Stallions star in Ireland despite weather challenges

Some of the best stallions in Ireland have taken centre stage this weekend, but City Of Troy will have to wait another week for his starring role in the ITM Irish Stallion Trail.

The yearly event sees over 30 farms across Ireland open their doors to give breeders and racing fans alike a glimpse of some of the world’s leading stallions.

One of the star attractions of this year’s trail is undoubtedly City Of Troy, who has taken up stallion duties at Coolmore after attempting to become an all-time great in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

However, due to the adverse weather that hit Ireland over the past week, Coolmore and their associated farms Castlehyde, Grange and Beeches Stud delayed visitors for a week, meaning those craving a look at the all-conquering son of Justify have a little longer to wait.

“No one wanted this weekend to happen more than we did and it is very important that we have the Irish Stallion Trail and we always get behind it,” said Coolmore Stud’s Mark Byrne.

“But we got a very bad freeze and when we struggled to get the horses out, we knew it would be hard going to accommodate the numbers that we were expecting.

“We’re expecting over 1,000 people in two days and it just wouldn’t be possible with the way the farm was struggling to operate – tractors and other vehicles like that were the only way we could get around on the farm, so it just wasn’t going to happen.

“It’s not ideal but the best we could come up with is to come back and do it next weekend. It’s obviously very important for us and we lost a lot of visitors through Covid, so it is ultra-important we get visitors back and used to coming to Coolmore.”

Joining City Of Troy on display for the first time will be the six-time Group One winner Auguste Rodin, who along with Henry Longfellow has joined the Coolmore stallion roster alongside established names such as Wootton Bassett, No Nay Never and Camelot.

Byrne continued: “We’ve got some very nice young horses and we’ve got three first-season sires in City Of Troy, who was obviously one of the best horses in the world last year, Auguste Rodin who is a multiple Group One winner bred in the purple, and Henry Longfellow who is out of a seven-time Group One winning mare and by Dubawi.

“Those are the type of horses that we can only dream of breeding and of course there are other young horses like Little Big Bear and Paddington who are about have their first crop of foals and St Mark’s Basilica who will have his first two-year-olds.

“These are the type of horses we want to showcase to everyone and when you see how good looking they are on top of their pedigrees, then you will realise how proud we are to show them off,”

Other names that have been on display across Ireland include Rathbarry and Glenview Stud’s Blue Bresil – the sire of Constitution Hill – and newly crowned champion sire Dark Angel at Yeomanstown Stud.

And with many of the stud farms successfully negotiating the treacherous conditions that threatened to curtail the weekend, Irish Thoroughbred Marketing CEO Charles O’Neill has hailed the efforts made to ensure the weekend once again proved to be an undoubted success.

He said: “We have had 30 farms open to the public and it really is a great thing for the farms.

“I have to say a huge well done to the farms. It has been really cold and they have worked tooth and nail to get the farms clear. There was a lot of snow, especially down the south of the country and the midlands was the coldest part.

“They’ve put in huge work in terms of health and safety and making sure it is safe to welcome visitors. I take my hat off to them all when the easiest thing to do would be to say no.”