My name is Fiona Dowling and I am head girl at Jamie Osbourne Racing, Lambourn, UK. I have been involved in the industry for the past ten years and I am delighted to have built my career on my passion for racing. I am from Listowel, Co. Kerry and got my grounding for horses growing up riding in local hunts and show jumping.
I wanted to pursue my love for horses and make it my profession. Upon completion of my leaving certificate I enrolled in St Patricks College Naas for a period of two years where I attained my Fetac level 5 in Equine and Business Studies. When I was studying a good friend of mine, Liam Healy (famous racing photographer) had heard that Gordon Elliott was looking for weekend staff. I worked for Gordon for four years intermittently between study and travel.
One of my proudest moments in racing has been leading up Silver Birch in the 2007 Aintree Grand National. In January 2007, I was accepted on the prestigious Irish National Stud course where on completion I was awarded the John Durkan Scholarship which placed me with Brian Meehan in the UK as pupil assistant for eight months. The National Stud course opened a lot of doors for me as it is held in very high regard around the world. It was through the course I made many contacts that later led me to travel and work with high level horse trainers and stud farms around the globe such as Janet Elliott (Hall of fame Steeplechase trainer in America) and Darley Australia in Flemington.
After working for a few years for Gordon Elliott I decided I wanted to travel and expand my global knowledge of the horseracing industry. I spent six months in New Zealand preparing 2-y-o horses to race and sell. I also worked at the major yearling sales in Karaka. I then moved over to Australia where I spent over three years, firstly in Melbourne and then moving down to south Australia where I was made assistant trainer to Jon O’Connor at Morphettville racetrack. I very much enjoyed my time in Australia. I made great contacts and it was a fantastic experience.
Since moving a little closer to home I have been employed as head girl for Jamie Osborne the last two years. I am in charge of a 46 horse yard. It is a fast-paced, sometimes stressful, but rewarding job. My duties include management of staff, liaising with owners, vets and other professionals, responsibly of health and safety for both horses and employees and some administration. We also have an equine treadmill in the yard and I am responsible for working a number of horses on it daily and carrying out statistical data analysis using heart rate and lactate levels from each animal during days of fast work.
Working in a racing yard is hard work but loads of fun. If you really love horses then this job is perfect for you. Watching horses you ride and look after win races gives you an enormous sense of pride and there are great opportunities to travel with the job.
What I would advise to anybody who wanted to work in the industry is gain qualifications in equine studies, gaining my QQI level 5 in Equine and Business gave me the confidence to put myself forward for the Irish National Stud course and travel beyond. These certificates were a big factor in securing me sponsorship in Australia and you never know when they may come in handy.
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