by Melissa Boswell

In 2001 I made the expected Aussie trip to the UK. In the months leading up to my departure I searched the Internet and made contact with several different places I wanted to visit - Coolmore, the Irish National Stud, Shadwell Stud, Cheveley Park, Newmarket Racecourse, The Curragh - all the major tourist spots!

After several months of trading emails between England, Ireland & Melbourne, my itinerary was complete.

Then all hell broke loose, a couple of weeks before I was due to depart the Foot & Mouth epidemic hit the UK! I got in touch with all of my contacts again and they assured me that all was okay.

So I headed off, my first month spent in Turkey with a few days at Gallipoli for ANZAC Day the highlight, but that's a different story!

On to Ireland. You hear all of the stories of the 'Emerald Isle', but until you actually go there you can't really appreciate the beauty of the country and the friendliness of the locals. They love Aussies, and I was treated like a long-lost friend wherever I went.

On arriving in Dublin I hired a car and headed to Kildare Town, South-West of Dublin, home of the famed Irish National Stud.

On arrival I was told that the stud was closed due to Foot & Mouth, but I was welcome to have a look at the Japanese Gardens! While I'm sure the Japanese Gardens are lovely, it was definitely not the reason why I was there, which I made very clear to the receptionist.

After a very tense 20 minutes, she returned with Paul, one of the Managers, who offered to show me around the stud!

So off I headed, first to the stallion barn, where they paraded Indian Danehill, Celtic Swing and Ashkalani. Lovely stallions who were in great condition. But when they noticed me continually looking beyond the stallions to the paddocks, Paul asked 'You're really here to see the old boy aren't you', to which I couldn't help but enthusiastically reply 'You bet!'

After a few photos and pats of the stallions, we headed down the laneway to the paddocks, and there he was, standing in the middle of a wet paddock with an even covering of mud - the Melbourne Cup hero of 1993 – Vintage Crop, along with his paddock mate Danolie who was an Irish jumping hero in the 1990s.

So I clambered over some recently tarred fences to give the champ an apple and take some photos. And while I gave him a good pat for his Cup effort and told him how good he was, Paul, our Irish guide, stood back and shook his head with his only comment being 'and you Aussies think we're mad'!

We returned to the office and after thanking the Stud for 'bending' the foot & mouth rules for me, I was required to dunk my shoes in a bucket of 'water' just to be sure, and I was then on our way, making a beeline for Fethard.

Fethard in County Tipperary, is approximately 125km south-west of Dublin, and about 15km from the beautiful town of Cashel. It would have to be the most fertile area I have ever seen, the ground is as black as night and the grass emerald green.

Fethard is also home to the crème de la crème of thoroughbred breeding establishments, the world famous Coolmore Stud. On arrival at Coolmore I had to drive through a 10 metre sprinkler system for Foot & Mouth - and here's a tip to anyone having to do the same – make sure all of your car windows are up!

On arrival at Coolmore, I was met by David O'Loughlin who I had been in contact with from Australia. We walked over the road to the 'stallions' side of the stud past statues of Danehill, Caerleon, Be My Guest, Sadler's Wells and the graves of Golden Fleece and Fairy King.

It's difficult to describe the opulence of the Coolmore set-up - the gates open as you approach, the gardens are meticulous, there is not a pebble out of place on the laneways and every fence, gate and building looks as though it has just been painted. The stallion boxes are the sizes of small houses, glowing white with royal blue doors.

I chatted to the Stallion Manager as the lads got the stallions ready, and first out of the box was Danehill. I'm pretty sure
David had planned it this way as the impact was enormous and when I looked at him he was grinning from ear to ear.

Danehill was smaller than I imagined, but I had been told that not many English horses are as big as our 'colonial' horses. He stood up and just glowed, he had a beautiful, kind eye, and is everything you would imagine he is if you have seen any of his Australian progeny - a deep bay with a star, two white feet, a strong masculine neck, quite short coupled but with quality to burn. He was well behaved and didn't mind having to wait while I changed to our second and third rolls of film.

The Stallion Manager asked what we Aussies thought of him, and was surprised with the glowing reports I gave. At this stage he was yet to hit his straps in the UK and was considered more of a 'bread and butter stallion'.

Next was the 'new kid on the block', Giant's Causeway, who had only just been retired to Coolmore after capturing five consecutive Group One races, also running a gallant second in the Breeders Cup a few months previously.

I asked David if there was any chance of Giant's Causeway coming to Australia, and he replied 'Oh no he's far too valuable for that', to which I said 'Surely he couldn't be more valuable than Danehill, he's a phenomenon'.

With Danehill's recent successes in the UK, and the announcement that he will not be returning to Australia (indeed, his
replacement here being none other than Giant's Causeway), I wonder how David would reply to that question now!

Giant's Causeway or 'The Iron Horse' as he was nick-named, is a striking horse, his coat shines bright copper and he has a large crooked blaze down his face. With his two stockings, he is a well muscled, strong and correct colt and he still looked as though he could step out at Ascot and give them a fright.

He strutted out of his box with the arrogant swagger of a prizefighter - he knew we were there to see him and was revelling in the attention. He was a bit colty but still was more than happy to endure our pats and photos. I was personally rapt to see him come to Australia last season, and hope he lives up to his performances on the racetrack.

After the brash glamour of Giant's Causeway, it was like someone had put on a cool jazz song when Sadler's Wells was presented. He was the epitome of a stallion, very masculine with a strong thick neck. Even though he was then 20 years old, he was a very athletic horse with excellent muscle coverage throughout. A strong bay with a lovely face and long blaze which extends down over his bottom lip, he also has two white hind feet.

In Europe Sadler's Wells is the equivalent of a Star Kingdom - an excellent racehorse who has really excelled as a sire producing close to 200 individual stakes winners. He was probably my favourite, so very laid back- he has obviously done this hundreds, if not thousands of times. He has a cheeky personality, even trying to give me a little love bite when I was holding him!

After meeting the three leading men, we were then introduced to the rest of the Coolmore cast, with a roster of 25 stallions just at the Coolmore Ireland stud, you'll understand why I'm not giving them all their own paragraph!

From the stallion barn I was driven around the stud, meeting the two Clydesdale foster mums who take on any orphan foals. Beautiful gentle giants they were both grazing quietly while a paddock of ten boisterous young foals gallivanted around them. I was then introduced to some of the better known broodmares, including the dams of several superstars with their new babies.

On returning to the office, I was loaded up with videos, posters, magazines, books, caps and jackets - and an open invitation to return at any time. I'm counting the days!

On bidding Coolmore farewell, I headed to Ballydoyle to be mesmerised by the Aidan O'Brien team and on to the Curragh to see the new Cup wizard Dermot Weld in action.

Then it was to England where I rounded out my thoroughbred experience with a day long visit to the Racing Museum in Newmarket, a tour of Cheveley Park and Shadwell Stud and time at the stables of trainer William Haggis, son in law of Lester Piggott. A trip of a lifetime, and hopefully the first of many.