Newhaven Park’s John Kelly, the owner and breeder The Everest Race contender English, is perhaps better known to me as an enigma, since I spent months trying to reach him, during breeding season. It was much easier with connections of the other horses, expected to run in The Everest.

Kelly, was, however, much tougher to find and arrange a call with. His team, were saints in disguise who set up the phone interview in the end.

So it was understandable, when fate deemed otherwise. Our office phone and fax lines went down, due to some sort of a construction accident. But it was unfortunately at the same time as our call. Eventually, the saints became archangels and finally set up another one. I was determined to be on time. I remember dialing with nervous energy.

The person on the other end of the phone, was unexpected soft and warm. It was the fag end of his long day and yet there was a wistfulness to his voice, as if there was so much more which could have been experienced.

The soft spoken man talked about the challenges faced by horsemen across the world. “It’s difficult to achieve perfection in a horse. Every year there are new challenges to be faced. A few years ago, there was an Equine Influenza outbreak and there was a Strangles scare a few months ago. Currently there is a drought in some parts of Australia, which make the breeding season even more difficult. But when you do get it right, it’s a great moment. A great sense of achievement.” said Kelly reflectively. Newhaven Park have bred or raced five Golden Slipper winners. It must be some sense of achievement for the Kellys.

The stud farm was started by Kelly’s grandfather, John W Kelly,after the WWII. J W Kelly bought his first thoroughbred, Solex,for £1,100 atNewmarket in the 1940s, and this set him on a journey that would consume and define his life and the destiny of his family.In 1956, John Kelly Senior imported his first stallion, a horse called, Wilkes. Wilkes produced 52 stakes winners, including the champion mare Wenona Girl and three winners of the Golden Slipper Stakes, Vain (1969), John's Hope (1972) and Vivarchi (1976).

Back in 1985 Kelly’s grandfather announced that Newhaven Park Stud would be floated as a public company on the Sydney Stock Exchange. The company was funded by a public prospectus issue and a total of $19 million was raised of which $8.3m. was subscribed by interests associated with the Kelly family.

It was one of the few companies, horse-retailed or otherwise, to have survived the crash of 1999. Following the death of John Kelly Sr. in 2003, his sons Fred and Richard instigated a share buy-back which saw Newhaven Park return to the ownership of the Kelly family.

Today, Newhaven Park can claim Gr.1 success in South Africa, Hong Kong, Singapore and ofcourse their own home turf of Australia. John Kelly’s motto is any horse business is only as good as the horses you breed. And Newhaven Park breeds the best.

Newhaven Park now focuses on their broodmare band, retaining only the odd stallion. English’s dam, Court only raced 12 times before she brokedown. She won 6 out of her 12 races. Newhaven decided to retire her and move her onto their breeding operation. John Kelly states, “good mares get lucky early.” And ‘lucky’ was exactly what Court was. Her own dam was mated with the champion sire Anabaa, when he was over from the US. And ofcourse, Court produced English in her second mating with Coolmore’s, (recently retired) Encostade Lago.  

English, according to Kelly is an early maturing fast horse and a wonderful achiever. She ran second in the Golden Slipper (2017) as well as the and ofcourse loves the 1200m Randwick track. As had been the trend throughout English’s career, she again went winless during the spring of last year but showed she was back on track last time out when a grand second to In Her Time in the Gr.1The Galaxy (2018).

Sam Clipperton rode runner-up English and after coming from the rear of the field he described her run as “massive”.

“She missed the start by a half-length and didn’t handle the going around the 600m. Once she got to the outside she unleashed.”

When Kelly was asked about the future he foresees for the Australian breeding and racing industry, he was emphatic about the interest from owners in the MEA region. He went on to explain that not only does the distance from Asia make a difference, but also the fact that Australian horses acclimatise better than Northern Hemisphere horses. He also elucidated on the fact that there is a lot more prize money in Australia, which makes it more profitable for owners to race in Australia.

Horses are his passion, as is evident when he had to take a break from this ‘media interview’ and focus his attention on a foaling. “Horses require dedication”, explains Kelly. There is nothing more magical, than watching the sun come up on your farm or watching a foal being born. Even if you’ve watched thousands of foalings, each one is new and magical. It is rarely a chore.” said Kelly.

The legacy of Newhaven Park has been passed down through the generations. This is true, not just for the Kelly family, but alsofor the horses. Having bredEnglish as well as her dam, Court, they also bred Splish (dam of Court), who was by Zeditive, a champion stallion that once stood at Newhaven. It is clear to see that success has been a long time in the planning. John hopes that his children will also continue the tradition of working with horses and will take Newhaven to even greater heights.

For John Kelly, it is all about the preparation. It is all about the horses.

I smile as a sign off in-pleasure after my call with the ever pragmatic John Kelly.

This interview was first published in The Everest Souvenir 2017.