Champions Haven

By Harley Walden

The Hunter Horse studs once again find themselves exposed to another mining threat as Nathen Tinkler prepares to open the coal loader at Dartbrook.

Some time back I went for a drive around the area where some of the Hunter’s leading studs are situated.

Horses on Vinery Stud overlooking the Segenhoe valley

If one draws a fine line between Aberdeen and the southern portion of Murrurundi, which now makes up part of the new shire, you will find a setting that hopefully, in my lifetime anyway, will never alter, and God willing never will the upper extremities of the valley undergo the changes that have scarred its lower portion.

I know and congratulate those involved in the mining sector who have created the jobs that have seen the lower Hunter progress and develop, and how they have worked to rejuvenate the large parcels of land that have been mined.

But the landscape has changed and the scars are still there, which is quite evident as you drive from south of Aberdeen to Singleton.

To travel through the Segenhoe Valley and the area which takes in Lake Glenbawn is something else, the tranquility of the picturesque studs, the way they are laid out and maintained gives ease to the bloodstock who reside there, a lifestyle of contentment, proven for the breeding of champions.

The revenue generated from the yearling sales gives evidence to what this area means, millions of dollars flow back into the economy, further money is outlaid on new bloodstock, new owners are enticed into the breeding of thoroughbred horses, thus creating more jobs in the industry.

I have not specifically singled out the Segenhoe area, knowing full well the input that comes from the Widden, Denman, Sandy Hollow, and Jerry’s Plains and other smaller pockets of the Hunter.

Since 1926, when Peter McIntyre settled the “Segenhoe” property, now Vinery, for Potter McQueen, this valley was hall-marked as a “Champion’s Haven”, hopefully the thoroughbred nurseries that now flourish there will never see the sun rise with coal dust on their pastures.