Stallion Trail A Success in Ireland

By Emma Berry
Imitation, it is said, is the sincerest form of flattery. In devising the Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Stallion Trail, the Irish studs have followed the example set in the Normandy region, when in 2010 the French farms and the French Racing and Breeding Committee launched La Route des Etalons, which has continued annually. The Irish version is no pale imitation, however.

In a country where Flat and National Hunt racing enjoy equal status and a similarly passionate following, the open house days at 24 studs were sandwiched between two top-class jumps fixtures–last Thursday’s Thyestes Chase meeting at Gowran Park and Sunday’s belter of a card at Leopardstown, featuring the Irish Champion Hurdle.
Opting for a pre-dawn flight from the UK on Saturday to take in a day of stud visits, the ITBA awards dinner and a day at the races on Sunday, I left Newmarket with my friend, neighbor and fellow bloodstock enthusiast Nancy Sexton. Talented journalist though she is, it’s fair to say that Nancy is not quite so gifted when it comes to navigating Irish country lanes. Our first port of call was County Kilkenny’s Ballylinch Stud, which sits within the stunning Mount Juliet estate just outside Thomastown. We’d both been there before but failed quite spectacularly to find our way to the front gates. We had Ballylinch well and truly surrounded before opting for the unorthodox approach to the stud from across the Mount Juliet golf course.

In the main yard, we were treated to viewings of Beat Hollow (GB), Lawman (Fr), and the recently returned shuttlers Dream Ahead and Lope De Vega (Ire)–the latter having just been crowned Europe’s champion first-season sire of 2014 and looking every bit the part with his gleaming dark chestnut coat and proud Roman nose. One of the privileges of being allowed within Ballylinch’s walls is being able to visit the grave of its one-time star The Tetrarch, whose former stallion box with ornate tiling spelling out his name on the floor outside the door is now inhabited by Intense Focus.

Twenty minutes or so up the road sits Ballyhane Stud in a quiet County Carlow enclave that includes the powerhouse stables of the Flat and the jumps, Jim Bolger and Willie Mullins. The master of Ballyhane, Joe Foley, was the instigator of the Stallion Trail and declared himself to be delighted with the response.

“I’d been reading about the French weekend and thought it would be good to do something similar in Ireland,” commented Foley, who also had his hands full as chairman of the organizing committee of the ITBA Awards. “I called Pat Downes at the Aga Khan Studs and asked whether they would be on board and he said yes straight away. Darley and Coolmore were also keen and it all took off from there. It’s been fantastic that so many studs were supportive and they’ve been rewarded with plenty of visitors over the three days.”

Foley has an impressive array of stallions himself, including his longest-serving resident, Arakan. He is joined by Dandy Man (Ire), sire of Sunday’s big Hong Kong sprint winner Peniaphobia (Ire), Red Jazz, Frozen Power (Ire), Roderic O’Connor (Ire), Elzaam (Aus) and newcomer Battle Of Marengo (Ire), a dual Grade 2-winning son of Galileo (Ire).

Of the range of studs open across the country, it’s understandable that two proved to be exceptionally busy. Coolmore has 17 stallions at its main Fethard base with a further 24 spread across Castlehyde Stud, Grange Stud and Beeches Stud. Despite this abundance of riches, which includes the last three Derby winners– Camelot (Ire), Ruler Of The World (Ire) and Australia (GB)–one horse shades all others: the multiple champion sire Galileo (Ire).

A weekend that includes access to racing’s equivalent of the Crown Jewels was always likely to be deemed a success, and thus it proved, with Galileo’s half-brother, Sea The Stars (Ire), proving similarly popular at Gilltown Stud, where he was shown alongside another half-brother, Born To Sea (Ire), and the now snow-white Dalakhani (Ire).

By the time we saw Sea The Stars late Saturday afternoon, he had already endured three long days of being admired by many, but his ears still flicked back and forth to the sound of camera shutters as he posed both for breeders and for fans who had simply adored him as a racehorse and made the most of the opportunity to pay their respects at the place where he has embarked upon a successful second career. 

