THISTLETOWN Stud is a family run business in Campile, Co. Wexford. It was set up initially by my parents Jimmy and Eileen Furlong. We now run it together, along with my girlfriend Emily McDonagh, who is a great help to the stud.

As well as helping with the day-to-day duties, Emily is also an Equine Dentist, thus saving us a fortune on teeth bills!

Naturally, given the environment I was born into, I have been around horses all my life. I had a very busy childhood with ponies; starting from lead rein classes when I was still in diapers, to regularly competing in SJI, Pony Club and Hunting with the Wexford Foxhounds.

I have always been interested in racing and when I wasn’t in school, riding sport horses or playing GAA, I was changing my clothes out of my uniform and sneaking into the bookies to watch the racing - especially during Cheltenham week!

A fond memory I have of this, was watching Bobs Worth win the Albert Bartlett in 2011. There was a connection of sorts: as a client and family friend of ours, Godfrey Greene, had his dam, Fashionista.

Another way of avoiding school was the sales’ work; we would sell our stock at the foal sales every year, as well as the odd store horse and any sport horse I would be producing at the time.

Hands on

After I got the Leaving Certificate out of the way, I took a more hands on role at the stud. I bought a few more sport horses each year to produce and sell on as well as breaking in store horses.

I then entered the bloodstock side of things and purchased my first broodmare Rosie Lea. Her first foal for me was Rose of Arcadia (Arcadio) who was sold as a foal to clients of ours. They went on to sell her for £170,000 to Cheveley Park Stud after she won her point-to-point.

That was unfortunately the only foal I got out of the mare, as she passed away the following year. The following January, as I was seeking my next broodmare, my mother found Cool Island for me in Doncaster for £1,000.

She is now the dam of Isleofhopeandreams who was placed second twice in the Irish National and Mighty Thunder who won the Scottish National in 2021. We have gotten a great kick out of watching her progeny develop and progress.

Typical day

No two days are the same on a stud farm. A typical day during breeding season involves anything from teasing/scanning mares, helping the farrier to trim the mares/foals, dosing foals and turning them out throughout the day.

That gets much harder as they get older, as they become more independent from their mother and have to inspect everything they pass. When I can, I do the stores sales for Peter Vaughan’s Moanmore Stables and some yearling sales for Luke Barry’s Manister House Stud.

They’re both very good operators and I have gotten a great insight into the flat and National Hunt industry from them both.

Apart from the sleepless nights, the hardest part of each breeding season is deciding what sire each mare should visit next.

It’s important to think of the bigger picture when choosing a sire. We all want to breed a racehorse but in order to keep the money coming in you need to breed something commercial. So, you need to find the right balance as that can change annually.

The pool of commercial stallions here in Ireland is dwindling when compared to the number of mares being covered each year, which can make it hard to get into these commercial sires on short notice when your mare is ready.

Reap rewards

Putting in all the hours, from foaling the mares in the spring to prepping the foals in October, reaps its rewards when you get sales-topping results, especially as a family-run stud.

Last year in Tattersalls, we sold a smashing Walk In The Park filly out of Catcheragain for €70,000. To top it all off, Catcheragain is a homebred.

We also get a kick out of seeing our clients’ foals sell well at the sales and performing on the track.

Some of the most recent horses we have consigned that have gone on to do well are dual Grade 2 winner Tommys Oscar, Shantreusse, Doyen Ta Win and impressive point-to-point winner DB Cooper.

Churchstonewarrior and Western Walk, both homebreds out of our mare Western Approaches, have won Grade 2s this year under the same trainer Jonathan Sweeney.

The Leopardstown Christmas Festival was a particularly happy time for us, with two homebreds doing particularly well - Churchstonewarrior placed second in a Grade 1 Novice Chase, while later that same afternoon, Green Glory won a strong handicap hurdle for Charles Byrnes.

The foaling and care of the foal from birth to the sales ring can also be very rewarding. One that’s in training with Olly Murphy at the moment that we bred is Ukantango. He was a big foal born and his dam haemorrhaged after foaling.

Luckily, she survived but was poorly for a few weeks and her milk production went backwards so we had to keep the foal topped up with goat’s milk every few hours until the mare was back to her best.

He was always a hungry foal and would drink a bottle in about three seconds so we nicknamed him “The Savage”.

He was only a 5k foal at the sales but he’s now a multiple winner and was second in two Grade 2s this season.

Pay dividends

We’ve been striving to improve our mares the last five years and have a nice band of mares here right now. Hopefully it will pay dividends.

We’ve 12 blacktype mares here at the moment and half-sisters to Grade 1 winners like Katchit, Countrywide Flame and Bravemansgame. The majority of them are sourced from the UK and some from France. However, they’re getting more difficult to buy as everyone is trying to upgrade.

Like any breeder, the ultimate dream would be to produce a Gold Cup winner. However, I suppose we’d settle for a Grade 1 winner for a start!

The main goal of our operation is to keep up quality over quantity. You’re better off with a smaller band of good quality mares, especially these days, as a filly foal with a good pedigree is worth just as much as a colt.

David Furlong was in conversation with John O’Riordan