May 9 – Long time Yarraman Park Stud Manager Brent Davenport finished up this week and while he will be sorely missed, we wish him all the best with his new venture, an agistment property near Grafton.
Taking over will be Victorian horseman Kelly Skillecorn, who comes to us with a wealth of experience, most recently having worked at Darley in the UK.
Kelly graduated in Applied Science in Equine Management in Victoria and then worked as a stud hand at Devon Park in Victoria, before venturing to New Zealand where he worked at world renowned Cambridge Stud looking after dry mares and assisting in preparation of yearlings for the Karaka sales.
He then spent four years as Broodmare Manager at Emirates Park in Victoria before heading overseas to Dubai where he spent a further four years as Assistant Manger for Darley, a challenging job in having to undertake normal stud farm activities and oversee the rearing of quality bloodstock under extreme conditions with very high daily temperatures.
In July 2004, Kelly moved to the UK to take up the position of Stud Groom (manager) at Darley’s client boarding farm Woodditton Stud.
The job provided the opportunity to work with some of the finest horses in the world as once the client’s mares had departed at the end of the breeding season, the farm was used to house some of Europe’s most valuable bloodstock that had been purchased at auction by John Ferguson Bloodstock.
We are delighted to welcome Kelly and his fiancée Grace to Yarraman Park.
