How Green Is My Valley!

In the Hunter Valley this weekend where the rain has been flopping down. We were promised a La Nina this summer - if it's not a La Nina it's wet anyway. Grass everywhere. With many hundreds of yearlings staying put instead of departing for the Gold Coast around New Year, as has been the case for the last 20 years, and similar numbers being held over those additional weeks for the Inglis Sydney series, the sward is going to come in mighty handy.

At least one stud farm in the upper valley is changing hands, the new owner believed to be one of those relatively new players who has been collecting highly-priced mares overseas lately. There's new management in place at John Cornish's Torryburn Stud following the departure of Don and Dawn Mackinnon to Queensland and the former Alabama Stud (under new ownership and retaining the same name) has undergone a transformation. The Tasmanian owner is a breeder of Arabians. Hard to imagine, being sandwiched between Vinery, who I understand have assisted in project management, Kia Ora and Alanbridge, that there won't be a thoroughbred or two on the place soon enough. Tasmania is clearly no poor cousin of the mainland, also being the stamping ground of Bruce Neill, developer of Cressfield which is a massive work in progress.