With admirable clarity Michael Grassick makes his point. "Jesus, what a country this would be if it could be roofed."

An old gag but new air is being breathed into it. The Curragh may be world renowned as a centre for training racehorses, but its bald plain, with a couple of thousand sheep morosely gnawing at its pate, provides damn all in the way of cover.

The rain just adds to the cocktail of woe for the flabby hack and the local racehorse trainer standing next to the Old Vic gallop that snakes through the middle of the Curragh.

On it the third group of horses from the Grassick stable is led by San Sebastian. Enveloped in oilskins from head to toe, the riders, busy restraining their mounts, are the warmest among us. But with the wind giving the horses ample excuses for fidgeting and shying, theirs is not a perch that this landlubber envies.

"It's a different story when the weather is good," says Derek O'Sullivan, head of the Racing Apprentice Centre of Education (RACE.) Not unnaturally he is anxious to give the hack as positive a picture as he can, which is not difficult when the Curragh tundra is swapped for the warmth of the centre's canteen.

The complex, on the outskirts of Kildare town, has the facilities to house up to 54 teenagers, all anxious to become the next generation's Dettori or Kinane or McCoy. It's an ultra-professional but disciplined school for those away from home for the first time, yet who desperately want to make a career out of horses.

"An Irish person who is good with horses has a passport to anywhere in the world," says O'Sullivan, who has been with the centre since it started in 1973. "Basically we are trying to turn a kid into a fully rounded person who happens to work in racing."

The work may be in the fresh air, but it is undeniably hard and gritty. Six am starts in order to look after thoroughbreds in all weathers tends to concentrate the mind. For the 16-year-old, first-year trainees, it can be a hard introduction to the realities of horses, but the bug seems to have well and truly taken hold.

"I got run away with at the top of the Old Vic this morning," says Mary Reynolds from Rathcannon. "The old horse just put down its head and I couldn't get it up. Mr (Dermot) Weld was standing there with his hand over his eyes watching me."

The body language of the trainees varies between the shy and the sardonic common to most 16-year-olds, but their sniggers seem more knowing than most people of their age. Hardly surprising considering they are doing an adult's job while also studying.

"All I want to do when I get home at weekends is just sleep. It's all I'm fit for really," says Darren O'Hanlon from Sligo town, before agreeing with his companions that he doesn't have as much in common with his old schoolmates as he used to.

The training course comprises of three 14-week terms, with the last term consisting of working full-time for a trainer. In the first term, trainees learn the basics of riding at Portlaoise Equine Centre. The second term involves riding out for one of the many Curragh trainers in the morning. A stint in the classroom follows.

"We don't care about the kids' past when they come here. It's up to them to prove to us that they have what is needed," says O'Sullivan. "They are usually up at 5.45 and there is an inspection of their rooms. There is something of an army discipline here and we have very strong procedures with parents and trainers."

If that sounds a mite Foreign Legion, it must be said the atmosphere feels remarkably positive. "I would put these kids up against any bunch of 15 to 17-year-olds. I know the centre is accused by some of being something of a hotel, but the reality is that there are much more demands on these kids than on ordinary kids of their age," says O'Sullivan.

Michael Grassick has put many RACE trainees through his hands, including the former champion apprentice Eddie Ahern who will be his retained jockey this year. He has no doubts about the merits of the course and a life in racing.

"There can be great job satisfaction and good rewards. All of them have a dream of being a professional jockey and they have to be let try and fulfill those dreams. The reality is that the majority won't make it, but being involved in racing is a good stepping stone in life. It teaches them discipline and responsibility."

There is also the plus of being in a workplace where the demand for staff outweighs the available pool. The minimum agricultural wage for a stable lad is £158 a week, but the bigger yards pay more.

"It's so difficult to get good lads. There are two good jobs in a yard and they are head man and travelling head lad. After that there are grooms. The problems come when you have three or four good people and they get married. Naturally they will start to look elsewhere," Grassick says.

The trainer describes the standard of trainee as good, but in terms of race riding the problem is a lack of kids with the "right confirmation". For potential flat jockeys, especially, modern diets are not helping.

"People are just getting bigger," says Grassick. "I'm the eldest of five and I'm the smallest in my family. Last year's kids were like a basketball team. A 15-year-old with ambitions to be a jockey would want to be no more than six stone and under 4ft 10ins."

Of the 28 current trainees at the centre there is no obvious Michael Jordan, but there is an impressive commitment to the job as they sit down to lunch at the centre. All wear a uniform like any other school in the country, but how many other kids in the country have changed into theirs from oilskins, riding boots and helmets?

They come from all over Ireland but with different stories of how they came to be here.

"A career guidance teacher told me," says Ben Monaghen from Drogheda. "We came down here last year on a school trip and I thought it was deadly. I didn't want to leave," says Richard Paget from Blanchardstown in Dublin.

Riding experience is not necessary to join RACE, but most seem to have had some contact with horses and the thrill of now being able to ride thoroughbreds is all too apparent. But there is also an impressive realism.

"If you pass this course you are guaranteed 100 per cent full employment," says Ben Monaghan. "I can't wait to go abroad. I'd love to do it. Pay a visit to Sheikh Mohammed and all that."

Of the 28 first years, six are girls, which is actually down on last year. Julie Krone may have become a top rider in the US and women are at the top of the tree in New Zealand, but racing opportunities for women in Ireland are distinctly limited.

"There should be more ladies races," says Mary Reynolds. "There aren't as many here as there are in England, but even if things don't change I won't go from horses now."

It seems that commitment to horses is the common thread among all the youngsters and although RACE statistics reveal that only one in 15 of the graduates eventually make a living from the actual riding of horses, that commitment can make the world a very small place.

"It doesn't matter if it's in Europe, the US or Japan, the Irish have a huge reputation. In Japan they are paid more than their Australian or New Zealand counterparts," says Derek O'Sullivan. "In fact some places in Japan sound like Newbridge!"

Hopefully a warmer Newbridge.