Chairman’s Welcome

Welcome to Year Four

Patinack Farm is a uniquely Australian brand in the Australian Thoroughbred industry. Employing nearly 300 people across three states of racing and stud farms at Sandy Hollow in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales and Canungra in Queensland, Patinack Farm represents the new age of Australian Bloodstock.

Patinack Farm was founded to enjoy my passion of thoroughbred racing and breeding. In doing this Patinack Farm has quickly been established as a leading racing stable and has developed a strong line up of stallions that have shown the precocity to compete at the highest level in Australia’s juvenile events through to some of the most time honoured WFA events in the country.

We stand proudly as an Australian brand supporting the racing and breeding industry with our own resources and balance sheet and provide a fair go for breeders. This is a commitment from stablehands to suppliers that are used in our racing and breeding operations and more than 2000 horses our valued staff care for from weanling’s to broodmares that includes one of the finest broodmare bands in world breeding for both quality and quantity. In an industry built on self promotion and storytelling it is rare that anyone actually backs up what they say or what they are selling and Patinack Farm is uniquely Australian in this regard.

The operation is world class and supports its own stallions with breeding and racing stock to ensure our stallions are given every chance to succeed at stud. This strategy is at odds with nearly every other commercial breeding operation in the country but that doesn’t make it wrong. At Patinack Farm all we ask for is a fair go. We are not asking breeders to buy a story or support a horse that we ourselves won’t support. We don’t stand stallions we don’t believe in and every one of our stallions produces horses that will wear the Patinack Farm racing silks. That’s the difference, uniquely Australian and fair dinkum. We in turn appreciate their business by supporting them at weanling, yearling and breeding sales and with our Breeders Bonus.

Patinack’s Breeders’ Bonus is another new incentive in the marketplace to reward owners and breeders who are racing the progeny of Patinack Farm’s stallions. The breeders’ Bonus has been designed to match the BOBS bonus in NSW which Patinack Farm fully support with all our stallions paying 100% of the stallions fee as a nomination, not a portion as many do. On top of this we offer the our very own Breeders’ Bonus, which is valued at $1m per foal crop. We do not believe self interest is an Australian trait so we think it is fair that all stallions should pay the same fee relative to service fee. So not only is Patinack supporting BOBS 100% and subsidising more expensive stallions along with the rest of the NSW breeding industry, it is further showing our support of racing and breeding in Australia with our own bonus which we pay for directly ourselves, no subsidies.

Patinack’s Breeder Bonus is just another example where Patinack Farm challenges others to follow our lead in supporting the industry in all we do. In providing career opportunities for people, sponsorship of racing, support of charities (with cash not just sperm once again asking someone else to do the work) or just appreciating the hard work and good management that goes into every winner. Last season Patinack Farm had 99 winners around the country and this year is on target for 200.

While Patinack Farm has only been around for 3 years it has made an unprecedented and widespread impact and contribution to the industry, more than most farms, individuals or self appointed experts have in a lifetime. Our support of the industry at all levels is something we are very proud of and we are not embarrassed that we are one of the few organizations in the industry that give back. We emerged at a time when the industry was on its knees during Equine Influenza and whilst we are over that hurdle the industry continues to struggle, I believe things are beginning to change but turning around generations of self interest will not happen overnight and the industry needs more breeders support to thrive. All this leads to a choice for breeders in supporting people who support you or perhaps continuing your alliance elsewhere and closing your eyes and hoping the industry is around in years to come.

We invite you to peruse our stallion line up when thinking of your mare matings. While you won’t see us in the paper every week spruiking about yearling averages or having old mates present us awards we invented we are only too happy to entertain a visit to our farm for a stallion showing or to examine their progeny. We hope that you may give Patinack an opportunity to earn your business based on our actions and the support we offer the industry, because we don’t seek stories and we don’t sell them either, but we do want to build our industry and that makes us uniquely Australian.

Nathan Tinkler
Chairman