Some of the extra funding given to ROR by ROA is to go to supporting development of the ex-racehorse showing classes sponsored by ROR and Tattersalls. This is great news, as these classes are a wonderful opportunity for ex-racers to prove how well they can rehabilitate and strut their stuff successfully in the showring, once allowances are made for their history and any blemishes they may have acquired during their racing careers.
So often, otherwise beautiful and well-schooled ex-racers have been marked down because their legs carry the honourable battlescars of their racing days. In other cases, recently re-schooled ex-racehorses new to showing have lost out due to typical new-ex-racer behaviour letting them down compared to their less-lovely, but better-behaved, competitors. So, showing classes just for ex-racehorses are a much-needed development.
Precise judging criteria varies, depending on which organisation is sponsoring the classes, but generally allowances are made for racing-acquired blemishes , the length of time the horse has been out of racing, and the amount of rehabilitation progress made. In the ROR classes, judging is as for normal Riding Horse classes. Each horse is ridden by the judge, and marked separately for conformation and action.
This year, ROR has amended the entry rules so that every horse must have actually raced. In the past, any Thoroughbred that has 'been in training' was eligible to enter. This meant that some horses - perhaps already singled out for a showing career - have merely spent a few weeks in a race-trainer's yard to qualify for ROR and other ex-racer classes. They then left the yard as physically ( and psychologically) perfect as they went in, ready to trounce more genuine ex-racers in the showring. The rule-change will put an end to this, and leave the true battle-hardened ex-racehorses a level playing field to compete on. It will also make it easier for the amateur owner/riders, with their less-than-perfect ex-racers, to compete against the better-resourced professional producers.
The ROR/Tattersalls showing series is now in its fifth year with qualifiers’ nationwide going forward to the final at Hickstead's Show Jumping Derby meeting from 25th to 28th June (exact date to be confirmed). Those who qualify after the South of England Show in June, compete in the final in 2010. Judges will be from the RoR panel.
Coming dates are here:
MAY 3rd & 4th May* - LEICESTERSHIRE COUNTY SHOW, Leicestershire10th May - NEWARK & NOTTINGHAMSHIRE SHOW, Nottinghamshire Results: 1st TROPPI GUAI - Rebecca Peace; 2nd DOUBLE SPEY - SALLY Beeden; 3rd RUSTY PLUMBER - Miss D. ParkerVeteran - TROPPI GUAI15th May - ROYAL WINDSOR HORSE SHOW, Berkshire 23rd May – DEVON COUNTY SHOW, Somerset 23rd May - HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY SHOW, Hertfordshire23rd May* - HEATHFIELD & DISTRICT AGRICULTURAL SHOW, East Sussex24th May* - HAMBLETON SHOW , Yorkshire27th May - SUFFOLK SHOW, Suffolk 28th May - ROYAL BATH & WEST SHOW, SomersetJUNE 6th June - MIDLAND COUNTIES SHOW , Staffordshire 11th June - SOUTH OF ENGLAND, West Sussex QUALIFICATION FOR HICKSTEAD 2010 17th June* - YORKSHIRE SPORTS HORSE SHOW, Yorkshire 20th June* - EAST OF ENGLAND, Cambridgeshire23rd June - CHESHIRE COUNTY SHOW, Cheshire24th June* - LINCOLNSHIRE COUNTY SHOW, Lincolnshire27th June* - POTENTIAL COMPETITION HORSE SHOW, Merseyside28th June* - DERBYSHIRE COUNTY SHOW, Derby25th to 28th June - FINAL 2009, Hickstead Derby Meeting (exact date to be confirmed) JULY 7th to 10th July - THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SHOW, Stoneleigh 19th July - KENT COUNTY SHOW, Kent 24th to 26th July - TATTERSALLS IRELAND/WARD UNION SHOW, Ireland25th July* - BORDER UNION SHOW, Roxburghshire28th July* - RYEDALE SHOW, Yorkshire 28th to 30th July* - NEW FOREST & HAMPSHIRE COUNTY SHOW, Hampshire AUGUST 1st August* - BICESTER & FINMERE SHOW, Oxfordshire13th August* - WALES & WEST HUNTER SHOW, Monmouthshire23rd August* - NOTTS DERBY CHARITY HORSE SHOW, Derbyshire 31st August* - EDENBRIDGE & OXTED SHOW, SurreySEPTEMBER 5th September* - DORSET COUNTY SHOW, Dorset9th September* - NATIONAL HUNTER SUPREME CHAMPIONSHIP SHOW, Buckinghamshire12th September - THE BRITISH ELITE HORSE SHOW, Lincolnshire12th September - ROMSEY SHOW, Hampshire19th to 20th September* - ROYAL COUNTY OF BERKSHIRE, Berkshire
Showing posts with label showing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label showing. Show all posts
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Grand National to dressage - Royal Predica makes the leap!
