Equine Excellence

Andrew Dunemann

General Manager 

Andrew has been in sport full-time his entire adult life. He made his NRL debut as a 17-year-old and would go on to forge a 15 year playing career before turning his hand to coaching and administration roles with the National Rugby League. Successes during his playing career include World Club Challenge and Super League Titles with the Leeds Rhinos. Upon retirement he become a key figure In the establishment of the Northern Pride. The club set the benchmark for the competition from inception and within 3 years were crowned champions. He then held assistant coach roles at the Newcastle Knights and Canberra Raiders. During his time at the Raiders he was also the Welfare and Education Manager and become Interim Head Coach in 2013. He then took on a consultant role with the NRL where duties were diverse including developing blueprints for the future of the game and working with the High Performance Unit.It was then the sport of kings which would take over and after 20 years of racehorse ownership he developed Syndication Company Boom Racing Thoroughbreds In 2014. Major Ownership successes include Group 1 winners Temple and Spirit of Boom and multiple Group 1 Placed Angelic Light.

Mitchell Cunningham

Director

Mitchell is the founding director of Cunningham Thoroughbreds, a family-run breeding and racing operation which stables approximately 70 Broodmares and Racehorses across the country.Mitchell comes from a multi-disciplined background in business, investment and aviation. He spent over a decade in Hong Kong flying the Boeing 747 and 777 as an Airline Pilot for Cathay Pacific. Upon his return to Australia, he jointly-founded Atora Training, a Health and Fitness business with multiple studios across Queensland.

Neil Douglas

Director

Neil has a passion for and been heavily involved in the Thoroughbred Racing Industry for over 50 years. He has owned, raced and bred numerous horses over that time including many Group runners including Ted (Ping Hi Star), Fulazaboot and Eric the Eel.Through his involvement in the industry he has developed a serious network of contacts right across Australia and overseas in the breeding, ownership and training segments of the industry. After a very successful career as the founder and operator of one of Australia’s largest and most successful learn to swim businesses, he is now proud to be associated with the development of Ridgmont Farm. His business acumen, his love of the industry and his extensive racing network  provide him with the perfect combination to contribute to a winning formula for Ridgmont Farm

Jakub Vitek

Yearling Manager

We are extremely lucky to have been able to secure Jakub as our yearling manager for the farm from Arrowfield. He was our first appointment for Ridgmont Farm, and we have not been disappointed. Jakub grew up in the Czech Republic and has been around horses all of his life. His distinguished grandfather, Frantisek Vitek rode 2 winners in the Velka Pardubicka (Czech Grand National) and then went on to become champion flat trainer on 17 occasions. He also trained 6 Derby winners.The blood in the veins has been passed down through generation and Jakub’s father, Roman Vitek has a veterinarian background and now specializes in equine physiotherapy and dentistry. He too was a successful flat trainer. These 2 people provided an excellent grounding as to which Jakub could develop from.This course opened a pathway which would lead him to Australia where for the past 5 years he has plied his trade at Arrowfield Stud. In his time at Arrowfield, he worked with the very best yearlings, of which, some have gone on to become elite racehorses. He also attributes Arrowfield of providing him with an amazing learning curve as he was surrounded by very knowledgeable people who are at the top of the industry.His redeeming features are his attention to detail, work ethic and all-round thoroughbred knowledge. We are extremely confident that our horses will be exceptionally well prepared in the years to come and as our farm grows so too will the role Jakub plays.He worked part-time as a groom with mainly dressage and show jumping horses during his university studies in Scotland. After finishing his studies, he headed back to thoroughbreds where he worked 6 months at Newtown Stud, Ireland to get his foot in the door in the breeding industry. He caught the eye during this stint and in 2016 was fortunate enough to join the class of 2016 at the Irish National Stud. In doing so he broke new ground being the first student from the Czech Republic.

Petrus Burger

Farm Manager