Sallymount, winner of the Prix Jacques Le Marois in 1959

When the Aga Khan took over the studs from the estate of his father Prince Aly Khan, his inheritance included six farms in Ireland: Sheshoon, Ballymany, Ongar, Gilltown, Sallymount and Williamstown.

When it became apparent that these land holdings needed to be streamlined in order to facilitate more efficient management, the Aga Khan disposed of Ongar and Williamstown in the sixties and sold Gilltown and Sallymount to Mr. And Mrs. Bert Firestone in 1974. Eighteen years later when Gilltown and Sallymount came back on the market, and now needing more land, the Aga Khan bought them back and sold Ballymany.

Sheshoon, with the incorporation of Brownstown, is the oldest continuously operative stud in Ireland or England and was the first Irish farm purchased by the late Aga Khan. Sir Henry Greer, who was manager of the newly formed Irish National Stud, agreed to manage Sheshoon for the Aga Khan on the condition that he could hire as his assistant Colonel Tommy Peacocke, a man with extensive experience handling remounts in India.

Between them, Greer and Peacocke guided the stud through its formative years and established uncompromising management standards that have been upheld in the intervening sixty years.

The initial purchase of Sheshoon amounted to some 200 acres. Thereafter, the policy was to buy adjoining parcels of land as they became available. Acquisitions included Duggan’s Yard and Brophy’s Yard. The latter was purchased from Miss Tess Brophy whose father remains the only owner to have won the Irish Derby and the Irish and the Irish Grand National in the same year. By the time of his death, the late Aga Khan had expanded Sheshoon to 750 acres. Now the property stand at 1200 acres, the most recent addition being a large portion of Brownstown, acquired from The McGrath Trust in 1988.

Mumtaz Mahal

Gilltown stud is steeped in history and reflects the lore of the past. Gilltown and the adjoining Sallymount are the sites of two ancient forts dating back, respectively, to Neolithic and Viking times. In the 12th century, they were part of a very large land holding which Dermot McMurrough, King of Leinster, presented to the Cistercian monks of Baltinglass Abbey. The monks were displaced in the 16th century when Henry VIII, who had declared himself head of the Church in Ireland, enacted legislation in parliament suppressing the monasteries. By the end of the century Gilltown had passed into the possession of the Borrowes family who had received a baronetage from Charles I. Borrowes' descendants lived at Gilltown into the twentieth century.

Gilltown assumed a new role when it became a stud farm, first under Captain RB Brassey and then Viscount Furness. When the farm was acquired by the late Aga Khan, he retained the services of its then stud manager Georges Smithwick and after his death, Smithwick's widow. Great attention is paid to the overall care and upkeep of these studs. Today Gilltown, Sallymount and Sheshoon are nature sanctuaries with a great variety of wildlife, flowers and rare mature trees. The Aga Khan thinks of these properties as part of Ireland's national heritage and a legacy for future generations.