Society Insider: How Liam Lawson, Sir Scott Dixon and Auckland’s A-list partied this summer

The couple, who are based in Britain and the United States, and their three children, teenagers Poppy and Tilly and 6-year-old son Kit, have been in New Zealand since mid-December. Sources tell Society Insider that while their older daughters have memories of New Zealand, Dixon wanted Kit to start forming some of his own during their holidays.

Sir Scott Dixon with his son Kit at the opening of the Sir Colin Giltrap Raceway.

In the lead-up to Christmas, Dixon took his son to the opening of the Sir Colin Giltrap Raceway, a world-class karting facility in Auckland’s Wiri. A six-time IndyCar Series champion, Dixon started karting in New Zealand when he was 7, and was spotted beaming when his son had the honour of doing the first lap around the new track.

The Dixons then travelled to Queenstown over Christmas. The area’s legendary chopper pilot, and owner of Over The Top – The Helicopter Company, Louisa “Choppy” Patterson, personally flew them into the snow-capped mountains and fiords of Southern Otago.

Sir Scott Dixon with helicopter company pilot and owner Louisa “Choppy” Patterson.

The family based themselves at an estate on Waiheke to see in the New Year, visiting Cable Bay winery and exploring Stony Batter historic reserve, famous for its boulders, coastal scenery and subterranean tunnels that date back to World War II.

Sir Scott and Lady Emma are understood to have enjoyed the Highlife party, where select guests had VIP areas with their own private bar and DJ. Also attending were Kiwi billionaire Steve Owen’s daughter Libby, broadcaster Wilhelmina Shrimpton and her new husband, rugby referee Ben O’Keeffe, and media personality William Waiirua and his fiancée, Taylor Sutherland.

American tech multi-billionaire Matthew Prince, of the technology company Cloudflare, was also spotted. With a net worth of US$5.5 billion, Salt Lake City-based Prince and his wife, Tatiana, are reportedly Utah’s richest family.

Highlife Entertainment owner Adam Bennett with US billionaire Matthew Prince.

Society Insider is told the Princes, their children and friends were staying in Auckland for the holiday period, with the adults choppering to Waiheke for the party.

They intend to see the best of New Zealand on their visit, including Queenstown, where billionaires Daniel and Jillian Friedlander and Rich Listers Mark and Dominique Francis also enjoyed a holiday break.

Like Dixon, F1 driver Liam Lawson has had a busy visit home.

Liam Lawson and Hannah St John.

Before Christmas, he joined Rich List son and US-based robotics engineer Toby Baker’s stag do and made a quick trip to Queenstown, flying into town with his girlfriend, American Hannah St John, and billionaire Nick Mowbray on the Zuru co-owner’s private jet.

Nick Mowbray and Liam Lawson (pictured with friends) spent time together this summer.

Lawson travelled with Mowbray and his father, Harry, to Cromwell for a hotlap at Highlands Motorsport Park, followed by lunch at Ayrburn restaurant Billy’s.

After spending Christmas with his family, Lawson rented a smart waterfront Airbnb in Mount Maunganui, where he and St John saw in the New Year with friends, including Baker and his fiancee, Mikayla Haycock, who is the talent agent for both Lawson and St John.

St John was spotted at Haycock’s bachelorette party on Monday at First Mates, Last Laugh on Auckland’s waterfront.

Haycock and Baker are set to get married this weekend at the St Heliers’ estate of his parents, motoring Rich Listers Grant and Donna Baker.

Nick Mowbray, Jaimee Lupton and their daughter Noa aboard the Mahoenui.

Meanwhile, over the New Year, Mowbray and his fiancee, Monday Haircare founder Jaimee Lupton, entertained friends and family with myriad water sports in the Bay of Islands, sailing their super yacht, the 40.6m Mahoenui.

Interior designer Sally Ridge and her partner, multi-millionaire developer John Darby, were also spotted enjoying time in the Far North on a teal-coloured expedition motor yacht.

Ridge’s daughter, Los Angeles-based fashion influencer Jaime and her husband, AI specialist Tommy Bates, joined them with their two young children.

Sally and Jaime Ridge at The Landing in the Bay of Islands.

Both boats were dwarfed by the 117m mega yacht Infinity, valued at more than $500 million, owned by American billionaire and former Google chief executive Eric Smidt.

