Godolphin’s star all-rounder Qewy has started his retraining after retiring from the racetrack to start a new career with his former work rider.
The eight-year-old gelding enjoyed a successful career under Rules, with 20 starts on the Flat, seven over hurdles and two over fences while in training with John Oxx, John Ferguson and most recently Charlie Appleby.
He raced in Britain, Ireland and Australia, amassing more than £462,700 in prize money during his six-year career, retiring in November 2017.
His former work rider Charlotte Wyatt, who travelled with Qewy during his travels across the globe, said it is an “absolute honour to give Qewy the retirement home he deserves”.
“I just couldn’t see him go to anyone else,” Charlotte told H&H.
“When you ride a horse every day you create a special bond, and to travel with him to Australia and share that experience was amazing. Qewy took me to places I would never have thought I would go to and giving him a five-star home is my way of saying thank you.
“He is a funny, intelligent and quirky horse to have on the yard — he loves to be in a routine and enjoys the comfort of having other horses around him.
“I’m really pleased with how well he has adjusted and I just knew from how he behaved when in training that he would fit into the yard at home perfectly – it already feels like he has always been there.”
Charlotte added Qewy “loves hacking” and she is really impressed with the progress he is making with his flatwork.
“It’s like riding a different horse [to the Qewy I rode in training], he moves and carries himself completely differently,” she said.
“He has taken to retraining very well and he surprised me with how successfully he has taken to the flatwork — I think he just wanted a job again as he loves to be in work and is enjoying doing something new.
“We have been working with Mark and Elizabeth Mills, who run The Dressage Company and I couldn’t have got Qewy to this level without them.
“This is all new to me as my experience is mostly riding racehorses. Teaching Qewy the basic flatwork wasn’t easy, but with the help of Mark and Elizabeth he is now performing beautifully.
“I’d never have thought that when he was in training that he would go on to move as well as he does.”
Charlotte, who hails from Norfolk, is hoping to do some Retraining of Racehorses classes and would like to see how he takes to eventing.
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She added Qewy is a “natural” over fences.
“It has just been a case of familiarising him with jumping again and it was like he had never forgotten,” said Charlotte. “I love jumping him, the bigger the jump the better he is!”
“Cross-country will be perfect for him and I think he will find it really exciting.
“He is already familiar with showjumping so now we just need to tidy it all up and look forward to next summer.”
Godolphin Rehoming manager Jo Brisland added racehorses can go on to have successful careers “in any sphere” with the correct training.
“It gives everyone involved in the rehoming scheme great pleasure to see our former stars on the track become such versatile horses in their new careers,” she added.
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