The lure of the country was always too strong for city-born Michael (Mick) Malone to resist, and at 16 he set out on an outback adventure that would eventually lead him to the Hunter Valley and the world of thoroughbred breeding, firstly at Arrowfield and then helping to establish and manage Kitchwin Hills, a young Scone stud with a reputation for breeding winners and now home to successful sire Dane Shadow and 2010 newcomer Duporth.

A great success story of the past year or two in the Australian thoroughbred breeding industry has been the emergence of Kitchwin Hills, near Scone, into a notable force. Only a decade ago the Brown family"s operation was concentrated around providing agistment on its 150ha property and in those days the farm  had only five or six thoroughbred mares. However, with expansion very much in mind the Browns managed to lure Michael Malone - "everyone calls me Mick" - and his soon to be wife, Kelly, from Arrowfield.

His presence, combined with Kitchwin Hills"s natural assets - it is situated on the Isis River in the idyllic surrounds of the Isis Valley - soon led to a series of attractive, well grown types being turned out at yearling sales. That made industry insiders being to sit up and take notice, which in turn led to increased business for the farm and enabled the Browns to buy another 240ha on the Isis River. That development also opened the way for the family to consider the possibility of standing a stallion.

This plan came to fruition in 2005 when Kitchwin Hills secured the Gr 3 winning Danehill horse Dane Shadow, who had once been described as the "best maiden in Australia". Although attracting mares was not easy to begin with, Dane Shadow has - despite starting out with limited numbers - become one of the most exciting young sires in Australia. With his oldest progeny now three, Dane Shadow has been represented by the stakes horses Shellscrape, Hurtle Myrtle and Shadow Assassin as well as the likes of Hewentwhoosh, Shadow Buster, Shadow Miss, Vain Shadow, Cabarita Point, Coroner, Shadow Minister and Guangzhou Star.

The success of Dane Shadow"s progeny on the track has been accompanied by a spectacular boom in the demand for Kitchwin Hills services. This was clearly illustrated by the fact that the farm this year prepared 21 yearlings for the Magic Millions Gold Coast Sale and 20 for the Inglis Australian Easter Sale, when not that long ago, Mick was literally pleading to have Kitchwin entries included in the catalogue.

"It"s all been like a dream come true. I was a bit sceptical to begin with, but once I saw the property I realised it was something special. The Browns had a vision and everything has gone much better than we could have hoped, especially with Dane Shadow coming along," he said.

"From the days when his first foals were born it was obvious they were very athletic and it would have been a crying shame if they couldn"t gallop. Fortunately, now we know they can."

In a way the natural ability being shown by the progeny of Dane Shadow is similar to the way Mick"s career has unfolded because, although a boy from the suburbs, he has always had a natural affinity for the bush. Born in Sydney in 1973 Mick realised, from his earliest days, that city life was not going to be for him.

"We were living at Turramurra, on the north shore, and even as a young boy I couldn"t wait to get away from Sydney. I don"t know what it was but I had this passion to be somewhere else. Then when I was about nine I started going to a property at Orange with a couple of mates during our school holidays and from the first time I went up there I decided that was the life for me. My grandfather, who died when I was very young, had a rural background, and my mother Margaret believes that was a driving force behind my wanting to head for the country."

On leaving Turramurra High at 15, "the teachers said school wasn"t for me", Mick worked in a butcher"s shop for about 12 months before escaping from the city; "My first job in the bush was at Weilmoringle, on the border between New South Wales and Queensland. I was jackerooing up there and I worked on cotton farms around Goondiwindi for a while and pretty much tramped around until the mid-1990s."

Until that time Mick’s experience with horses had not gone much beyond visits to the Turramurra TAB with his late father Bob, who was a keen punter, or when riding ponies during his farm stays at Orange. “I had a great time at the Turramurra TAB with the old man,” he said. “He was a terrific man and I miss him dearly; but apart from the TAB and Orange I hadn’t had much to do with horses until I went bush.”

However, soon after Mick headed west he began riding in earnest, breaking-in and generally “playing around” with stock horses. After spending a few years in south-west Queensland Mick went south . . . stopping when he reached the Hunter Valley. He tried some saddle bronc riding at rodeos at Scone and Murrurundi but he was constantly being dumped, so that venture quickly lost its appeal. At that stage he was finding work as a labourer, doing fencing, breaking-in and also found some employment at the Scone yearling sales conducted by Inglis, where he realised “the horse game was quite interesting”.

“I had been introduced to racing by David Lamond who I’d known for a long time, and in 1995 I think it was, he rang Arrowfield for me about working at the stud. An interview was arranged with Peter Orton, who was the general manager at the time, and I kicked-off from there. I started in the yearling barn and I must say that between Wayne Bedggood and Michelle Wright, who is now Michelle Talty, I learned pretty much everything I know. Their knowledge and their teaching was invaluable . . . they taught me a huge amount, and I feel if I am good at what I do, it is due to them.

