‘Geriatric stable lad’ to race in Wales
Octogenarian horseman Grahame Barrett is taking part in a charity race to raise money for a new breast cancer clinic in Llandough Hospital, near Cardiff.
Grahame, who will be 80 in March, will take part in a beach ride at Ogmore by Sea on 11 April.
ITV Wales newsreader Justina Simpson, who is organising the ride, said: “We are delighted Grahame will lead the ride. At 80 it is inspirational that he’s still riding to such a level.”
Nicknamed the “geriatric stable lad”, Mr Barrett has won 20 point-to-point races and still rides daily in Carew, Pembrokeshire.
His wife Pamela asked him to stop racing for his own safety, but when she died three years ago, Mr Barrett wanted to ride in a race in her memory.
He hoped to ride in a point-to-point in 2007, but there were concerns over him passing the jockey’s medical assessment.
He said: “I wanted to ride on the 60th anniversary of my first win, but unfortunately I was deemed too old to ride.”
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A spokesman for the Point-to-Point Authority said it would not stop anyone from applying on age grounds, so long as they could pass the assessment.
This article was first published in Horse & Hound (25 February, ’10)
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A graduate of Exeter University, Amy joined our news team from Redpin Publishing in 2008 as news writer. She was promoted to deputy news editor in May 2013 and became news editor in April 2015. She left Horse & Hound in March 2016 to take up an editorial position in Dubai.