Kilfrush Stud in Co Limerick to be auctioned with a price of €5.5 million

Kilfrush Stud, an enormous estate in Co Limerick where US President Nixon stayed in 1970, is set to be auctioned in July.

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The 286-acre property, located outside of Knocklong in Co Limerick, boasts an "extensive residence with guest wing, gate lodge, manager’s residence, 2 staff houses, apartment, and 73 boxes with various ancillary facilities provided for the full operation of a successful breeding enterprise."

Ireland's National Inventory of Architectural Heritage says that Kilfrush was built between 1830 and 1840 for Joseph Gubbin by architect Charles Frederick Anderson, and deems it “an important country house within the architectural heritage of County Limerick.”

Unless it is sold beforehand, Kilfrush Stud will be put to public auction on July 24 at the Dunraven Arms Hotel in Adare, Co Limerick. The sale of the estate is being managed by Paddy Jordan of the Limerick-based Jordan Town and Country Estates and has an asking price of €5.5 million.

Jordan told the Limerick Leader: “It is one of the finest estates to come on the market for some time with a classic pedigree having bred over 80 Group and Stake winners.”

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In 1968, Kilfrush Stud was sold by the Gubbin family to Irish American businessman John A. Mulcahy. Two years later, Mulcahy hosted US President Richard Nixon, along with an entourage that included Henry Kissinger, for two nights after campaigning for him during the 1968 presidential election.

Ahead of the President’s visit, the estate was renovated to include a guest wing with "three huge bedroom suites and a leisure complex with swimming pool, gym, hot tub, and sauna.”

In 2010, Zeta Hayes, who was the manager of Kilfrush House during the Nixon visit, told The Irish Examiner: “Even before it we had a lot of security. They came and checked every bit of the house, every wardrobe; they climbed on top of everything and were all over the place.”

“When he actually came himself, we had a secret service man outside his bedroom, a secret service man on the return of the landing, one at each end of the stairs and they changed positions every 15 minutes.”

She added: “They were all over the grounds. In the kitchen, the night of the formal dinner, we had two guys in tasting the food. There were two more guys at the bottom of the stairs leading down to our wine cellar and they were allowing nobody down there.”

In 1978, the estate was sold by Mulcahy to French national Jean Pierre Binet, who converted it into a self-contained bloodstock operation. Since then, Kilfrush has bred over 80 Group and Stakes winners.

During Binet’s ownership of the estate, figures including Princess Caroline, the eldest daughter of Prince Rainier III of Monaco, and Grace Kelly visited Kilfrush.

Current owner Mubarak al-Naemi, a Qatari businessman, has continued the tradition of the bloodstock operation on his estate.

You can get a better look at Kilfrush Stud here:

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