Located on the banks of the Goulburn River at Seymour, 100km north of Melbourne, Darley Northwood Park is widely regarded as one of the world’s finest thoroughbred properties. Older than the town of Seymour itself, Northwood Park is a picturesque 1200-acre farm which was first developed as a cattle station by John Clark in 1838.
23 January 2015
Darley's historic Northwood Park
Since 2006 Northwood Park has been an integral part of Darley's operation in Australia but its history dates back almost two centuries
The majestic Goulburn River is Victoria's largest river
The Northwood Park homestead
In the early 1900s, Northwood Park was transformed into a horse and cattle property by AG Hunter – a legendary racing and later trotting personality.
AG as he was known, raced and stood the 1925 Melbourne Cup winner Windbag on the property and a headstone now marks the former Cup winner’s resting place on the farm. In later years, AG’s son Robert bred many champion trotters at Northwood Park and became a very influential member of the Victorian Harness Racing fraternity.
The Hunter family also continued to have success in the thoroughbred world with several significant wins including the 1932 VRC Derby with Liberal, who was sired by Windbag, and the 1935 Caulfield Guineas with Young Idea.
Northwood Park moved back into the spotlight created by the Hunter family when Barrie and Midge Griffiths purchased the property and subsequently raced and bred a number of significant Group-winning fillies which were kept on the farm. Thousand Guineas winner Azzuro, VRC Oaks winner Northwood Plume and Caulfield Cup winner Mannerism all spent many months at Northwood Park as did Tawrrific, who the Griffiths won the Melbourne Cup with in 1989.
G1 Blue Diamond Stakes winner Earthquake relaxes at Northwood Park after her 2014 Spring campaign
Northwood Park was purchased by HH Sheikh Mohammed in March 2006 from the Griffiths and many of the paddocks today have been named after the former champions who once resided there including Mannersim, Tawriffic, Northwood Plume and Windbag.
Northwood Park's state-of-the-art stallion barn
A state-of-the-art stallion complex and over 100km of fencing have been added to the property since the 2006 purchase. The farm’s most famous graduate for Darley is Sepoy, who was born at Northwood Park in 2008. Sepoy claimed the G1 Blue Diamond Stakes and G1 Golden Slipper on his way to being crowned Australia’s Champion two-year-old before going on 12 months later to become the world Champion three-year-old sprinter.
In 2014, eight stallions stood at Northwood Park including record-breaking Caulfield Guineas winner Helmet as well as Reset, sire of Caulfield Cup winner Fawkner, Cox Plate heroine Pinker Pinker and 2014 VRC Oaks winner Set Square. Brazen Beau, arguably Australia’s most exciting young sprinter and winner of the G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes in the spring, is set to join the stallion roster later this year.
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