ANOTHER racecourse aiming to take a slice of the growing student racegoer market this year is Fairyhouse as they hold their first student race day on Wednesday January 21st, in association with iRadio. The seven-race National Hunt card is followed by the iRadio Club Tour in the ground floor of the Jameson Stand with iRadio DJ Stephen Cooper playing.

Early bird tickets are still available on www.fairyhouse.ie until Monday, January 12th, priced at €10 per ticket and include the following: admission ticket, racecard, €5 bet, pint of Fosters and entry to the iRadio Club. After January 12th, the same ticket will cost €12.50 per person and for those turning up on the day tickets can be purchased on the gate for €12.50 if still available.

David O’Connor, sales and marketing manager at Fairyhouse is pleased with how the early bird tickets have sold so far. “At the moment we have 500 sold, some of the students’ unions have also been selling tickets so we will get a figure from them over the next week or so as they return from the Christmas break. The event page on our Facebook page has in excess of 2,000 people saying they are attending, so if even half of those come that will be a significant number. It’s hard to judge at the moment the expected attendance but I would say in and around 3,000; we want to control the event while ensuring people have a good time.”

Fairyhouse, who is eager to make this day one of the best student race days, is generously providing buses for colleges provided they have sold a significant amount of early bird tickets.

While the start of the student race day season may not please the seasoned racegoer, the fact is that these students going racing are the owners and racegoers of the future. Yes, only a small percentage of them will go on to owning horses and maybe some will return to racing on non-student race days, but that is better than nothing and can only bode well for racing in the future. The fact that a meeting which would ordinarily attract just a few hundred people is expecting a crowd of around 3,000 people should be deemed as a great success for all involved.

LEOPARDSTOWN STUDENT DAY

Preparations are beginning for the Leopardstown student race day which will be held on Wednesday, April 15th this year. Student race day partners from horse racing societies in UCD, DIT and Maynooth University were among those invited to Leopardstown on Monday, December 29th where they were accommodated in The Pavilion to enjoy the Winter Warmer package and to meet Leopardstown’s sales and business development manager Séan Clancy. A great day was enjoyed by all as they got to witness some fantastic racing with the legend Hurricane Fly edging the result after a long battle with Jezki in a race that will stick in the memory for a long time.

MAYNOOTH UNIVERSITY

While the month of December for most college students was spent studying and taking Christmas examinations, in Maynooth University these exams take place in January. As you are reading this I will be struggling in my attempt to study rather than watch the weekend racing from Punchestown and Fairyhouse.

However this enabled us to receive some valuable guest lecturers in Maynooth during December. These included Barbara White from Horse Racing Ireland, Linda Young from the Association of Irish Riding Establishments (AIRE) and David Abbott from the Association of Irish Riding Clubs (AIRC). Elaine Hatton from Irish Thoroughbred Marketing spoke to the first year Equine Business group and highlighted the inaugural ITM Irish Stallion Trail from January 22nd-25th 2015 when Ireland’s leading stud farms such will open their doors giving everyone chance to view Ireland’s best stallions.

These guest speakers offer great opportunities for students to get an insight into the business of racing and look at the future career paths available to us.

YITBA UPDATE

The Young Irish Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association is growing each year and is a great organisation helping to support and educate young people with an interest in the industry. Membership for 2015 is now due and for just €20 includes wonderful benefits such as access to the invaluable YITBA apprenticeship scheme and seminars run by the both the YITBA and ITBA, trips including stud and stable tours, and the European Young Breeders Weekend held on Irish Champions Weekend. Subscriptions can be paid online at www.yitba.ie or by contacting Regina Byrne on 045-877543. A great initiative for current members is if you get a friend to join (who has not previously been a member) then your membership fee will be reduced to just €10.