While most of Ireland is only beginning to thaw out following weeks of icy weather, one young apprentice jockey is riding high after a three-week sponsored working holiday in Newbridge's twinned town of Ocala in Florida.

Leigh Roche (17), who graduated from RACE in 2008 and is apprenticed to Curragh trainer Dermot Weld, was offered the chance to ride in the Sunshine State as part of his prize for winning the European apprentice race at San Rossore in Pisa last October.

He was then offered the chance to spend three weeks at the 90-acre Wavertree Stables farm of Kildare-born trainer Ciaran Dunne who moved to Ocala some years ago. "It was a fantastic opportunity," said Leigh who lives in Kildare and hails from Galway. "I loved it and working there with Ciaran was brilliant. He has a great set-up and it is a completely different world over there, riding with the sun on your back."

Ocala is the self-styled ‘Horse Capital of the World’, a major breeding and training centre with hundreds of breeding and training farms and it was officially twinned with Newbridge last year. RACE were very proactive with the twinning activities between the towns and see it as a great opportunity to send more students to further their riding experience in the future.

According to Leigh the experience was a major learning curve for him and his future career. "They train and race differently over there," he explained, "including the times per furlong so it was a good learning curve. I can use it to help me in the future. I worked on my timings, speeds and pace. I feel that I am ready now for the Flat race season which is starting at the end of February in Dundalk and I will just take it from there."