Ted and Ed’s big adventure

Ted Voute and Ed Sackville set up their own verison of the Irish Stallion Trail and got to see stallions at Rathbarry, Coolmore, Ballylinch, Ballyhane, Kildangan, the Irish National, Yeomanstown, Rathasker and, finally, Tally-Ho. Phew! Ted gives us his report of the tour

AFTER TWO YEARS, I finally decided that the COVID protocols were lifted enough to visit Ireland for my own stallion tour.

I caught the 10.40am from London Heathrow with Ed Sackville, who is nicknamed “The Earl” by many of the farms we visited, and we arrived in Cork just before noon.

We had a mammoth itinerary planned that centered around Tipperary from the first half day and then around Dublin on the second.

Our first stop was Rathbarry, where I hadn’t been since the days of Barathea all those years ago.

I was the nominated driver, and the navigation was split between Ed and the sat nav.

Unfortunately we entered the first farm via the muck heap entrance so it probably wasn’t the best start, but we arrived well ahead of schedule and a smiling Niamh Woods was there to meet us.

The ever-youthful Acclamation, who is still covering two a day and is on target for a book of 100, was the first of many stallions planned to see on the trip.

He is a “living start” to a line that is now dominating the sales ring – he looked in excellent condition, as in fact were all the mature horses seen on the trip. A great horse to get the eye in!

Next up was Kodi Bear whom Ed has had luck with buying his progeny at the sales and he was added to our list of horses to breed to – he had the speed, has the scope, is a great mover and quietly gets the job done at a great value price.

We then went an hour up the motorway to Coolmore, we were lucky with the weather as it was a gorgeous, sunny winter’s day.

It is always exciting to visit the stallions on the stud – over the years we have seen Sadler’s Wells and Galileo and, before that, Green God at Castle Hyde; it is a dynasty of stallions many of whom dominate the pedigrees we have today.

First out of the stalls in the top yard was Wootton Bassett. He is an impressive horse and is already continuing his steep rise to stardom.

Camelot was my takeaway from the yard, while I added Australia to my list of “value” sires.

With so many great racehorses in one place its difficult to choose as they do overawe you.

We were then taken on a swift walk to the newly built yard in the old Galileo paddock. The yard is impressive – a beautiful setting of 12 boxes housing yet more of Europe’s outstanding racehorses.

Judging them is like grading greatness. You always must have a takeaway horse, though, and ours was Sottsass – he has let down into a magnificent specimen.

We had a brief look at Prince Faisal’s stock based there and a new foal by Belardo before we moved on.

We were then on the road from Cashel to Ballylinch Stud, and, were amazingly still on time, but decided to skip lunch having had a monster of a breakfast at Heathrow in preparation.

Ballylinch is one of the most beautiful old farms in the country.

First up was Make Believe whose son Mishriff moves toward running in his second Saudi Cup.

Even though I say so myself, Make Believe is a stunningly attractive horse, who had speed.

Rarely are you involved in horses from the beginning, but I was lucky enough to source him at Tattersalls as a foal and then managed him through his racing career.

Prince Faisal has sent 50 per cent of his broodmare band to Make Believe most years and been rewarded with a high percentage of stakes winners – he has also supported his foals in the ring and bought Believe In Love, whom we sold as a yearling.

Jock O’Conner has assembled four stallions at Ballylinch, all of whom were trained by André Fabre.

The horse we were most impressed with at Ballylinch was Waldgeist, who has let down into a fine strong stallion

Ted enjoyed a good lunch at Yeomanstown before viewing the stallions and liked what he saw of Invincible Army

NEXT UP was Ballyhane with the ever-charismatic Joe Foley.

The farm has a great selection of good-looking stallions with Dandy Man topping the ranks – he is now one of Ireland’s most established stallions and has a good crop to run this year.

To judge my concentration we were later tested on the stallions by Joe and Harry McCalmont over a beer in the Lord Bagenal Inn,

a great spot in which to unwind before we headed off back to Cashel to join the Coolmore crowd. We were expected at 6pm but were fashionably late after checking in to Baileys Hotel – the Cashel Palace is closed until March 1.

As expected we went on to Mikey Ryan’s for a late night!

We got up early the next morning to see Donnacha O’Brien at his fabulous training grounds at Longfield and then went on to Darley.

I wanted to see Belardo and Space Blues, who impressed me on Breeders’ Cup Day. However, for me, the take away horse was Teofilio, while Earthlight has strengthened and has improved substantially.

The Irish National Stud was next and Invincible Spirit continues to look youthful, Decorated Knight, in a pivotal year, has all the ingredients to be a success, while Phoenix Of Spain caught my eye. At this point the rugby was looming and it would be harder to visit farms whilst the game was on, but we enjoyed a lunch stop at Yeomanstown with David O’Callaghan, Rolline and children.

The farm’s stallions are like peas in a pod – one after the other and super correct. It was great to see the mighty Dark Angel and I was impressed with Invincible Army.

Rathasker was a quick stop but probably provided us with a view of the best value stallions on the trip, all of whom are speed balls.

Coulsty impressed and looks well-priced at €4,000. Maurice Burns was on hand to personally show the stallions

Last, but not least, was a trip Tally-Ho Stud and it was well worth the drive to Mullingar.

The beautiful stud farm shone through the pouring rain – you still get goose bumps looking at the stallions as you know almost every two-year-old winner in England before Royal Ascot will have been bred on the farm!

Kodiac, ever youthful, was shown by Roger O’Callaghan himself, as were many of the stallions. On arrival a mare was being covered and, as far as I could see, every O’Callaghan was on hand to help, working after the Irish win in the Six Nations. Finally, a big thank you to Noel O’Callaghan, who organised rooms in The Alex in Dublin, and to Ross Doyle for supper after the rugby.

The alarm went off at 5am for a return home in time for sunday lunch, and that was a struggle!

But, the great memories of such a wonderful familyorientated Irish industry, had me smiling on the way to the airport for the 6.40am flight

Thank you Ireland – what a great trip!