A Lexington native, Foley also thanked everyone involved in the Lexington portion of the program on behalf of all of the students.Darley Flying Start is a two year program created and funded by Sheikh Mohammed in which the 12 students per class live in America, England, Ireland, Australia, and Dubai while learning about every aspect of the Thoroughbred industry.The presenters, who are one year into the program and have been in Lexington since January, will have a brief holiday break before traveling to Darley in Australia.
The third Darley Flying Start student conference was held July 19 at Keeneland Race Course. The eleven students in the 2005-2007 class presented individual topics ranging from 2-year-old sales to betting exchanges and rebates. Kenny Rice was the announcer for the event, which involved 15-minute presentations as well as question and answer sessions. The participating students are from all over the globe, including the United States, Canada, France, England, Ireland, Brazil, and Australia. "It has been the most tremendous, amazing program," Conor Foley said of his time thus far in Flying Start. "We definitely want to thank Sheikh Mohammed for this opportunity."