Beacon Hill

Facilities

STABLES

All our stables are modern, bright and well ventilated. To ensure maximum safety they have rubber floors and rubber on the walls to a height of 4 feet. The environment of our stables is monitored on a bi-monthly basis by the Irish Equine Laboratory to ensure a clean and healthy environment for the horse. They also carry out checks on our water, hay and feed.

HILL GALLOP

The main gallop is a four-furlong uphill gallop with a woodchip surface. The gallop rises 215 feet over its length. We use this gallop to do the majority of our work. It is a very safe gallop, and due to the incline we get very few injuries.

CIRCLE GALLOP

Our three-furlong circular gallop has a polytrack surface which is used for long, slow, steady work or for easy work when a horse is fully fit.

HORSE WALKER

The eight horse hydraulic walker with has a 58-foot diameter walk way, this is used to warm up prior to exercise and for cooling down post-exercise.

TURNOUT PADDOCKS

We have ample turnout paddocks where horses are turned out for a few hours every day, weather permitting. This allows them to relax and switch off.

SWIMMING POOL

The swimming pool is an essential part of our training regime. Our state-of-the-art pool allows a horse to swim in a straight line for any length of time. This is achieved with the aid of powerful underwater jets, which the horse has to swim against.

COLD WATER HYDRO-THERAPY UNIT

The cold water hydrotherapy unit, or spa, is used as both a preventive and a healing aid. Water is chilled to 3 or 4 °C, sea salt and epsom salt are added to provide maximum healing benefit. It is also an extremely useful training aid – it is as important for a sound horse to treat tired or jarred legs as it is for a horse recovering from an injury.

WASH BAYS

All our wash bays have rubber floors to prevent slipping. All horses are washed down post-exercise. The water temperature is automatically controlled, which allows us to wash down with warm water in cold weather or slightly cooler water in hot weather.

WEIGHING MACHINE

We weigh all horses on a weekly basis, and also before and after each race. This enables us to monitor the condition of each horse and make any adjustments to their training regime or diet, if required.

CCTV AND SECURITY

The majority of our stables are monitored by CCTV. The two main yards and the perimeter are also covered. However, our two trusted guard dogs provide ample security during quieter times!

SCHOOLING FACILITIES

We have grass schooling facilities over both hurdles and fences. During summer months we school on our all-weather gallops and also use the Curragh schooling grounds. We have our own 3-bay starting stalls where young flat-bred horse are taught to “break” from the starting stalls prior to starting their racing career.

WOODSTOWN BEACH

We are lucky to be located a short distance from Woodstown Beach in Co. Waterford. This beach is located in the Waterford Estuary; it is approximately one mile in length. Horses are brought here for a change of routine. The horses enjoy having an easy canter along the beach, a walk in the water and getting down to have a roll in the sand.