'It hopefully would become part of everyday life' - talks ongoing to make upskilling a condition of riders' licences in Ireland

Elaine Burke, manager of Equuip, the education and training department of Horse Racing Ireland, has revealed talks are ongoing with the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) to make upskilling a requirement for jockeys in order to renew their licence.

Davy Russell penned a column in the Racing Post last month where the former champion jockey spoke of his regret at not utilising education and training opportunities during his time in the saddle, while he also suggested that acquiring a qualification could be a condition of a jockey's licence.

Burke revealed Russell's proposal is already in the works and is the subject of ongoing talks with the IHRB.

She said: "Davy's column was a great read and he touched on making upskilling a requirement for a jockey's licence and we are in the process of making that happen. We are working closely with the IHRB to bring it in and it could be that jockeys will have to engage with the jockey pathway.

"Courses like computer and financial literacy would be a part of it and it hopefully would become part of the everyday life for a jockey that they will have to complete a certain number of hours to renew their licence every year."

Russell spoke of his need to get a HGV licence which he feels he could have trained for in his spare time as a rider. Burke explains that through Equuip's grant programme, anyone within the industry can avail of a 50 per cent contribution towards returning to education, including obtaining a HGV licence.

Davy Russell: has spoken of his regret at not utilising education and training opportunities during his time as a jockeyCredit: Patrick McCann

Burke said: "The green cert is always very popular among jockeys and we provide a grant towards returning to education for that. We contribute 50 per cent of the course towards getting your HGV licence for anybody within the industry. We provide grants for anybody in the industry returning to education up to €1,000.

"We have a career progression course available to everyone in the industry, not just the jockeys. We are here to try and signpost people towards courses even for five or six weeks while they are out injured, and last year with the IJA [Irish Jockeys Association] we launched the financial literacy course for jockeys. That provided for basic financial budgeting skills all the way up to investments so it was catering for jockeys at all levels and ages and that was free of charge through Equuip and the IJA."

Burke also spoke of new initiatives the programme is running which includes contributions from ex-riders Barry Geraghty and Lisa O'Neill, who are leading projects surrounding jockey coaching and welfare. It is envisaged the jockey coaching sessions will also become a requirement for riders renewing their licence.

"We provide the jockey pathway services which is available to all licensed professional jockeys in the country," said Burke. "Through that we have a strength and conditioning coach, dietician, sports psychologist and a career progression coach, and we will be adding jockey coaching sessions in January. 

"The ten jockeys who have come on board to be coaches are doing their on-the-job training at the moment and Barry Geraghty is helping us to lead that project. 

"The vision is that the jockeys will be required to attend a certain number of hours with each service before they can renew their licence.

"We work very closely with Dr Jennifer Pugh and our visions align, while we have Lisa O'Neill as a welfare coordinator and she is setting up a welfare framework, which jockeys are included in, and that includes a bank of counsellors who we have available to people within the industry. That consists of mental health workshops as well as mental health first aid and resilience training which we started this year."

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