Ballydoyle is a racehorse training facility located in County Tipperary in Ireland. It is a sister thoroughbred facility to Coolmore Stud, and both are owned by John Magnier, son in law to the racehorse trainer Vincent O'Brien. The current trainer at Ballydoyle is Aidan O'Brien, who succeeded Vincent O'Brien (no relation) in 1995. The current stable retained jockey is Ryan Moore. 52°27′40″N7°49′38″W / 52.46111°N 7.82722°W
After the 1951 Cheltenham Festival, Vincent O'Brien purchased and moved into Ballydoyle, then a 285-acre (1.15 km2) farm ringed by mountains near the village of Rosegreen, County Tipperary. [1]
Vincent O'Brien trained such household names as Nijinsky, Ballymoss, Sir Ivor, Roberto, Alleged, The Minstrel, El Gran Senor and Sadler's Wells at Ballydoyle. There is a bronze statue of Nijinsky at the stables. [2]
Aidan O'Brien has measured up to those high standards by training many known horses, such as Rock of Gibraltar, Galileo, High Chaparral and George Washington.
The recently opened Giants Causeway stable (named after the champion racehorse who was resident at Ballydoyle) is well equipped. Given that the bloodstock is very valuable, security is very tight at Ballydoyle and the yard is not open for visitors.
Nijinsky was a Canadian-bred, Irish-trained champion Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He was the outstanding two-year-old in Europe in 1969 when he was unbeaten in five races. In the following season, he became the first horse for thirty-five years to win the English Triple Crown, a feat that has not been repeated as of 2023. He is regarded as one of the greatest European flat racehorses of the 20th century.
Robert Edmund Sangster was a British businessman, thoroughbred racehorse owner and breeder. Sangster's horses won 27 European Classics and more than 100 Group One races, including two Epsom Derbys, four Irish Derbys, two French Derbys, three Prix de l'Arc de Triomphes, as well as the Breeders' Cup Mile and the Melbourne Cup. He was British flat racing Champion Owner five times.
Rock of Gibraltar was an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse who won seven times at Group 1, including the 2000 Guineas and Irish 2,000 Guineas in 2002. He was at stud in Ireland during the Northern Hemisphere breeding season and in Australia as a Shuttle stallion
John Magnier is an Irish business magnate. He is Ireland's leading thoroughbred stud owner and has extensive business interests outside the horse-breeding industry.
High Chaparral was an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a career that lasted from September 2001 to October 2003, he ran 13 times and won 10 races. His win in the Racing Post Trophy made him one of the highest-rated two-year-olds of 2001. In 2002, he defeated Hawk Wing in the Derby and won the Breeders' Cup Turf. At four, he defeated Falbrav and Alamshar in the Irish Champion Stakes and won a second Breeders' Cup Turf.
Aidan Patrick O'Brien is an Irish horse racing trainer. Since 1996, he has been the private trainer at Ballydoyle Stables near Rosegreen in County Tipperary for John Magnier and his Coolmore Stud associates. He is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest horse racing trainers of all time.
Michael Vincent O'Brien was an Irish race horse trainer from Churchtown, County Cork, Ireland. In 2003 he was voted the greatest influence in horse racing history in a worldwide poll hosted by the Racing Post. In earlier Racing Post polls he was voted the best ever trainer of national hunt and of flat racehorses. He trained six horses to win the Epsom Derby, won three Grand Nationals in succession and trained the only British Triple Crown winner, Nijinsky, since the Second World War. He was twice British champion trainer in flat racing and also twice in national hunt racing; the only trainer in history to have been champion under both rules. Aidan O'Brien took over the Ballydoyle stables after his retirement.
Coolmore Stud, in Fethard, County Tipperary, Ireland, is headquarters of the world's largest breeding operation of thoroughbred racehorses. Through its racing arm, Ballydoyle, Coolmore also has raced many classic winners and champions. The operation, which is currently owned and run by the Magnier family, has been associated with a long sequence of top-class stallions since the 1850s, originally in County Cork, where stallions still stand as part of Coolmore today.
One Cool Cat, was an American-bred, Irish-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire.
