THE team at Irish Injured Jockeys (IIJ) are busy preparing behind the scenes for the 2022 Corinthian Challenge Charity Race Series.

After a two-year break, it is great to see the exciting series return to raise vital funds for the charity.

The three-race series will be held at the Curragh, Gowran Park and Leopardstown Racecourses in July, September and October respectively.

Riders will accumulate points for placings throughout the challenge in a league style format and the overall winner to be announced following the final race in Leopardstown on Saturday, October 22nd.

From now until the series concludes, The Irish Field will publish this weekly feature, giving you a unique insight into the people behind the challenge, along with series news and updates.

Kerry woman

Our first rider to get the leg up this week is Fiona Dowling, from Listowel, Co Kerry. Fiona started her career in the thoroughbred industry after finishing school when she graduated from the Irish National Stud course in 2007.

Fiona started working for Gordon Elliott right at the start of his training career and even led up Silver Birch to win the 2007 Grand National at Aintree.

During her time with Gordon, she was lucky enough to ride two point-to-point winners on a horse called Dublin Hunter too.

Since then, Fiona has worked in the thoroughbred industry in the UK, USA, Australia, and New Zealand. Over the past five years, she moved into the educational sector of the thoroughbred industry.

Following the completion of her studies in Britain, where she received an MBA in Horseracing at the University of Liverpool, she was involved in setting up horseracing industry programmes at Hartpury University in the UK.

Newmarket was the next stop for this Corinthian Challenger where she managed the education courses at the National Stud. Earlier this year Fiona moved back to Ireland and joined the fantastic team at the Racing Academy and Centre of Education (RACE) in Kildare where she is the Programme Development and Quality Manager there.

‘Brilliant opportunity’

Commenting on the upcoming Corinthian Challenge Charity Race Series, Fiona said: “I felt that this was a brilliant opportunity to get the boots back out in order to raise awareness and funds for a brilliant cause. The Irish Injured Jockeys Fund carries out amazing work in order to support jockeys and their families when help is required.

“IIJ also assists with the progression of safety standards for Irish racing which is also very important.

“I love being back in Ireland and I am eager to ride out before work every morning in preparation for the races. Each rider has their own JustGiving page where any donations, no matter how big or small, would be greatly appreciated.”

To stay up to date on all things Corinthian Challenge Charity Race Series- related visit corinthianchallenge.com or follow IIJ and the Corinthian Challenge on social media.

To help Fiona Dowling specifically on her fundraising quest for this worthy cause simply visit corinthianchallenge.com and follow the links to her official JustGiving page.

Web: corinthianchallenge.com