From software to stallions and even English fizz, Graham Smith-Bernal of Newsells Park Stud has an eye for business. He tells Henry Beesley how it all came together.
Set in 1,200 acres of Hertfordshire countryside stands Newsells Park Stud. For context, that’s six times the size of Royal Ascot. Seventeen properties adorn the site, including a 20,000 sq ft manor house.
Under Graham Smith-Bernal’s leadership, Newsells have established themselves as Europe’s leading commercial stud. Every year they breed the most coveted equine talent in the world, standing a blue-blooded trio of stallions: former world champion three-year-old Nathaniel, Royal Ascot scorer A’Ali and Frankel’s fastest son, Without Parole. But it’s not all plain sailing, as the man at the helm explains.
“Investing in the bloodstock world comes with its risks,” he says. “If the horses don’t make the Book 1 Tattersalls sale [the most prestigious thoroughbred sale in the world], the returns are going to be significantly lower. On the flip side, you can typically make around 40–50 per cent gross profit on sales if you do make it to Book 1.”
Investing in the bloodstock world comes with its risks. If the horses don’t make the Book 1 Tattersalls sale, the returns are going to be significantly lower.
You might be wondering how the man behind a multi-million-pound software company ended up in the very hardware world of bloodstock. Believe it or not, it was horses, not computers, that first got him wired with excitement.
“Almost 30 years ago, I came together with some friends to buy a couple of horses – but only at a low level. We had a couple of winners and some placed efforts, but at the time my software company was taking off in the US as well as the UK and I was out of racing for the best part of 10 years. Then completely out of the blue, about a decade ago, a friend from Tottenham Hotspur’s 125 Club asked if I wanted to go in with him on a few horses. Knowing my passion for racing, it wasn’t a hard sell! After a little too much to drink in the red room at Tattersalls, I ended up buying a couple of foals – luckily, both went on to do rather well on the track.”
By the time he got to 10 horses in training, the focus switched towards breeding. “I was introduced to Julian Dollar, the general manager at Newsells, and frankly, I couldn’t have been any more impressed by the level of service and professionalism that was on offer. In the horse trading world Julian and his team turned out to be about as straight as they come.”
Having become close to Julian and the wider team at Newsells, Graham was on red alert upon learning that the stud was potentially heading under the hammer once the Jacobs family signified their intention to sell. “I was already a client there, but Newsells was also home to some of the top breeders in the world, including the Wertheimer family, who own Chanel.”
After the completion of the sale, Graham had purchased £25 million in bloodstock, including what’s known as the ‘W’ family, which included Waldgeist, the 2019 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe hero. “We also had the mare Shambolic. Her first foal was Ylang Ylang, who won the Fillies’ Mile as a two-year-old and finished fifth in the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket.”
In less than three years under Graham’s stewardship, Newsells had bred a Group 1 winner, servicing the Coolmore ‘lads’ as well as some of the other wealthiest operators in the world. But to think of Newsells Park as just a stud farm would be churlish. Spotting a commercial opportunity is clearly something Graham thrives on, and in 2022 Newsells became the first stud farm in the UK to plant 45,000 vines. Perhaps to the naked eye, this seems a strange crossover, but as ever, there’s method in the madness.
Aside from simply heading to the vineyard and having a nice lunch, you’ll see some of the beautiful foals on the ground.
“For some years now, England has been a place where you can grow grapes to make sparkling wine. We have the same vein of chalk that goes through the Champagne region, through the South Downs and up through to Cambridge [15 miles to the north of Newsells]. Climate change means it’s becoming increasingly too hot in the Champagne region for growing the varieties of grapes required to produce sparkling wine. Despite the wet weather, England is perfect for this.”
But don’t expect to see this sparkling wine in the supermarkets. This is a club, and joining the Newsells Park winery will provide members with a far from typical experience.
“Aside from simply heading to the vineyard and having a nice lunch, you’ll see some of the beautiful foals on the ground. Depending on the time of year, you’ll see how we prep our yearlings for the sales. Members will even get the chance to see the great Nathaniel. It’s a much broader experience than what is out there already. That’s where we’re differentiating.”
Blue-blooded equine talent? Check. Sparkling wine? Clink. So what’s next for Newsells? “We’re focused on continuing to breed some of the finest racehorses in the world and reinforcing our position as the commercial leaders in that space,” says Graham. “But increasingly, we want to build more partnerships, through launching different syndicates and even further diversification.”
Graham Smith-Bernal is the owner of Newsells Park Stud
