Meet the trainees - Ciara Murphy

Hi, my name is Ciara Murphy, I’m 16 years old and from Kilcormac Co. Offaly I have always had an interest in horses. I first sat on a horse when I was 6 years old.  Before I came to RACE I had hunted a lot and took part in dressage, show jumping and cross country.

A normal day in the barn would start at 7 am, I get dressed and go down for breakfast. Then we go down to the pool room at 7.50 am and go down to the barn at 8 am. We then go into the tack room, look for our lots and go muck out the boxes. We tack up our lots and ride out. After that we do jobs around the barn and finish at 12:30 pm. The lads down in the barn are very helpful and can teach you a lot.  They can have a laugh with you too especially with Niall Byrne and his jokes!

I first heard of RACE through a graduate of RACE. He really recommended the course so I said it to my Mam and she was delighted I was going to do something, because I was never great at school and I was in my element applying here! So, we came for the Open Day and I knew that RACE was where I want to be.

A day at my yard from work placement starts 7 am and the horses are fed and all their temperatures are taken. A few horses are put on the walker and we tack up our first lot and ride out on Maddenstown gallop. After all lots are ridden, we do a few jobs around the yard like haying, feeding and all that. My yard has given me great experience since I went out there.

 Ciara was placed with Tracey Collins on the 22^nd January 2018

Training on RACE Gallops

Meet the trainees - Sean Byrne

H!  My name is Sean Byrne. I am 16 years old and from Maddenstown Co. Kildare. I have been riding horses for about 6 years. I started Showjumping 5 years ago and I am hunting about 3 years also. I have been involved with Racehorses for 2 years and I currently work for Jessica Harrington. I have wanted to be a jockey from a young age. I always loved watching horseracing on the TV.

A typical morning at RACE for me is waking up at 7.30am and go for breakfast. I go down to the barn for 8 am.  We muck out 2 horses and then we tack up our first lot, we head out to ride them on RACE gallops and then we walk them off and wash their legs. Then we bring them back to their stable and groom them. At 10 am we go up for tea and we finish that at 10.30 am. We then tack up our 2^nd lot. For our 2^nd lot we could be schooling or going up Maddenstown gallops. After that we would skip out, hay, sweep the barn and then feed the horses.

A typical morning on my work placement with John Oxx would be getting up at 5.35 am and heading for breakfast. I have to be on the RACE bus for about 6 am and when I get into work I take my horse off the walker and tack it up and ride out. We usually go for tea break at 9:30 and then at 10 am we tack up our 3^rd lot and ride our last 3 lots.  I usually finish up at 1 pm.

Sean was placed with John Oxx on 20^th November 2017

Training on the Curragh

Meet the trainees - Dylan Johnston

Hi, my name is Dylan Johnston and I am 16 years old.  I’m from Dublin and have always loved horses since the first time I sat up on one when I was 6.  Before I came to RACE, I rode out for a few trainers such as; Gordon Elliot (jumps) and Ado McGuiness (flat and jump).  My interest in horse racing began when my grandad would always bring me racing 99% of Saturdays and quite a few Sundays too! I remember being racing at The Leopardstown Christmas Festival and seeing the jockeys walking into the parade ring and ever since then I’ve always wanted to be a jockey.

I first started riding out for Ado McGuiness, which was when I was first told about RACE. Unfortunately, I was way too young so, I had to put that plan on hold for a while! But, when I came of age, I attended one of the RACE Open Days in March 2017 and immediately knew I wanted to try to get a place on The Trainee Jockey Course 17/18.

I applied after the Open Day and got a letter to say that I had been accepted on the trial week. On the trial week we were all really put through our paces! I was delighted when I got my letter to say that I had been accepted onto the course.

I arrived in late August and got settled in straight away. In the first few weeks we visited The National Stud and Kildangan Stud as well as taking a trip to Gowran Park Racecourse. We started riding out straight away and were separated into our groups. I went to the National Ploughing Championships in September with RACE, it was great fun and everyone had a fantastic time.

In late November I got the news that I was going to be placed with Ken Condon in the first round of placements. Ken has a lovely yard with a lot of 2-year old’s, 3-year old’s and a handful of nice older horses. Ken and his wife Pauline are fantastic and from my very first day they were putting me up on anything and everything. Ken never stops trying to help me improve and I definitely won’t be taking it all for granted.  After Christmas another trainee, Tori, came out to our yard and things were stepped up a level. We head in for 6:10am every morning riding first lot at 7:00am.  With the flat season getting closer we had a lot of new 2-year old’s that are doing their first pieces of work done on the ‘Old Vic’ and Ken is great for giving me my chance and giving me tips! 

Having Shane Foley and Niall McCullough riding with you is another thing that just improves you so much.  It’s a priceless opportunity having two experienced jockeys with as many winners as they have!  It’s such an exciting thing seeing the 2-year old’s getting better and better by the day!

Throughout the year we’ve had some brilliant guest speakers in to talk to us.  In October we had a previous RACE graduate, Jody McGarvey in with us! Then in January we had last year’s Champion Apprentice in England, David Egan in to explain the importance of fitness in race riding. We also had the pleasure of a visit from Davy Russell who shared his experiences in the racing industry and last but not least, Ruby Walsh came in! He had great stories to tell and was brilliant to hear his stories and views on racing. All speakers in January took away the pain of the cold mornings and the rain! 

I’m have just finished my assessment week (at the time of writing this blog) back in RACE and it was very enjoyable. We did lots of schooling and riding upsides out Maddenstown Gallops! It was great to get back on the horses in the barn before we finished up the course.

After the course I’ll be happy getting into a good National Hunt Yard and I am going to keep learning, improving and hopefully get a chance in race rides during next season!

Dylan was placed with Ken Condon on the 20^th of November 2018.

Dylan (pictured left) with fellow trainee John heading out to Maddenstown Gallops