European Exports With Adrian Wallace

[Wandering Eyes]

European Exports is a series where we catch up with people who have left their home countries to make a new life in the racing industry in America. Today, we speak with Adrian Wallace of Coolmore.

KR: Where are you originally from?

AW: I’m from Tipperary in Ireland. My family owns a small stud farm about 20 minutes from Coolmore, so I grew up on a stud farm. I grew up riding–hunting horses, showing horses. My parents are breeders, so that’s how I kind of fell in love with the business.

KR: When did you go to America, and why did you decide to go?

AW: I didn’t really know what I wanted to do when I left high school. So like a lot of Europeans, I took a gap year. I went to school with Tom, MV and JP Magnier, and they suggested I come out here for that gap year. I came for a year and then went back to university in Ireland, lasted three months and pretty much came straight back here to start work again. So I came out here for the first time in 2001 and then came back for good in 2004.

The thing that first made me fall in love with American racing was watching Cigar’s career. I think watching him and his campaign really sort of cemented the fact that I wanted to at least come and experience what the breeding industry and the racing industry was like in America. I remember him winning the Breeders’ Cup Classic, him winning the Dubai World Cup, and that’s something that always stuck in my mind. Him, and Thunder Gulch winning the Kentucky Derby were the things that made me say, ‘yeah, I want to come to America.’

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KR: What do you like about working in the Thoroughbred industry in America?

AW: It’s a very broad industry. There’s a lot going on, especially living in Kentucky. There’s always something to do. It is the center and the heartbeat of the business in this country. The stallions are here. The best racing, in our view, is here. Certainly in the spring and the autumn. And it’s a place that if you’re involved in the business, you either want to be here or you are going to be visiting here enough. I fell in love with the land, I fell in love with the horses here, and I work for the best people in the world, so I couldn’t be happier.

KR: What do you miss about Ireland?

AW: I miss my family, but I go home three or four times a year anyway, so I get to see them quite regularly. We’ve got two kids now, and we’re flying to Ireland in December, which could be interesting. Like anyone, you miss your family. I’ve been living here now for 18 years, so it’s like my second home.

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