What happens to Grand National runners when they retire from racing ? If they’re anything like Royal Predica, they start a whole new life and career !
This big and beautiful chestnut gelding ( 16.3 hands and gorgeous – see photos! – despite some old battle-scars) won some £126,000 racing, mostly over the big chasing fences. He started his career as a 3-year-old in France, then went to UK trainer Martin Pipe’s yard to race over jumps. He won numerous chases – at Ascot, Warwick, Aintree, etc – over a long career, and in 2003 won the Kim Muir at Cheltenham at odds of 33-1 ! He tackled the Grand National no less than four times, completing the course twice to finish 8th and 12th. As he got older, he did a spell of point-to-point racing too. The snag there was that, due to his impressive reputation and form, he was usually asked to carry a stone more in weight than the other runners. So, great horse though he was, he wasn’t very successful.
Around this time, some three years ago, Anj Hughes was looking for a horse. Her friend Helen ( herself the proud owner of another famous ex-racer, Akarus) had a contact at the training yard and heard that Royal Predica was available. Anj saw him and fell in love. After a nail-biting few days, when another party was interested, the deal was done and Anj carried Royal Predica off to her Devon home for a whole life-makeover. His racing days were over – it was on to new stuff. And a new petname – ‘Perds’.
At first, says Anj, he was a typical racehorse – quick to take off at the gallop ( “an exhilarating experience, to say the least!”), a bit too handy with his back legs ( they knicknamed him Pistol Pete), and quite ‘institutionalised’, in that he was only used to the strict routine of a busy racing yard. He also had a scary nap-spin-rear trick that took some sorting out. “The first Boxing Day he was home,” recalls Anj, “I went to go on a circuit and spent 45 minutes in the same spot! Now, though, he may hesitate a minute, maybe bounce a little, but then he will settle and carry on. Loads of tight circles, and my hand on his neck for encouragement and reassurance, have worked wonders.”
Now, Perds is “the perfect gentleman” to ride in company ( though sometimes a bit sharp and playful when out alone). “ He cruises round the village as if he owns it.” He’s good and quiet to handle too, though Anj has to add that he still kicks holes in his wooden stable, flicking a back leg “just to hear the noise”!
He is a fantastic hunter. Hedges and ditches are easy-peasy for this Grand National veteran, and hunter trials are a piece of cake. Not only that, but Perds has also turned his hooves to both dressage and showing, with great success. He made his showring debut ( with Helen aboard) just six months after leaving racing, and drew admiring compliments on how well he was taking to his reschooling. This year, Anj has entered him in the Racehorse to Riding Horse qualifier at the Devon County Show in May, as well as the Honiton Show in August.
It hasn’t all been plain sailing, of course. In particular, Perds has had a lot of time off due to foot problems. “He’s got typical TB feet,” explains Anj. “He’s had several bouts of pus in the hooves, and then a piece of flint pierced his sole, so now his feet are padded in front.” But good farriery and remedial diet mean Perd’s hooves are steadily improving.
So Royal Predica, now 15 years old, is really enjoying life. He has a 2-acre paddock which he shares with Tara, a Connemara-cross mare, with the stable doors open 24/7 for free access. The yard owners, meanwhile, provide a constant supply of apples, carrots and polo mints. And with all his new activities – hunting, showing, dressage, hacking out ( sometimes ride-and-lead with his girlfriend Tara) - Perds is never bored. Like many ‘retired’ people, his life seems fuller, if less strenuous, than ever.
