Sydney family pays $2.15m for home of horse racing royalty at auction

The Randwick home of a trailblazing horse trainer sold at auction on Saturday for $2,151,000.

Betty Lane, who died aged 97 in October 2023, became the first woman to be granted a Sydney trainer’s licence by the Australian Jockey Club in 1976.

SOLD - $2,151,000

18 William Street, Randwick NSW 2031

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The three-bedroom, two-bathroom terrace at 18 William Street with views of the Royal Randwick Racecourse, sold to a young couple with children from the inner-city suburb of Paddington.

It was one of 737 auctions scheduled in Sydney on Saturday.

There were five registered bidders and the opening bid was $1.85 million.

Agent Marnie Seinor of McGrath Coogee said the price guide was from $2 million to $2.2 million with the reserve “around the price guide”.

Lane first applied for a trainer’s licence in 1962 but was turned down by a six-man panel.

In her 2019 memoir I Did It My (Their) Way she discusses their brutal response and how it was “not our policy to licence women”.

“In 1962, racing wasn’t male dominated, it was male exclusive,” she said.

Lane didn’t retreat. She purchased a property in the small village of Geurie in central-west NSW, about a 380 kilometre-drive from Sydney, and soon established herself as a premiership-winning trainer in the area.

She was finally granted a licence to train at Royal Randwick in 1976 alongside legends including the late Bart Cummings.

Elsewhere, a duplex in Ryde sold at auction for $2.39 million.

The buyers of 17a Olive Street are a young family from the inner city who wanted to upsize from an apartment.

There were six registered bidders and the opening bid was $2.1 million.

SOLD - $2,390,000

17a Olive Street, Ryde NSW 2112

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Agent Chris Pennisi of Pello Northern Suburbs, who holds the listing alongside Michael Dowling, said the price guide was from $2.2 million to $2.4 million.

The reserve was “within the price guide”.

Pennisi said there was a lot of interest in the five-bedroom home from buyers wanting to upsize from an apartment.

“We have seen interest particularly from the Concord area as well as parts of the lower north shore”.