Kim McKellar
It’s not entirely unheard of for thoroughbred industry participants to be involved in other activities, but few have such an interesting and diverse range of skills as highly respected Ballarat veterinarian and studmaster Kim McKellar of Wyndholm Park.
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The farm consists of around 600 acres and is part of a group of five farms which support various other activities in the thoroughbred, equine, veterinary and medical fields. Wyndholm Park currently stands two stallions catering for the owner/breeder market, Crackerjack King by Shamardal and Ringerdingding by Sebring. But we should begin at the beginning of Kim’s thoroughbred and business journey when he graduated with honours as a Veterinary surgeon in 1967. He then ventured to Canada for two years, before returning to a small “one and a half man” veterinary practice at Ballarat which he enlarged to two and a half.
Over time Kim the partners developed the clinic into a nineteen vet roster which was entrusted with the care of many of Australia’s best known racehorses including champions such as Let’s Elope, Shiva’s Revenge, Tie The Knot, Defier, Jameka, Srikandi, Azkadellia, The Phantom and The Phantom Chance . These were horses based either at Ballarat or at Caulfield or Flemington for leading trainers such as Bart Cummings or Guy Walter or members of the powerful Aquanita Racing team as well as for several NZ trainers based at Ballarat for the carnivals.
This was a very busy period with Kim also becoming the racecourse vet for the Ballarat Racing Club and then serving on the club’s committee as both a member and Club President as well as a 12 year tour of duty on the Victorian Country Racing Board until five years ago. Kim’s thoroughbred activities during this long period were also heavily concentrated on serving as an advisor to various buying groups at yearling sales with the success stories including several of the aforementioned stars.
Kim retired from active duty as a vet some years ago but his business interests are a very diverse group and have considerable scale.
Other horse related projects include providing spelling, rehabilitation and reproductive advice for equestrian horses, warmbloods and standardbreds. Leading standardbred participants such as renowned breeder Peter Gleeson and trainer Emma Stewart are clients of Wyndholm Park. There is also a lamb fattening operation which last year sent 3,000 lambs to market and gives a nice lead in to perhaps the most fascinating part of Kim’s non-horse activities, one which involves not lambs but sheep. You may never have heard of Omniflow Vascular Prostheses which are basically biosynthetic collagen implants for humans with poor blood flow and circulation in their legs and feet which could involve conditions such as diabetes.
Many of us are aware that pig tissue is often suitable for human transplantation, but the use of an organically grown vascular tube from a sheep that acts as an artery in humans was a complete surprise to me, as was the scale of the activity. Kim’s operation is responsible for the world’s entire production of these limb saving devices with the bulk of production being exported to the USA regularly. It is hard to overstate the beneficial impact of these vascular tubes but Kim estimates that the number of lower limbs saved in humans exceeds 1,000 annually.
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Every single one is a minor miracle for the person involved. Kim is also involved with research for a new drug that will alleviate arthritis by being injected into human knees which are a real problem area for many senior citizens. This product called Arthramid and is now registered and fully approved for use in the troublesome joints of horses and dogs. Arthramid is now approved for use in humans on a limited scale under special circumstances and is expected to be more widely available in due course.
I asked Kim how he came to be involved in the horse business and thoroughbreds in particular. He advised that “There was a thriving thoroughbred community in Ballarat where I lived, with great trainers such as the Smerdon family and Noel Kelly among others. One of the key moments that inspired my interest in and love of thoroughbreds was meeting Bonecrusher. I had been sent as a young vet to perform an ECG on him prior to his legendary Cox Plate win.
To my surprise an armed security guard prevented me from attending to the horse immediately. He actually pulled a gun on me which caused quite an adrenaline surge and I was instructed to wait until the trainer arrived. So I just stood around for a while, looking at this lovely horse Bonecrusher, thinking to myself what a magnificent creature he was with his gleaming chestnut coat and powerful physique. It was a pivotal moment for me, no doubt adrenaline fuelled, I thought this is a serious business.
This is for me!” “I’ve been fortunate to have been involved as a buyer of several elite gallopers over the years and found that an exciting challenge. Our thoroughbred stallions are a relatively small part of our activities, and I find it difficult to go into salesman mode when I’ve spent most most of my time looking for value as a buyer and looking to solve problems as a vet. But I don’t feel guilty, I’m unlikely to change my nature at the age of 80 years young.
“ It would be very remiss of me not to give credit to some special people who have supported me along the way. My wife Liz who has worked as a kindergarten teacher,fed us, raised the kids, foaled the mares and played golf, and also Kay Wykes who has run the farm for 20 years, she is a horse-whisperer and a great support.
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