ted talks
TED TALKS...
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Acclamation: was looking in fine fettle at Rathbarry Stud
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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
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FTER 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,
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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 –
www.internationalthoroughbred.net
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
