DEIRDRE Reilly has serious ambitions for Derryglen Stud; she means business and has bought top class stallions to to serve Irish breeders.

Nestled in the rich pastures of Dunboyne, Co Meath, Derryglen is home to five-star performers Kafka vd Heffinck (Calvaro Z x Diamant de Semilly) and Cocktail de Talma (Baloubet du Rouet x Cento), and it’s only the beginning for Deirdre and her team.

“It was always a dream,” she tells The Irish Field about building up a viable stud and standing stallions. “I was always trying to improve my facilites and it wasn’t until I got the opportunity to buy Kafka vd Heffinck that it became a reality, setting up a top stud.”

‘Kafka’ arrived with Deirdre five years ago and together they have jumped some of the biggest Grands Prix; he was the horse that took her from two-star to five-star competition. He was formerly ridden by Portugal’s Rodrigo Giesteira Almeida and a winner of the five-star Grand Prix in Athens, as well as qualifying for the Tokyo Olympic Games.

“Since I got him, we have been working towards the day when he would fully concentrate on breeding and then we supplemented him with Cocktail de Talma, another top stallion, so we have a really good offering for Irish breeders. I am proud to have two world class stallions based in Ireland and available via fresh semen.”

Having been available frozen for the last few seasons, Deirdre has decided to keep Kafka at home in Ireland this breeding season. “He has taken a break from competition to do the breeding.

“He is 15 and I am serious about having a stud and I understand that they need to get offspring on the ground. I want to see in a few years that there is Kafka offspring and Cocktail offspring jumping around the venues in Ireland. I will probably do some indoors and maybe the World Cup shows at the end of the year with them,” Deirdre said.

Offspring

One rider competing on multiple offspring of the same sire is always a good sign. At Derryglen, there are many Kafka ‘babies’. One is the 11-year-old gelding Derryglen Othello (out of a Bisquet Balou Vd Mispelaere dam), Deirdre’s current top horse who recently jumped at the Global Champions Tour in Doha, finishing fourth in the three-star Grand Prix. “He actually came from Bulgaria,” Deirdre explained.

“He’s incredible. He’s very, very like his daddy, we just hit it off as soon as I sat on him, he is scopey and brave and just so rideable. I have a good few of Kafka’s offspring, several different ages of them because I genuinely just love riding that type of horse.”

As for Cocktail de Talma, his dam, Reggae de Talma, is ranked the best broodmare in the world, according to Hippomundo. “He has an amazing temperament, he’s just gorgeous. Last year, Neal [Fearon, Deirdre’s trainer] rode him a bit and they had some really good results at Spruce Meadows, including fourth in a big five-star 1.60m class.”

Neal Fearon has been training Deirdre for over 10 years now, ever since she switched disciplines from eventing to show jumping.

Deirdre Reilly with Cocktail de Telma at Derryglen Stud in Co Meath \ Lorraine O’Sullivan

Eventing to show jumping

Why the switch? “It just went that way. I always loved show jumping and it wasn’t that I just stopped eventing one day, it just happened naturally. I was working full-time and I found that I like to do things to a very high level; and when you’re eventing, the three disciplines take a lot of time and training. You can’t half do eventing; I was doing it at three-star level, which is four-star now, and there’s no room for not having everything perfect.

“I met Neal Fearon and just found that that was a better way to go, as I got older and life demanded more of my time. It was kind of a natural movement over as opposed to a decision.”

While Neal is based in mainland Europe, Deirdre prefers to keep her horses at home in Co Meath. “I like to take them home after shows because they really enjoy it here. They have their paddocks and a really nice life here. If we go to Europe for a few shows, then they will come back here for a month for a break and go again, I like them to have that balance” Deirdre said as she was preparing to leave for Arezzo, Italy to get some jumping on grass ahead of an appearance for the Scandinavian Vikings at the Global Champions Tour in Madrid next month.

The facilities at Derryglen have been built up over the years from a mere five stables. “It’s been something that I’ve been working on since I was very young. We’ve a really big outdoor arena, indoor arena, loads of turnout paddocks - grass and sand - and stallion paddocks. There is loads of hacking around the farm so the horses have a really nice lifestyle and I think it does their brains good and their bodies good.”

Deirdre Reilly and Derryglen Othello, a son of her resident stallion Kafka VD Heffinck, jumping at Spruce Meadows \ Bart Onyszko

Day job

And, remarkably, while doing it at an incredibly high level, Deirdre is indeed just part-time in horses as she holds the senior position as COO at McGarrell Reilly, a property investment and development business.

How does she manage to juggle both roles? “It’s just focus and time management. It’s not easy but it’s also useful to have to have some extra finances… It would be impossible otherwise, so I’m very glad to be able to do that.

“Remote working has been a game changer for me that I can work while I am away competing. Generally, it’s quiet Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and I can really catch up on my work and then compete Thursday through to Sunday.

“I am based in Ireland, I try to come back to Ireland as much as possible but I can still keep my work going when I am away as well.”

There is a great team at Derryglen Stud from the resident home rider Matthew Morrison, Neal’s father Ian Fearon who does plenty of teaching, and her father Sean Reilly who has been a huge support. On the breeding side, Mary and Gina McCann at Hartwell Stud have been a big help to Deirdre starting out, taking semen from the horses.

“I am setting up all the facilities at home so everything will be will be done here and Mary’s been helping more with the practical side of it and I’m still getting the advice and knowledge for Gina, who will be helping me with the collection.”

Watch this space!