The Infinity also had its 69m support vessel Intrepid on hand. It is valued at $70m, with a helicopter on board.

The 69m support vessel Intrepid with 117m mega yacht Infinity in the Bay of Islands.

California-based Smidt, who Forbes estimated last year to be worth US$36 billion, and his wife, Susan, have not been spotted out and about in Auckland since the Infinity docked at Westhaven Marina last September after sailing to New Zealand from Fiji. However, sources say it is unlikely they have rented their boat out, and the couple and their family are most probably enjoying some quiet time here.

A year after their Queenstown wedding, New York-based model Maia Cotton also returned to the Bay of Islands with her husband, venture capitalist Max Feldstein, to spend Christmas with her family.

Maia Cotton and Max Feldstein in Sydney.

They spent time at Rosewood Kauri Cliffs before Feldstein, Cotton and her sister, gallery owner Mika, relocated to a pad with panoramic views in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs for the New Year.

Fellow Kiwi former Victoria’s Secret model Georgia Fowler was also back in Sydney from New York, and if Australian media reports are to be believed, it looks like she may have reconciled with her husband, Australian hospitality multi-millionaire Nathan Dalah.

Meanwhile, New Zealand’s wealthiest man and his family enjoyed the holiday season in the US and the Caribbean.

Some members of Graeme Hart’s family are understood to have done some New York Christmas shopping, where Hart is reported to own a $50m five-bedroom penthouse in Chelsea.

In the lead up to Christmas, Hart, wife Robyn, son Harry and daughter Gretchen Hawkesby, her husband Duncan and their four children descended upon Colorado, where the family have owned an estate for more than a decade.

In Denver, the family watched the NBA’s Nuggets beat Kiwi Steven Adams’ Houston Rockets. Adams posed for photos with the family, with Gretchen and her daughter Jemima wearing Rockets support gear while husband Duncan and son Dylan wore Denver’s.

Harry and Robyn Hart, Gretchen Hawkesby, Steven Adams, Duncan, Dylan and Jemima Hawkesby.

The Hart family spent Christmas Day at their beautifully decorated Aspen estate with the Hawkesbys, and are believed to have jetted off to the Caribbean for New Year.

Both the Hart family boats, the 103m mega yacht Ulysses and the 53m Five Oceans, were moored in Saint-Barthelemy. Overseas media nicknamed St Barth’s the bay of billionaires, with Hart’s two boats joined by dozens of mega yachts including those owned by Aussie James Packer, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos (Koru), film producer David Geffen and Swiss billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli.

The Ulysses in St Barth’s.

Since the New Year, Ulysses and Five Oceans have moved northwest to Saint-Martin.

Back in the US, Kiwi Rich Lister and Sky TV founder Craig Heatley spent Christmas with his family at his $20m Maui mansion, and the family have now headed to Whistler in Canada for a spot of skiing.

Kylie Bax returns to NZ screens

Kylie Bax hosts the new doco series Upon The Land We Stand.

Former supermodel Kylie Bax is going behind the scenes of New Zealand’s billion-dollar thoroughbred industry in the new Sky Open documentary series, Upon The Land We Stand.

“This show is not about glamour, until it is,” says Bax. “I moved from gumboots to heels, coats to dresses pretty smoothly in the show.”

Bax tells Society Insider the six-part documentary is about understanding why the racing industry is such a big part of New Zealand culture.

“I believe people will see that the horse industry holds so many values and that we truly love our horses,” she says.

Executive producer Leigh McSwan says Bax’s lifelong passion for horses makes her the perfect anchor for the series.

“Kylie and her family have bred some of NZ’s top track stars,” says McSwan.

“For me, it was very important that the series wasn’t as much presented but [that it] created a conversation, which Kylie has so naturally achieved.”

Bax grew up in Thames, where her family home overlooked the local racecourse.

“It was so much fun, and since I was 9 years old, I have been studying pedigrees and delving into what makes a good stallion through their bloodlines and lineage,” she says.

Kylie Bax mucks in while filming her new series.

When Bax was living in New York in the 1990s, she started learning about American stallions. She went on to buy into her parents’ Blandford Lodge, a prominent thoroughbred breeding operation in Matamata.

These days, Bax is Cambridge-based and operates three businesses: Coniston Lodge for equine development and pre-training, breeding thoroughbreds through her Goldeneye Trust, and syndicating horses through B.A.X Ltd (Bloodstock Achieving Xcellence).

