Gerry Dilger

The major yearling sales are still a few months out, but to Kristin Brennan they are right around the corner. The yearling manager at Colin Brennan Bloodstock at Highlander Training Center isn't concerned because she's always dialed in. As part of a family of horsemen, including her father Niall and brother Colin, who helms the operation at Highlander in East Texas, Kristin has literally grown up around the sport of horse racing. "I started riding when I was maybe three and my granddad would come from Ireland and he'd throw...

Coffee, pens, chapstick, maybe an occasional hat. Consignors often hand out little tokens to give the memories of potential buyers a nudge into recalling their barn and their horses. But chances are you've seen someone emerging from Barn 9 on the Keeneland sales grounds in the last day or two with ice cream, which likely sounds mighty good after a day going from barn to barn inspecting horses in the full sun of an early September in Central Kentucky. Jennifer and Zach Phillips of Zen Equine, who may have their...

The Gerry Dilger Equine Foundation has opened the application process for its 2026 Irish National Stud Scholarship. Applicants must be currently working on a Kentucky horse farm with multiple years of experience, or currently enrolled as a 2025 KEMI spring intern, or must have completed the program last fall. Also, those who apply must be a resident of the U.S. A bachelor's degree in equine science is preferred, but not required. Applications are due by July 1. Scholarships cover airfare and tuition to the Irish National Stud in Kildare, Ireland,...

As the fifth anniversary of my father's passing approaches on March 4, I can't help but reflect on the past few years and all we've accomplished in his name. Because of each of you, whether you've donated to the foundation or attended our annual golf tournament, helped a young person in their career endeavors in the industry, or simply regaled a fond story of my dad, you have supported us to achieve our most basic goal - to keep his memory alive. On behalf of myself, my mom Erin, my...

County Meath natives Jordan Kidd and Tara Carroll were announced on Sunday as the latest recipients of scholarships from the Gerry Dilger Equine Scholarship Foundation, awarded in the memory of Irish pinhooker and successful breeder, Gerry Dilger. The scholarships are open to Irish citizens, with the recipients earning a place on the Irish National Stud programme which Dilger himself completed. It includes fully paid tuition, room and board at the famed Kildare nursery. "Jordan impressed the board with his passion and enthusiasm as he seeks to obtain bloodstock experience having...

The Gerry Dilger Equine Scholarship Foundation awarded two recipients the Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm Experience Scholarship, the program announced Thursday. The award, open to graduates of Irish equine programs, grants one year placements at leading Kentucky farms to provide the next generation of young people with an opportunity to further develop their horse skills. For 2025, the board selected Ciaran Phelan who will work with Springhouse Farm in Lexington and Lola Queck who will work with Hunter Valley Farm in Versailles. Ciaran worked at Coolmore Stud and Lodge Park Stud, graduated...

Edited Press Release The board of the Gerry Dilger Equine Scholarship Foundation is delighted to announce the two recipients of its Irish National Stud tuition and placement scholarship for 2025. Josefina Posada has traveled extensively in her quest to learn and progress in the bloodstock world. The Bogota, Columbia, native, attended Hartpury University in Gloucester, England, graduating with first class honors in Equine Science. She has also gained valuable experience at Barton Stud in England and is currently an intern at Lane's End Farm in Versailles, Kentucky. In the future...

If you want to know what endures, you need to know what has changed. To know what really counts, then, you must talk with the guys who have been around longest. "I remember when the first ultrasound scanner came to town," Padraig Campion says. "A guy called Dr. Norman Rantanen brought the machine in, to show us, and the first mare he scanned was Gold Digger. And sure enough, there's twins there. We didn't know. Down the road we realised it was pretty normal, that a lot of them just...

He has been here longer than just about any of them, albeit he arrived in 1978 presuming himself to be only breaking a longer journey. One breeding season in Kentucky, and then it would be off to Australia. Having instead become a pioneer of a remarkable Irish diaspora, Robbie Lyons is a perfect template for the many compatriots who have meanwhile flourished in the Bluegrass: an innate flair for trading, a fierce work ethic, and the willingness to take a gamble. He wasn't particularly raised to the horse game--his father...

Among the dogs noisily bounding to inquire after your business at Dundrum Farm, one is really something special. Gordon, a big black schnauzer, lost his sight to blastomycosis a couple of years ago, but you would never know it: he scampers confidently along corridors, through doorways, even joins the reception committee outside. "Until he gets on the grass," Lesley Campion explains. "Then he knows that he only has one stride, and has to stop. But no, he's a genius, that dog." Certainly he couldn't exhibit a more certain sense of...

Applications are now open for the Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm Experience Scholarship 2025. Applicants must be recent graduates of the University College Dublin, University of Limerick, The Irish National Stud, CAFRE Enniskillen, or Kildalton Agriculture College. The application period runs until July 15. Scholarships cover airfare, visa expenses, a year-long placement at a Kentucky farm, and wages and housing. The scholarships are made possible by the Gerry Dilger Equine Scholarship Foundation, the Irish National Stud, Springhouse Farm, and Hunter Valley Farm. For more information, or to apply, please visit the Gerry...

Sean Berns, Sarah Pepper and Larry Mulvany are the recipients of the Gerry Dilger Equine Foundation Kentucky Experience scholarship, which places the winners on Kentucky farms for a period of one year beginning in January 2024. Like the late and beloved Dilger, Berns graduated from the prestigious Irish National Stud and will be placed in Kentucky at Springhouse Farm. Though not originally from a horse background, Berns has studied equine business at Maynooth College and has worked at Derrinstown Stud and Coolmore in Ireland and at Newgate Stud in Australia....