'We Want To Drive Membership To The ITBA Next Generation in 2023'

It is commonly known as the junior wing of the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders Association, aimed at educating students and aspiring breeders, and its chairperson Orla Donworth is predicting big things for the ITBA Next Generation in 2023. 

Donworth is a digital marketing executive at Goffs who has been employed in the industry for 10 years and outlined plans for the ITBA Next Generation to become the go-to place for the future leaders of the industry to gain education and support.

Fellow Goffs employee Conor Wixted holds the position as the vice chairperson on the committee while Taragh Brady, marketing executive at Tattersalls Ireland, Padraic Gahan of Baroda Stud, Yeomanstown Stud's Rob O'Callaghan and Clare Manning of Boherguy Stud feature among the committee. 

Donworth, 30, explained, “After a period of inactivity during Covid, the ITBA Next Generation was revived. I have taken over as the new chairperson and we have a 12-strong committee. We have a good mixture of people on the committee, from Flat and National Hunt, breeding and racing, farm managers, students, and people who work for Goffs, Tattersalls, Wetherbys and a Flying Start graduate as well. It's a well-rounded committee. The vice chairperson is Conor Wixted, who is extremely proactive, and the main thing for us going forward is to drive membership and grow the ITBA Next Generation in 2023.”

She added, “The ITBA is the governing body of Irish breeding at government level at home and abroad and the Next Generation is the junior wing of that organisation. The people we can get into the Next Generation are the future of our industry and we will try to nurture people to one day be on the senior council. We will endeavor to represent, support and educate young and future breeders.”

Committee member David Skelly, who is a graduate of the Godolphin Flying Start programme and now works full-time for Peter Molony at Rathmore Stud, shares Donworth's passion for the sport and explains how he aims to implement what he learned as president of the horse racing society at Limerick University to his role. 

The 27-year-old said, “What I learned from setting up the horse racing society in the University of Limerick is that there is a huge appetite for the sport among young people and that they are especially keen to meet the people who are involved in the industry. Mark Boylan and I rejuvenated the society, which had been inactive for a number of years, and it really opened our eyes as to how popular racing is among younger people.”

Skelly added, “We were very lucky to have a group of roughly 40 people who were extremely keen to go on visits to racing yards, studs or to the racetrack, and it was great to have that network of like-minded friends in the industry. The goal is to try and replicate that but on a bigger scale with the ITBA Next Generation. The level of access in racing is incredible. To be able to visit a stud farm or a racing yard and meet what are essentially the celebrities of our sport is not something many industries have the luxury of. Hopefully we can capitalise on that in the new year and drive membership further.”

The wheels have already been set in motion. A pinhooking seminar went down a bomb in November and Donworth is keen to use that event as a springboard for the new year.

She said, “We had a fantastic panel of pinhookers, made up of Guy O'Callaghan, Vikki Hancock, John Hanley and Timmy Hillman, with Bernard Condron as the master of ceremonies. Over 100 people turned up on the evening and it was a fantastic event with huge interaction between the panel and the crowd. 

“It was a well-timed event, too, with a number of young people going on to get involved with pinhooking foals in the following weeks. We also had a great prize, which was a free entry into any yearling sale at Goffs or Tattersalls in 2023 for anyone who pinhooked a foal this year.”

She added, “There is a great cohort of young people and our job is to support that younger generation and provide education and networking opportunities. Our events will be a mixture of social and educational in 2023. The pinhooking panel really put us on the map and we gained a lot of traction on social media from it. 

“We're hoping to build on that in 2023, with our first event planned a trip to Coolmore Stud and Castlehyde Stud, and we're looking forward to being the first group to see Blackbeard (Ire). People are registering for that event now and the feedback has been very positive. The plan is to stage roughly six events next year. 

“A number of leading stakeholders have been a huge help to us, including Coolmore Stud who are sponsoring that entire trip in the new year, which is hugely appreciated by all of the members. Coolmore's Gerry Aherne, Christy Grassick and Maurice Molony are on the senior council of the ITBA and it's very encouraging that they recognise the importance of the Next Generation.”

Along with educational seminars, Skelly revealed that he would like to help organise more trips to the races and floated the idea of creating a hub at certain racetracks for ITBA Next Generation members where they can network and learn from like-minded people. 

He said, “There will be plenty of opportunities in the second half of the year to hold seminars at the sales because everyone will be at the same place and it seems to work well. We could look at having stable visits or potentially some trips to the races in the first half of the year. You have the Dublin Racing Festival, the Punchestown Festival and plenty of good meetings at the Curragh, so I could imagine us organising trips to the races. I'd love to see us have a Next Generation hub in a hospitality box where members can come and network during racing.”

He added, “The one thing I would say is that the Next Generation is made up of a broad spectrum of young people within the industry. That's good in a sense that we all come from different backgrounds and share different connections within the industry.

“Also, as our chairperson, Orla was invited to the ITBA council meeting this year. For the young people of the industry, the future, to have a voice at that level is great. I think that's very important. We care about the future of racing and want to see people going racing in the future.”