Bax says the new show is coming out during the busiest time in the racing industry.

The New Zealand Bloodstock sales in Karaka take place after the Karaka Millions raceday at Ellerslie on January 24. This year marks 100 years of the yearling sales in New Zealand.

Last January, Society Insider reported South Canterbury Rich Lister Glenn Ritchie paid a record-breaking $2.4m at the sales, the highest price paid for a filly in New Zealand history.

“New Zealand thoroughbreds are highly sought-after all over the world. We breed some of the most elite racehorses that compete on the world stage to the highest level,” says Bax, who is currently preparing two yearlings for sale.

“It’s not simple to raise horses – you have to be truly dedicated and passionate about them.”

Lance O’Sullivan features in the series.

In the series, she finds out what makes industry insiders tick, including legendary jockey and horse trainer Lance O’Sullivan at Wexford Stables in Matamata, as well as his wife Bridgette and daughters, Caitlin and Georgia.

Bax also met up with horse breeders David and Karyn Fenton-Ellis, the principal owners of Te Akau Racing, spotlights how dairy farmer Alex Parrot retrains thoroughbreds to become polo horses and tells the story of TK, the thoroughbred who has become a therapy horse at Equipotential, a Waikato therapeutic horse riding facility. Bax also spent the day at Waikato Equine Veterinary Hospital with surgeon Dr Greg Quinn.

In the South Island, she meets former jockeys, now trainers, Terry and Debbie Kennedy.

Episode 1 of Upon The Land We Stand premieres on the Sky Go App on January 10.

Party people of the week

First serve of the year

The ASB Classic and G.H. Mumm hosted an exclusive group of guests at Maison Mumm on Sunday evening for the opening of the ASB Classic at Auckland’s Manuka Doctor Arena. The glitzy event marked the beginning of the tennis tournament, which runs to January 17.

Guests enjoyed delicious bites from Urban Gourmet and beverages from the event’s partners – including G.H. Mumm and Peroni.

Tournament director Nicolas Lamperin hosted Ukrainian tennis player and women’s top seed Elina Svitolina. Other players in attendance included Kiwi Erin Routliffe and France’s Kristina Mladenovic, with her brother and coach Luka.

Also seen enjoying the launch were actresses Madeleine Sami and Fleur Saville, NZ Herald editor-at-large Shayne Currie and his wife, NZ Woman’s Weekly editor Marilynn McLachlan, TVNZ sports broadcasters Bonnie Jansen and Guy Heveldt, entrepreneur lyia Liu, model Maya Silwood, Real Housewives of Auckland star Angela Stone and influencers Hannah Koumakis, Becky Clements, Samantha Richards, Elise Maric, Jeannie Grace and Jasmine Kim.

Elina Svitolina doing tap tap on Mumm Champagne at the opening of the ASB Classic. Photo / Tim MarshallLuka and Kristina Mladenovic. Photo / Tim MarshallGeorgie and Guy Heveldt. Photo / Tim MarshallIvana Mihaljevich, Iyia Liu and Taylor Delmont. Photo / Tim MarshallHannah Koumakis and Jason Hart. Photo / Tim MarshallClaire Southon, Lizzi and Ava Pearson. Photo / Tim MarshallJasper Morrison and Chris Bowen. Photo / Tim MarshallNgahuia Damerell, Shannon Green, Charlie Copsey and Kate Jones. Photo / Tim MarshallJasmine Taggart and Brad Toogood. Photo / Tim MarshallCasey King, Juliet McLaren and Bridgette White. Photo / Tim MarshallChris Henry and Matt Reyland. Photo / Tim MarshallAnna Archer and Olivia Wright. Photo / Tim MarshallMatthew Jacobi and Elise Maric. Photo / Tim MarshallTyson Beckett, Marilynn McLachlan, Anna Lee and Hemma Vara. Photo / Tim MarshallAnnie and Jeannie Grace. Photo / Tim MarshallLJ Welsh, Bethany Pettengell, Keany Morey and Maya Silwood. Photo / Tim MarshallLiv Airey and Saskia Willox. Photo / Tim Marshall

Ricardo Simich has been with the Herald since 2008 where he contributed to The Business Insider. In 2012 he took over Spy at the Herald on Sunday, which has since evolved into Society Insider. The weekly column gives a glimpse into the worlds of the rich and famous.