NEWMARKET, ENGLAND - JUNE 27: Limato ridden by Adam Kirby competes in the Betway Criterion Stakesat Newmarket Racecourse on June 27, 2020 in Newmarket, England. (Photo by Edward Whitaker/Pool via Getty Images)
The dual Group One winner Limato is set to turn his hoof to a new career in showing when he joins a top producer next week.
Paul Jacobs’ eight-year-old gelding will move from trainer Henry Candy to Katie Jerram-Hunnable’s stable. Limato won 14 of his 33 races including the 2016 Group One July Cup and Prix de la Foret with Harry Bentley, three Group Two races, and three Group Threes.
Katie, who has retrained top chasers Cue Card and The Queen’s Barbers Shop, told H&H she feels “honoured” to have the gelding.
“He has come to me via Retraining of Racehorses (RoR) whose kind support places these super horses into another career,” she said.
“My passion is racing and my favourite breed is the thoroughbred and I couldn’t think of a nicer horse to retrain.”
Limato will arrive racing fit so will be given time to be let down and adapt to a different way of life.
“We will get him used to being turned out in the field and having a new routine. I always have plans and ideas [about their future] but every day is another day, nothing is textbook. The horses are individuals and you have to train each one a different way and find your way round. The lovely thing with him is as he’s only eight he’s got lots of time ahead of him,” said Katie.
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“Some of them come on very quickly but others take time; Barbers Shop arrived in the October and was in the ring by March, Cue Card arrived in April last year and went to a few in-hand shows and was ready for the ring this March.”
Katie said Cue Card has since gone back to be turned out at the Tizzards’, his former trainer, after the pandemic meant the cancellation of many shows, but Barbers Shop will be on hand to “nanny” Limato in the field.
“Cue Card went home last month which was great sadness for us, he was ready for the ring but there was no shows. His owner, Mrs Bishop, is in her nineties now and couldn’t see him anywhere so he’s gone back home.
“Barber hacks out every day or goes in the school and loves his work. He’s 18 now, and I’m very proud of him parading at RoR race meetings. He looks a picture and it’s lovely people still want him out there and the crowd still remember him.”
Katie added Henry Candy and his wife are “very excited” about Limato’s new career.
“They very much want to follow him and his future, they’ve done so much with this lovely horse and it means a lot to me that they support his new career so it’s lovely in all respects,” she said.
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Since joining H&H in 2018, Becky has covered a broad range of equestrian news including welfare matters, veterinary studies, FEI Tribunal hearings and road safety campaigns. She has also interviewed top riders including Scott Brash, John Whitaker and Ian Stark, to name just a few. Becky’s reporting has taken her to Canada for Spruce Meadows and France for Pau five-star, as well as the Royal Highland and Blair Castle International Horse Trials closer to home. She was also a key part of the remote reporting team for the Tokyo Olympics and the Europeans.
