Naas Racecourse unveils new feature building

Naas racecourse unveiled its new feature building on Sunday, ahead of their final January meeting. The new building is the principal phase of an overall redevelopment at Naas racecourse, worth €3.2million, which is partly funded by the Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) Racecourse Capital Development Scheme.

The new feature building, The Circle, is believed to be the only racecourse building of its kind in Britain and Ireland. The innovative cylindrical design, located between the parade ring and grandstand, allows for greater vantage points for the general racing public and owners and trainers.

The ground floor of the building, ‘The Circle Bar’ is a sports bar open to all racegoers and the owners and trainers lounge is located on the first floor, with 180-degree views of the track.

The next part of the redevelopment programme will commence in the spring. This phase of the redevelopment will see the interiors and public areas within the grandstand upgraded including the panoramic restaurant.

New online Horse Care and Welfare Course

The Irish Horse Welfare Trust (IHWT) have launched a new online Horse Care and Welfare Course in association with RACE and Horse Racing Ireland. The course is comprised of eight online modules covering all of the basic elements involved in the correct care and management of horses and ponies, along with two practical modules which provide an opportunity to put new learning into practice.

It is hosted on the Charity’s Learner Management System (LMS) which allows easy access from PCs, laptops, tablets and phones and content is delivered through blended learning using text, diagrams, videos and voiceover. A quiz after each module provides assessment of participant progress and for overall group evaluation.

This new initiative by the charity aims to provide a wider reach with it’s education courses in a more cost effective way and is suitable for groups and individuals alike, it is hoped that the course will also act as stepping stone for young people wishing to progress to a career working with horses.

Further information is available at ihwt.ie