Over the past 20 years, Peter Judd and his wife Judy and their son Craig and daughter Tracey have turned Benstud Standardbreds from a hobby breeding farm into one of the leading standardbred breeding nurseries in the country.

One of the key players in the transformation was one the first horses they bred and then raced themselves, a mare called Benelise, who notched eight successes including three at Moonee Valley from only 14 starts.

Benelise became the dam of eight individual winners including the Group 1 winners Majordan, Soho Valencia, Niki No No and Yrubla and they won almost $2 million between them.

“We bought a block of land and started playing around with four or five mares,” Peter said.

“Then one day Graham Ward of Lynrose Stud told me he was going to sell up and I thought that maybe I should buy it.  I wasn’t sure at first but Craig said that if we are going to do it, let’s pool our resources and we’ll do it properly.

“It was a big gamble at the start because no one really thought that an AI station like us would work.”

Peter and Judy’s daughter Tracey and her husband Mark Commadeur joined the Benstud band in 2015 and with the business ever growing in broodmare numbers Benstud expanded into NSW in 2018 leasing the prestigious Glenferrie Farm and later purchasing a property at Lake Birubi, Crookwell.

With Peter and Judy stepping back from the day-to-day running of Benstud a few years ago, Mark and Tracey are the key drivers of the operation at Katunga, while Craig and his wife Bec manage the NSW property assisted by Avalon McGrath and a part-timer Harry O’Brien.

“We have a great team here at Katunga with Mark, ‘Teddy’ Baker, Haylee Adams and myself being involved in breeding, foaling, weaning, yearling preparation and breaking-in. I think the horses having this consistency with handling has been a large part of the success in their education,” Tracey said. 

“Our kids Jordyn, Abby and Ashton lend a hand when on holidays and often work weekends and attend our sales weekends as leaders.

“Craig’s kids Kendal and Morgan moved back to Victoria two years ago and worked sales weekends in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne this year as well as lending a hand during the Melbourne sales prep when available.  Prior to moving here both girls had worked full-time at the NSW farm after leaving school.”

Peter and Judy are still actively involved in the business. Peter handles all the pedigree matching, while Judy keeps track of the racetrack performances of the farm-based mares and their progeny and maintains the records of the breeding of the mares.

“We have the latest technology in our foaling with vulva alarms that are stitched into the mares so it’s very rare for us to have a false alarm as well as 24 hour video surveillance of the mares and foals. All mares have an attendee there for every birth,” Tracey said.

Benstud’s weaning process includes three week blocks of education, teaching them to tie- up and lead, lead off a bike, go onto a float, they are rugged, put on the walker and have their feet picked up.  

“We break in about 10 to 12 yearlings a year. These are permanents that have been born and weaned on farm or yearlings that we have obtained or were passed in at the sales,” Tracey said.

“The process is followed on from their early education and makes for breaking-in a very easy straight forward process. We have our own 1200 metre sand track which is a great tool for our weaning and breaking-in process.”

Benstud has about 65 wet mares to foal in Victoria this year which is significantly down from previous years due to the state of the industry.

“We usually average about 80 mares to foal down in Victoria and we foaled down 75 last year. We have 95 to foal down in NSW,” Tracey stated.

The Benstud ‘butterfly’ brand boasts an unbelievable record of success in classic and cup races.

The ‘Class of 2017’ has earned $7.2 million to date at an average of $88,000 for 95 foals born at the farm, while Benstud’s 19 homebred foals aggregated $2 million at an average of $113,000. They included Tough Tilly, Tay Tay, Sumomomentsomewhere, Treachery and Yambukian.

Foals born and raised at Benstud in 2018 have earned $8.2 million at an average of $84,000 headed up by Catch A Wave, Arcee Phoenix, Captain Ravishing and Heza Son Of Agun.

Top performers bred at Benstud between 2019 and 2022 include the Derby winners We Walk By Faith and Petracca, Perfect Class, Watts Up Partytime, Very Pretty, Sahara Breeze, Dangerous, Naturally Gifted and London To A Brick.

  • Gippsland hobby breeder Garry Rogers landed a double at Hobart on Sunday with The Chancer (Bettor’s Delight-Fairest One Youare) and Triple Vinnies (Vincent-Three Gold Bars)  
  • Vicbred first win bonuses paid out by Harness Racing Victoria this year have amounted to $1.2 million including $302,000 during May
  • Benstud enjoyed another banner weekend with a winning treble at Melton in the Free-for-all winner Yambukian, Derby hopeful Seathestars and the trotter Remus Phoenix. Another homebred, Cardigan Dan, won the 2YO Rising Star at Ballarat and earned a spot in The Protostar slot race at Albion Park