$17.5-million ranch has go-kart track, 650,000-gallon swimming pool

Go-kart tracks and massive swimming pools, generally the star attractions at miniature golf courses and water parks, are just two of the many amenities found at a ranch property in San Diego County.

Owned by activist investor David Batchelder, the ranch property known as Los Robles Ranch has come on the market for $17.5 million, with Bill McDavid of Hall and Hall and Eric Iantorno of Pacific Sotheby’s International Realty attached to the listing.

Occupying 720 acres in Santa Ysabel, an unincorporated area found about an hour east of Escondido, the ranch has a ranch-style main house, two guest homes and two caretaker’s quarters totaling 10,000 square feet of living space. Beamed ceilings, large formal areas, four bedrooms and two offices highlight the 4,000-square-foot main house.

In addition to a paved go-kart track, the ranch indulges with such attractions as a full paintball course, two fishing ponds, a skeet-shooting range, a 6,800-square-foot equestrian facility and a riding arena.

The swimming pool, originally a cow pond, has been remade as a 650,000-gallon lagoon complete with a beach entry, a dock, waterfall features and a pool house. Elsewhere on the sprawling grounds, which is spread across nine parcels, is a greenhouse, a mare hotel, an equipment barn and a dozen water wells.

Batchelder, who co-founded the San Diego-based investment firm Relational Investors with Ralph Whitworth in 1996, bought the property in 2000 for $5 million and developed it as a family compound, according to the Wall Street Journal. The 65-year-old maintains other property in the Southland.

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