Fresh fields and pastures new

The racing world not only develops first-class runners, but also first-class property

- Penny Churchill

IT takes years of careful planning, investment and land management—not to mention a large slice of luck—to establish a successful stud farm. This the late Christopher Spence, a former merchant banker, senior steward of the Jockey Club and shrewd owner-breeder, achieved with some style at the stud farm he founded at his home, Chieveley Manor, near Newbury, Berkshire, in the early 1980s. Spence died, aged 84, in September 2021 and was described in his Racing Post obituary as ‘a racing grandee’ and ‘a pivotal figure who transformed the administration of racing’. The first good horse to carry his emerald-green and black colours was Frontier Goddess, who won the Yorkshire Oaks in 1969 and was sold to Texas oil tycoon Nelson Bunker Hunt as a broodmare. A decade later, Spence hit the jackpot with the purchase of Hot Spice, a filly from the same family as Frontier Goddess. She produced several winners, including the quirky stayer, Celeric, who raced for seven seasons, winning the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot in 1997, as well as two Lonsdale Cups, a Jockey Club Cup, Yorkshire Cup, Sagaro Stakes and Northumberland Plate.

Although no longer run as a stud farm, Chieveley Manor offers much that the most ambitious sporting family might dream of. The immaculate small country estate is now for sale, either as a whole or in two lots, through Ed Sugden of Savills Country Department (020–7409 8885) and Lindsay Cuthill’s Blue Book Agency (07967 555545).