CHEERING news about another excellent Irish student. Ciara Dineen, a first year student of Equine Business at Maynooth University, has been selected as the winner of the European and Mediterranean Horseracing Federation (EMHF) Fellowship Observer competition.

Open to members of racing societies affiliated to the European Student Horseracing Federation, the competition attracted a strong entry from members of the horse racing and equestrian societies of universities in Ireland and Britain, including Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin, University College Cork, University of Cambridge and University of Nottingham.

Students were asked to address, in no more than 500 words, the question of what racing administrators in the European and Mediterranean region might do to encourage greater participation in racing among young adults and, in particular, students.

Student race-days

Among Ciara’s ideas was the linking of student race-days to stable visits in the days leading up to the race-day, providing the chance to see one or more of the entries up close before cheering them on from the stands.

Ciara is from a racing background, being the daughter of former jockey and trainer John Dineen. She currently rides out at John Joseph Murphy’s yard at Inishannon, Co Cork.

Warsaw

Ciara wins an expenses-paid trip to the EMHF’s General Assembly, which it is hoped will be staged as an in-person event in Warsaw, Poland. She will attend the meeting and surrounding social functions, and present her ideas to the racing administrators in attendance.

Ciara said: “I was thrilled and honoured to win the fellowship observer competition. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me, to attend and present at the EMHF annual general assembly. I am excited to develop my ideas further and hopefully get the chance to make them happen.”