Smad Place, who was trained by Alan King and owned by Mrs Peter Andrews for most of his racing career, won his British debut by 27 lengths. The popular grey went on to contest many top-class hurdle races, finishing third in successive Stayers’ Hurdles at the Cheltenham Festival and taking second place in the Long Walk at Ascot in 2012.
Second by just a neck in the 2014 RSA Chase (now Brown Advisory) and an easy winner of the Ladbrokes Trophy (then the Hennessy Gold Cup) the following year, Smad Place was subsequently victorious in the Cotswold Chase when beating Many Clouds by 12 lengths. While racing he won nine of his 37 starts, clocking up £493,976 in the process, with Wayne Hutchinson most often seen in the saddle.
His last success came in October 2017 when he contested the Monet’s Garden Old Roan Chase at Aintree before he was retired in 2018 after picking up a suspensory ligament injury. So, now he is no longer seen on racecourses, what is this crowd-favourite up to?
Smad Place is currently in the care of Sarah Haydon, who has been retraining the now 15-year-old to take part in a variety of disciplines.
Describing the grey as her “family’s pet”, Sarah says: “I came about him when he retired and it went on social media – a great friend of mine who worked at Cheltenham racecourse at the time posted his retirement.
“I’d followed him for most of his latter career and always loved watching him, so I commented on the post. When his owners asked if I would be interested in having him, I jumped at the chance!”
Sarah diligently looks after Smad Place’s Facebook page, which has over 1,000 followers.
He was most recently seen parading on Countryside Day at Cheltenham Racecourse (11 November 2022).
Sarah says: “He’s a real member of the family and we all love him, even my four-year-old daughter loves leading and sitting on him after me.”
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