Gosh why why why don’t my numbers ever get called on lottery night? I mean I already got the money spent lol
[QUOTE=Glimmerglass;3766951]
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.[/QUOTE]
Looks like this prediction is one more step closer to reality with Stonebridge having to be sold.
One of the most prestigious horse farms in New York could hit the selling block in the coming months, sources said Monday, after the farm’s hedge fund owner lost billions in Bernard Madoff’s alleged investment scheme.
Jeffrey Tucker, founding partner of the Connecticut investment firm the Fairfield Greenwich Group, is shopping for a real estate agent in the Saratoga Springs area to unload his 188-acre Stonebridge Farm in Schuylerville and a 230-acre satellite farm in Gansevoort, according to a local broker.
“We are currently in discussions with Mr. Tucker about representation of his properties,” said John Burke, owner of Select Sotheby’s International Realty in Saratoga Springs. “We are awaiting his decision on his selection of a firm.”
In December, Dennis Brida, manager at Stonebridge, confirmed that Tucker had ceased all construction on the farms and would sell his two dozen horses stabled there.
Brida could not be reached for comment on Monday, but a source familiar with Tucker’s situation said the sale of the farm could come “fairly soon.”
Tucker is a prominent horseman and chairman of the horse racing group Empire Racing. He built an indoor arena, the first track in New York with a synthetic racing surface and multiple homes on Stonebridge Farm.
Hmmm I have say dubious is the statement of “One of the most prestigious horse farms in New York” … I wouldn’t put this one near the top IMHO.
As an aside Saratoga Sotheby’s is representing Stoneridge a nice horse farm which has been on the market since Bill Clinton was in the White House. It is owned by the daughter of the late Sigmund Sommer who owned Sham 
As expected - now listed for sale: Stone Bridge Farms - 425 acres - near Saratoga Springs, NY (Schuylerville, NY) listed for $18,000,000 in it’s entirety. Or in three different packages. Among the elements are …
- 7/8th’s mile 22’ wide training track with “Poly Track” surface with full drainage, PVC safety rail
- 4 Stall starting gate
- 12’-20’ clocker’s stand
And for workers … the Burgoyne Hotel at 220 North Broad Street, Schuylerville, NY 12871
8 units used as staff quarters completely remolded and updated former Motor Inn
Not exactly falling under the impressive category, but more of an aside with an interesting infamous past: Robert E. Brennan’s NJ Mansion for his Due Process Stable is listed for sale - although I think his family hasn’t owned it in recent years. The stables themselves became part of the Due Process golf course; Brennan remains in the Fort Dix Correctional Facility for at least another year or so. Brennan’s Due Process Stables (south) in Lexington, Kentucky today is the renamed Cobra Farm.
Flashback: the penny stock swindler’s 1980’s tv ads
The previously cited Stone Bridge Farms as mentioned in the Times Union 4-11-09
“There is a network of people we have already been in contact with, some local, who are affluent investors with equestrian interests,” Newell said Friday.
The asking prices are based on evaluations by an appraiser from Kentucky. Market conditions and the location of the properties were factors, Newell said, adding that the farms are noteworthy enough to get attention from buyers across the globe, even in a poor economy.
Cited before the former Whitney stables of Greentree adjacent to the Saratoga Race Course now owned by Sheikh Mohammed are now getting new stables built on the property to resemble those taken down.
Schenectady Gazette Apr 25, 2009 “New barns go up at sheikh’s horse farm”
It was most recently called Stonerside Stables and was known as Greentree when it was the summer home of John Hay “Jock” Whitney and his second wife, socialite Betsey Cushing Roosevelt Whitney.
Jock Whitney was a horseman, ambassador, industrial magnate, newspaper publisher and entertainment mogul who died on Feb. 8, 1982. He was a first cousin to Cornelius Vanderbilt “Sonny” Whitney, the late husband of socialite Marylou Whitney.
The original barns, which dated to the early 1900s, were becoming unsafe, Bell said.
“Some wood beetles had gotten into the wood, and we tried to patch and prop up. We’d done all the maintenance we could,” he said.
The new barns mimic the design of the old barns and use similar materials, including slate roofs.
“We tried to put it back as close to the original as we could,” Bell said. “We kept the same roof lines.”
