To round off the 2014 ex-racehorse
showing season – and just in time for Christmas – there are glad
tidings of great joy from Retraining of Racehorses regarding their
showing rules. From next year, ex-racehorses with racing-related
blemishes will have some special classes they can enter where these
'honourable war wounds' will not count against them.
This is great news, and, to my mind, a
long-overdue development. When show classes for ex-race horses first
got going, a dozen or so years ago, (and before ROR had become the
over-arching professional body it is now) they were low-key affairs
run by small but dedicated groups like TARRA (Thoroughbred and
Retired Racehorse Association) and the Ex-Racers Club, who were quite
clear about their target group – horses who had served their time
in training, and could no longer race, but were trying hard to find
themselves a new career.
Some of these horses were youngsters
who just hadn't made the grade, physically or mentally. Many, though,
had been retired because of injury or old age. And very often,
whether young or old, the horses were left with physical reminders of
their time in training – splints, bowed tendons, scars from jumping
injuries or tendon-firing, and so on. These guys were never going to
win any beauty contests! Even if they had started out with perfect
conformation, and moved well and had character and 'presence', in any
'normal' showring they would be marked down by the judge because of
their blemishes.
But TARRA, Ex-Racers Club, and others
wanted to give these horses – and their doting owners – a chance
to shine, and prove themselves. And if that meant some new showring
guidelines, so be it. It was made clear to judges and exhibitors
alike that the horses were being judged on how well they had adapted
from racehorse to riding horse, and how well they were handling the
transition from one job to another. So, it was quite common, and
understood by all, for a beautiful-looking horse to be marked down
because it was behaving like the hot favourite in the feature race at
Ascot, whilst a plainer animal with dodgy-looking legs was placed
higher because it went round the ring sensibly, managed to go in
something of an outline, and stood still in the judging line-up.
This meant that everyone could succeed,
no matter how un-lovely or cheaply-acquired their horse, so long as
they put in the time and effort at the re-training. It gave ordinary,
small-time owners achievable targets, 'something to do' with their
ex-racers through the summer – and tremendous pleasure when they
did well.
In recent years, though, things have
changed. Smaller, local shows have folded – the on-going effects of
the Recession and people feeling the pinch – so there are simply
far fewer TARRA and Ex-Racer Club classes around the country that
there used to be. At the same time, partly due to the great success
of ROR, ex-racehorse showing has become fashionable, and
professionalized. Professional show-producers are now involved,
scouring the country's training yards for the best horses.
Undoubtedly the standard of ex-racehorses in the showring has risen
considerably. At the same time, though, the friendly club atmosphere
of the classes has to some extent given way to serious
competitiveness. Not surprisingly, the judging has been beefed up
accordingly as the standard, kudos, and prizes, for winners
increased. But somewhere along the line the judging criteria has
reverted to that of 'normal' showing; blemishes are no longer
overlooked. Beautifully re-schooled ex-racers are put down the line
because they have pin-firing scars, or bowed tendons.
Sadly but understandably this has led
to some people declining to consider taking on ex-racers with
blemishes, because they feel they wouldn't stand a chance in ROR
classes. So, fewer possible homes for ex-racehorses. Several trainers
have complained bitterly that their efforts to happily re-home their
retirees have been thwarted. Existing ex-racer owners have grown
increasing frustrated, and angry ( see letters to Horse & Hound
and numerous Facebook posts!)
Thankfully, that's all changing! For
the 2015 season, ROR is teaming up with TARRA for a series of
classes to be judged under TARRA rules whereby racing injuries are
ignored - Ta-dahh! What's
more, the classes will be open to horses that have been in training
but not actually raced, or ones that have only raced abroad ( both
categories that have been excluded from ROR classes till now.) There
will be a Final held at the ROR Championships at Aintree in August.
Significantly, this series will be restricted to amateurs only –
so, at last, 'ordinary' owners can compete and succeed with their
ordinary, imperfect ( but much-loved) ex-racehorses.
In my view, judges
in these new classes should be encouraged to reward the progress an
ex-racer has made in its re-training. This would mean taking account
of things like how long the horse had been in training, how many
times it had raced, and how long it had been retired from the track.
So, a veteran of sixty races over nine or ten years would gain more
brownie points than a youngster who had bowed out after a couple of
sprints as a two-year-old. Where two horses were evenly matched in
performance in the ring, the deciding factor could be which horse had
been retired the shortest time ie; had made the swiftest progress in
its re-schooling. Perhaps now is a good time for anyone with ideas or
opinions about it all to let ROR know? – so their new series can
start with plenty of grassroots involvement and support.
After all, ROR
reports that it currently has over 10,000 ex-racehorses registered
for competition throughout all its sections. Clearly, they won't all
be show-perfect specimens! But ROR takes the common-sense view that
it's not just the high-profile recruits, the Kauto Stars, et al, that
matter (great though these are at flying the ex-racer flag). There
are ex-racers aplenty out there at 'ordinary' level, happily if
quietly following their second careers. They are to be celebrated,
and it's great that ROR is exploring ways of helping them to strut
their stuff a little.
