Inside Track: No tips on a memorable visit to the O’Brien stable

Keep your ear to the ground, I was told before taking off for a visit to Aidan O’Brien’s Ballydoyle stable. What my friend hoped for was that I’d get the names of a few horses worth following this season.

So off we went on Tuesday last, myself and one of the third generation, who’s a staunch follower of the O’Brien stable.

READ NEXT: Inside Track: The pints were on Parrott, but little else to celebrate on a night of woe

Backs the Ballydoyle runners ante-post and on the day of the races. In fact, if he really fancied one, he’d follow it over a cliff, as they say.

Other times, he’s just happy to go to a meeting to see the O’Brien horses in action, and his day is made even more enjoyable if Ryan Moore is taking the mounts. This was a Christmas present.

It was my second trip to one of the biggest training and breeding establishments in the world.

The last time it was to Coolmore, the breeding wing of the operation. If that was interesting, this was fascinating.

Miles and miles of gallops on surfaces of all kinds, sand, grass and others, all of them meticulously maintained. Manicured, in fact.

The whole estate covers hundreds of acres, and if you were to travel the road that takes in every section of it, you’d clock up about 12 miles.

The 40 or so of us who made up the visiting party were there in the afternoon, which meant we didn’t see horses in action. Gallops take place in the morning.

But on a visit to the yard named after one of the stable’s stars of recent years, City of Troy, we saw last year’s dual Derby winner, Lambourn, being taken out for an evening stroll.

A horse by the name of Albert Einstein, who ran at The Curragh on Saturday last, is expected to follow Lambourn on to the roll of honour.

However, we didn’t get to glimpse that one, but his trainer was there to greet us. And, always the gentleman, the Master of Ballydoyle had a handshake and word for each of us.

The thought crossed my mind as I took in the splendour of the place, the attention to detail, and the supreme breeding of the horses: I wouldn’t want to go there if I was a small trainer, with maybe a half-dozen in my stable.

I’d be asking myself, ”How can I compete with that?”

But then, I might take a more positive look and plan to put into practice the tips I picked up.

As I said earlier, I was looking for tips of the other kind. There was none available, but it was still a memorable outing. My travelling companion was in his element.