Workers originally hoped to save the slate from the original roofs and reuse it, but it broke up during the demolition of the old barns.
Bell said the sheikh’s 2-year-olds will be trained at Greentree.
One curious addition not there under either the Whitney or McNair ownership:
The estate boasts a nine-hole golf course inside the training track, an 8,100-square-foot main house built in 1890 and nine other major buildings.
Now those are some taxes Sheikh Mo is ponying up for the Spa facility!
Saratogian May 7, 2009 “Zoning change for Greentree Training Center?”
The property is now zoned rural-residential and Darley is seeking a change to institutional racetrack-related, the same as Oklahoma Training Track, Saratoga Race Course and Saratoga Gaming & Raceway. The proposed change would bring Darley’s farm more in line with surrounding properties.
The improvements also have more than doubled the property’s assessment from $6.2 million to nearly $14.6 million.
By doing so, the owners also might apply for agricultural credits that could reduce the site’s assessment, and taxes, significantly.
Last year, under its old assessment, the property generated $143,087 in taxes — $35,510 city, $17,829 county, $93,000 school. Under its new assessment, which took effect March 1, the site is expected to generate $335,340 in taxes — $78,535 city, $41,786 county, $217,971 school.
Worth citing is the recent expansion in mid-May of the lovely and historic Dixiana Farm - in Fayette County KY, somewhat near Lexington - which was purchased in 2004 by William Shively and had been restored. For $13 million, Shively has now reunited the horse farm to what it was by buying Domino Stud:
The Domino Stud transaction included 365 acres, a one-mile training track, barns and paddocks, and other buildings. It brings Shively’s total holdings in the area to 1,050 acres, which will serve as headquarters for his breeding and racing operation.
The history of the original property …
The original Dixiana Farm is best associated with Charles T. Fisher (Fisher Body Company/General Motors), who acquired it from the estate of James Cox Brady in 1928. Cox is best known today for his lovely New Jersey stables where the United States Equestrian Team’s headquarters are.
Dixiana farm remained intact until 1947.
At that time Fisher sold some acreage to Royce G. Martin, who then launched Woodvale Stud. That property was resold several times and later became Domino Stud, which Kenneth Jones acquired for $9.75 million in 1989. Shively wanted to restore the connection five years ago, but Kenneth Jones wasn’t interested in selling. (Domino was used, in part, in the filming of the movie “Seabiscuit” ) Kenneth Jones died Oct 30, 2008 at age 90, and in January his daughters approached Shively to see if he was still interested in the farm.
The Dixiana portion Fisher (d. 1963) kept was later sold by his estate (daughter Mary Fisher campaigned Golden Ruler from the estate in the early 1960’s) to Mary Lou Wibel in 1986. In 2002 the property was listed for sale (I have the brochure!) and Shively acquired that property from Wibel in 2004.
Domino Farm most recently enjoyed some big league attention when Miss Isella with Calvin Borell aboard won the Grade 2 $350,000 Louisville Distaff. Miss Isella was a homebred of Domino Farm.
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Now those are some taxes Sheikh Mo is ponying up for the Spa facility!
Saratogian May 7, 2009 “Zoning change for Greentree Training Center?”[/QUOTE]
As a follow-up Sheikh Mo was granted the zone change last night (7/7/09) on the former Whitney Greentree property in Saratoga Springs.
A list of “prohibited uses” were added for the new zone eliminating the ability of this or any future owner from instituting par-mutuel racing, hotels, motels, public restaurants and a concert hall at the site.
What the restrictive zoning category - which sets city precedent - does allow for are things like paddocks, a track, business-related suites, living quarters for employees and an assortment of other horse “training” related amenities. Like a heliport. (Go figure).
The property long known as a “gentleman’s farm” was once a part of Yaddo. The Trask family sold it to E.F. Sims in 1920, who then constructed horse stables and a training track. A decade later, Sims sold the lands to the Whitney Family for a price between $350,000 and $400,000, where it remained for more than 60 years.
Sheikh Mo worth mentioning paid the highest price last month for a country estate in England: a Suffolk estate for £45m - Dalham Hall, a grade II listed property near Newmarket once owned by Cecil Rhodes (a/k/a Rhodes Scholarship, the country of Rhodesia now Zimbabwe, and DeBeers Diamonds).
