We were optimistic that The Irish Field’s AI in Equine Conference would prove popular last week but it really exceeded our expectations. Tickets were sold out.

We’d never really tried anything like it before though I suppose the events we have organised in the past have always been well-supported.

There was the solar panel information evening we hosted last summer, a Dublin Racing Festival preview evening last winter, a readers’ trip to Kildangan Stud and the Curragh on Irish Guineas weekend, and the annual bloodstock and sport horse awards ceremonies we put on in association with sponsors.

We’re fortunate to have very loyal readers and we are spoilt with the response we get from industry stakeholders when we ask them to work with us on a project.

But a day-long conference about artificial intelligence? Tickets were €100 each so it was ambitious to think we could fill The Circle building at Naas Racecourse. However, we ended up turning people away and the event itself went really well. You can read about it here and soon we’ll be releasing the four panel discussions as a series of podcasts.

We got great feedback on it and The Irish Field team got a massive boost in knowing we’d given the industry something it really wanted. Many thanks to all who supported it.

But, elated as we were, we also knew we had a few very busy days ahead of us in order to produce our next edition, having effectively lost a day’s productivity at Naas.

So, as I headed for the car, I wasn’t really as engaged as I should have been when four of the day’s speakers came up to me separately with ideas for another event The Irish Field should put on.

But, having survived the week and managed to get to both Leopardstown and the Curragh last weekend, I’ve started to think about those ideas again. If you don’t mind, I’d like to run the ideas past you and maybe you could tell me which of them you think is a potential winner.

  • Technological advances in improving horse health and reducing risk of injury.
  • How algorithms and modelling are transforming the betting landscape.
  • AI training or cybersecurity training for the equine sector – online courses designed and delivered by The Irish Field/HRI.
  • Racing Summit: a conference tackling a wide range of topics across bloodstock, racing, welfare, betting, governance, audience and the sustainability of the industry.

    • You can express your preference in this survey or put forward an idea of your own. I’ll let you know how it worked out next time I’m posting a blog.