FOR more than a decade now, The Irish Field has sponsored a cash prize, along with a trophy from the Irish National Stud, for an essay written by one of the students graduating from the renowned Thoroughbred Breeding Management Course.

The aim of this prize is to get the students to think about the subject in hand, do some research, and put forward a proposal, as such, that will make the judge (me), feel good after reading. A tall order, perhaps, but this is not an English essay competition – rather one to get some idea about how passionate the student feels about the subject they choose to write about.