MEMBERS of the public will be invited to get a taste for thoroughbred racing and breeding when a new €3.2 million tourist attraction opens at the Irish National Stud next year.

The Irish Racehorse Experience will allow visitors to immerse themselves in the sport by choosing, training and racing their own virtual thoroughbred using state-of-art simulation technology which has never been used in Ireland before.

Building will start this month and the attraction is due to open in spring 2020. Fáilte Ireland has committed €2 million to the project.

INS chief executive Cathal Beale said: “This project is on the go for about three years and goes right back to a vision Michael Osborne had for the stud in the 1970s.

“It will be built in part of the Tully paddock on a greenfield site, currently home to our living legends, Beef Or Salmon, Hardy Eustace, Hurricane Fly, Kicking King, and Rite Of Passage. The last part of the Irish Racehorse Experience - ‘Life After Racing’ - will feature a glass wall viewing the paddock and the living legends will be there in a reduced space but still the stars of the show.

“The Experience can be enjoyed by everyone, the general public, not necessarily only those with an equine background in a fun and interactive way. It is an celebration of these amazing animals and the people who look after them.’’

The project’s aim is to significantly enhance the stud’s standing within Ireland’s Ancient East as part of its ‘The Sport of Kings’ theme.

It is hoped that that visitors to the Curragh Racecourse and its proposed racing museum will also take in this new attraction at the INS.