Coming to an end in Ireland.

Things are coming to an end in Ireland. Although, we’ve all had a great time here most of us are really looking forward to Newmarket, including myself. I can’t wait to be in close vicinity to the training grounds. Even though it will be winter and there probably won’t be a whole lot of activity on the gallops it will be nice to go over every once in a while to watch training.

Course work has continued to keep a steady pace. We’ve finished our Anatomy, Physiology, and Reproduction course taking our final exam the Friday after we returned from the Prix de L’arc de Triomphe. That was one of the best weekends of my life. Being at the Arc and seeing Sea the Stars win the final race of his career was phenomenal. He is definitely a horse for the ages.

The Goffs Orby sale was a great experience. There were a couple really nice yearlings that went through the ring and quite a few other nice yearlings as well during the first two days of the sale. It’s was great for us to be able to go around and inspect yearlings with people who really knew what they were doing. Some of us, including myself, haven’t had much experience at yearling sales from a buyer’s perspective and it was quite helpful to be able to have someone that could answer our questions. Mark Johnston was great, I definitely learned a lot from him. All the other trainees seemed to enjoy their time with their agents as well.

The Friday after the Goffs sale, the day before we left for the Arc, we went over to Coolmore. Seeing Sadler’s Wells in the flesh was an experience in itself. I remember a picture of my Dad and Sadler’s Wells from over 15 years ago so it was great to finally have a picture with him as well. To top it off we were also shown Montjeu, Galileo, Hurricane Run, and Peintre Celebre. It was a trip I’ll remember for some time.

Last weekend we had off so John, Vicky, and I decided to take advantage of it and went to the Curragh to watch morning training. Pat Kelly the manager of the Curragh training grounds was nice enough to take us around in his jeep as he went about his morning work. I’d have to agree with most trainers that this facility is one of the best places in the world to train horses. I was amazed by how many training options were available for the horses; they must love being out there. The early bird gets the warm was definitely true in this case, not only did we have a good time with Pat but we also saw Sea the Stars. He looked great and it was nice to see him one last time before he starts his new career in the breeding shed. It was a phenomenal morning, I really enjoyed being back in the situation of watching horses training. There’s nothing that I enjoy more than watching horses train in the mornings.

This Wednesday we have our presentations to industry professionals at the PGA National. I’m looking forward to hearing all the other trainee’s presentations and ideas. There are some very good topics this year. I’ll be making a presentation on The Feasibility of a European Breeders’ Cup. So this weekend we are all working on our presentations to make sure they’re the best they can be. However, we are planning on going out tonight to celebrate Bernard’s 26th birthday. Should be a great week!