Meet The Trainees - Cian Walsh

My name is Cian Walsh. I’m from Co. Kildare and I turned 16 in October 2015. I came to RACE because I wanted to be a Jockey. I started riding when I was five in an equestrian school, doing lessons with my brother and I just got more interested in horses. I did a lot of show jumping all over the country on ponies and then went onto horses, it was great fun! As I got older I got interested in horse racing and really liked it because there are such good horses to be seen racing on TV. Getting to see them in real life you think, it’s great! For example, seeing Sea the Stars on TV and then getting to see him at a racecourse is great.
To get into RACE I had to do a week trial which tested my fitness, how I get on with others and my riding abilities. It was a very hard week that nearly pushed me to the limit. I had to wait a few weeks to hear from RACE and when I did I was very happy to hear that I had gotten accepted into the academy and that I started at the beginning of September. It was hard at first being in a dorm with 4-5 people that you didn’t know but once we started doing activities it’s been very good ‘craic’ and I’ve made a good few friends out of the course.
I have really improved as a rider since the start of the course thanks to the instructors and I have really matured in the year. RACE are good in some ways because if you don’t put in the work you’re not going to get anywhere and if you want to put in the work you’ll succeed as a Jockey or anything else you put your mind to. I hope that I will get a good job working for a top trainer and hopefully be successful.
I commenced work placement at Dermot Weld’s yard in January and it has been a very good experience.

Cian warming up on Curling Bird for Stall Training in January 2016