THE vision and mission for Women’s Irish Network for Racing (WINR) are to encourage women to enjoy horse racing, to attend, participate, lead, and to celebrate and nurture women’s talent to progress their careers in horseracing. The values of collaboration, appreciation, opportunity, dignity and love of the horse are close to the hearts of the nine-strong committee of WINR.

More recently WINR has established a website womensirishnetwork4racing.com. WINR also has a strong and active social media presence (@WINforRacing) on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram with over 2,000 followers.

Events

In 2022 WINR received financial support from equuip which was used for marketing, merchandise and to run events. The three events were very well supported and they took place at Fairyhouse in April, Kildangan Stud in August, and Tattersalls in November. WINR also launched a new mentoring programme for women in horse racing with 24 women taking part. All of the events are advertised on the WINR website and social media, and they are free of charge on a first come, first served basis through registration on Eventbrite.

This year kicks off with a movie night at Kildangan Stud on Wednesday, February 15th. This is a showing of the film Ride Like a Girl, the inspirational story of Michelle Payne’s historic win in the 2015 Melbourne Cup. It also charts the story of her upbringing in a large horsey family living in the country, her challenges in her career as a jockey, and the role of her brother Stephen who was born with Down Syndrome. It’s a feel-good movie for a winter’s evening, at a lovely venue where everyone can meet and greet over popcorn and fizzy drinks before the start of the film. Registration will be on Eventbrite and more information is on the WINR website.