Applications open for TBA's Fast Track program - a pathway needed now more than ever

Cover image courtesy of Thoroughbred Breeders Australia

With the industry staffing crisis a constant cause of concern for stables and stud farms across Australia, one of the few organisations that can boast action on the topic is the TBA. Through the Fast Track program, TBA has created a pathway to draw talented people into the industry.

The premise is simple: Pick passionate people, regardless of background, and kick-start their career with an accelerated learning experience including hands-on practice in some of Australia’s top stud farms.

Successful students gain the nationally recognised Certificate III in Horse Breeding and, perhaps more importantly, many go on to begin their careers at the same farms on which they’re placed initially.

TBA CEO Tom Reilly has been buoyed by the results of the program since its inception, and says that feedback from industry leaders and employers assures him that it's providing a vital service to the industry.

“We represent breeders all around the country, and if you were to ask any studmaster, ‘What’s your biggest issue?’ nearly all of them would say staffing,” Reilly told TDN AusNZ. “Finding good staff is the biggest challenge they have.

“We started it for that reason, to try to create a way that people who didn’t have a background in thoroughbreds could get into the industry.

“We’re an industry that has an influx of staff from overseas as well, but it’s really important that we have a domestic channel to bring people into the industry too.”

Reilly explained that, as the course has grown its reputation, the appetite from stud farms to receive, mentor and cultivate students has increased, and he was delighted to see this evidenced at Magic Millions in January where over a dozen current trainees and graduates could be found working around the sales ground.

The work done by those at the TBA in fitting the right trainees to the right farms for their crucial placements, and vice versa, is paying off, as Reilly reports that around 90 per cent of those who complete the course stay in the industry.

All inclusive

Now entering its fifth year, the Fast Track program begins each May with a four-week intensive learning block at the TAFE NSW facility in Scone, ideally placed at the heart of Australia’s breeding capital.

After that initial phase, the students move into farm placements until the end of the breeding season, but those aren’t limited to Hunter Valley studs by any means. A link up with AgriFutures two years ago expanded the reach of Fast Track, and allowed an increase in the number of students placed on farms outside of NSW with the covering of tuition and travel costs.

This means students who want to complete placements in their home state have the opportunity to do so, and the inclusivity of the course doesn’t stop there.

For some of the students, Fast Track provides a very first opportunity to touch a horse and, as TBA’s Industry Education and Projects Manager Madison Tims explained, the variety of successful applicants is a feature that TBA are rightly proud of.

“One of the main requirements is that they have to be 18 years old, but in terms of their experience that’s all we ask,” Tims told TDN AusNZ. “They can come from a background with no horse experience at all.

“Each year we have a really wide range of experiences and career changes. This year we had a pilot and a barista!

“We only ask that they have a passion for the industry and a willingness to work hard, but they don’t necessarily have to have any experience in the industry.”

A launchpad to success

Further enhancing the opportunities offered by Fast Track is the Basil Nolan Jnr Scholarship. It was created to honour the legacy of Basil Jnr of the Nolan dynasty at Raheen Stud who tragically passed away in November of 2018, and offers an all-expenses paid place on the prestigious Irish National Stud breeding course - a six-month, all-encompassing residential course with an illustrious honour roll of graduates.

“It’s a very similar process to the Fast Track application itself,” Tims explained. “Students have to nominate themselves, and supply references from their farms and other industry parties, then we undertake an interview process.

“That’s where Basil and Natalie Nolan come into it as well, and they have the deciding factor in selecting someone they think showcases the same traits and passion for the industry that he did.”

A prime example of the value of Fast Track, Jarrod Robinson is the latest recipient of the Basil Nolan Scholarship. Accepted into the 2021/22 cohort, Robinson had never touched a horse before he left his job as an electrician to begin the course, and after graduating he soon became a highly valued member of the team at Widden Stud.

Fast Track graduates also include Lachlan Pethica, who is a current trainee on the Godolphin Flying Start program, and Isobel Absolon, a 2019 graduate who last year finished her first season working with some of the country’s best stallions at Darley’s Kelvinside operation.

Another graduate working for Darley, in their Woodlands Stud, is Tess O’Connor. Originally from Melbourne, O’Connor had only limited contact with horses through a handful of riding lessons in her youth, and stumbled on the Fast Track program when looking for career options online after she graduated with a degree in agriculture.

Gallery: Some of the Fast Track program graduates, images courtesy of Thoroughbred Breeders Australia

“I looked at it and thought it was a great opportunity because it was offering the theory but, importantly, 11 months of practical experience, which was what I needed,” O’Connor told TDN AusNZ.

Drawn in by the practical experience on offer, O’Connor was placed at Woodlands during the program. Getting on well, she was encouraged by Farm Manager John Sunderland to apply for the Basil Nolan Jnr Scholarship, and was successful.

“It was the best thing I’ve done, and I’ve got to thank Fast Track for that as a stepping stone,” she said.

“It was incredible. We’re all aiming for the same results of healthy and happy horses who are hopefully fast on the track, but they do it so differently due to the climate - it’s a whole other world.

“The on-farm lessons, the tutors, the tours to amazing farms and learning from successful people in the industry… it’s a brilliant opportunity.”

Now in his early twenties, James Loder is on the current intake of Fast Track, and on placement at Cornerstone Stud in South Australia - but it’s not his first time at the stud. After leaving school at 16, Loder had a variety of different jobs, many practical, until he found a job at Cornerstone and touched a horse for the first time.

His affection for thoroughbreds and work ethic didn’t go unnoticed by General Manager Sam Pritchard-Gordon, who encouraged him to apply for the program.

“It’s definitely helped with the all-round knowledge. Whether it be reproduction or nutrition, it’s given me an all-round education of horses,” Loder told TDN AusNZ.

“Fast Track has been amazing in showing me the pathways in the industry, not only in Australia but internationally too.”

Loder’s experience is a great advertisement for Fast Track - after getting a start in the industry he’s now more valuable to Cornerstone than ever as a result of the broad education the program offers.