Ex-racehorses who have competed successfully in new equestrian disciplines will be recognised at the first Retraining of Racehorses (RoR) award ceremony in Newmarket next week (26 November).
The ceremony will be co-presented by RoR patron Clare Balding and her former TV partner champion jockey Willie Carson at the Jockey Club Rooms.
Seven trophies will be presented to this year’s RoR elite champions in dressage, showjumping, endurance, polo, eventing and showing. The prize money totals £16,500.
The winner of a new award, the RoR horse of the year champion 2014 will also be revealed at the ceremony.
The award, sponsored by The Jockey Club, recognises the special achievements of a retrained racehorse adapting to a new career.
The winner will be given club admission and hospitality for two people on the opening day of the 2015 Cheltenham Festival meeting.
“We are looking forward to the RoR awards and would like to say thank you to The Jockey Club for supporting this event and also for their sponsorship of our new award for the RoR Horse of the Year,” said RoR chief executive, Di Arbuthnot.
“The RoR awards ceremony provide an opportunity for the charity and its supporters to celebrate the tremendous achievements of our winners as well as the thousands of former racehorses now enjoying life after racing,” she added.
Simon Bazalgette, group chief executive of The Jockey Club, said he hopes the new awards programme “encourages more people to retrain and re-home former racehorses.”
RoR is British horseracing’s official charity for the welfare of horses that have retired from racing. It raises funds from within racing to provide facilities for the care, retraining and re-homing of former racehorses.
