The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes.
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins,
Strong love of grey-blue distance
Brown streams and soft dim skies
I know but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.
(Excerpt from poem, My Country written by Dorothea MacKellar on Torryburn.)
The beautiful Torryburn Stud, with its lush green trees and colourful flowers is the perfect place to birth an international racehorse. Deploy, who has been selected by Chris Waller Racing to represent their interests in the richest race on turf, is bred by Torryburn Stud.
Torryburn was purchased by John Cornish over 15 years ago. A man of ideas and actions, he has been closely involved in the racing industry on many levels for several decades. It was under his tenure as Chairman that the Australian Jockey Club and the Sydney Turf Club merged, creating a new identity, which is known as the Australian Turf Club (ATC). He was effectively the last chairman of the Australian Jockey Club & Sydney Turf Club and the first president of ATC.
Mr. Cornish built his award winning property business from ground-up, starting at the age of 14. Eventually, his profession helped him also deliver professional multi-purpose Randwick racecourse buildings to attract a younger audience. The landmark buildings are built on 220 acres of land which is about 5 – 6 kilometers from Sydney’s CBD.
Torryburn is run under strong management by the village people who are horse lovers, many of whom live on the estate. He firmly believes he is a custodian of Australian history. And eventually, his children will take over this legacy at Torryburn.
He believes, racing, breeding & wagering (the three industries normally associated with racing) is stronger than ever in Australia with prizes over AUS$ 100,000 upwards for black type races. The high prize money attracts several top international owners.
Mr. Cornish is excited about the Australian thoroughbred breeding industry becoming a top exporter to countries developing an international race program like Japan and China who is on the cusp of allowing wagering on racing in mainland China. With HKJC in close proximity, once wagering is opened, it is expected to open a lot of sales opportunities for breeders. Mr. Cornish firstly believes, Australia will be the first port of call for such future owners.
Speaking broadly of The Everest, Mr. Cornish says, “Australian sprinters are hard to beat anywhere in the world.” Deploy’s beautiful dam Crimson Reign (Red Ransom) is owned by Torryburn. She was part of their racing operation and a multi-group race winner. After her short career, she was shifted to their breeding operation, where she lost a few foals but eventually Deploy was born out of a mating with champion sire Fastnet Rock. According to Mr. Cornish, “Amazing horses come from nothing.” Deploy has just broken a sprint record at both Randwick and Rosehill.
Deploy's other owners (Segenhoe Thoroughbreds Australia, Stallion Racing & McEnnis Racing Pty Ltd) are equally excited to see him race this weekend.
When speaking about the choosing of Deploy, Mr Cornish says, “We didn’t think about the Everest. And then the phone started to ring. 2 groups of slot holders were asking for Deploy. We sat down with each group and ultimately finalised with Chris Waller Racing.”
When asked about Deploy’s chances, Mr Cornish carefully considered before replying, “Should he do really well, we will be tickled pink. We are serious in most things but if it’s not fun then we won’t do it. We like to have fun.”
They face severe droughts and floods at Torryburn. Two years ago, a freak flood prompted Cornish to replace much of the old fencing with state of the art fencing and further develop the farm with the addition of a world-class spelling facility. Today the farm also includes a commercial nursery and several horticulturalists on their team.
“We breed our horses carefully,” says Mr Cornish, “We sell the colts, race the fillies and create a dynasty.”
Including the first winner of The Everest would create a dynamite dynasty line indeed!