“I remember one year Arrowfield and Vinery joined together and we prepared about 70 yearlings for Easter. You get to see everything that can happen - the good and bad - when you have such a large draft, and the experience was invaluable. While I was at Arrowfield I ran the foaling hospital for a couple of years and that’s where my grounding had come from when Graham, Stephen and Jenny Brown approached me about a little farm they were building up. At the time Peter Orton had offered me the chance to go overseas and come back with a stallion, so I was in a bit of a dilemma about whether I should go to what is now Kitchwin Hills.

“To be honest, in my heart I thought Kitchwin Hills wouldn’t work because it was a little farm slightly out of the way, but I realised everyone was very passionate about the project and, in the end, that swayed me.”

The Browns had bought the property which is about 24km east of Scone, a few years before the approach to Mick: “The whole family, including their grandfather Kitchener Bridges and grandmother Winifred Bridges, had moved there.”

David Lamond and Kitchener had raced the Bletchingly horse Opera Prince, who with Brent Thomson aboard had surprisingly beaten Australian Sprinting Champion Manikato in the VATC Chirnside Stakes-Gr.2 at Sandown in 1981. “David and Kitch arranged for Opera Prince to stand at Havilah after his retirement, so there were quite a few Opera Princes around when I went to Kitchwin Hills, but I think there were only about five or six mares to begin with. There wasn’t much infrastructure either, but the Browns built a nice new yearling barn and spent a lot of money on fences as well as other facilities. Once we got up there, in the early part of 1999, we tweaked everything up and went from there. Soon after I arrived we sold three yearlings at the Inglis sale at Scone, and the following January we sold another three or four at the Classic Sale in Sydney.”

One of those youngsters was a filly by Strategic from the Indian Ore (USA) mare Janelle Again (NZ). She was knocked down to Graeme Rogerson for $75,000 - against a sale average of $26,805 - and went on to prove herself as high class performer in his care. Racing as Fair Embrace she won six times - her victories featured the MVRC Champagne Stakes-Gr.2, AJC Sapphire Stakes-Gr.3 and MRC Sandown Park Stakes-LR - as well as registering 12 black type placings for prizewinnings of $1,094,327.

“We thought she might make $15,000 or $20,000, and when she made a lot more that convinced everyone there was some money to be made out of the horses,” Mick said. That view was further enhanced when Oomph, who is by Flying Spur from the multiple-stakeswinning Bellotto mare Nobellotto, began to race. She demonstrated her ability by winning six races - four of them Listed events - and being Gr.2 placed. Oomph had been in the same paddock as Fair Embrace. When she performed so well we felt that pretty much confirmed the farm had the potential to produce nice horses, and we’ve gone on from there.

In 2001, around the time Fair Embrace and Oomph were making a name for themselves on the racecourse, Mick and Kelly were married. They now have two children Jacob, who is six, and Angus, three: “Kelly and I met at a Christmas party at Emirates Park and everything progressed from there. We worked together at Arrowfield before we moved to Kitchwin Hills. It was an exciting time because once Fair Embrace and Oomph started racing, the farm went forward very, very quickly . . . our progress was ridiculously fast.

“As we were developing, David Lamond played a major role in getting horses on to the place. We found we had a good knack of preparing yearlings, and once we started off we began making a lot of money with yearlings from lesser mares. We had Janelle Again and Nobellotto and then Oomph came back to us, and with the results we were achieving at the sales, we were able to begin upgrading - although I must say even though we had nice enough mares we struggled for quality for a long time.

“However probably the best thing about Kitchwin Hills then, and still is now, is that it is a family-run farm. Di and Ray Brown who are Graham and Stephen and Jenny’s Mum and Dad, love having people on the farm. No one has ever been to Kitchwin Hills and not had breakfast or lunch, or dinner or a barbecue, or a few beers in the afternoon . . . it’s just what they do, and they are great hosts. The farm simply wouldn’t work without them and I can’t speak highly enough of what they do. Largely because of Di and Ray’s hospitality we’ve been able to develop some really good clients including Barry Broomhead, Carl Holt, Neil Wherrett, Terry Dickson, John Cordina, John McGrath, Kim Harding, Geoff Grimish and Grahame Mapp as well as David Reid, who is Bruce’s son.”

After initially living on the farm Mick and Kelly now have a house in nearby Gundy, and have also moved into the hospitality business by buying a share in the Linga Longa Hotel in their “home” town.

“We bought into the pub about two years ago,” Mick said. “It’s right on the Isis River. We bought in pretty well and we’ve spent a fair bit on marketing the place. It’s pretty much the place where horse people go, and its the best pub in town - it’s the only one. I help out behind the bar when I can and Kelly does the books, so it is a great interest for us because it’s different.”

As the fortunes of the Malones and Kitchwin Hills escalated, thoughts turned towards standing a stallion. After considering a number of prospects, everyone connected with the operation finally decided, in 2005, that Dane Shadow had the potential to become a valuable foundation sire for the farm. An imposing individual, he is superbly bred being by the legendary nine-times Australian Champion Sire Danehill from the Centaine mare Slight Chance (NZ), who had a stellar career in the hands of Bob Thomsen and Shane Dye. The winner of the VRC Oaks-Gr.1 in 1992 she numbered four other victories at the elite level among her 12 successes.

