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He may have had over 50 years in the business but Edward O’Grady is still as passionate about training horses as he’s ever been.

The legendary handler is next to feature in Horse Racing Ireland’s Trainer Open Morning series and will open his doors on September 17.

His Killeens stables, first bought by his father in 1948, remains one of the most picturesque backdrops of any yard in the country.

And he is looking forward to giving the public a chance to experience the world-class facilities in person as the nationwide open morning series returns, particularly after a testing year.

“It is great for us to welcome back the people again after so long,” he said. “It has been quite a trying year so it will be a nice day for us.

“We had a bit of a virus outbreak in May, so we had to leave a lot of horses out on the grass for the start of summer.

 

“But thankfully they are now back in and are in super shape and looking well. The majority of them were winter horses actually, so it probably did them good.

“We’ve got a really exciting crop for the winter and it’ll be nice to show them off.”

For O’Grady, 73, the open morning provides a great opportunity to network. Even if the reputation of such an experienced handler and former champion speaks for itself, he is looking forward to welcoming the racing community back to Killeens.

“I’m not out and about meeting people all the time. So this is more a case of bringing Mohammed to the mountain.

“People will come and see what’s on offer and hopefully enjoy themselves.

“Our gallops are a little bit away from our stables here. So the idea is to bring the people up to the gallops to begin with.

“Then they will watch one lot of horses work, before coming down and seeing a couple of them schooling.

“We’ve also got quite a few lovely young horses that I’ll be showing to them. Hopefully some maybe interested in buying them, but even if not it is an opportunity to follow their careers and see how our horses develop from that age.

“It’s a really great chance for us to show what we do on a day-to-day basis.”

In January, O’Grady celebrated the 50 ^th anniversary of his very first winner in the sport, a remarkable achievement that drew widespread praise from across the racing world.

Closely associated with JP McManus-owned winners, the former champion’s roll of honour through the years is remarkable from Mister Donovan (his first Cheltenham Festival winner) and Blitzkrieg, to Go Roger Go and Time For A Run.

But he hasn’t given up on the winners enclosure just yet as he heads towards a sixth decade in the sport.

“My father probably wouldn’t recognise the place if he saw it today,” added O’Grady. 

“We’ve now got all-weather gallops, huge paddocks, the road infrastructure, it is a completely different place really. But hopefully we’ve retained some of the charm.

“Without a doubt we want people to enjoy the setting as much as seeing the horses and how everything works.”

If you would like to attend Edward’s Open Morning all you need to do is pre-register here.