INTERNATIONAL FEATURE
DECEMBER 9, 2013
Eliza Park goes international
by Kelsey Riley
Eliza Park, one of Australia’s most recognized brands on the commercial scene since it was established in 1998, in June announced the sale of its operation to the Hong Kong-based Sun International Group, an investment company with wide interests in public
companies, including hotels and resorts. The sale comprised the farm’s six properties (2500 total
hectares) across the country, including its base in Victoria, which houses its 13
stallions, including Black Caviar’s sire Bel Esprit, as well as exciting young prospects Magnus and Bushranger.
Under the direction of Sun International’s Ting Kong
Cheng, who owns about 40 racehorses in Macau, the outfit now coined Eliza Park International
is undergoing a make over. While Eliza Park International will continue to offer services to
outside clientele, it is now in the process of building up its own broodmare band, with the
view of selling the majority of its produce in the beginning, and later building up a quality
racing stable. In fact, it has already begun to lay the foundation for racehorse ownership, with
the purchase of Irish St. Leger (Ire-G1) winner Voleuse de Coeurs (Teofilo) in October.
The three-year-old filly ran 10th of 24 in last month’s Melbourne Cup (Aus-G1) in her first outing Down
Under and in the Eliza Park International silks, and she is currently being spelled
with an eye toward some of Sydney’s prestigious contests in the Australian autumn.
Alvin Lui, the chief investment officer of Sun
International, was appointed chief executive officer of Eliza Park International shortly after the
farm’s sale, and he explained that he and his team became students of the racing industry after first
visiting Eliza Park last year.
“I was not in this industry, and since last year
we’ve studied the industry,” Lui said. “Mainly breeding, and racing of course, but we have positioned
ourselves as breeders now, and we will probably have more racehorses in the future.”
Lui explained that while racing is Ting Kong Cheng’s
hobby, they see it as an attractive business opportunity, especially with the current direction
of the Australian industry.
“We quite like the industry,” he said. “It is unique,
it is different from other investments we have done, and we believe there are opportunities
business-wise. We have seen the prize money as well as the prices of horses going up in
Australia.”
As its new name suggests, the future of Eliza Park
International won’t be entirely Down Under. Over the past few weeks, Lui, along with bloodstock
advisor David O’Callaghan and nominations salesman Phil Marshall, has been shopping at
the breeding stock sales at Tattersalls and Arqana, stocking up on mares as well as
assessing the industry in Europe.
“Eliza Park has a long history in Australia, so we
would like to maintain its position in Australia, and the reason we now call it Eliza Park
International is because we would like to participate on a worldwide level,” Lui said. “We’d also
like to see more clients and investors from other countries in Eliza Park and
Australia from the Northern Hemisphere.
“David O’Callaghan and Phil Marshall and I have come
here to look at the market in the Northern Hemisphere,” he continued. “We have been looking
at other opportunities in the Northern Hemisphere. The sales are pretty strong, and the
market is very good.”
The Eliza Park team must have liked what they saw in
the European market, as they signed for six mares at Tattersalls, and a further eight through
the first two days at Arqana. Their purchases included Group 3 winner Moment in Time (Tiger Hill) (Lot
No. 1540 at Tattersalls) for 350,000 guineas and listed winner Festoso
(Diesis) (Lot 180b at Arqana), in foal to Galileo, for
€420,000.
O’Callaghan, an advisor to Eliza Park for around 10
years, explained that the Eliza Park International interests would all foal down in Europe at an
as-yet undecided location, and their prospects would be re-evaluated next year.
“They’ll foal down here, then subject to what type of
foals they have, the foals will be resold in Europe, and then we’ll assess whether the mares
get bred back in the UK and resold, or whether they go to Australia,” O’Callaghan
explained. “(Eliza
Park International) has about 35-40 mares now, and some of those will be sold, so that’ll come
back to around 20. Over time, we’d like to get the broodmare band to around 100. It’ll
take some time, because you can’t always buy what you want.”
O’Callaghan said that it was the strength of the
pedigrees, as well as the market, in Europe that encouraged the Eliza Park International
shareholders to get involved.
“There are different pedigrees, different families
and different physical types,” he noted. “The European mares have done very well in Australia over the
last 50 or 60 years. They give you a bit of an outcross to what you have at home, so again it’s
just something a bit different. It enables you to use different types of stallions and
different pedigrees, and have access to a different marketplace. As we saw last week it’s so strong
in Europe at the moment that it seems silly not to be involved in it somehow.”
O’Callaghan added that the Eliza Park International
expansion could also includes forays into the shuttle stallion sector.
“That’s certainly something we’re keen to look into,”
he said. “We’ve shuttled quite a few stallions from the Northern Hemisphere over the years, and
that’s something we want to continue to do, but probably more in our own ownership.
O’Callaghan also stated that Eliza Park International could
expand into markets in the East.
“Eliza Park International is listed on the Hong Kong
stock exchange, and their other businesses allow them access to a very big client base in
Asia and China,” he explained. “So that’s something we’re certainly aware of, and in the event
that something happens in China, we’re well positioned to be able to take advantage of it.
Certainly we can continue trading horses in Singapore and Hong Kong, as we have done in the
past.”