Meet the Trainees - Robert Meehan

Hi, my name is Robert Meehan. I’m 16 and I am from county Galway. I’m not from a horseracing background but we first got ponies when I was about 4 or 5 years old, so I’ve been riding for quite some time. I started watching racing from a young age as my brother started riding out in a local yard, I never did any show jumping but I did small bit of hunting.

I have wanted to be a jockey since I started working weekends and during school holidays for trainer Iggy Madden. I was 13 years old when I started there and that’s where I first rode a racehorse.  When I was 14 years old, I went to Newmarket in England. My father had been working in Newmarket at the time and my brother was riding out there. I spent that summer with Denis Quinn who taught me loads and took me racing all the time. I also did a bit of pony racing the following summer, but I didn’t have any luck.

I then went to Johnny Murtagh’s on my Easter holidays the following year and spent the summer with Johnny. Johnny was great and like Denis he also taught me loads. I always looked up to Johnny from when I started watching racing as a young lad.

 I was happy to be excepted into RACE and thankful for all my parents have done to get me here. I have learnt a lot since I have started here in RACE, the instructors and other staff have been very helpful. I was sent out on work placement to James Nash on the 19th of November. James is great for giving me opportunities and I am enjoying my time there. I hope to take out my conditional license when I leave RACE, if all’s going well.

Robert was placed with James Nash on the 19^th of November 2018.

The long straight on Maddenstown Gallops

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