The Curragh and the Irish Derby
The town of Kildare has had a long connection with horses and the equine sporting world. The surrounding lands have been associated with equine activity since the third century, when chariot races took place on the plains. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries war horses belonging to the Knights of Malta were bred in the region. By the late eighteenth century the legacy was cemented when the Irish Turf Club, the governing body of Irish horse racing and proprietor of the Curragh Racecourse, was founded in the battered coffee houses of the town. To this day, horses remain important in this part of Ireland, considered to be the spiritual home of Irish horseracing.
The Curragh of Kildare (also the name of a popular Irish folk song, which is often heard sung from the terraces of the racecourse at the Irish Derby) is an area of public land of just under 5,000 acres. Home to rare birds and plants, it is a popular destination for botanists and ecologists, and you might even spot the odd Mel Gibson fan roaring across the grassland; some of the iconic scenes from Braveheart were shot here. But, perhaps more popularly, it is the centre of Ireland’s racehorse breeding and home to the Curragh Racecourse, Ireland’s most famous horse racing venue.
The most popular Irish race meet, the annual Irish Derby, has been run at the Curragh Racecourse since 1866, and since then, the majority of Ireland’s most prestigious horseracing events have taken place at this esteemed venue. The Derby, at the end of June, provides a perfect day on which to soak up a healthy dose of local culture by dressing up, enjoying a few shorts of Bushmills Irish whiskey and losing – or winning – a Euro or two at the bookmakers.
Close to the racecourse is the Irish National Stud, opened in 1900 by an eccentric Colonel by the name of William Hall-Walker,. Hall-Walker, who later became Lord Wavertree, took inspiration from astrological charts when selling on his foals and believed his animals should be touched by moonbeams and sunlight, and therefore insisted that skylights were installed in their stables. His superstitions evidently left a positive mark on the place and the stud boasts an extensive list of past worldwide classic winners as ex-residents.
The Horse Museum which tells the story of Ireland’s long love affair with horse racing, and horse racing’s love affair with Ireland even houses the skeleton of Arkle, the champion steeplechaser who won numerous cups during his career, including the Cheltenham Gold Cup on three occasions. The area has produced so many winners that it is unsurprising that one of the country’s most important bloodstock sales is held in the nearby village of Kill.
Quietly tucked away from the equine world but found on the same estate as the stud are two tranquil gardens: Saint Fiachra’s and the Japanese Garden. Saint Fiachra’s garden was designed by award-winning landscape architect Martin Hallinan in 1999, as a commemorative garden to St. Fiachra (fittingly, the patron saint of gardeners). With a landscape of rock and water, it was inspired by the Irish monastic movement in the sixth and seventh centuries and makes a feature of monastic cells of fissured limestone, surrounded by rippling streams and pools. The Japanese Garden is much older, created almost a century before, between 1906 and 1910. Its layout symbolises the ‘Life of Man’ and the garden is considered to be one of the best Japanese gardens in Europe: a perfect place to soothe a hangover or contemplate a misjudged bet from race day.
courtesy of the Curragh Racecourse’.
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26-04-2011
