IF the success of last year’s inaugural ITM Irish Stallion Trail can be measured, then the addition of new studs to the list of those opening their doors this year is one yardstick. For the first time, the Northern Irish stallions September Storm and Conduit, based at Ballyash Stud and Tullyraine House Stud respectively, will be available to view as part of the Trail, while in the Republic, Bridge House Stud, Coolballyshan Stud, Garryrichard Stud, Grange Stud and The Beeches Stud will be welcoming new visitors for the first time.

Last year saw over 2,000 people pour through the various gates around the country over the three days and a great many of those were non-professionals who were gaining their first behind-the-scenes glimpse into the thoroughbred industry. We can only hope that some of those might be returning as professionals themselves this year.

SHOWCASING INDUSTRY

It’s a good time to question how others view our industry – is it a sport, a business, a rich man’s hobby or a gambling medium? It can be all four, and a poor man’s hobby, too, but to engage outside interest we can’t afford to muddy the waters. Presenting the industry at grass-roots level, from working farms showing a single stallion up to the might of Coolmore, we are making it accessible to everyone, whatever their interest in thoroughbreds, and showcasing it at its simplest and best.

Indian racehorse owner Kishore Mirpuri once told me: “When I meet with people new to racing I thrust a catalogue in their hand! I start by showing the damline and how to read a catalogue. There are only a few stallions, with lots of representatives, but it’s the bottom half of the pedigree where tradition is built. Once you can understand a catalogue, you can understand the traditions of the sport and the great names and races.”

And that’s where my own lifelong passion began – following a champion horse and learning the history of the sport through his pedigree, his ancestors and the races they won, which are still part of the Pattern today.

The ITM Irish Stallion Trail seems the ideal first step for anyone wishing to get involved. We may think the sport and its jargon complicated, but a pedigree and the continuation (mainly!) of the Pattern system is all a newcomer requires for a whistle-stop education and instant engagement. Engagement. Not just a passing interest driven by a result.

Looking back on 2015, ITBA Chairman Derek Iceton, of Tara Stud, seems to share this wider view of the Trail when he says: “The ITM Irish Stallion Trail is an excellent event in a couple of ways. It makes the bigger farms more accessible to the smaller breeder and interested people who one day might become breeders but probably more importantly it opens our doors to the wider public. “If the industry is to ask Government for funding etc then we must show the employment and investment possibilities and the benefit to the economy at large of what we do.”

The ITM Irish Stallion Trail is a showcase for the industry, but a business opportunity, too, and last year, for example, Kildangan Stud’s stallion Helmet gained six mares from one visiting breeder as a direct result.

Earlier this week, managing director Joe Osborne said: “We were delighted with the success of the 2015 Stallion Trail and very much look forward to participating again this year. It is an ideal opportunity for us to showcase the stallions which have recently returned from Australia as well as the new additions to our roster Night Of Thunder, Fulbright and French Navy. ITM do a great job promoting the initiative to Irish breeders as well as internationally. As well as helping sell stallion nominations it is an ideal way to promote the breeding side of our great industry.”

Is it possible to attract professionals and non-professionals simultaneously? “We are looking forward to participating in the second running of the Stallion Trail,” said Madeline Burns of Rathasker Stud during the week. “Thoroughbred racing is an entertainment sport; the Trail enables visitors to understand the industry from a grass-roots level and hopefully will encourage new breeders, new owners and new racegoers.”

IRISH NATIONAL STUD

Last year Sinead Hyland and her team at the Irish National Stud kept a record of who came through the gates during the Trail and estimated that 70% of those who visited were breeders and 90% of those were Irish. “Even the people you least expected turned out to be breeders or potential breeders,” she pointed out at the time.

The fact that you never quite know what affect your hospitality will have might be seen as a negative to some stallion masters but is also a rewarding positive when it pays off. Joe Foley of Ballyhane Stud commented: “It gives a chance to someone interested in getting involved in the industry, but without connections and possibly intimidated from making an appointment to go round a stud alone, to come and view the stallions and talk to a stud owner and other breeders without any pressure.”

He added that one young man who came to Ballyhane Stud during the 2015 Stallion Trail appeared likely to become a pinhooker as a result.

The beauty of our sport, as opposed to any other sport or pastime, is the many and varied options it offers for involvement and the racecourse, the only real access point for most people, isn’t the best place to advertise this. The stud farm is the birthplace and nursery of every racing dream and it’s fitting that a wider audience can now be invited in.

NH STUDS

The smaller studs away from the main centres, and National Hunt studs in particular, failed to see quite as many of the 2,000 visitors as the famous flat studs and that is something the industry as a whole needs to work on. If individual new business arises as a result, all well and good, but the ITM Irish Stallion Trail should be a weekend to benefit everyone in the longer term.

“We have to make sure this becomes a proven event and get more people in and showcase more stallions,” insists David Stack of Coolagown Stud in Fermoy.

“It’s a hard thing to do, to get people in, especially if they don’t know what’s going on – breeders who don’t know which studs are included, local people who know nothing about the industry but are prospective future clients if we do it right. The local papers throughout the country have to be brought in on it as well, well in advance, as last year there were still people who were unaware our own stud was involved. If we can get people in the gate and talk to them, after that I can see it working well.”

Final word must go to Sarah Gavin of ITM. “The inaugural ITM Irish Stallion Trail was a great success beyond all our expectations,” she says. “There was a good mix of breeders, owners and racing enthusiasts viewing the stallions, with visitors coming from Britain, China, Japan, France, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Belgium and Sweden. There has been a huge number registering since before Christmas and it is very encouraging to see so much interest from overseas breeders. ITM would like to thank all the stud owners for opening their doors again this year.”

To read more exclusive articles about the ITM Stallion Trail, please click here.