RACING got some very welcome good publicity last Friday night when Nina Carberry appeared on The Late Late Show and gave host Patrick Kielty a riding lesson on a simulator.

Elaine Burke of Horse Racing Ireland’s equuip division filled us in on the background. “I think one of the Late Lateteam saw the simulator at the HRI stand at the Ploughing. That led to me getting a call last week from an RTÉ researcher, asking if we could bring the simulator into the studio for The Late Late.”

The problem was that the simulator was fixed to a mobile unit or trailer which wouldn’t fit into the studio. “It was all down to Niall Coleman, head of facility maintenance at the Racing Academy,” Elaine reported. “Niall did a lot of work on Thursday night, putting the simulator on wheels. Then he drove it to Dublin on Friday in his own van and he had to wait there all day.”

Patrick Kielty gave his Instagram followers a sneak preview on Friday when he revealed one of his guests to be the simulator, or “Daisy Dynamite”, as it was christened, named after one of the ponies in Nina’s book for children, Ride to the Rescue.

Immediately after the first commercial break in the live show, Patrick appeared in racing silks and skull cap on board the simulator. Nina talked him through the process and, to be fair, Mr P Kielty (7) turned out to be pretty good. He was well-balanced and it was probably a good idea not to give him a whip!

“I think Nina gave him a lesson earlier in the day,” said Elaine. “It worked out well because Nina is actually working towards getting a jockey coach qualification at the moment. Meanwhile, Niall was in the Green Room worrying that Patrick would be sent flying if Nina put the simulator on full speed!”

Thankfully the demonstration went very well and it was an invaluable bit of prime-time exposure for the sport.