Photo: Supplied
Twenty-one-year-old Alice Wilkinson will be winging her way to Ireland in January to attend the internationally acclaimed Irish National Stud Diploma Course.
She is the lucky recipient of the 2024 Keith and Faith Taylor Equine Scholarship to the Irish National Stud promoted by the New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association (NZTBA).
“I am so excited and grateful for this opportunity. I can’t wait to get involved and have a life-changing experience,” Wilkinson enthused.
“It’s an amazing opportunity for young people like me in the industry. I just want to learn everything I can and bring all that knowledge back to use in New Zealand. I have read and heard so many great things about the course.”
Wilkinson developed a love of horses as a young girl, and after finishing school during Covid was at a bit of a crossroads so worked as a nanny and tutor, until she saw an advertisement for a position at Brighthill Farm.
She didn’t get the position she applied for but Brighthill Farm proprietor and Vice President of the NZTBA Nick King obviously saw some potential as he offered her a position as a general stud hand.
“That was in 2021 and I was able to learn all aspects of stud work and I loved it,” she said.
“This time last year I was promoted to assistant yearling manager and that is still my role.”
The NZTBA has been sending students to the Irish National Stud for this course since 1991. It is open to candidates under the age of 30 who are already working in or have some involvement in the industry.
Graduates of the Diploma Course have gone on to be successful stud masters, bloodstock agents, marketing managers and hold various roles in the industry. The first two recipients of the scholarship Russell Rogers and Grant Hunt are both still working in the industry in the Waikato.
In 2006 the funding of the scholarship was taken over by the K.I.A. Taylor Charitable Trust and Trelawney Stud’s Taylor family and was renamed the Keith and Faith Taylor Family Equine Scholarship. The recipient is awarded an all-expenses paid trip to Ireland to attend the course that begins each year in the middle of January.
On her return Wilkinson will be indentured to Trelawney Stud for a stud and sales season to put into practice the skills she has gained in Ireland.
“I see myself eventually in a management role,” she said, “and long term, I would dearly love to have my own broodmare band and prepare and sell yearlings and maybe even race a few.”
Although Nick King is disappointed in loosing a great staff member, he is pleased Wilkinson has been given the opportunity.
“Alice is a good girl and has been a great on our team,” said King, “however with young staff, if they want to give the scholarship a go, you must commend and help them. I know how much these youngsters benefit from these scholarships.”
In the meantime, for Alice, it’s lots of vet work and 30 yearlings to prepare before her departure in January.
