Impressive equestrian facility for sale

[Glimmerglass]

Sadly as expected, the “Chantilly of the Chesapeake” - Tapeta Farm has been put on the market following Michael Dickinson’s exit from training.

Dickinson seeks buyer for farm

Daily Racing Form: May 7, 2008
By GLENYE CAIN OAKFORD

Trainer Michael Dickinson has put his custom-designed Tapeta Farm in Maryland on the market for an undisclosed price, he confirmed Wednesday.

Dickinson, a Breeders’ Cup-winning trainer and the developer of the Tapeta synthetic surface that is named for his farm, said he has decided to downsize to a smaller property now that he is no longer training. Dickinson stopped training in 2007 to devote himself to his Tapeta Footings business.

Tapeta Farm covers 196 acres in North East, Md., on the edge of the Chesapeake Bay. Dickinson purchased the property in 1996 and developed it as a Thoroughbred training center according to his own design. The farm includes the main residence, 55 stalls in barns built by the Amish, and two Tapeta all-weather surfaces, one a half-mile round gallop and the other a one-turn mile up an incline.

The farm also features a unique set of three turf exercise tracks, one Dickinson calls “Noah’s Ark” that is seeded to be resilient during wet weather, a second that is designed for normal conditions, and a third designed for use during exceptionally dry weather.

Tapeta has had no horses on it since December 2007.

“We’ve had a few inquiries,” Dickinson said, adding that he and his wife, Joan, intend to purchase property nearby.

“I don’t need a 200-acre garden,” Dickinson said. “We’re very happy on the farm at the moment, and we love the area, so we’re only going to move a mile or two away.”

Unlike say the Stonerside estate at Saratoga (nee Greentree Farm) which was listed for sale but restricted to horsemen, it doesn’t appear the same is being applied here Too many developers on the shores of MD hungry for land to not protect it.

[Texarkana]

So who wants to chip in with me to buy Tapeta Farm?

That is truly one of my favorite properties. Maybe I’ll be able to purchase one of the 150 single family waterfront homes they’ll put up in its place.

[Glimmerglass]

In case anyone was wondering what happend to the horses that did live at Tapeta Farm, they have been dispersed to different trainers over the last year and of course Da Hoss is happily still at the Kentucky Horse Park. Agreed that any chance that such a turnkey gem should be lost or even mothballed from being an active, working stable is a shame.

[Glimmerglass]

Looks like for the mega-sale in Saratoga Springs last spring (2007) of the former Whitney Greentree Stable complex (then Stonerside Saratoga) to Sheik Mo was completed well after an exclusive contract between a representing realty agent and seller had expired

Times Union 5-13-08 “Stonerside Stables dispute dropped”

SARATOGA SPRINGS NY – A city Realtor has dropped a suit claiming it was owed a 5 percent commission on the nearly $17.5 million sale of the Stonerside Stables horse farm on Nelson Avenue.

Roohan Realty of Broadway sued Kentucky-based Stonerside Stables, LLC, last May in state Supreme Court in Saratoga County. It alleged the stables’ owner, Robert McNair, who also owns the Houston Texans football team, “failed and refused” to pay the real estate company an approximately $875,000 contracted commission on the horse farm’s sale to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who is the ruler of Dubai.

But attorneys representing McNair said Tuesday that Roohan Realty dropped the suit because it had no case. The 2004 contract (that promised the company commission if the prestigious 106-acre property sold) expired after a year, well before the farm was sold in January 2007, said Randall Ezick, local counsel for Stonerside Stables.

“They got sued when there was no basis for it,” Ezick said of his client.

Owner Tom Roohan did not respond to a request for a comment. Michele Anderson, his attorney in the case, confirmed the litigation was recently discontinued, but declined to discuss it.

Stonerside Stables is located at 36 Nelson Ave., which adjoins Saratoga Race Course. It includes a one-mile training track, 46 horse stalls in two stables, a mansion and a dairy barn that has been converted to a lodge.

Robert McNair and his wife, Janice, purchased the horse farm and 14 acres of property east of the Northway for $5.5 million in 1999 from the estate of Betsey Cushing Whitney. Sheik Mohammed’s Darley Stud Management now operates it.

[JER]

What’s the asking price for Tapeta?