Forbes magazine estimates that Maktoum’s fortune has been halved to $6 billion over the past 12 months.
The Dalham Hall estate, one of the most impressive in East Anglia, is centred on a mansion built for Simon Patrick, the Bishop of Ely, in 1705. “It’s not really pretty, but a substantial and elegant family home with a very distinctive location,” said one person familiar with the property.
Maktoum already owns the neighbouring Dalham Hall stud, a 3,000-acre site from which he runs his global bloodstock empire and where he spends part of his time.
It is thought that the sheikh’s latest purchase, bought through his Darley Stud Management company, is mainly an investment, although he and his friends may well choose to make use of the estate’s shooting facilities.
By combining the estate with the stud, Maktoum will become one of Britain’s biggest foreign-born landowners.
A portion of Kelso’s home is now on the market. Following the death of Allaire du Pont in January 2006 at 92 the family has chosen to sell off 200 acres of the Chesapeake City, MD property on the banks of the Bohemia River.
The remaining 700+/- acres including the farm office, her family home, and the lovely cemetery where Kelso, his sire and dam, and others are buried will continue to be in the possession of Allaire’s daughter, Lana Wright, et al.
Sotheby’s listing 11-2009 ‘Woodstock Farm’ $3,665,000 - listing here - offered in as many as 4 parcels.
In addition to the partial farm sale the dispersal of Bohemia Stables horses started last week at Keeneland.
The sales brochure for Michael Dickinson’s Tapeta Farm (pdf)
It has three turf tracks and two Tapeta surfaced tracks:
Three Turf Tracks
Normal Weather:
Measures 60 feet wide and 1 mile long with the best cushion of any turf track in the USA. Hall of Fame rider Braulio Baeza stated, “I’ve ridden on all of the best turf tracks in the USA and some in Europe, but the turf track at Tapeta Farm is easily the best I’ve seen.”
Dry weather:
Measures 40 feet wide and 1 mile long. Designed to ensure good going even through the most severe drought conditions. In 2002, during the worst drought in the past 60 years, while the temperature consistently stayed at or above 90 degrees and while going 6 weeks without rain, the summer (Dry Weather) track was in excellent condition.
“Noah’s Arc”:
Measures 40 feet wide and is 5 1/2 furlongs long. Designed to withstand excessive amounts of rain. After hurricane Floyd dumped 12 inches of rain in 12 hours, the turf track was able to be used the next day.
As cited before when first listed: no asking price listing published.
Not necessarily an impressive estate but rather an interesting added foray by Darley into Aiken, SC … I wonder what Cot thinks of the new neighbors
TB Times 12-31-09 “Darley buys Aiken property for new training center”
…purchasing 360 acres in Aiken County with the intention of building a training facility.
The deal on the property closed on Wednesday [Dec 30] afternoon.
“Aiken has a history of developing young horses into race horses,” Darley USA President Jimmy Bell said. “Our search was about the health and welfare of the horse. There were a number of factors involved with our selection of Aiken—the history, the location, and the weather. The horses get a little bit of everything.”
There is no time frame as to when the training facility will be built, Bell said, but it will include a one-mile dirt track.
The property is about six miles from the Aiken Training Track, where Darley has about 65 horses in training. Darley will send its yearlings to be broken and its young horses to be trained at the new facility, Bell said.
Worth adding to the news of Darley buying the land in Aiken, SC is that Per the Augusta Chronicle back on Nov 2009 cited that Darley has been looking to expand in that area:
Darley made an offer to purchase the Aiken Training Track earlier this year, but was unsuccessful.
“The board of directors rejected it because it was going to turn private, and we were all going to be squeezed out,” said Mr. Stevens, the track president. “They are very interested in the Aiken area.”
Darley currently has 65 horses at the track. Mr. Jones, a trainer for Darley, declined to comment on the stable’s plans.
There is a possibility that Darley could buy land on the outskirts of Aiken and build its own training facility.
“I’m working with them now to identify a property that will suit them for the future in Aiken,” said Ms. Haslup, the trainer who is also a Realtor for Meybohm. “It will help the whole local economy.”