Dane Shadow, who raced in Grahame Mapp’s colours out of the stable of John Hawkes, had each of his 12 starts in Group company, which meant he encountered the class of opposition that made reaching the post first difficult for him. However, he finally broke through in the 2005 running of the Tatts (NSW) Ming Dynasty Quality-Gr.3 (1400m) at Randwick. Along the way he registered seconds in the AJC Up And Coming Stakes-Gr.2, STC Silver Slipper Stakes-Gr.2 and STC Todman Slipper Trial-Gr.2 as well as thirds in the STC Missile Stakes-Gr.3 and NJC Newcastle Spring Stakes-Gr.3. Significantly, it took the likes of Charge Forward, Fastnet Rock, Dance Hero, Grand Armee and Spark of Life to beat him.

“While we were thinking about standing a stallion we had bought another 600 acres (240ha) on the Isis River about five kilometres away from the farm. We weren’t able to buy any land adjacent to Kitchwin Hills, but it is the most beautiful undulating property with developed trees and good water.

“I had been keeping an eye on Dane Shadow during his racing career and when I met one of his part-owners Gino Loiero, I mentioned that we could be interested in standing the horse. Unfortunately Dane Shadow had pulled a muscle in his back when being prepared for the Doomben 10,000 and Gino rang me to discuss the situation. I flew to Brisbane to inspect the horse and I loved him from the minute I saw him.

“We decided there wasn’t much point pressing on with his racing career and we put a syndicate together to buy a percentage of him, so we could stand him. Then the hard work began because it was very, very hard work to sell him - it was like trying to sell ice cubes to Eskimos, but we were saved by the members of the syndicate who purchased some top mares to go to him.

“Leading the way were Grahame Mapp and Gary and Di White, which resulted in Dane Shadow serving 61 mares in his first season of which the majority were ours. We knew from the first minute his foals hit the ground that he was going to make the grade. The second year wasn’t the easiest, but people were by then able to see Dane Shadow’s foals, so we probably picked up a few mares towards the end of the breeding season.

“The turn around since has been amazing. To begin with I was offending people by asking them whether they would send a mare to him - these days I’m offending them by saying that his book is full and that they can’t book their mares into him, and although he’s had early comers, I think his progeny will be better with time and over a distance.”

Dane Shadow will this year be joined by Duporth, a very highly credentialled four year-old by Red Rumour from the high class Success Express (USA) mare Staging who registered eight of her 10 wins in Group or Listed races. A half-brother to Gr.1 winner and Vinery stallion Excites as well as STC Phar Lap Stakes-Gr.2 winner Tickets, Duporth proved himself to be a very good racehorse. His wins featured the BTC Cup-Gr.1, STC Golden Rose-Gr.2 (now Gr.1) and AJC San Domenico Stakes-Gr.3, while his beaten efforts included a fourth in the MRC Caulfield Guineas (1600m) which is a race renowned for producing successful stallions.

“We have been on the lookout for quite a while for another horse to stand,” Mick said. “We’ve been offered quite a few over a period of time and now we think the right one has come along in Duporth. We are very, very excited about standing him. As well as being a Gr.1 winner he’s as good a type as I’ve seen as a stallion prospect, and like Dane Shadow he’s from a superior racemare. I think that is a very important factor, which has been proven over the years when searching for a stallion.”

The Browns are also dabbling with another stallion prospect in the Southern Halo (USA) horse Snapy Tom, a Gr.1 winner on turf in Argentina currently in training with John O’Shea at Randwick: “Sheamus Mills, an agent in Melbourne who we rate highly, sent me YouTube footage of Snapy Tom’s Gr.1 win at Buenos Aires. We knew by what More Than Ready was doing, how well Southern Halo was working here so Sheamus and I flew over to Buenos Aires to inspect him.

“We liked the horse and the Dane Shadow Syndicate bought the horse in partnership with clients of Sheamus Mills. We are not locked into standing him at Kitchwin Hills but we probably would if he won a Gr.1 or a Gr.2 really well.

“However with Southern Halo dying since we bought Snapy Tom, we could easily send him back to Argentina so we are insulated either way. The underlying strength of Kitchwin Hills and the stud’s supporters was further emphasised when Mick went to $1,875,000 for the colt by Redoute’s Choice from the stakeswinning Unbridled’s Song (USA) mare Regrowth at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.

“He is a smashing type with a lovely pedigree and hopefully he will develop into a horse suitable to stand at Kitchwin Hills,” Mick said.

There was further joy later in the Easter Sale when James Bester secured the Redoute’s Choice-Asian Reef (GB) (Manila) colt, Lot 296, from the Kitchwin Hills draft for $1.2m. The half-brother to seven winners, including Bon Hoffa, Okanui and Before Too Long is the first $1m seller to be offered by the stud.

Story courtesy of Stallions.com.au