(Just asking in case it’s affordable. :winkgrin:)

[Glimmerglass]

[QUOTE=JER;3210267]
What’s the asking price for Tapeta?[/QUOTE] Per the article it is undisclosed. I cannot find the listing agent either. The address is 100 Piney Creek Lane and a 10-acre residence at 700 Piney Creek is listed for $990k. So my guess is it would be listed for several times that however North East, MD isn’t exactly Easton, MD or anything in Talbot Co. so it has its limits.

[Glimmerglass]

Still no listed (or disclosed in public) price for Tapeta Farm

There is a very simple website for the listing

[Glimmerglass]

Exit the McNair family from the racing scene - wow!

Stonerside Stables (all of it - everything) sold to Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum (Darley). As noted in this thread Mo bought the McNair’s Stonerside operations in Saratoga Springs NY (nee Greentree Stables) last year so that started the process.

DRF Sep 1, 2008 “Sheikh Mohammed buys Stonerside”

Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum’s Darley organization added to its considerable holdings Monday by purchasing nearly all the assets of Robert and Janice McNair’s Stonerside Stable in Paris, Ky.

No price was disclosed. The private transaction includes the 2,000-acre Stonerside farm property, a training center in Aiken, S.C., about 80 horses in training, and 170 broodmares, yearlings, and weanlings, according to a release Stonerside issued early Monday afternoon. The McNairs will keep Cowboy Cal, a 3-year-old Giant’s Causeway colt that won the Grade 3 Tropical Park Derby this year and was second in the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes. They also will retain their homebred stallions Congaree, Bob and John, and Stonesider, and their other stallion interests.

[Glimmerglass]

A slight correction on the Darley purchase of Stonerside/McNairs race operations. The deal cut in just 3-weeks won’t totally exit the McNairs:

Stonerside owners Robert and Janice McNair will keep their racehorse Cowboy Cal and all of their stallions and stallion shares.

All the physical real estate, hundreds of broadmares, racing name, breeding name, etc will pass from McNair ownership.

[Xctrygirl]

![]( cannot tell you how amazing of a purchase that is!!

Charlie and I were very fortunate to be allowed to come visit Stonerside in 2006 and we were toured around for 4 + hours and still didn’t see it all.

The reason I was there was because the McNairs were Lad’s breeders and his mother, sister and many younger relatives still romp around those fields.

I have some great pics from that day… but this is my favorite…

[IMG]http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m147/Xctrygirl/DSCN1076.jpg)

That’s me feeding Chilukki peppermints. She died the next spring.

And this is their entrance statue:

[IMG]http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m147/Xctrygirl/DSCN1066.jpg)

I’ll miss the McNair’s presence, but I still appreciate what they have done for racing and for my own personal life enjoyment!!

~Emily

[Glimmerglass]

You don’t find homes of this note on the market these days without the stables long since lost or turnout carved up. Unionville, PA the famed and beautiful “Doe Run” estate and stables of the late Esther Driver du Pont (d. 1984). Her last husband was Englishman Sir John Rupert Hunt Thouron.

She was the original source of funds to create UPenn’s famed veterinary New Bolton Center. Among her noted horses (raised at Doe Run) were the 1953 MassCap winner and 1944 American Grand National winner.

The 220-acre estate, with the 1937 stone mansion, remains complete with two separate stone stables with 28 stalls. The price tag of $15 million reflects all the significance that comes with its history and charm.

[SuperSTB]

[QUOTE=Glimmerglass;3534744]
You don’t find homes of this note on the market these days without the stables long since lost or turnout carved up. Unionville, PA the famed and beautiful “Doe Run” estate and stables of the late Esther Driver du Pont (d. 1984). Her last husband was Englishman Sir John Rupert Hunt Thouron.

She was the original source of funds to create UPenn’s famed veterinary New Bolton Center. Among her noted horses (raised at Doe Run) were the 1953 MassCap winner and 1944 American Grand National winner.

The 220-acre estate, with the 1937 stone mansion, remains complete with two separate stone stables with 28 stalls. The price tag of $15 million reflects all the significance that comes with its history and charm.[/QUOTE]

I need a paper towel to wipe the drool off my computer.

Only $15M- lets click on that loan calculator.
click
(do the keyboard tap dance)
Oh Man
Error message laughed and said get back to work…

[Acertainsmile]

Wonder how much for the farm house or gardners house???

