Barbers Shop will return to the races on Saturday (2 December) to parade for the crowds at Newbury’s Ladbrokes Winter Carnival.
The Queen’s ex-racehorse, who has had a highly-successful second career in the show ring, will be joined by three other popular chasers in the paddock – including two former winners of the meeting’s feature race.
These are his former stablemate Bobs Worth, Carruthers and Rocky Creek.
All four horses have finished in the frame of the meeting’s feature race, the Ladbrokes Trophy – formerly known as the Hennessy Gold Cup.
Carruthers triumphed in the 2011 race, with Bobs Worth winning the following year.
Barbers Shop’s best finish in the Grade One chase was in 2009, where he finished fourth. Meanwhile, Rocky Creek was runner-up to Triolo D’Alene in the 2013 race.
The four horses will parade in the paddock ahead of the Sir Peter O’Sullevan Memorial Handicap Chase at 1.20pm.
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They will lead the runners out of the paddock and parade in front of the grandstand as the field heads to the start.
Sara Bradstock, whose daughter Lily will be riding Carruthers in Saturday’s parade, said the ex-racer does “pretty much whatever he chooses”.
“He loves and deserves all the attention he gets and is delightfully enthusiastic in any role,” she said.
“He is known in the yard as ‘The Boss’ and always will be.”
Find out what it meant to Katie Jerram to ride the first of the Queen’s winners at the show and
Newly-retired Rocky Creek, who ran his last race in March, has enjoyed a holiday and started his retraining process on the hunting field with the plan to aim him at some Retraining of Racehorses classes next year.
Katie Jerram announced Barbers Shop would be retiring from the show ring at the end of 2017.
He will now enjoy hunting and continuing to parade at racecourses, which she told H&H is something he “loves doing”.
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Lucy is an experienced news journalist, reporter and presenter. Since joining the Horse & Hound team in 2015, Lucy has reported from major global sporting events including the Tokyo Paralympic Games and multiple European Championships, as well as Badminton, Burghley and London, to name a few. She has covered current affairs and sports news across the full spectrum of equestrian disciplines and racing, as well as human and equine welfare, industry news and court cases.
