2011 Trainee Views
August, Ireland, 2011
After a warm welcome over lunch with Darley management at Kildangan house, the twelve new trainees began settling in to their beautiful new surroundings here at Kildangan Stud. Bicycles were allocated, paper work was completed and initiation lectures were attended as the group quickly found their feet. A stallion show and a couple of stud visits did much to fuel our early excitement, as we marvelled at the beautiful surroundings that laid place to numerous multiple champions; many of which hung from the wall of the homely reception area in Blackhall Stud, one of Darley’s yearling stud farms. ‘Dubai Millennium’, ‘Swain’, and ‘Doyen’ were just three of the many star racehorses to have spent their early days on its lush pastures. Later that afternoon the two Irish trainees, Jack Davison and Stephen O’Connor enlightened the group of their knowledge of the Irish racing and breeding industries by way of presentations followed by a question and answer session.
Our first weekend on the course was an eventful one. We attended racing at the Curragh on Saturday and then took part in a different form of racing on Sunday! There was plenty of good racing on show at the Curragh and Jack did his best to explain to some of the other trainees that ‘undulations’ are common place on most Irish racetracks. However, a much more thorough understanding of the intricacies found on Irish racetracks was achieved the next day, at the 5k Jog for Jockey’s event at Naas racecourse, in aid of the Injured Jockeys Fund. Some of the Darley Flying Start students were seen to‘ tread water’ up the home straight. Thankfully, there were no casualties and all twelve crossed the line although it is fair to say that so many incidences of ‘tying up’ had never been seen on one racetrack ever before!
Week two and we were off to University College Dublin to begin our Equine Reproduction, Anatomy and Physiology module, where we were lectured by leading equine genetics researcher, Dr. Emmeline Hill. A couple of intense computer training days during our I.C.T. module fell in between what was a most memorable day at the Curragh the following Sunday where we witnessed Maybe win the Moyglare Stakes (G.1 for 2yo fillies), in impressive fashion.
The trainees made the short journey to the Racing Academy and Centre of Education (R.A.C.E), near the Curragh on a couple of occasions this week to receive training for a QCF qualification in racehorse care and management. This opportunity was welcomed by the trainees as it was our first hands-on interaction with horses since our arrival. This was also a very well timed exercise as we commence our work placements at Kildangan next week. It was back to the classroom on Friday however for our first assessment in our Equine Reproduction, Anatomy and Physiology module, but tomorrow’s trip to Leopardstown racecourse for the Champion stakes should go a long way in relieving any study stress!
With a schedule littered with words such as: visits, sales, pedigrees, workshops and bloodstock, and a trip to the Arc on the horizon it is not hard to get excited as to what the next two years holds for all twelve of us.
Jack Davison & Stephen O’Connor
The team with Ridgewood Pearl at the Curragh racecourse
Jog for Jockeys 5km charity run
Jim practices lungeing at R.A.C.E.
Tacking up for exercise at R.A.C.E. with instructor
The newly crowned Rose of Tralee with the boys at the Curragh
Tony gets to know the team at R.A.C.E.
Searching for winners at the Curragh