TO everyone in Irish racing, ‘Headquarters’ means the Curragh.

It’s not just the ‘Home of the Classics’ and nor is it termed HQ just because it is where both the racing authorities are based.

What really makes it special is the 5,000 acres of open space, of which 1,500 acres is maintained daily as part of the Curragh Training Grounds. There are 70 miles of grass gallops, six all-weather gallops, 55 racehorse trainers and 830 horses in training.

The lands are owned by the Minister for Defence and are on a long-term lease to the Curragh Racecourse which manages the training grounds.

These facilities are often labelled ‘world-class’ without any real evidence produced to compare them to, say, what’s on offer at Newmarket or Chantilly. For the record, Newmarket has 2,500 acres shared between 3,000 horses. Chantilly has 5,000 acres and 2,000 horses.

They are all special places for the thoroughbred community and they are not in competition with each other. But the Curragh trainers are adamant that what the facilities they have on their doorstep are second to none.

Gallops upgraded

Their claims have grown louder recently following the completion of a €3.3 million project to upgrade the Curragh’s six main gallops. Incredibly all of this was paid for by Eva Maria Bucher Haefner, the owner of Moyglare Stud.

The work commenced with the woodchip gallop in Maddenstown, then the seven-furlong strip on the Little Curragh, followed by the canter-down, then the Free Eagle, Old Vic and finally the 11-furlong gallop in Maddenstown.

The amount of work varied from gallop to gallop depending on what was required. In the case of the Maddenstown sand and fibre, it involved the removal of the old surface and installation of a new drainage system, foundation and then the new surface. “It was a very comprehensive programme,” said Curragh CEO Pat Keogh.

A sprinkler system was added to the Free Eagle and Old Vic gallops. This was done alongside the installation of a new ring main system for the racecourse and the purchase of a new Briggs system for watering the track, which was grant-aided by Horse Racing Ireland.

This week we spoke to a number of trainers about the improvements and none was more persuasive than Tracey Collins. If she ever tired of training she would make a fine Curragh ambassador. When we called her without warning this week, to ask her about the gallops, she needed no time to gather her thoughts.

“Every day I feel privileged to be able to work and live on the Curragh. It has everything you could possibly want for horses, and the investment Eva Maria has put in has taken it to a new level,” she gushed.

“There’s a seven-furlong woodchip gallop outside our gate, and now we have a new 11-and-a-half-furlong sand and fibre gallop, and that’s just in the Maddenstown area. There’s the Free Eagle, Little Curragh, Flat Rath, Walshes Hill, Stepaside, the schooling grounds, the Old Vic … it’s mind-blowing.”

Collins reckons that many Kildare folk have no idea what’s on their doorstep but notes that a lot of locals from Newbridge and Kildare discovered a bit more of the area during the past few months by taking long walks during lockdown.

Getting back to the gallops, Collins says the daily maintenance of the grounds is top class. “We’re on fresh gallops every day. They are rolled every 30 minutes. Where would you get it? During the worst of the snow and frost the tractor was out 24 hours a day. Now, more than ever before, you can stand over every single gallop on the Curragh and say it is world-class.”

Credit due

Pat Keogh was installed as CEO of the Curragh just 12 months ago and is careful to give credit to all those who worked on the upgrading project before and since his arrival.

“Tony Jones managed the whole project and obviously Fiona Craig was deeply involved on behalf of Eva Maria,” he said.

Keogh describes the training grounds as racing’s best kept secret and he believes it is his responsibility to let people know what the centre has to offer. “We must play our part in increasing the number of horses on the Curragh,” he says. “We need to encourage existing owners to base their horses here and tell new trainers that this is the best place for them to start up.”

The use of the gallops is not free. Owners are directly billed for €380 per quarter for every horse in training on the Curragh. It’s less than a fiver a day for full access to what Keogh describes as “without doubt the best training facilities in the world”.

Keogh wants to get the message out that the Curragh is the ideal spot for a budding trainer to get started. “For someone starting out, the capital cost of installing your own gallops is very expensive, and that’s only the start of it. You have to maintain them as well.”

There are approximately 20 permanent staff maintaining the gallops. Pat Webb has overall responsibility and is assisted by Richard Brophy, Pat Kelly and Shane Gorey.

“The quality and the maintenance are of a very high standard,” said Keogh. “In terms of variety, I don’t think there is anywhere that could match the Curragh for what it has. All of this wonderful work was done thanks to the generosity of Eva Maria.”

Buying or renting a yard on the Curragh is not as expensive as you might think either, thanks to a new rule introduced by the Licensing Committee last year. Keogh explained: “Now you can split a yard, so it’s possible for two trainers to share one premises, as long as they have separate areas from a welfare and integrity point of view. The Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board, and Noel McCaffrey in particular, have been very good to allow this. We are working with the trainers’ association and the owners’ association to promote the new opportunities.”

Michael Grassick of the Irish Racehorse Trainers Association said: “The concept of sharing a yard is to help new trainers who find it difficult to set up their own place. Most yards on the Curragh have a capacity for 40-60 horses but that number is prohibitive for someone starting off. So sharing with another licence holder could be the answer.”