Gold Cup winners Kauto Star and Denman will head a star-studded parade of former racehorses at the Cheltenham Festival next month (11 March).
This is the first of this year’s Retraining of Racehorses (RoR) parades, which were introduced in 2008 and are now an established part of major jump racing festivals at Cheltenham and Aintree, as well as Ascot’s King George Day in July.
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RoR chief executive Di Arbuthnot said that it is a “fantastic way to showcase in front of racing audiences the versatility of the racehorse”.
“[Parades] provide people with the chance to see their old favourites [and] also show the adaptability of former racehorses, including those who may not have such a distinguished racing career but are now excelling in a new discipline,” she said.
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Ms Arbuthnot says the mix of horses is an essential element in the success of the parades.
“Horse of the Year Show winner Deep Reflection will parade alongside festival stalwarts like Monkerhostin and Blazing Bailey, who are now enjoying a more relaxed life hunting and hacking away from the limelight,” she said.
“The parades show how former horses can make the most rewarding animals to retrain for second careers, and offer a snapshot of their new skills, whether competing in showing, showjumping, eventing, polo, endurance, dressage or simply as a hunter or hack.”
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Besides the 2 former Paul Nicholls stars, Blazing Bailey, Crystal D’Ainay, Monkerhostin, Barbers Shop (below), Miko De Beauchene, Lightning Strike, Deep Reflection and Ashkazar will line up.
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Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on horses and dogs. Her reporting CV includes the Paris Olympics, European championships, Aachen World Equestrian Festival and World Cup finals. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs. Now, her constant companion 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.
