Three Interns Work to Learn Racing Business at Del Mar
Del Mar Thoroughbred Club once again is host to interns who are interested in how a major racetrack operates.
One
is from the University of Arizona’s Racetrack Industry Program and two
are from the University of Limerick in Ireland. The connection between
Del Mar and the Arizona program goes back to 1977, while Colette
Kerrigan, in 1995, was the first Limerick student to intern at the
track.
Representing
the University of Arizona’s RTIP this year is Matthew Buczkowski, a
Chicago native who has been living in Tucson, Ariz., for several years.
He’s the 35th U-of-A student to spend a summer at Del Mar. Coming from
Ireland are Mary Rose Quirke and Declan Ryan, both of whom hail from
County Tipperary in the southern portion of the Emerald Isle. They are
the 11th and 12th Irish students to come abroad and pass a racing
season on the shore.
Buczkowski,
who will be a senior in the fall, got his first taste of the racetrack
accompanying his father, Wayne, to the races at Chicago-area tracks
Arlington Park, Balmoral and Hawthorne Race Course as a youngster.
The 21-year-old moved to Arizona in 1997 and continued his race attendance at Turf Paradise in Phoenix and at Del Mar.
Buczkowski
is pursuing the business side of the U of A’s two-pronged program and
is hopeful that his internship at the seaside oval will help find the
right fit for him. Of the internship, he said: “You get to do a lot of
things involved with racing, from all sides of the business. I’m hoping
the experience will allow me to begin to narrow my focus and find out
just exactly what part of the business I’m going to like most, and what
fits me best.”
The
21-year-old Quirke and Ryan, a 30-year-old veteran of a small family
training operation in Ireland, are enrolled in the business side of the
Limerick program and both have been fascinated by the size and work
force at Del Mar. They’re used to the smaller tracks in Ireland, they
said.
Quirke
has been associated with horses most of her life due to her father
being a trainer as she was growing up. He since has retired from
training, but still is involved with a stallion roster. She is the
youngest in the family, but the only one of the siblings who intends to
work in the industry.
So
what can her time at Del Mar do for her? “I believe it will help me see
how a racecourse is run and should help me decide on just what course
of work I’ll choose.”
Ryan
trained for several years in his father’s small operation. “We just had
four horses that raced over the jumps,” the Irishman said. ðThe
horses got old all at the same time and were going to be retired. So we
had to decide whether we wanted to buy some young stock or just stop,
and we decided to stop.” His 70-year-old father retired and the son
chose education.
“I decided to go into equine science to get a better education and see where it would take me,” Ryan said.
Prior
to coming to Del Mar, Ryan completed six months of what is an
eight-month requirement in the Limerick program of education outside of
the school. He spent that time as a rider and groom in one of the
largest yards in
Ireland – that of trainer Mrs. John Harrington, who conditions approximately 100
horses.
The two months at Del Mar will complete his school requirement. The Del
Mar stint also will finish Quirke–s requirement since she worked six
months in a testing program at the Irish Equine Center.
Ryan
expects his time at Del Mar to give him insights into how a racetrack
operates, something he feels will help him if that is the course he
chooses to take when he returns to Ireland. In addition, he hopes to
get a view of how Americans train their horses, because he still is
trying to decide whether he wants to train or be involved in the
management side of the industry.
7/15/09
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