Course news 22nd - 26th June
First Year Trainees
This was the second last week of the first year’s work placements and many of the trainees have the feeling that time goes much too fast! They continue to learn, develop and gain wide and varied experience at their various locations.
In Argentina, Chance had the opportunity to attend “Las Estrellas” at Palermo, a race meeting which claims to be the Argentine equivalent of the Breeder’s Cup. A great day’s racing was had, Chance reports!
Charlie Vaughan-Fowler experienced the excitement of Zenyatta’s success in the Vanity Handicap at Hollywood Park and gained exposure to dealing the media before and after the race.
Mick Buckley has been developing his business and finance knowledge at Fasig-Tipton as well as researching trends in the horse trade market and improving his office skills and pedigree knowledge. A solid week’s work. Melanie has been developing her leadership skills with the responsibility of farm management and staff supervision.
Second Year Trainees
This week saw the trainees visit Tinnakill House Stud in County Laois and Derrinstown Stud in County Kildare. At Tinnakill House Stud they had a tour of the farm and spoke with the owner, Dermot Cantillon, about the business of breeding and consigning horses. During the visit to Derrinstown they saw the stallions and discussed the stallion business and the breaking in procedure of their yearlings with the stud manager, Jimmy Lenehan.On Tuesday Francis Hyland of the Irish National Bookmakers Association spoke to the trainees at Kildangan about running a bookmaking business and the bookmaker’s role within the industry.
The business plan deadline may have been prominent in the minds of the trainees this week but the prospect of a sporting challenge on Tuesday evening between the trainees and some of the Kildangan staff was too appealing to resist. A fiercely competitive soccer game took place at the Kildangan pitch in which the Kildangan team gave it their all, however it was the Darley Flying Start trainees who came out on top with an impressive winning score of 5-0. None too impressed by the result the Kildangan team requested a re-match which is scheduled to take place next week!
The deadline for completion of the business plans is Wednesday 1st July.