Full steed ahead for open day at Charlestown Stud

Charlestown Stud Mullingar is among a number that have partnered with Horse Racing Ireland to host an open morning for racing fans.

The open day is Saturday of this week, September 3, from 10am to noon, when guests can enjoy a tour of the grounds, meet and greet the star horses and take part in a Q&A with winning trainer Ciaran Murphy.

Mr Murphy said: “We’re opening up our yard for horse owners and potential horse owners who want to see our facilities and all the horses we have in training.

“It’s a great opportunity to see our winning horses and see what we do here. There will be plenty of refreshments too.

“We have horse owners from around the country coming, but we’d love to see the people of Mullingar join us on the day.”

Ciarán and his team are working hard to make this event as enjoyable as possible for people considering this is the first major event at the stud since before Covid.

He said: “Between Covid and everything, we didn’t get a chance to host something like this but Horse Racing Ireland are promoting trainers to have open days now – which we think is great.

“We’re hoping to get some good feedback from it and hope that the owners enjoy seeing their horses here and as well, we hope our guests enjoy their visit.”

“All our horses will be on display during the few hours. The most high profile one will be Enjoy D’allen, who went to Aintree this year, he’s owned by JP McManus.

“It didn’t work out for him then, but we think he’s going to be a smart horse for us this year.

“There are a nice mix of horses in the yard because we’re dual purpose, we’re half flat and half jumps. So, that will be interesting for people to see, no doubt.”