By Noel O’Driscoll
THE Irish National Stud celebrated its reopening after the winter break with a naming ceremony for the first foal born in the foaling season.
The first foal of the year born at the Irish National Stud on 19 January is a grey filly to first time mum Dreamaway. The filly is steel grey, like her dad Verglas was, and has a perfectly formed love heart on her forehead. The Irish National Stud launched a competition on Twitter for their followers to post suggestions to name the foal. The final five suggestions were put forward for mum Dreamaway to decide. Five buckets with the name suggestions were laid out in a line. The names were Frozen Thoughts, Heart of Kildare, Heart of Verglas, Heritage Island and Jukkasjärvi (the name of a Swedish ice hotel).
Irish National Stud CEO John Osborne explained the process. “We were closed from November to last Sunday when we opened again. We now have eight foals on the ground. The first of these foals was named during a naming ceremony last Wednesday and we called the filly Heritage Island. We held a competition on Twitter to find a name for the foal. The stallion Verglas, who we lost last year, sired the foal. Verglas means slippy in French and we got a number of suggestions relating to ice, as well as suggestions relating to the visit of the Queen. We put five of the best suggestions on five different buckets and the mare picked the name for her foal by picking a bucket.”
Local school children from Scoil Bhride Naofa Primary School adjudicated.
Sinead Hyland of the Irish National Stud said: “Spring is an exciting time of the year for the Irish National stud. We opened for the season to the public on Sunday 12 February and, for the first time, will have free pony rides. We also have some equine superstars in Moscow Flyer, Florida Pearl and Vintage Crop, who are a great hit with people visiting the stud. All the usual attractions are here including the museum, the Japanese Gardens, our café, the award winning St Fiachra’s Gardens, and so on. The foal, now named Heritage Island, will be reared at the Irish National Stud and will be on view to the public. Season passes are also available, so you can visit her all year round.”
For further information, log on to www.irishnationalstud.ie.