According to what we were told when working for John Morrison at Stone Bridge, the mare farm (there are actually 3 properties, the training facilityn the mare farm and the yearling farm) had a very interested potential buyer, with a deal in the works (not sure how that’s progressed) and as of the end of October, there hadn’t been any serious inquiries on the other 2 properties, although another trainer, not sure who yet, is supposed to sign a lease on the training facility and move in this march. So we’ll see on that. Anyone have a spare $17 million or so want to buy the place? It is a beautiful place to work. 7/8 mile training track, nice big indoor, 2 equicizers, good turnout, something like 50 stalls, 15 minutes or so from the Saratoga track… Sigh, if I thought it would do any good, I’d start saving my pennies…
[QUOTE=Timex;4591943]
According to what we were told when working for John Morrison at Stone Bridge, the mare farm (there are actually 3 properties, the training facilityn the mare farm and the yearling farm) had a very interested potential buyer, with a deal in the works (not sure how that’s progressed) and as of the end of October …[/QUOTE]
I wouldn’t hold out much hope for a quick sale and in fact I’d expect it to remain on the market (not unlike Stonerside’s Saratoga facility aka Greentree) for a couple of years plus.
A recent firesale price for a trophy property (albeit non horsey) shows that people expect bargains in this era and $17M was always (IMHO) a laughable price. Llenroc sold for $1.8M, previously asking $13M and even $30M once
Nah, glimmer, no one’s holding their breathe on that one! Tucker is a nice guy, and its a nice facility, I’d like to see someone in there using the place and at least contributing to its upkeep.
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Not necessarily an impressive estate but rather an interesting added foray by Darley into Aiken, SC … I wonder what Cot thinks of the new neighbors
TB Times 12-31-09 “Darley buys Aiken property for new training center”[/QUOTE]
I’ve read Cot’s book and he tells a very funny story about the time they had one of the Sheikhs (don’t know if it was one of the Maktoums or Khalid Abdullah) to his home for a luncheon which had been planned to the nth.
Unfortunately, almost every dish had some sort of pork product in it! He said the Sheikh and his entourage were more than gracious and good-natured about it - Campbell and his wife were mortified, of course.
[QUOTE=Mara;4593967]
I’ve read Cot’s book and he tells a very funny story about the time they had one of the Sheikhs (don’t know if it was one of the Maktoums or Khalid Abdullah) to his home for a luncheon which had been planned to the nth.
Unfortunately, almost every dish had some sort of pork product in it! He said the Sheikh and his entourage were more than gracious and good-natured about it - Campbell and his wife were mortified, of course.[/QUOTE]
Classic stuff 
Well if you too would like to perhaps join the thriving Aiken community and are looking for just maybe a bargain you’re in luck with an Absolute Auction:
“The Balcony” in Aiken’s Historic District will be auctioned Feb 9, 2010. With no minimum or reserve the 11,600 sq ft 5-bedroom noted brick manor house, 3-bedroom guest cottage, plus 20-stall restored stable complex with paddocks on 5.8 acres but within riding distance to Hitchcock Woods and the Aiken Training Track … all will go under the gavel.
The property also has it’s own dirt track as well.
As a point of reference the property sold last in 2007 for $2.8 million.
It was built for Seymour H. Knox of Buffalo NY, an heir to the F. W. Woolworth fortune and an avid polo player, in 1930 and was designed by Manhattan-based architect Julian Peabody.
Peabody was married to Celestine a North Shore socialite known for her skills as a rider, and was the sister of polo player Thomas “Tommy” Hitchcock. Both Celestine (age 39) and Julian (age 53) died in a tragic sinking of the luxury passenger ship - Mohawk - after a collision with a freighter in 1935.
Another NYS breeding farm (I assume its the same) listed for sale.
Berkshire Stud $17.5 million: Pine Plains, NY also seen in this marketing video here : Berkshire Stud.
One of the bred and owned runners just raced in the Maid of the Mist Stakes at Belmont: Hessonite.
Not racing, but Acorn Hill Farm in Madison, VA is being sold at a foreclosure auction on November 18th of this year. They are most noted for imported Irish Sport stallions and for sending quite a few of theirs to Phillip Dutton of eventing fame for training and competition.
There are links to the auction in the Sport Horse breeding forum.
