Future of horse racing apprentice school hangs in the balance

Officials insist they are keeping an “open mind” on the long-term outlook for Irish racing’s beleaguered apprentice school in Kildare.

Earlier this week it was announced that 21 of 31 staff at the Racing Academy and Centre of Education (Race) had lost their jobs.

It came after July’s closure of the campus’s accommodation buildings that had been used to provide 42-week residential programmes for aspiring jockeys.

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Concerns over fire safety emerged for other buildings at the Race which this year is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

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On the back of that closure, Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) appointed an interim chief executive who along with the Race board confirmed the job losses this week. They said the move was done to secure the school’s future.

A trio of new courses, including a 12-week jockey training course for a limited number of riders, are set to begin this autumn.

Nevertheless, it is a dramatic curtailment to an institution with a worldwide reputation and whose past graduates include the former champion jockey Johnny Murtagh.

Various industry groups have underlined the importance to racing of the Race which has been a not-for-profit registered charity funded by the HRI, the Kildare-Wicklow Education Training Board, as well as a percentage of prizemoney.

HRI has said the previous financial model was unsustainable, leading to some speculation about racing’s ruling body taking over responsibility for the institution.

Whether the Race can return at some point to offering year-long courses for potential jockeys, with accommodation and other education opportunities included, appears unclear.

“We’re keeping an open mind as to what the course looks like in the future and what that means,” said interim chief executive Darren Lawlor on Friday. “At the moment, we’re still in the mode of dealing with the situation we’re facing right now.”

He added: “We are obviously looking at what the future model of the campus would look like and what we can do in terms of education and training. Our focus now is really on trying to look after al the staff that are leaving, the ones that are staying, and the students starting on September 11th.

“So, we’re trying to manage those things at the same time and hopefully we’ll then get a chance to breathe and look at the short to medium term after that.”

Job losses

With students not living on-campus anymore, and with pared-back programmes, staff laid off included those in kitchen and education services. However, there has been criticism of the way those staff were informed of the job losses.

“Everyone we’ve been dealing with over the last number of weeks, all the industry bodies, have been very supportive.

“HRI are no different to IHRB [Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board] or the Trainers’ Association. We’re talking with everybody to let them know what’s happening.

“They appreciate it a very difficult situation and we’re trying to get ourselves through that and see what we come out the other side looking like,” said Mr Lawlor.

Other Race alumni include current British champion jumps jockey Brian Hughes and classic winning riders Chris Hayes and Seamus Heffernan.