Meet the Trainees - Roisin Hennessy

My name is Roisin Hennessy, I’m 16 years old and I’m from Tinahely in Co. Wicklow. No one in my family is interested in horses but I took a keen interest in them from a young age. I started riding lessons at the age of six and after years of begging I finally got my own horse at the age of twelve. Over the last few years I’ve done a good bit of show jumping with my horse. I always liked looking at the races and going to race meetings, but it wasn’t until later that I wanted to become a jockey. 

I found out about RACE and I loved the idea of the course. I applied for the trial week and I came up for a week in July. The trial week was very tough, you’re competing with some very fit people, so you want to be as fit as you can. We all helped each other get through it.  I waited patiently during the rest of the summer holidays to get a letter from RACE to say if I had got accepted into the Trainee Jockey Course. The morning the letter came in the post saying I was accepted onto the course, I was over the moon. I was delighted that all the hard work paid off and I couldn’t wait to start at the end of August. 

At the start of the course everything was very new to me, from riding the horses and working in the barn to going to the gym every night. I had never ridden a race horse before I came to RACE, so it was a bit challenging for me to start with. I was very nervous riding out on the gallop. I am still trying to improve my confidence and to be more assertive.

Fitness is a very big factor of the course. My fitness has improved a lot since the start of the course, but I am still aiming to increase my fitness levels and push myself to beat my personal bests.  We have fitness classes two days a week with Wayne and we have fitness tests regularly to see how much we are improving.

I got sent out to Ross O’ Sullivan’s yard in the second week of January. I had never worked in a racing yard before, so I was very nervous on my first day.  I absolutely love working in Ross’s and I look forward to going into work every morning. Everyone in the yard helped me settle in so well and I feel like I’ve been there forever. There’re also two RACE graduates working for Ross.

We do several different modules in school in the afternoons such as IT, communications, business calculations and stable and yard routine. At the end of the year we have a QQI Level 4 qualification in Horsemanship.

RACE has been a great experience for me, I’ve learned so much and I’ve made great friends. When I graduate in June I hope to be taken on and remain working in my yard.

Roisin was placed with Ross O’Sullivan on the 14^th of January 2019.

The long straight on Maddenstown Gallops