Golden Fleece was an American-bred, Irish-trained champion Thoroughbred race horse. In a career which consisted of only four races, he was undefeated, with his most notable success coming on his final racecourse appearance in the 1982 Epsom Derby. In that race he recorded the fastest winning time since before WWII. Sent to stud, the horse contracted stomach cancer and died in March 1984 after only one year's stud duty.
Cape Blanco is an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse who won five Group One/Grade I races between 2009 and 2011. He also won twice at Group 2 level and once at Group 3 level between 2009 and 2010. He was the Irish Three-Year-Old Colt of the Year in 2010 and also the American Champion Male Turf Horse for the 2011 season.
Footstepsinthesand is a retired, undefeated Thoroughbred racehorse and active sire who was bred in the United Kingdom but trained during his racing career in Ireland. He won both his races as a two-year-old in 2004 and won the 2000 Guineas Stakes at Newmarket on his three-year-old debut in 2005. Footstepsinthesand sustained an injury during the race and never ran again, retiring to stud undefeated after a career of only three races.
Camelot is a British-bred, Irish-trained thoroughbred racehorse. He was one of the leading European two-year-olds of 2011 and won the Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster. On his three-year-old debut in 2012, Camelot won the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket and followed up by winning the Derby at Epsom and the Irish Derby at the Curragh. His bid for the Triple Crown failed narrowly when he finished runner-up in the St Leger.
Milan was a Thoroughbred racehorse and sire who was bred in Britain but trained in Ireland. In a career which lasted from October 2000 until May 2002, he ran ten times and won three races. He recorded his most important success when winning the Classic St. Leger Stakes as a three-year-old in 2001. In the same year also won the Great Voltigeur Stakes and finished second in the Breeders' Cup Turf. He was retired after being injured in his only race as a four-year-old and became a successful National Hunt sire.
Minding is a champion Irish Thoroughbred racehorse who was the 2016 European Horse of the Year after winning the Epsom Oaks, 1000 Guineas, and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.
Winter is an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse. She won one minor race from three starts as a two-year-old in 2016, but made considerable improvement in the following spring and won the 1000 Guineas on her fifth racecourse appearance. She went on to record further Group 1 victories in the Irish 1,000 Guineas, Coronation Stakes and Nassau Stakes.
Septimus was an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a racing career which was frequently interrupted by injury he won eight of his thirteen races between September 2005 and November 2008. He showed very promising form as a juvenile, winning the Beresford Stakes and finishing third when favourite the Racing Post Trophy and went on to win the Dante Stakes by eight lengths in an abbreviated three-year-old campaign. At four he won the Mooresbridge Stakes and was then stepped up in distance to take the Lonsdale Cup and the Doncaster Cup. In his final season he won the Curragh Cup and the Irish St. Leger, taking the latter event by thirteen lengths. He was rated the best horse in the world over extended distances in both 2007 and 2008. He was retired to stud but had fertility problems and died on 12 December 2010 after complications resulting from a gelding operation.
Capri is an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse. As a two-year-old in 2016 he won three of his five races including the Canford Cliffs Stakes and the Beresford Stakes as well as finishing third in the Critérium de Saint-Cloud. In the following year he was beaten in his first two races and finished sixth in The Derby before emerging as one of the best colts of his generation in Europe with wins in the Irish Derby and the St Leger. He won the Alleged Stakes on his four-year-old debut but failed to win in eleven subsequent starts and was retired from racing at the end of 2019.
Fancy Blue is an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse. She showed considerable promise as a juvenile in 2019 when she won both of her races including the Listed Staffordstown Stud Stakes. In the following year she finished second in the Irish 1,000 Guineas before winning the Prix de Diane and Nassau Stakes.
St Mark's Basilica is a French-bred, Irish-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. He was rated the best two-year-old in Europe in 2020 when he won two of his five races including the Dewhurst Stakes. On his first run of 2021 he won the Poule d'Essai des Poulains. He went on to win the Prix du Jockey Club and defeat older horses in the Eclipse Stakes and the Irish Champion Stakes.