Sheikh Mohammed’s Darley Stud has announced the names of 16 Chinese university graduates who have successfully gained places on the inaugural Dubai International Thoroughbred Internships scheme.

After an initial training period in Beijing, the students will take up placements in England, Ireland, America, Australia and Japan for 11 months and will be given the opportunity to gain hands-on experience at a range of studs and training yards run by Darley in the different countries.

Matt Hill, a former Assistant Manager at Dalham Hall Stud in Newmarket who has also worked for Darley in Japan and recently as Stud Manager of the operation’s Northwood Park Stud in Seymour, Victoria, has been appointed the Training Manager for the course.

Jalil stands for Darley at Lisui Farm in Beijing

He said: “The response to the internships has been excellent. More than 750 Chinese university graduates applied for the programme and we interviewed 109 highly credentialed and incredibly impressive young people. We very much look forward to the first group of interns joining us in August.”

Sheikh Mohammed’s interest in nurturing young talent in the global racing and breeding industry was first evident via his establishment of the popular Darley Flying Start course in 2003, which is open to students from around the world. Graduates of the two-year programme include up-and-coming French trainer Francis-Henri Graffard, bloodstock agent Matthew Coleman and Kevin Sommerville, who has played a key role in the new Cape Thoroughbred Sales company in his native South Africa after leaving Juddmonte’s nominations team last year.

This new course aimed specifically at training young members of a nation with emerging interests in thoroughbred racing and breeding follows on from the announcement last year that Darley would stand the Group-winning stallions Jalil and Sousa, sons of Storm Cat and Galileo respectively, at stud in China.

The interns for the inaugural course are:

Xu Si Yang – Veterinary Medicine, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing
Zhuang Jingqian – Marketing, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou
Cai Minqi – Politics and Administration, Tongji University, Shanghai
Huang Jie – Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing
Wang Xueli – Veterinary Medicine, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing
Luo Shuangfeng – Product Design, Ecole de Design Nantes Atlantique, France
Tam Man Hei – Biochemistry, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, Hong Kong
Pang Bo – International Accounting, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan
Li Yuwen – Public Administration, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai
Wei Xini – German Literature, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai
Zhong Xin – Law, Fudan University, Shanghai
Tong Xin – Law, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai
Yang Peng – Library Science and Economics, Peking University, Beijing
Zheng Yi – Finance and Marketing, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
Wang Yujing – Tourism Management, Inner Mongolia University, Inner Mongolia
Wang Chao – Veterinary Medicine, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing