Students say

Sir, - On behalf of the 2016 Irish National Stud’s Thoroughbred Breeding course students, I would like to say ‘thank you’ to John Osborne and all of his staff at the stud. It has truly been the greatest six months of all of our lives and a time we will certainly never forget.

We have been lucky to have a large number of figures from within the industry lend their time for lectures and we learned a huge amount; we are all very grateful to them.

A ‘thank you’ must also be given to a number of stud farms, racing stables, veterinary practices and organisations within racing, who opened up their doors for us.

The course is now over and we leave as the greatest of friends and with the greatest of memories. What is more important however is that we leave with a great platform on which to launch ourselves into this great industry, a platform that would not be there if it wasn’t for this brilliant course and the people involved with it. – Yours etc.,

TOM EVETTS,

Class of 2016,

Irish National Stud,

Tully,

Kildare.

Live streaming

Sir - I watch Channel 4 Racing every Saturday and take a special interest in the Irish involvement. Occasionally a horse or even a jockey has an Irish name. Occasionally the commentators mispronounce them. I have taken it upon myself to inform the channel of the correct phonetic pronunciation. To my pleasure they usually correct it subsequently.

Last weekend a horse named Sruthan won at the Curragh for trainer Paul Deegan and jockey Colm O’Donoghue. The commentators on RTE pronounced it ‘shrew-tan’. I contacted Paul Deegan to confirm that the name is Irish and means ‘little stream’. It is pronounced ‘sruh-hawn’.

Next time I hope RTE will get it right. - Yours etc.,

ANTHONY J. JORDAN

52 Gilford Road

Dublin 4