Jerry Horan in the auction auditorium

Jerry Horan

Equine Science graduate, Jerry Horan, has been making headlines in the world of racing and more pointedly, in the auction auditorium.  Jerry’s account of his career points to the University of Limerick as a key starting point in his professional development.  Jerry’s work experience throughout his co-op placement, which involved the completion of the Irish National Stud course and a period at Dromoland Farm, Kentucky, have all contributed to his success.

Keen to succeed, Jerry completed a part-time Higher Certificate in Real Estate with the Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers following his graduation from UL.

Jerry graduated with a certificate in Equine Science 2016.  It is a testament to his work ethic and career path choices that at the fresh age of 25 he is grabbing the gavel in the most prestigious thoroughbred sales venues in the world.

Further reports can be found in the following Racing Post articles

here and 

here.

 

 (image courtesy of Goffs)

Rachel Blackmore at the Cheltenham Festival

Rachel Blackmore

Former UL Equine Science Student, Rachel Blackmore, has just enjoyed her first Cheltenham festival win following a stellar performance riding ‘A Plus Tard’ in the Close Brothers Novice Handicap Chase wearing the racing silks of Cheverley Park Stud.  Her tenacity, talent and cool thinking has seen her ranked second in the Irish NH jockeys championship table having enjoyed 84 wins and total prize money of €1,500,000 this season.   With only 10 wins separating her from Paul Townend’s top spot on the leader board and over a month left in the national hunt season, the question of “will a woman ever win a champion title?” has been changed to “when will a woman win the champion title?”.  Rachel is one of a few female professional national hunt jockeys and is leading the change in what has traditionally been a male dominated sport. 

Rachel enrolled in the Equine Science certificate programme in 2010.  She balanced her amateur racing career with her studies and progressed to the diploma programme.  She graduated with a Diploma in Equine Science in September 2015, the same year she turned professional in racing and in the same month as her first win as a professional jockey.

(image courtesy of SkySports)

seashore ecology field trip

On Saturday the 9^th of March 2019, 60 students from Environmental Science, Science Education, and a cohort of Study Abroad students from the USA went on a seashore ecology field trip to Kilkee, Co. Clare. The purpose of the field trip was to examine both exposed and sheltered seashore habitats and to identify different flora and fauna present on each shore. The students developed the skills of using a cross staff, quadrat, seashore ecology key, and Ballentine’s exposure scale. The field trip gave the students the opportunity to use the identification techniques they had learned in their seashore ecology laboratory practical and apply them to a simulated ecological survey in Kilkee.