Charles O'Neill, boss of Irish Thoroughbred Marketing, has admitted that preparations for this year's Stallion Trail have been made “really complex” by the icy conditions which have wreaked havoc across the country and forced Coolmore Stud, a star attraction for many “ to become people who had hoped to be there to retire from the now scaled-down version of the two-day showpiece.
Around 30 studs will open their doors to racing fans and enthusiasts on Friday and Saturday, including Kedrah House Stud, Annshoon Stud and Coolagown Stud [on Friday] Like Coolmore, he had to miss the Stallion Trail due to the weather.
“It was really tough,” O'Neill said Thursday. “The weather caused a bit of chaos this week and the likes of Coolmore had to pull out, but Grange Stud is back now which is great news.”
“The businesses are resilient and hopefully it will be a good weekend. The only farms that will not be open are Coolmore Stud, Kedrah House Stud and Castlehyde Stud. Coolagown Stud does not close until Friday. Therefore, we expect over 30 farms to be open over the course of the weekend.”
He added: “On Wednesday evening a group of 75 people arrived from Eastern Europe. They started today by visiting some of the farms [Thursday] and they will also be at the races in Dundalk on Friday evening. There are also some Brits and people from other parts of Europe coming over.”
Kildangan Stud, which boasts one of the most brilliant squads in the world with Blue Point (Ire), Ghaiyyath (Ire), Night Of Thunder (Ire) and others at the County Kildare operation, is open to the public on Friday and Saturday. However, nominations manager Eamon Molony admits the stud is expecting a much bigger crowd at Saturday's stallion shows, where the weather is expected to improve.
Night of Thunder | Darley Stallions
He said: “Friday is harder to predict than Saturday as morning temperatures are expected to be quite low on Friday. But we are ready and are planning our first show for 11am. We are very confident that Saturday will be significantly better weather-wise. I suspect we won’t see as many people out and about on Friday as in other years, but we’re hoping for a substantial crowd on Saturday.”
One of the main attractions of the Stallion Trail is that it offers people the opportunity to get a first look at some of the newbies at the stud. Ballyhane Stud has Group 2 winner Sakheer (Ire) recent to the squad, while Ballylinch Stud has French Derby hero Look De Vega (Fr), Irish National Stud Shouldvebeenaring (GB) and Tally-Ho Stud Gigantic Evs welcomes (Irish), Bucanero Fuerte (GB) and King Of Steel. Starfield Stud won Aesop's Fables (Ire), Yeomanstown Stud will present Mill Stream (Ire), while Springfield House Stud has added Go Bears Go (Ire) to the squad.
Meanwhile, as part of the National Hunt, Capital Stud will offer many people the opportunity to reach the first summit in Martinborough (Jpn), sire of the highly touted Willie Mullins-trained Triumph Hurdle winner Majborough (Fr).
“We are getting ready for the start and hope it doesn't freeze too badly this evening,” said Ger O'Neill from Capital Stud. “The plan is to open our doors tomorrow and hopefully everyone can have a lovely day outside , regardless of the weather. A few people have called ahead, but to be candid we're expecting a bigger crowd on Saturday than Friday due to the weather.
“A lot of people want to visit Martinborough. He seems to be doing well and has had some good winners in France in the last week or so. It looks like everything is going his way and Willie Mullins' horse [Majborough] It also looks very stimulating, so a lot of people want to come and see it.”
He added: “The stallion trail is a good initiative. We've already had a call from a lot of breeders this year to see the stallions, but for the guy downstairs who might just want to pop in and see what we're doing here, it's great. That doesn't mean you don't do business while on the Stallion Trail, because you do, but it's more about opening your doors and welcoming people. If that leads to mares being booked for one of the stallions, all the better.”
Meanwhile, just a few miles further in County Kilkenny, Michael Shefflin of Annshoon Stud, now the recent home of Twilight Son (GB), was the last man to leave the Stallion Trail due to a persistent snow cover at its base.
He said on Thursday night: “It's disappointing because we were really looking forward to the weekend but there's nothing we can do.” Although Twilight Son isn't exactly recent, it is recent to Ireland and we hope it will be popular. His record speaks for itself. We actually bought it on behalf of a customer who wanted to go to Turkey, but since so many people expressed interest in using it in Ireland we said we would give it a chance here. The weather is a bit unpleasant but our doors will be open for business when it clears and we would welcome everyone to come along and visit.”
Coolmore Stud has already rescheduled its open day to Saturday January 18th from 10am to 3pm, which will feature Auguste Rodin (Irish), City Of Troy, Henry Longfellow (Irish) and more. A full list of farms taking part in the Irish Stallion Trail on Friday and Saturday can be found here – https://www.itm.ie/Breeding/ITM-Irish-Stallion-Trail.