[Glimmerglass]

Nydrie sold

[QUOTE=Glimmerglass;2125989]
(Originally posted January 8, 2007)

Still available but the price reduced is the architecturally magnificent Nydrie Stud, Albemarle County, VA estate of recently retired Breeders’ Cup President D.G. Van Clief Jr.: $6.75 million for the historic 592 acre stables.[/QUOTE]

SOLD

Charlottesville VA’s “The Hook” blog from July 22, 2008 ‘Historic horse farm off the market’

If you live in Esmont, you have a new neighbor. Make that neeeeiigggh-bor. After three generations in the Van Clief family and almost three years on the market, historic horse farm Nydrie Stud sold June 18 for $4.8 million to Nydrie Farm LLC, owned by Eric Shobe.

Breeding place of 1947 Kentucky Derby winner Jet Pilot and Natalma, dam of prolific sire Northern Dancer, the 575-acre Albemarle landmark was home to high-dollar horses until five years ago.

“It’s been very quiet at the farm since then,” says D. G. Van Clief Jr., who adds that the sale was a part of his family’s efforts to divvy up family assets.

The Van Clief family will keep several remaining farms– which total approximately 2,400 acres– surrounding Nydrie, including Old Woodville, the house where the four Van Clief brothers grew up.

Van Clief says he has fond memories of his childhood in Esmont. “Summers were spent working with the horses,” he says.

Van Clief is the only brother still involved in the horse industry, and he recently served as Breeders’ Cup president and chairman of Fasig-Tipton, a thoroughbred auction company.

Van Clief’s grandparents bought the Nydrie property from Douglas Forsythe in 1928, and his father, Daniel G. VanClief, a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, took over the farm in 1945.

Located on the original Coles estate, where Thomas Jefferson’s family sought refuge during General Sir Banastre Tarlton’s raid on Monticello, the center of the estate is an ivy-covered brick barn. Once featured in Town and Country magazine, the slate-roofed barn was built in the late 1800s and added to in the 1930s. Other features of the farm include a pond and a brick bull ring.

One thing the new owners won’t be able to enjoy: the original Nydrie house (shown via this link, circa 1930’s)– "that old pile of bricks built in 1891″ as Van Clief’s father called it in a 1978 news article. The 64-room mansion, believed to have been designed by Richmond architect David Wiley Anderson, was built to emulate a Scottish castle. The stunning gothic house deteriorated after the Van Cliefs stopped maintaining it due to high costs, and the family sold the house to Lewis Ramsey, a Buckingham contractor who had experience dismantling historic houses. After the house was razed in 1978, most of its parts were sold.

The farm stayed in the Van Clief family until the June sale. Shobe declined to comment on his plans for the land.

I assume this is Mr. Shobe’s company

[Blacklabs]

General Cochran Farm

http://www.equineproperties.com/properties1.html, second one offered. There’s also a second home on this estate for sale with another barn and 9 acres.http://www.valleyviewrealty.com/farms.html

GENERAL COCHRAN FARM; AN HISTORIC MOHAWK VALLEY LANDMARK, located in Fort Plain, NY is an opportunity of a lifetime to acquire a rare piece of history of this magnitude. AND THE PRICE HAS BEEN REDUCED.

The Main House; built by General John Cochran, personal Physician to George Washington during the Revolutionary War. As payment for his services, received this property and built the Mansion in 1790. He was visited here by George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Mohawk Chief Joseph Brandt and General Lafayette. John Cochran became the first Director of Hospitals and the First Surgeon General of the United States.

The Main Residence built in 1790: A 4,000+ sq ft Mansion, with 5 Bedrooms and 4 Baths, sits on a knoll well off the road, amidst mature maple trees, lovely plantings and expansive rolling lawns… a truly sylvan setting.

Although fully modernized, it maintains the authenticity and graciousness of yesteryear with period craftsmanship evident throughout. Wainscot, arched window alcoves, fireplace mantles, wall paneling, random width pine flooring and decorative colonial moldings have been meticulously restored and/or replaced to mimic their original condition. Authentic antique boards painstakingly milled and brought back to life for library and kitchen wall paneling.

