ingham's father had had an interest in breeding horses and, in addition to the poultry business, the brothers also inherited a broodmare named "valiant rose". the mare was a descendant of the great british racehorse "bend or", an epsom derby winner and champion broodmare sire. the ingham brothers used "valiant rose" to begin building what became an a$250 million breeding and racing operation, the largest in australia. their equine empire included woodlands stud at denman in the hunter valley, crown lodge racing stables at warwick farm racecourse, sydney and carbine lodge racing stables at flemington racecourse, melbourne, plus racing stables in adelaide and brisbane. the most famous of the inghams' successful horses was "octagonal", the 1996 australian horse of the year and a winner of multiple group one races including the cox plate and the australian derby. ingham sold the woodland stud operation to dubai's ruler, sheik mohammed bin rashid al-maktoum, for $500 million in 2008.