After a relaxing day it’s time to hit the road. We arrived at Tipperary after an hour and 45 minute journey through the beautiful Irish countryside. We were greeted by the most welcoming staff at Cashel Palace. We are very excited about our stay at Cashel Palace, as Emma and Karen made all the advance planning easy.
They took the time to make sure that everything planned at the hotel was right for our group and were very responsive. They set high expectations, and the hotel delivered. We had a quick lunch that greeted us upon our arrival, with many of our partners saying it was some of the best chicken or salmon they have eaten.
Medal partners at Donoghue Pub
With this meal under our belt, it’s time to head to Coolmore. This is a personal highlight for me, as my favorite horse (before the Medal) is the Giants Causeway. I can remember following his exploits in the International section of BloodHorse magazine, a newspaper I received as a gift as a teenager.
The Giants Causeway created my fascination with European races and I have become a Coolmore fan, according to my father. This love of European racing led to a 2005 high school graduation trip to the Epsom Derby, where I bet on every Coolmore horse, including the 100-1 pacemaker, Almighty, that I still feel grief from his father and brother.
We were greeted at Coolmore by Neil McGee, who spent over two hours introducing our team and answering all of our questions.
Our tour focuses on the stallion yard, which is practically the farm itself. We have to see Australia, a personal favorite won the Epsom Derby (G1) at my bachelorette party and started one of the most epic gambling days I’ve ever experienced. We also saw sottsass And black beard . The complex itself has been wonderfully maintained and has four or five different stables. We passed the stallion graveyard, which has been the burial ground for European stallions and racehorses for more than 40 years.
Our tour ends in one of the most distinctive sections, the tourist center, set up to highlight the importance of Vincent O’Brien and Sadler’s Wells. Our team has been able to see countless trophies from Breeders’ Cup wins (I count at least 14), Arc de Triomphe (G1) victories, two Triple Crown titles and countless others. from major level 1 races. A big thank you to the entire team at Coolmore for their wonderful hospitality.
We returned to Cashel Palace to regroup before a wonderfully casual dinner at the Secret Garden (shhh, don’t tell them I told you), and Donoghue’s Pub is attached to the hotel. The food is exceptional, the company and the music even better.
I don’t know the lyrics to “No Nay Never” or “The Auld Triangle” at all, which are obviously Irish ballads, but I’ll definitely learn the lyrics before my next trip to Ireland. Luckily for us, the band played a lot of American hits tonight, too, including “Country Roads,” “Sweet Caroline” and “Friends in Low Places,” to name a few.
Tomorrow is the last day of our trip, and it’s a lot to live for after the first four days.
