout the sales season, she is a regular figure ring-side as the team selects their next stars, and works to syndicate them once the hammer falls. During the week, she attends city racing, track work, and weekly trot ups to keep owners in touch with how their horses are going.

“We have a fantastic team at the sales. There's no boring days - they can be long days at the sales, but we all get on exceptionally well and all really respect each other's opinions. Then in the stable, Luke does a fantastic job as well. You wouldn't find many people more passionate about the game than him.

“Andrea does a great job with the social media, breaking down the fourth wall into the stable, and the owners get to see a very authentic side of Bjorn. He's still professional, but he's allowed a bit more emotion. Since working for him, I've gotten to see a deeper side to him as well. We all get to see the larrikin jumping up and down at the races, but he's a very hard worker and very intelligent.”

A highlight of this year was being trackside to see Stefi Magnetica (All Too Hard) swoop the G1 Stradbroke H. and, on the same day, Alegron (Teofilo {Ire}) take out the G2 Brisbane Cup.

Combining passions

Griffin continued, “I think this job is great. It lets me combine my passions of breeding and sales. I can get on the phone to people and talk to them about these horses that I love, and exactly why we purchased them. And then for the rest of the year, my job involves a lot of going racing. I get the best of both worlds, which is fantastic.”

One yearling - now a stakes-placed 2-year-old on the rise - has a special place in Griffin’s heart.

“​​We've had a good year with our 2-year-olds this year, and O’ Ole is one that we all loved right from the start,” she said. “Funnily enough, she was actually one of the slower ones to sell. But we just all fell in love with her at the sales.

“She's just beautiful. She's got the best brain on her, and she ran second in the (G3) Gimcrack. We have high hopes for her, hopefully (she will head) to the Magic Millions.”

Griffin admitted to some favouritism for Vinery Stud’s young sire, “I'm a big, big Ole Kirk fan off the back of her, and so we managed to get a mare in foal to him, which was a great result. I think he's just thrown such good types, and they all seem to have really good brains. We've got two in the stable for Darby Racing, and they're just absolute cracking types.”

Her role lets Griffin incorporate all the parts of the industry that she loves into one place, which, to her, is the beauty of working in the thoroughbred world.

“This industry isn't like a traditional corporate role where there's the ladder that you can climb up and you can see the exact steps there in front of you,” said Griffin. “At the moment, I love just getting to enjoy the sales, bloodstock, and racing side together. I think as long as I'm doing something that combines them, I'll be pretty happy.”