THE Kildare based company Equine Medirecord, has made it through to the final of the Innovation Awards 2018. The company was founded by Pierce Dargan and Simon Hillary and the nomination is in the IT and Fintech category.

Equine Medirecord’s web platform and phone app takes the pain out of recording the medicines which have been administered to racehorses and other bloodstock.

Pierce Dargan said their application is the first one to replace the paper-based system. “My family has a racing yard and we’ve been in horses for a long time. The medicines and treatments were recorded in this big blue book and entries could be illegible or pages could get damaged.”

After getting approval for their digital system from the Irish Horse Racing Board, Dargan and Hillary set about developing the web platform and phone app. The platform has been well received by trainers and they plan to expand overseas.

The overall winner of The Irish Times Innovation of the Year Award 2018 will be selected from among the five category award winners.The winners will be announced on November 20th.

The best of luck!

And the Oscar goes to...

MICK Winters, the Kanturk trainer, is currently starring in Float Like A Butterfly, an award-winning movie directed by his sister Carmel Winters. Speaking on At The Races at Thurles on Monday, Mick revealed: “I had a small part in the movie, playing a 90-year-old traveller, and the only comment I received was that I didn’t have to act at all!”