Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) held a ‘Go Racing Kids’ Club’ Day at The Curragh Racecourse today (23rd April 2012) to help promote the Newbridge Community Race Day which takes place at The Curragh on Bank Holiday Monday, 7th May.
364 5th and 6th class pupils from local schools took part in demonstrations from RACE (Racing Academy & Centre of Education) and farrier, Donal Bennett. They heard talks from jockeys Gary Carroll and Shane Foley and local trainers Paul Deegan and Willie McCreery. The pupils also met Racecourse Manager, Paul Hensey who explained how the team at The Curragh Racecourse prepares for a race day.
The objective of the ‘Go Racing Kids’ Club’ initiative is to build ties between the racecourses and their local community, encouraging an affinity with racing which will hopefully produce future race-goers. The activities educate school children about racing and show them what happens behind the scenes on the racecourse.
All the children received a ‘Go Racing Kids’ Club’ goodie bag at the end of the day and were invited to attend the Newbridge Community Race Day. There was also a competition element built into the day. Following their day at the track, the children were asked to write an essay about their morning at the Curragh with the winning essay to be announced at the races on Monday 7th May. The winner of the essay competition will receive a new laptop kindly sponsored by the Newbridge Credit Union.
Evan Arkwright, Commercial Manager, The Curragh Racecourse, commented: “We were delighted to welcome so many children from local schools to the racecourse which gave us the opportunity to not only give children a behind the scene view of what takes place on a race day and the importance of the sport to Kildare, but also promote our Newbridge Community Race Day taking place on bank holiday Monday 7th May