Following a few more wrong turns on the road from Gilltown to Rathasker Stud–let’s just call it accidental sightseeing–we arrived eventually at the Naas farm to the welcome shout from Maurice Burns of, “Girls, will you have a hot whiskey?”

Burns has the pleasure of seeing two homebred sons of Rathasker resident Clodovil (Ire) join the stallion ranks this year–Gregorian (Ire) at the National Stud in Newmarket and Es Que Love (Ire), who will stand alongside his sire.
Rathasker’s fellow new boy, Exceed And Excel’s son Bungle Inthejungle (GB), was on parade alongside Es Que Love and Fast Company (Ire), who has just returned from a southern hemisphere season at Haras Convento Viejo in Chile. Clodovil was enjoying a welcome break from formal viewings and looked content in his paddock, consenting to a head scratch from Maurice’s daughter Madeline Burns.

Though the formal tour was at an end, Maurice and Madeline were about to welcome a group of 67 Czech breeders to Rathasker on Sunday morning and both considered the inaugural Stallion Trail to have been a worthwhile event.
“The organizers wrote to all racehorse owners in Ireland and we have had some visitors over the last few days who have had a filly in training but were unsure about how to take the next step and become a breeder,” said Madeline. “In that regard, it has been very beneficial and we’ve been delighted to show people the stallions, even if they’re not involved in breeding–it gives a great insight into the bloodstock industry and may encourage more people to give it a go.”

The more formal but no less fun element of the weekend took place at the ITBA Awards dinner in County Laois on Saturday night, where a gathering of 400, including several government ministers, celebrated the achievements of Irish-bred horses around the world. Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum, the owner of Derrinstown Stud and a staunch supporter of Ireland as both a breeder and owner, was inducted to the ITBA Hall of Fame, while touching video tributes were paid to Rory Mahon, the linchpin of Juddmonte’s breaking and pre-training operation at Ferrans in County Meath, and Kevin and Meta Cullen, who were named as Small Breeders of the Year for their outstanding success with the likes of Bachir (Ire), Speciosa (Ire), Wigmore Hall (Ire) and Classic prospect Irish Rookie (Ire).
Mahon, the recipient of the Special Recognition Award who was referred to by trainer Dermot Weld as “the professional’s professional,” reflected on the days of Frankel (GB) simply by saying, “He was a lifetime’s dream,” before adding that he expects Frankel’s full-brother, who will be trained by Andre Fabre, to win the Derby.

As finales go, the rousing, record-breaking victory of Hurricane Fly (Ire) in Sunday’s Irish Champion Hurdle could not have been better scripted. Though bred by the Italian operation Agricola Del Parco and initially campaigned on the Flat in France–where he beat subsequent Group 1 winners Literato (Fr) and Spirit One (Fr) in the Listed Prix Omnium II–the diminutive son of Monteju (Ire) is very much a son of Ireland. His phenomenal record over hurdles stretches to five consecutive Irish Champion Hurdles among his 22 Grade 1 glories and, now aged 11, he is enjoying arguably his finest season yet with his last two runs taking his record at Leopardstown to 10 run, 10 won.

To ensure international visitors made the most of everything the Irish racing and breeding industry has to offer, ITM hosted a box at Leopardstown, where marketing executive Sarah Gavin reflected on a very satisfying debut for the Stallion Trail. She said, “Everyone really got behind this weekend–it’s been phenomenal. There’s been such good coverage on social media and it really took off when our national broadcaster, RTE, covered it on the radio. That opened it up to racing fans and the public, which can only be good for the industry. The feedback from all the studs has been positive and we’ve had visitors from France, Sweden, Belgium, the UK and the Czech Republic.”

She added, “We’re hoping this will be a date in many people’s diaries for next year.”

It’s certainly a date that will be in my diary for next January, with a reminder note to find a decent navigator. Sorry, Nancy.