Retraining of Racehorses and The Jockey Club team up for showing series

There will be a new novice show series for ex-racehorses this year, thanks to The Jockey Club.

The organisation has teamed up with Retraining of Racehorses (RoR) to launch the Novice Thoroughbred Show Series 2014.

The Jockey Club RoR Series is intended to highlight the successful 2nd careers racehorses can go on to have in other equine disciplines.

The series is open to thoroughbred mares or geldings who have previously raced in Britain and are at least four years old. They must not have won any open showing class (including RoR and SEIB/Horse of the Year Show qualifiers).

There are more than 20 qualifiers, starting next month. The top 3 finishers at each go forward the championship at Aintree National Show on 26 July, where the total prize pot is £500.

Grand National winning trainer Jenny Pitman will be judging the final. The overall champion qualifies for Aintree’s Supreme RoR Championship the following day.

RoR chief executive Di Arbuthnot said: “We are proud to have [The Jockey Club’s] support, which acknowledges the increasing popularity of the thoroughbred in the showing world.

“We look forward to some new talent emerging through the qualifying rounds and a competitive final in the summer.”

The overall champion qualifies for Aintree’s Supreme RoR Championship at the Aintree National Show the following day, with a £1,000 prize pot available.

Simon Bazalgette, group chief executive for The Jockey Club, said that the welfare of retired racehorses is “an important consideration” for the organisation.

“With the number of horses registered with RoR continuing to grow, we are delighted to be able to demonstrate our commitment to this worthy charity by partnering this new initiative,” he said.

For information, visit www.ror.org.uk/series_showing_5.php

Martha Terry

H&H features editor

Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on dogs of all shapes and sizes. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs, one a street dog from Gambia who was abandoned at three weeks old. Now, her constant companion, whether by her feet at her desk or walking cross-country courses, is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.