Awards for former racehorses with successful new careers

Six ex-racehorses that have gone on to excel in competition were honoured at an awards ceremony in London recently.

The annual Racehorse to Riding Horse Performance Awards, sponsored by South Essex Insurance Brokers, were presented at the recent British Breeders Award Dinner on 12 January.

During the evening, the prestigious awards were given to the owners and riders of five Thoroughbreds that accumulated points during 2007 in eventing, showing, endurance, show jumping, dressage and combined disciplines.

Don’t Tell Rosey, ridden by Fiona Avagno and owned by Susan Avagno was the combined discipline winner. “Gummy”, a seven-year-old bay gelding, raced once but a fractured pelvis ended his career in training. After careful rehabilitation and retraining, Don’t Tell Rosey has competed successfully in showing, novice cross-country, show jumping and working hunter classes during 2007.

Maiden Bay, owned and ridden by Karen Whittingdon, took the affiliated endurance section for the second time. The 11-year-old bay mare, known as “Mary” ran in point-to-points before moving on to endurance competition with Karen where she represented England in the Home International in 2006, and was the fastest horse in the 100km Lindon Spirit race ride this summer.

Blue Streak, owned and ridden by Joey Ellis, won the affiliated showing section. Retiring from racing in 2006 having won 4 and placed in 10 of his 63 starts, Blue Streak went on win at his first showing outing in August that year. And he’s gone from strength to strength, taking Supreme Champion Ex-Racehorse at the Royal London Show last summer, and winning 12 times in 16 outings.

Kings Piper, owned and ridden by Liz Harcombe, won the affiliated dressage section. The pair first hunted after the 15-year-old bay gelding, known as Gawky, was given to Liz three years ago following an unsuccessful point-to-point career. They moved on to dressage and are now well established at medium level, and last year won the East Anglian Dressage Championships at elementary and medium levels.

Cool Mandy, owned and ridden by Jodene Tarling, took the affiliated show jumping section following a successful year in competition. The former point-to-pointer and her rider overcame a ‘steering problem’ early on in their career together, to win the 1.05m qualifier and be placed in the finals at the Scope Festival last summer. They were also placed in the 1.05m final at the Welsh Masters, with one of only nine double clears. They also won the amateur championship grand prix at Arena UK.

Native Caption, owned and ridden by Karen Harrison, won the affiliated eventing section. Bought as a seven-year-old from Doncaster sales, 2007 was Native Caption’s third season as an eventer, and he won at Solihul, Somerford Park and Kelsall Hall Horse Trials. He has never been out of the placings and finished on his dressage score each of his 11 outings. He won the British Eventing (BE) points award for the North West and is BE leading overall horse in the area.

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