Author Archives: Darbysmith

Nutrien Equine are hosting a new annual sale and campdraft, with the inaugural event to take place from September 8 to 11 2022, at the centrally located, Australian Equine and Livestock Events Centre in Tamworth

Nutrien Equines’ Mark Barton is excited by the opportunities provided to open age horse owners through this new event. “This is a real celebration of the open age horse” said Mark “It offers great opportunity to purchase an experienced horse and consistently compete for big prizemoney”. Whilst open age horses have been offered for sale at the Nutrien Classic in the past, they have had limited opportunity to come back and compete for the money on offer in the Masters Campdraft at that event the subsequent year. This new concept replaces that event and offers much broader opportunities for those in the market for an open age horse.

“In this most recent Classic we catalogued 225 Open Age horses, with many more seeking entry” Mark added “through consultation with our customers the concept to develop an event that celebrates the Open Age horses, in their own sale and campdraft event has been born”.

The feature campdraft event known as the Graduate Draft, will provide the opportunity for horses aged 6 and over, that have previously graduated through any of the Nutrien Classic (Tamworth), Nutrien Supreme (Toowoomba), Willinga Park or Nutrien Northern Performance Horse sales, to compete for a minimum prizemoney pool of $150,000 in 2022. The Masters Sale will be held in conjunction and is designed as a select sale that will feature the Open Age horses.

Sale Nominations will open for week from Tuesday 28th June via NutrienLive

Pictured is Peter Boulton aboard GERROA SWEET ROMANCE who took out the 2021 Masters Campdraft

The Charters Towers Horse Sale has seen a new look for the 2022 event as the Nutrien Equine Team gave the sale ring a fresh coat of green and a new name: the Nutrien Northern Performance Sale.

The sale exceeded all hopes with a new record average selling price of $17,172. It generated a total of $1,047,500 in horse sales and saw a clearance rate of 73.49%.

“As the first year under the guidance of the Nutrien Equine division, the sale has been a huge success, which has produced a $17,000 average. People are wanting to buy a better-quality horse and are prepared to pay accordingly,” said Nutrien Equine’s Dane Pearce. “It is a testament to the Northern Queensland community for the breeding and training that has been put into action to make these quality stock horses what they are.”

Topping this year’s sale and breaking the Charters Towers record was Lot 62 ROWES MADDY on account of PG & CM Rowe. K Spur Pastoral were the lucky purchasers of the $50,000 mare, a 3-year-old by ONE MOORE DADDY and out of an Open Campdraft mare in ROWES MISTRESS.

Breaking another record for the ridden gelding section was Paul & Jane Stone’s Lot 91 STONEAGE CINCH. By DESIRES BLUE TRINITY and out of the DOGWOOD COMET daughter STONEAGE SAHARA, this 5-year-old was purchased for $45,000 by AK & JM Heading.

Another notable sale was Lot 29 ACRES MATRIX on account of Kokopelli Farming Co. Booroondarra Pastoral Company purchased this 8-year-old gelding, who is by ACRES DESTINY and out of DOCS SWEET SPIN, for $40,000.

Rhondhu Stud’s Lot 4 RHONDHU SAVVMAN topped the yearling section at $18,000. Congratulations to Jamie McQuillan & Joel Williams for purchasing this colt who is by USA Sire SANNMAN and out of the ACRES DESTINY daughter, RHONDHU SAVANNAH ACRES.

It was awesome to see several sale graduates return to compete in this year’s incentive competitions. Bobbie Hammer aboard Jack Mann’s JAM ELSIE took out the Barastoc 6yrs & Over Campdraft after a runoff for first place. JAM ELSIE was sold through last year’s sale for $40,000 on account of Peter & Dal-Marie Glenwright. This 8-year-old mare is by HAZELWOOD EPIC and out of BROADLEA HINGUS.

And taking home the champion ribbon for the Dalgety Animal Health Under 6 Workout was Peter Weston on BILLEROY TOMAHAWK. Peter purchased this gelding out of the 2018 sale as a 2-year-old for $2,000 from Billeroy Grazing. The now 5-year-old is by the WARRENBRI ROMEO sire MYALL SPRINGS OMAR and out of the ACRES DESTINY daughter, BILLEROY KITTYHAWK.

An outstanding effort was made by the Nutrien Charters Towers team, led by Dane Pearce, in the lead up to yet another successful Nutrien Equine Sale. A big thank you to the Horse of the North Committee for hosting us, and to the vendors, buyers, and sponsors for their continuous support. We look forward to the Nutrien Northern Performance Sale in 2023!

The end of an era has come with the complete dispersal sale of Donell Park Stud. Debbie and Peter Gesler of Donell Park have been breeding performance horses since 1998 and since purchasing the infamous SELIGMAN SPIN back in 2000, the Geslers’ have made a huge and lasting impact on both the Campdraft and Cutting industries in Australia.

This auction was run over a 24-hour period on the AuctionsPlus platform last weekend, 4th and 5th of March 2022, which had plenty of traffic with over 12,000 catalogue views and 70 active online bidders. There were 22 lots up for grabs which comprised of broodmares, mare and foal packages, ridden horses, yearlings, weanlings and two embryos.

The sale grossed $638,500, providing an average of $33,605 per lot. Plenty of people wanted a piece of this Donell Park history which left the sale with a high clearance rate of 90%.

Topping the auction was Lot 7 and Lot 11, both selling for $100,000 each!

Lot 7 THE COUNTESS is a 14-year-old broodmare by Donell Park’s SELIGMAN SPIN and out of the ACRES DESTINY daughter in PEPPYS DESTINY. This mare was sold as a 3-in-1 package with a BADBOONARISING filly at foot and is currently in foal to HAZELWOOD CONMAN; what a triple threat! This mare has proven time and time again that she can produce talented progeny, and her 2019 filly holds the sale record at the Nutrien Supreme Sale where she was sold for $65,000 as a yearling.

Lot 11 HAZELWOOD COUNTRY is no stranger to Nutrien Equine. Debbie purchased her through the Classic back in 2020, but unfortunately didn’t make it back to compete due to an injury so in the meantime she has had time off to recover and have a foal. This mare is by the great HAZELWOOD CONMAN and out of an ACRES DESTINY/WARRENBRI ROMEO daughter in HAZELWOOD BLUE ACRES. She has been brought back into work recently by Frank Green who describes her as an exceptionally talented mare, in which Jon Templeton can confirm having spent time with her previously. Both mares have been purchased by Salerno Pastoral and will be staying in Queensland.

Debbie was super pleased with the sale results, “The auction was phenomenal, and I can’t thank Nutrien and Simon Booth enough for their support and professionalism.”

“The sale was a great success and is a major credit to the vendor for their dedication in breeding these talented and proven horses”, said Simon Booth, Nutrien Ag Solutions Agent, “All of these lots were sold back into performance competition and breeding homes, and will carry on the Donell Park Stud legacy well into the future”.

Nutrien Equine are very proud to have been a part this sale and would like to thank Debbie Gesler for entrusting us with the closing of this chapter. We wish all the new owners the very best for the future with their piece of the performance horse industry history.