13 May 2008

A group of students from the BSc2 class who are studying a module entitled ‘The Thoroughbred Industry’ had an early start, in order to visit the headquarters of Irish racing at the Curragh.

An old friend to successive groups of students at Enniskillen Campus, Mr Seamus Gibson of the Turf Club, had kindly invited them to have a look at the training grounds and the work of the Turf Club in regulating and administering racing.

On arrival, the students enjoyed a welcome cup of tea and then it was straight outside on a windy morning to meet Pat Kelly, one of the staff who looks after the historic training gallops on the Curragh. Pat showed the students the grass gallops and explaining that these had been maintained in similar fashion for 150 years! Then the students looked at the impressive range of all - weather facilities.

Afterwards, the group had a look inside the weigh room at the racecourse and then inspected plans for a 100 million Euro modernisation of facilities!

Back to the Turf Club headquarters and Sandy Shaw, one of the National Hunt handicappers, explained in detail how he reviews and rates horses - students found this fascinating.

Lorcan Wyer, one of the Stipendiary Stewards was just back from Tipperary where he had to call off a day’s racing on account of the ground. Lorcan, who was a very successful jockey for many years in England, explained his role in overseeing individual races and how he advises stewards on the fair application of the Rules of Racing.

In the afternoon, a visit was made to the new offices of Horse Racing Ireland at Ballymany. Everyone was highly impressed with this state of the art building. In the boardroom of HRI, David Wright explained the functions of HRI and then Martin Murphy, a man with a truly encyclopaedic knowledge of the racing game, showed the students how horses are entered and finally declared for races.

This day was a unique experience and gave students a look into the backroom work of a very forward looking and modern industry

If you are interested in becoming a student at Enniskillen Campus, please contact our team by e mail enquiries@cafre.ac.uk or Freephone 0800 0284291

Pat Kelly (right), of the Curragh racecourse, shows the training grounds to the students

Sandy Shaw, National Hunt handicapper, discusses his work with the group of students from Enniskillen Campus

Lorcan Wyer, stipendiary steward with the Turf Club, meets the students

The students at Horse Racing Ireland headquarters