Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Today, a tour of the grounds at the Irish National Stud gives you a fuller appreciation
for the amazing horses that call this place home. Animal lovers and horse-racing fans driv-
ing between Dublin and Galway can enjoy a couple of hours here, combining the tour with
lunch(insidethedecentcafeteria oratapicnictablebytheparkinglot)andastrollthrough
the gardens.
Cost:
€12.50 includes guided tour of the Irish National Stud, plus entry to Japanese Gar-
dens, St. Fiachra's Garden, and Horse Museum.
Hours:
Daily Feb-Oct 9:30-18:00, Nov 9:30-17:00, closed Dec-Jan, last entry one hour
before closing, 30-minute tours run 3/day at 12:00, 14:30, and 16:00, tel. 045/522-963,
Getting There:
From M-7,
drivers
take exit #13 and follow the signs five minutes south
(don't take exit #12 for the Curragh Racecourse).
Trains
departing Dublin's Heuston
Station stop at Kildare town (1-3/hour, 45 minutes,
www.irishrail.ie
)
. A shuttle bus
runs from Kildare's train station to the National Stud (2/hour), or you can take a taxi
(about €12-15). One
bus
departs Dublin's Busáras Station Monday through Saturday
at 9:30 and returns from the National Stud at 15:45. On Sunday, two buses run, depart-
ing Busáras at 10:00 and 12:00, with returns at 15:00 and 17:30. Confirm this schedule
at the bus station in Dublin.
The guided tour begins in the
Sun Chariot Yard
(named for the winner of the 1942
Fillies Triple Crown), surrounded by stables housing pregnant mares. A 15-minute film of
a foal's birth runs continuously in a stall in the corner of the yard.
The adjacent
Foaling Unit
is where births take place, usually from February through
May. The gestation period for horses is 11 months, with 90 percent of foals born at night.
(Inthewild,amareandherfoalbornduringthedaywouldhavebeenvulnerabletopredat-
ors as the herd moved on. Instead, horses have adapted so that foals are born at night—and
are able to keep upwith the herd within a few hours.)Eccentric Colonel Hall-Walker noted
the position of the moon and stars at the time of each foal's birth, and sold those born un-
der inauspicious astrological signs (regardless of their parents' stellar racing records).
From here, you'll pass a working saddle-making shop and a forge where horseshoes are
still hammered out on an anvil.
At the
Stallion Boxes,
you'll learn how stargazing Colonel Hall-Walker installed sky-
lights in the stables—allowing the heavens maximum influence over the destiny of his
