Meet The Trainees - Eamonn Fitzgerald

Hi, my name is Eamonn Fitzgerald and I am 16 years old. I first got an interest in horses when I was riding ponies in Abbeyfeild farm, from a young age.

I started riding out when I had just turned 13 for Michael Halford. I learned a lot from everyone there, including the head lad, Assistant Trainer, Mr. Halford and all the lads and jockeys in the yard. I used to go in on weekends and school holidays, which was brilliant. My favourite horse was a filly called Betty Loch, she was the first race horse that I rode. I learned how to ride in Abbeyfield farm and I also did lots of hunting with the North Kildare Farmers. 

We are well into the course and the time is flying. I’m really enjoying my time so far. All the instructors down in the barn are really sound. I have learned loads so far and we are taken out to The Curragh gallops such as Maddenstown or the Curragh plains which is savage, as well as being on the gallops every day in R.A.C.E. We have also done lots of schooling over the hurdles and fences. We got to have a schooling session with Sean Flanagan and we learned loads from him.

I got sent out to Mr. Halford’s yard in the middle of November I really enjoy it there and I’m learning a lot, the people I work every day couldn’t be nicer. I also go in on Saturdays and sometimes I go racing on Friday nights in Dundalk. I can’t wait until the flat season kicks off again and the 2-year olds start knowing their routine even better.

My daily routine at the minute would be getting up for 6.00am and I’m on my bus for 6.45am. We start at 7.30am but once the mornings start getting brighter, we will switch back to 7.00am. When I get in, I usually help muck out and let the horses out to the paddocks.  We then go tack up and put the horses on the walker, then we go muck out another few. We pull out at 8.00am in the winter and 7.30am in the summer. After that lot we tack up and pull out straight away, then we tack up our next lot and put them on the walker, before going for tea. We usually ride out 4/5 lots and finish about 12.30pm. We use many different gallops depending on the horse we are riding; the variety is great.

We are kept busy! We do fitness classes on Mondays and Wednesdays which are great for the fitness. We are allowed to go to the gym and simulators on our free evenings.  The simulators are great for fitness and technique.

After the course, I would love to get signed on and take out my apprentice licence, this is hard to achieve but hopefully with a bit of luck I can get there. 

Eamon was placed with Michael Halford on the 19^th of November 2018.

On the way to RACE Gallops

Meet The Trainees - Alicia Fox

Hello, my name is Alicia fox. I’m 17 years old and I’m from Charleville in Co. Cork. I grew up loving horses. I first got into horses when I was 8 and started going to a riding school. I got my first horse when I was 16.  I did a bit of show jumping and when I turned 16 I started riding out for a local trainer Michael Winters in Kanturk.

I always had an interest in racing from an early age.  I used to always watch racing on the tv and since then I have looked up to Joseph O Brien and Jody McGarvey. I knew I wanted to be a jockey around the age of 14 but I thought I was too young to ride out for a trainer, so I always used to throw my stirrups up on the ponies and take off around the fields. Straight away when I turned 16, I rang Michael winters and he took me on.  Michael was very good to me, he put me on horses that taught me a lot. He let me ride out with the jockeys that came in such as Donal McInerney and Brian Hayes. I used to watch the way they rode and if I was then riding the horse that they were on I would try do what they did.  My favourite horse that I rode out every day at Micks was a mare by Cloudings called Model Cloud.  Model taught me a lot and luckily, I was at the races in Tramore with her, when she won her first race on the track.  It was Models first win and my first winner to lead up. That is definitely one day that I will never forget!

We are currently on week 16 here in race and I am loving it.  I am in a very lucky position to have gotten past my trial and to get on the course. I am very grateful to be here.  My favourite horse in the barn is Sugar Sugar.  Unfortunately, my first fall at RACE was off Sugar in a jumping competition before Christmas.  When you fall off, the lads tell you to bring biscuits down to the barn, so I wasn’t happy about that.

I am in the yellow dorm with Patricia, Sarah, Niamh, Sophia and Roisin.  We get on really well together, which is great when you’re living together.  Every month there is a list for cleaning duties in each house.  It’s not our favourite thing but we all help each other to get them done.  Thankfully, we are all very close and I feel blessed to have these girls to talk to about everything.

At the start of February, I was sent out to Willie McCreery’s yard.  Mr. McCreery is very good to work for and everyone is very nice in the yard, they always help me out in every way possible. I get up at 5:30am and go for breakfast before getting the 6:15am bus out to the yard.  We start at 7:00am but I usually get to the yard at 6:30am, so I do the water buckets while waiting for the others to come in.  There are eleven of us riding out.  Usually I have 6 lots where we go to the Fox Covert gallop on The Curragh or up the straight.  Sometimes for our last lot we ride the 2-year olds or horses just back in work in the indoor gallop.  The indoor gallop is really cool to ride in.  There’re two walkers, one for colts and one for fillies.

I usually finish work around 12:30/12:45. When I n get back from work I go up for lunch and back up to the dorm and meet the girls to see how their morning went.  At 2:15pm we all head over to school until 5:15pm.  After school we go straight to tea and head up to our dorms to relax before P.E. At 7:15pm after P.E., we head back to our dorms and chill out for a while before heading to bed.  The days at RACE can be very long at times, but everyone here makes the long days easier. Our day supervisor Dominic is very good to us and he is not really like our boss he is like our friend!

I really love it here at RACE, and I hope to take out my conditional licence in the future.

Alicia was placed with Willie McCreery on the 11^th of February 2019

 

On Maddenstown Gallops

Meet The Trainees - Ada Higgins Corrigan

Hello, my name is Ada Higgins Corrigan and I’m from Kildare. I am 16 years old and I’ve been riding for 13 years. I’ve been going hunting for 4 years. I am the only person in my family who has an interest in horses. I have one pony.

My Mam told me about RACE and when she told me about it, I thought it was the perfect place for me to go, to pursue my dream of becoming a jockey. I went to an open day in RACE in first year to look around, I then came back in third year to apply for the course.

I completed a trial week in July, it was very tough. The fitness was the hardest part for me. When I got the letter to say I was accepted for this course, I was overjoyed, it was a dream come true. I stay in the blue dorm with Chloe and Jessica, it’s great craic, we would sometimes just sit in the halls and listen to music and talk.

When I started in RACE I didn’t know what to expect as I don’t come from a racing background and I hadn’t ridden racehorses before. I have settled in now and got used of the racehorses. I find it weird to go back on the weekends and ride my pony, as they are so different and have different temperaments.

I was sent out on the second week of January on work placement to Michael Halfords. He is a flat trainer and is a lovely man. I was quite nervous to go out to the yard, I was worried I would do something wrong, but everyone in the yard was very helpful including Mr. Halford.

I did a fitness test a couple of weeks ago and in the beep test I got 10.00. This was a vast improvement from my first beep test. My fitness levels have gone up as I can now run for longer and I am not getting out of breath when riding.

I still hope to improve my fitness levels and my riding skills before I graduate in June.

 Ada was placed with Michael Halford on the 14^th of January 2019.

On Maddenstown Gallops