THE THOROUGHBRED HOMES 

 OF AUSTRALIA. 



By KEN AUSTIN 



THOROUGHBRED horse breeding in New South Wales, or, in fact, 

 in any of the Commonwealth States, has never been on a sounder 

 or more satisfactory footing than it is at the present time. This 

 happy position is more or less due to the policy of the principal 

 Racing Clubs throughout Australia in so richly endowing their race 

 programmes, and as there has been a steady advance in prize-money from 

 year to year, so prices for Thoroughbred stock, and especially yearlings, may 

 be expected to hold good for some time to come. 



Nowadays a majority of the successful Thoroughbred Studs in the State 

 have their home on the Hunter River or w^aters that run into it, and within 

 a radius of about 1 00 miles, on the upper stretches of this famous district, 

 most of the principal horse-breeding establishments are to be found. The 

 Hunter, on account of its extreme richness and soundness is peculiarly adapted 

 as a nursery for the Thoroughbred. The Hunter, which derives its name from 

 Governor Hunter, during whose regime it w^as discovered, is one of the most 

 important rivers of New South Wales. It rises in the Mount Royal Ranges and 

 flows in an easterly direction past Muswellbrook and Denman. Three miles 

 below the latter town its waters are increased by the Paterson, and it eventually 

 empties itself into the sea at Newcastle. An extremely rich belt of country 

 follows the banks of the Hunter from Singleton up to Aberdeen, and some 

 miles beyond crosses to the Widden Mountain, and it is on these rich flats and 

 reaches that most of the studs are situated. 



One of the oldest studs in Australia — the far-famed Tocal — is the first 

 to be met with after leaving Newcastle, and here the Reynolds' Estate are 

 still carrying on the stud which the late Mr. Frank Reynolds owned for so 

 many years. No name is held in greater reverence among lovers of the 

 Australian Thoroughbred than that of Frank Reynolds — a man whose heart 

 and soul were centred in his horses and cattle, and who was in a great measure 

 responsible for the adoption of the Bruce Lowe Figure System. Bruce Lowe 

 and Frank Reynolds practically originated the system between them, and, up 

 to the day of his death, Frank Reynolds was a hard and fast believer in the 

 figures. One could write volumes on the Tocal Stud and its influence on 

 the Australian racehorse, but space is limited in an article such as this. 

 Tocal's glory is at present somewhat diminished, so far as its Thoroughbred 

 Stud goes, and it is now some seasons since a first-class horse has come from 

 its paddocks. A new sire, in use for the first time this season, is the Amphion 

 horse The Nut (imp. — an own brother to Lally), a very bloodlike individual 

 who has met with a very fair measure of success as a winner getter. About 

 four miles from the picturesque old Georgian homestead of Tocal is another 

 Reynolds holding in Duninald, and here Mr. Sydney Reynolds has been breed- 

 ing more than his share of w^inners for many years past. At the time of 

 writing, t^vo English horses — Prudent King (a son of Love Wisely) and 

 Piedmont (a tail male descendant of Barcaldine) — are being used. The 

 first-mentioned horse has sired a number of winners, and, in Cadonia, gave 

 us a good-class Leger winner. Near Maitland Mr. John Hart keeps a small but 

 select stud at Bolwarra, and at the present time has the imported sire Something 

 Irish in use. 