The five large chimneys, which dominate the exterior architecture, serve an impressive total of 9 fireplaces. Each fireplace is faced with rare, handmade tiles, such as blue delft from Holland and ivory from France and Italy.

The Horse Facilities: There are 30 large stalls in the main barn and stud barn. These are well ventilated, oiled tongue & groove construction. The main barn also contains a hot & cold horse wash area, and wide blacktopped aisles, an office with ½ bath and laundry room.

177+/- Acres: Housing 5 barns, the largest being 40’x100’, built in 1886 with hand hewn beams, 5 paddocks with 15,000 feet of wooden fencing covering 20 acres. 3 turn-out sheds, a ½ mile training track, and over 1 mile of well maintained roadways. A guest house, manager’s house, tenant house, an apartment, a heated shop building and 2 entrances from the main road, both flanked by massive limestone pillars create the feeling of a bygone era.

Average annual income: This farm has generated $100,000 yearly from rental income, crop sales, and horse boarding. Additional income could be had if utilized as a bed & breakfast, full scale training facility or any number of other venues. The potential here is limited only by your own imagination.

Amenities: Over $500,000 has been spent to completely renovate and restore this unique property to its original grandeur. Although, to numerous to mention here, we welcome your inquires. Please contact us for additional information and to arrange for a visit.

The Estate offers this Unique Historic Landmark for the reduced price of only $1,176,200…E 433 NOWHERE IN THE UNITED STATES WILL YOU FIND A PROPERTY WITH THIS HISTORY, TRULY A ONE OF A KIND.

[Glimmerglass]

[QUOTE=Glimmerglass;3489230]
Exit the McNair family from the racing scene - wow!

Stonerside Stables (all of it - everything) sold to Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum (Darley). As noted in this thread Mo bought the McNair’s Stonerside operations in Saratoga Springs NY (nee Greentree Stables) last year so that started the process.

DRF Sep 1, 2008 “Sheikh Mohammed buys Stonerside”[/QUOTE]

In case anyone wondered if the McNair’s have any regrets - following the victories in the Breeders Cup of homebreds Raven’s Pass in the Classic and Midshipman winning the BC JV - they don’t:

But watching the races from their home, the McNairs were certainly there in spirit as two of the thoroughbreds bred by Stonerside won Breeders’ Cup stakes.

The sale of Stonerside Stable, which they acquired in 1994, was a difficult decision for McNair, but he has no regrets.

“We remain so proud of our organization and the staff in Kentucky,” McNair said. “Our goal was to breed, raise and train champions. The Breeders’ Cup victories are a culmination of 14 years of hard work, planning and preparation.”

[Glimmerglass]

A possible future listing: Schuylerville, NY based Stonebridge Farm and a connected one in Gansevoort, NY. Each owned by Jeffrey Tucker, the founding partner of Fairfield Greenwich Group which (the Group - not Tucker) has lost $7.5 billion in the Bernie Madoff fiasco.

The losses have caused all construction on Tucker’s vast farm to grind to a halt, and the properties’ manager says Tucker will soon sell his horses. “It’s going to be tough financial times,” manager Dennis Brida said in an interview this week.

He said that rumors about the farm closing and laying off its 50 employees are false. But Tucker plans to carefully evaluate the farm and make necessary changes, Brida said, including unloading his 20 to 25 horses, some of which ran at Saratoga Race Course, in the coming months.

Tucker, a Manhattan resident, has worked in the finance industry for most of his life. He likes to spend weekends in a home he built on Stonebridge Farm because he loves horses, those who know him say.

If investors’ money was used to buy Tucker’s horse farms and a court decides against Fairfield Greenwich and Tucker in the case, the farms could be sold to satisfy the judgments, Zamansky said.

Such a development would be a blow to the area economy, said Bill Peck, supervisor of Northumberland, where Tucker’s Gansevoort farm is located.

Everything at Stonebridge is “top shelf,” Peck said, and Tucker tried to buy and hire local.

If Tucker cannot sustain the farm as is, there’s hope at least one of the properties could be remade into a commercial operation.

“It’s in a great location in a really great racing community,” Brida said. “It will still thrive.”

