2006 Trainee Views
Ireland - May 2008
Still remembering our fantastic luxury desert experience in Dubai, we travel back to Kildangan Stud in Ireland. We are reintroduced to the Irish thoroughbred industry. Lovely village, beautiful farm and nice people always impress us. We have three rental cars this time which helps us move around independently. The three girls live in a cottage at the farm entrance; Bo, Alex, Jerome and Dean live in Street Cry house; Eden, Brandon, Fabricio, Andrew and I live in Marienbard house. In Ireland, I wonder how the people are so warm hearted and why the weather is so cold. We light a fire every evening in our houses and enjoy the group chatting, watching races or movies on TV.
We were given a stallion show at Kildangan with the new stallions Manduro and Teofilo. Our practical horse handling knowledge and skills are reviewed at RACE before the final verification of the NVQ level 3 qualification. When we look back over the two years, we really have learned a lot and improved in our knowledge about the industry. So many NVQ assignments and work experience during the course have been in preparation for this verification. Thankfully, we all pass and get NVQ level three qualification.
There is a Chinese restaurant with a Karaoke room in Kildare town. Most of us have little experience of this culture from South China. Everybody is pleasantly surprised by stars, especially the two super stars, Brandon and Andrew. We all suggest they make CDs and sell their songs! Shower Karaoke star, Alex, is a rock-and-roll star with amazing dancing. The French star Jerome was disappointed because he couldn’t find a French song, but his rock-and-roll dancing makes him into Elvis Presley. Buff’s (Fabricio) Hero is so authoritative. Eden thinks out a draw order to sing. The ladies like chorus, but Liz likes to sing on her own as well. She sings so beautifully. Clodagh is like a shy girl singing at last with the girls. Dean and I have had Karaoke experience in Japan when we did a placement there last year. So Dean is very confident to use his magic voice with the music. I will never forget big Bo’s song Sha la la, but he does not finish the song before we leave…….
Playing rugby is the main hobby of the group. Jerome is like an active fish in the playing field. Liz is the female star of the game. Fabricio sometimes does general physical exercise beside the playing field. I think he must be the only one audience of our playing. Big Bo has long legs which means he can run so fast. Professional players Eden, Brandon, Alex and Andrew take me, the layman, into the game. Dean is doing his tricky skills to score. It is interesting, relaxing, and lots of fun. Oh, my back, it is broken during the game!
Friendly Monica Gorman instructs us again about the personnel management and interview skills. The trial interviews were so interesting. All of us are interviewed for a job by Joe or Clodagh. And we have a chance to observe other trainees interviews. Fortunately, I get a job as a mare manager in a small breeding farm but with low salary. I watch Eden’s interview which is so good and professional. He gets a good job. Although it is a trial interview, I learn some skills to face the future interview for a good job or find good employees.
Karen Jackson gives us 4 days of lectures about business planning and entrepreneurship. The first and last day is at Kildangan. The second and third days are at UCD business school in Blackrock, Co. Dublin. The drive there was tough, we didn’t know the traffic was so terrible on the M50 highway and the roundabouts are amazingly complicated. When we settle into the lectures, they are challenging and full of new information. Some times some new business ideas flash in my head.
Bobby O Ryan, the Irish blood stock agent tells us his success story, that he works close with trainers to get more clients, more chance to buy horses and more chance to get black type horses. I believe every blood stock agent has their different opinions to judge horses, nobody is wrong. It is a game to buy horses. Eden wants to be blood stock agent, and he gets the key point how to start blood stock agent business form Bobby.
John Osborne and Natalie Cleary’s lectures are so informative for running a breeding farm. The starting and management and finance are talked in our class room. Andrew and Bo’s business plans are about breeding farms. The lectures must be very useful for their business plans. Barbara White and Garry O’Gormans lectures are about marketing racing and last years Irish racing form respectively. The way the Irish racing industry is doing marketing is the best in world. There are more and more people going racing year by year.
Visiting Red Mills and meeting with Michael Connelly is so important for us to understand the horse feed business and the whole horse industry. Michael just got his MBA. He is real business man and understands the industry well. I wanted to take a film of the visit. The other guys always say I’m a spy as a joke!
Curragh and Naas racecourse visits are both about the business plans of the two Kildare racecourses. Through the views of the race courses we can see the future of Irish racing is changing. There will be more advanced race courses with wonderful facilities in Ireland. I visited Dundalk all weather race track. It has user friendly facilities and service. There will be more and more people loving races.
Some guys like to spend weekend in UK as Gina, Andrew, Sarah and Liz. They visit family, friends or go to races.
The whole May is our placement time. Jerome worked in Kildangan in nominations, Liz worked with John Oxx. I did my placement at HRI, because I want to understand the whole racing industry and regulation. Only we three stay in Ireland. Bo flies to Japan to do his 4 weeks placement. All the other guys did their placements in the UK with Mark Johnston, Sir Michael Stoute, Anthony Stroud, Racing Post, Tattersalls and Darley.
For all the staff in Kildangan, Joe Osborne, Jimmy Hyland, James Keogh, Mick Buckley, Eamon Moloney, Celine McEniry, Mairead Hackett, Natalie Cleary, Tom Gallagher, Meta Osborne, Ciara Nolan etc., we commend you on your efforts to make Kildangan a home for us. You have been warm and generous. Friendships have been formed. Special thanks to Clodagh, you make our time in the two years and in Kildangan. The memories will have been always in our hearts. We are looking forward to spreading our wings to play the game in the racing industry in the near future.
Junling Sun
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Liz out on the Curragh with John Oxx and his string while on placement.
Images from the karaoke night:
Junling
Brandon and Alex
Gina, Liz, Clodagh and Sarah
Andrew
William
Dean and Sarah