2007 Trainee Views

March - June 2009

With Dubai in our rear view mirror all 12 of us returned to Kildangan which brought with it a sense of completion. We embarked on completing our NVQ qualification which culminated in a practical exam with Laura Whitehouse from the British Racing School which thankfully went smoothly. The next 4 weeks comprised of excellent industry lectures from John Osborne, Barbara White from HRI, Con Marnane on the Breeze Up business, David Marnane, John McStay, Bill Dwan on the consignment business, Andrew Coonan on legal issues in the thoroughbred industry and a visit to the hugely impressive Red Mills processing plant at Goresbridge, Co. Kilkenny where we met Michael Connolly. The group also travelled to the Smurfit Business school to attend an Entrepreneurship course with Karen Jackson. Our visits for the remainder of the course will focus on entrepreneurs within the Irish thoroughbred industry which all helps with our business plans that we are busy working on at present.

The group managed to squeeze in seeing Solwhit winning the Champion Hurdle at Punchestown on the Friday before heading off on work placement for 4 weeks in May. 9 of us departed for the UK, Jordyn and Cathal stayed local at HRI and John Oxx’s respectively, while Mick ploughed a lone furrow to France to Arqana. The UK based contingent took in the Newmarket Guineas where Sea The Stars and Ghanaati claimed their respective accolades. It was a superb weekends racing and a great introduction to 4 weeks in the UK. Jana trekked north to Mark Johnston’s yard at Middleham, while the remainder stayed in Newmarket with Kyle going to John Gosden, Leif to Sir Michael Stoute, Jason to Darley veterinarian Andrew Edgar, Andy to Michael Jarvis, Darren to Tattersalls and James to William Sporborgs Breeding Capital where he demonstrated his insatiable ability to crunch data. However the prize for the coolest placement to date goes to Liam Howley who spent 4 weeks living the high life of a racing manager placed with Angus Gold from Shadwell. A big thanks goes out to all our placement hosts for making our 4 weeks a truly memorable and fantastic learning experience.

A 3 day tour of the French racing and breeding industry awaited with the group reconvening in Ireland briefly before joining with Clodagh and embarking on our piece de resistance! Day 1 saw us racing at Chantilly for the day in its idyllic surroundings before a fantastic meal at the Dolce hotel in Chantilly. Day 2 encompassed a tour of Freddy Head’s training facility with Goldikova and Naaqoos posing for added emphasis, followed by visits to Andre Fabre and Alain De Royer Dupre. This was a memorable tour with all trainers generously giving up their time to discuss their training methods and views. That evening we all loaded up into the minivans and migrated to Deauville where we had a tour of Arqana with an excellent presentation from Eric Hoyeau and Olivier Delloye. This was a followed by an evening meal with Eric Hoyeau, George Rimaud and Marilyn Charlton from FRBC. The final day included a trip to Haras D’Etreham where we received a historical tour surrounding world war two and the storming of the beaches at Normandy in addition to viewing last year’s Poulains winner Falco strut his stuff. Our second port of call was Haras Du Mezeray where we discussed current issues facing the French breeding industry. Our French was a little rusty, “Mange tous – he who dares Rodders!” It definitely improved for the trip but it’s just a pity we didn’t have to find a library (Ou est le bibliotheque???)! All in all it was a spectacular visit with awe inspiring countryside and quaint periodic architecture straight from a novel.

We are now on the home straight with our respective business plans our last major assignment before graduation. As a group we are focusing on new products or services to the industry which is proving a great learning curve. There are a few budding entrepreneurs in the group and it will be interesting to see which ones come to fruition down the road as we embark on our careers in the thoroughbred business.

Darren Fox

Click here for a list of all 2007 trainee views

Ian Tapp