[Glimmerglass]

@Glimmerglass;2149523

SOLD to none other then the family with all the toys - Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

Saratoga’s legendary Stonerside farms is sold for $17.5M to train horses like Travers winner Bernardini

By DENNIS YUSKO, Staff writer
Albany Times Union
Thursday, January 18, 2007

SARATOGA SPRINGS – The ruler of Dubai has purchased Stonerside Stable, a prestigious 106-acre horse farm that adjoins Saratoga Race Course, for nearly $17.5 million.

Sadly - as cited by Equidaily - several of the old barns with a hell of a lot of history with them were razed in the last couple of months, Nov 2008 in particular. Barbara Livingston’s captures of the carnage - thankfully her keen eye captured the moment for posterity. Lost for example was the barn Cigar used when Mott was based there a decade ago.

Purportedly the structures will be replace with similar buildings in keeping with the estate’s architectural look.

[Glimmerglass]

In case anyone wants to own a race track in Engaland you can buy the track that used to be part of one of England’s most magnificent estates: Easton Neston, Towcester, Northamptonshire for £10,000,000

Towcester is pronounced “Toaster”

The racing and events business, including the land and buildings, are now for sale. Set in beautiful parkland in Northamptonshire, Towcester Racecourse is one of the most picturesque racing, hospitality and events venues in the UK. Since 1997, The Towcester Racecourse Company Limited (“TRC”) has implemented an extensive £10m investment programme redeveloping and modernising the facilities.

The Racecourse dates back to 1876, when Her Imperial Majesty, Elizabeth, the Empress of Austria, stayed at Easton Neston. The Empress was a keen rider and passionate about hunting. When she arrived at Easton Neston, a steeplechase meeting was held in her honour, which so delighted the Empress she decided to establish a race meeting of her own to be held on Easter Monday 1876. A course was laid out in Easton Neston Park and a stand erected for guests.

The magnificent country house - from c. 1680 - remained in the original family’s hands until 2005 when a Russian-born but American-based businessman and his 30-yr old wife acquired it.

[Glimmerglass]

Further on the activities at the ex-Stonerside Property at Saratoga Springs (nee Whitney Farm) which was acquired by Sheikh Mohammed and thankfully has been renamed back to its (almost) original name Greentree Training Center. For mailing purposes the property is listed as Darley Stud Management.

Google Satellite map of the property on Nelson Ave - it is the one to the right of the page adjacent to the forest with a huge track. The two smaller tracks on the left of the page are the Saratoga harness tracks.

Looks like Darley will have a significant presence in Saratoga this summer,

Albany Times Union 1-21-09: “Greentree center makes room for more thoroughbreds”

Workers at Greentree Training Center on Nelson Avenue, located at the edge of Saratoga Race Course, demolished the property’s two stables to make way for larger, more updated versions. The wooden barns, which dated to the 1920s, had deteriorated from the weather and insects.

“It was really that the barns were becoming unsafe,” said Jimmy Bell, president of Darley USA, the Lexington, Ky.-based racing operation that owns the horse farm. “They’re very old and you get to the point of no return. The doors were sagging and you couldn’t open them.”

The barns will double the stable’s capacity for Darley, from 46 horses to 95, Bell said, and the new barns, although bigger, will retain their historic feel. The new structures will be concrete block-based, but still have the same wood siding. Inside, air circulation systems and improved drainage will make the facilities easier to clean, Bell said.

Darley staff gave the project a strict deadline to be completed by May 1. The sheikh’s horses will be trucked from Lexington, filling the new stables to capacity.

“It’s a very ambitious schedule,” said Tom Frost, founder and principal of Frost Architecture in Saratoga Springs. Frost and his staff were hired by Darley to create a master plan for the equine facility and design the new barns. Workers have been laying concrete blocks through the winter, even under tents during the recent snowstorms.

The 106-acre property has had only three owners. In 1938, John Hay “Jock” Whitney bought a piece of land that was part of the Yaddo estate, founding Greentree. The Whitneys owned the property for 61 years, then sold it to Robert McNair, owner of the Houston Texans football team, in 1999. McNair renamed the property Stonerside Stables.

The sheikh bought the property for $17.5 million in January 2007 and changed the name back to Greentree Training Center.

“It’s the nicest piece of private property in the city,” Frost said. “It’s gone from the Whitneys to the McNairs to Darley.”

Music Note - for example - was trained there last August in preparation for the Alabama Stakes over the private track at Greentree. OF course Proud Spell won that race in a thriller