Trust tied to Bill Gates drops $21M on Wellington horse farm

A trust linked to billionaire Bill Gates paid $21 million for an equestrian estate in a gated Wellington community, near his Evergate Stables property.

Property records show equestrian Caroline Moran sold the 7.7-acre horse farm at 13945 Quarter Horse Trail to the Wellington Trust, controlled by Kevin Mincio. Gates, whose daughter Jennifer Gates is an award-winning equestrian, used the same trust to purchase the adjacent 3060 Mallet Hill Court and the property at 13715 Quarter Horse Trail.

The Microsoft Corp. co-founder also owns 3094 and 3155 Mallet Hill Court through the Mallet Hill Trust. All told, trusts linked to Gates paid nearly $59 million for roughly 30 acres of land on and near Mallet Hill Court.

Gates’ latest purchase, an off-record sale, includes a newly built house, cabana and barn built by Griffiths South Construction Inc., records show. The seller, Moran, paid $1.4 million for the property in 1997.

Wellington, the winter equestrian capital of the world, is the seasonal playground for the families of a number of billionaires – Michael Bloomberg, the late Steve Jobs, the Campbell’s Soup family, and celebrities whose children compete in horse riding competitions.

In May, Andrey Borodin, a billionaire Russian exile living in the United Kingdom, paid $23 million for a 62-acre equestrian compound at 4370 South Road that was once home to the Lechuza Caracas polo team.