SERENDIPTIOUS is how Patrick Ryan describes the sequence of events that saw Carol Nolan tell her interviewers at Horse Racing Ireland that the absence of training, education and support structures from the organisation’s activities was a glaring omission given its remit.

Nolan had come from a retail background with the Jefferson Smurfit group and Boots but was looking for something that wasn’t centred entirely on a company growing its profits. As a resident of Kilcullen, who had been reared on a diet of racing, the role as group human resources manager at HRI looked ideal.