CEO Justin Fung reveals Aquis vision to be leading thoroughbred stud

JUSTIN Fung can probably afford to buy any racehorse he wants but he prefers to try to breed his own potential track stars.

Aquis Australia CEO Justin Fung (left) and Gold Coast Turf Club CEO Steve Lines. Photo: Jade Polley

JUSTIN Fung can probably afford to buy any racehorse he wants but he prefers to try to breed his own potential track stars.

The Aquis Australia CEO and son of billionaire Hong Kong developer Tony Fung has overseen the company’s rapidly growing Canungra-based farm that has already become Queensland’s largest thoroughbred racing and breeding facility.

Fung has the financial power to secure any big-name thoroughbred but his love of the sport doesn’t come from actually racing horses.

Instead Fung’s passion lies with breeding champion horses and developing world- class equine bloodlines.

“I’m very much interested in the breeding side and to be able to make investments at the right time,” Fung said.

“Especially before a colt can establish himself as a stallion, when he is still a prospect.

“If we can do that well then that is going to be really great for our business.”

Invader ridden by Hugh Bowman (right), wins the ATC Sires Produce Stakes at Randwick in April. Photo: David Moir, AAP Image.

Fung is as hands-on as they come and the analytical thinker has spent the past week at the National Broodmare Sale on the Gold Coast.

Fung already has more than 125 broodmares that will be linked with 13 of his stallions located at Aquis Farm and the Emirates Park facility they recently acquired management rights to in the Hunter Valley of NSW.

Watching Invader, a horse he part-owns, win the Group 1 ATC Sires Produce Stakes (1400m) at Randwick in April was special for Fung but his proudest recent memory came from stallion Spill The Beans.

“I was very proud of the fact that Spill The Beans in his first year covered over 200 mares in Queensland,” Fung said.

“He covered more mares than any first-year stallion in the country and he covered more mares than any stallion in all of Queensland.

“We have some first-year stallions coming up this year and my personal goal is to repeat the success we had with Spill The Beans with all of our first-year stallions.

“I’m just excited about our entire roster, really.”

Fung hasn’t ruled out shuttling his stallions to studs in the northern hemisphere should he get the right offer.

“We are not going to say no to a shuttle prospect at the moment,” Fung said.

“We are very much focused on the Australian market but if one of our stallions proves to be popular for the northern hemisphere and we find the right farm to do a partnership with, then we would be open to the idea.”

Hong Kong businessman Tony Fung with his son Justin (left) at Aquis Farm with stallion Spill The Beans. Photo: Lyndon Mechielsen.

Aquis began with a goal to become the premier thor­oughbred farm in Queensland and, believing it has achieved that faster than expected, Fung has set his sights doing the same nationally.

“Within that one year we have really catapulted ourselves to becoming the premier farm in Queensland and now we definitely have our foot in the door in terms of being a competitive national farm,” Fung said.

“We are really proud of the progress and just want to continue to grow.”

Fung said Aquis was not immediately focused on following in the footsteps of international giants Godolphin and Coolmore, who breed and race horses around the world, but could see an opportunity to go global in the next five years.

“I don’t want to set one as a particular goal for us,” Fung said. “I think we can grow with our own strategies and our own visions and we can be Aquis Farm at a very large scale in the future.

“We may get there sooner rather than later. In five years time we want to be really established as one of the top farms in the country.

“We are on the right track.

“There are so many opportunities in this industry both domestically and internation­ally to make something work and that’s one of the things I love about this industry.”

■ AQUIS Australia has signed a three-year deal with the Gold Coast Turf Club, which will be renamed Aquis Park from the start of the new racing season on August 1.

A special Aquis Park race day will be held on August 5 as the official public launch.

GCTC chief executive Steve Lines said Aquis Park would be a first for the racing industry in Queensland.

“We are excited to enter this long-term partnership with Aquis, fast becoming an iconic brand in Australia,” Lines said.