“I’ve ridden loads of horses in my 52 years,” says Anj “ but none quite like Perds. I’m so lucky to have had this opportunity to not only ride, but to own, the most athletic, speedy, intelligent, comfortable horse in my life. He’s my sports-car in that midlife crisis ! I love him to bits, and he has a home with me for life.”
This big and beautiful chestnut gelding ( 16.3 hands and gorgeous – see photos! – despite some old battle-scars) won some £126,000 racing, mostly over the big chasing fences. He started his career as a 3-year-old in France, then went to UK trainer Martin Pipe’s yard to race over jumps. He won numerous chases – at Ascot, Warwick, Aintree, etc – over a long career, and in 2003 won the Kim Muir at Cheltenham at odds of 33-1 ! He tackled the Grand National no less than four times, completing the course twice to finish 8th and 12th. As he got older, he did a spell of point-to-point racing too. The snag there was that, due to his impressive reputation and form, he was usually asked to carry a stone more in weight than the other runners. So, great horse though he was, he wasn’t very successful.
Around this time, some three years ago, Anj Hughes was looking for a horse. Her friend Helen ( herself the proud owner of another famous ex-racer, Akarus) had a contact at the training yard and heard that Royal Predica was available. Anj saw him and fell in love. After a nail-biting few days, when another party was interested, the deal was done and Anj carried Royal Predica off to her Devon home for a whole life-makeover. His racing days were over – it was on to new stuff. And a new petname – ‘Perds’.
At first, says Anj, he was a typical racehorse – quick to take off at the gallop ( “an exhilarating experience, to say the least!”), a bit too handy with his back legs ( they knicknamed him Pistol Pete), and quite ‘institutionalised’, in that he was only used to the strict routine of a busy racing yard. He also had a scary nap-spin-rear trick that took some sorting out. “The first Boxing Day he was home,” recalls Anj, “I went to go on a circuit and spent 45 minutes in the same spot! Now, though, he may hesitate a minute, maybe bounce a little, but then he will settle and carry on. Loads of tight circles, and my hand on his neck for encouragement and reassurance, have worked wonders.”
Now, Perds is “the perfect gentleman” to ride in company ( though sometimes a bit sharp and playful when out alone). “ He cruises round the village as if he owns it.” He’s good and quiet to handle too, though Anj has to add that he still kicks holes in his wooden stable, flicking a back leg “just to hear the noise”!
He is a fantastic hunter. Hedges and ditches are easy-peasy for this Grand National veteran, and hunter trials are a piece of cake. Not only that, but Perds has also turned his hooves to both dressage and showing, with great success. He made his showring debut ( with Helen aboard) just six months after leaving racing, and drew admiring compliments on how well he was taking to his reschooling. This year, Anj has entered him in the Racehorse to Riding Horse qualifier at the Devon County Show in May, as well as the Honiton Show in August.
It hasn’t all been plain sailing, of course. In particular, Perds has had a lot of time off due to foot problems. “He’s got typical TB feet,” explains Anj. “He’s had several bouts of pus in the hooves, and then a piece of flint pierced his sole, so now his feet are padded in front.” But good farriery and remedial diet mean Perd’s hooves are steadily improving.
So Royal Predica, now 15 years old, is really enjoying life. He has a 2-acre paddock which he shares with Tara, a Connemara-cross mare, with the stable doors open 24/7 for free access. The yard owners, meanwhile, provide a constant supply of apples, carrots and polo mints. And with all his new activities – hunting, showing, dressage, hacking out ( sometimes ride-and-lead with his girlfriend Tara) - Perds is never bored. Like many ‘retired’ people, his life seems fuller, if less strenuous, than ever.
“I’ve ridden loads of horses in my 52 years,” says Anj “ but none quite like Perds. I’m so lucky to have had this opportunity to not only ride, but to own, the most athletic, speedy, intelligent, comfortable horse in my life. He’s my sports-car in that midlife crisis ! I love him to bits, and he has a home with me for life.”
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