Derek Iceton, who is the third generation of his family to be involved at Tara Stud in Co Meath, has a very apt motto on his mantle that reads: “We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations”.

Nothing could better describe how many independent studs like Tara survived through the devastating downturn that hit early in the new millennium.

As Derek points out, Ireland’s thoroughbred foal crop dropped by almost 40% in the three-year period between 2007 and 2010. Even before the big crash arrived in 2008 investors in this industry were reacting to jitters in the stock market and this had a knock-on effect as Irish thoroughbred foal numbers fell from a high of 12,633 in 2007 to 7,588 in 2010.

In many ways 2010 was seminal in the long history of Tara Stud. Early in that year Derek’s dad, the great Billy Iceton of ITBA fame, died. Within three months his then 49-year-old son felt the full icy blast of the recession when he brought 13 good yearlings to Goffs and sold only one of them.

Devastated

“I was devastated”, he recalls. “I vowed that this would never happen to me again. So I have worked to prevail. This is what we have done at Tara ever since my granddad and dad arrived here in the post-war years of the forties.”

Back in 1946 young Billy Iceton and his dad Tom were working with big Leicestershire land owner Clifford Nicholson. During the war Tom Iceton and Nicholson came over to Ireland in search of good fattening land. In one week they had bought Skryne Castle, Tara Stud and Maher’s farm, all in the shadow of the famed Hill of Tara, totalling 1,000 rich acres.

Going back to medieval times, these lands had been no stranger to the horse. Into the 20th century a mile long stretch of flat land along the old N3 (now N147) was used as a gallop for the Aga Khan’s sprinters.

Soon after his 1,000 acre purchase, Nicholson decided to use it in the furtherance of his passion for National Hunt.

Tom Iceton built 100 beautiful stone stables there and, although still in his teens, Billy was assigned the job of filling them with young stores.

Early in 1946, Billy was dispatched with 22 yearlings and two-year-olds by cattle boat out of Liverpool for Dublin and on from there by train to the old Drumree Station from where they walked the four miles to their new home at Tara.

Prior to being made Stud Manager in the early fifties, Billy was sent to Italy for study with the great Frederico Tesio. His return to Ireland was again by train. But this time it was with Tara Stud’s first stallion Niccolo Dell Arca, who was a good own-brother of Nearco. And thus began the history of some great stallions standing at Tara.

Among them would be the likes of Petorious, Simply Great plus Wolver Hollow and Key of Luck, who were both European Champion sires. At times over the past 60 years there would be up to five stallions standing there. But as the recession began to take hold Derek had no option but to bring that phase of Tara’s history to a close and by 2008 the stallion boxes lay empty. “With a 40% drop in owners it was simply no longer viable even to keep sires for other people”, he notes sadly.

Revival

Although, 2010 had been the low ebb in Tara’s fortunes, it was also the year in which the new sprouts of recovery were rising. One of the yearlings that did not sell for Derek at Goffs became Belmont Mast that won over 700,000gns for Derek.

Also that year, Derek set about upgrading his cattle operation and now has facilities for 800 winter stock.

In the same year, Alhebayeb - a son of the now popular Dark Angel - was born at Yeomanstown Stud. He then went on to be a winning two-year-old under Hamdan Mactoum’s colours. Derek set his eye on him and, working with Diana Hutch, had him syndicated. He now proudly stands at Tara for a fee of ¤5,000. His first crop of foals, sold in 2016, averaged at ¤35,000.

Another Dark Angel, four-year-old Estidhkaar has been syndicated and has joined Alhebayeb in the rejuvenated yard. The two will have 300 coverings this season.

“I always felt I would return to standing stallions. The place felt dead without them,” Derek says. He also notes: “I had a huge duty of care to the fabulous staff of 15 here at Tara to fight our way back.” In particular there are Robert Scarff who has been with them 35 years, 80-year-old Leonard Brennan, who still looks after yearlings, stallion man Michael Tallon and Derek’s own assistant Ivan Clarke.

“We may not be fully out of the woods yet but we will never stop trying” says Derek, who has always fought the battle for independent studs during his two stints as ITBA chair.