RETIRED, BUT NOT OVER THE HILL JUST YET
Ben Hastie looks at life after racing for stars of the track
Everyone who has an interest in horse racing, whether that’s as a punter having a bet, those who work in the industry or those who just love the excitement of our great sport - all have favourites on the track.
The horse that you follow every time they run, the one you bet on because for some reason you feel a connection, the horse that you take into your heart regardless of their ability or how successful they are on the track.
We all have our favourites.
Do you ever wonder when racehorses finish their careers on the track what they do next?
There are many reasons why racehorses are retired from racing - age, injury, loss of form over a long period and, more so on the Flat, for breeding the next generation.
Mares in both National Hunt and Flat racing can have a career after racing as broodmares. Male horses on the Flat can go on to be stallions as nearly all Flat male racehorses ‘entire’ – they still have all the bits needed to reproduce.
National Hunt males are mostly if not all ‘gelded’ – castrated and therefore no longer able to reproduce. But they still have fantastic careers after retirement from the track.
Racehorses in training are probably the most well looked-after animals in the world, they are cared for like royalty and this doesn’t stop when their racing careers are over. Racehorses are rehomed to people who have the knowledge and experience to be able to retrain them to learn new disciplines such as dressage, eventing, showjumping and showing.
Many ex-racehorses excel at learning new disciplines and many are very successful at what they learn.
The RoR (Retraining of Racehorses) is an organisation that works hard to make sure ex-racehorses are looked after, that they have the opportunity to compete in competitions and, most importantly, that every racehorse that retires from the track is logged on a database as to where they are, what they are learning and any other relevant information.
Every year there are RoR parades at various racecourses where ex-racehorses are walked around the parade ring and racegoers can see them and hear about what they are doing in their new careers. There is also the RoR Championships held every year at Aintree where hundreds of e- racehorses compete against others in new disciplines.
There are so many people up and down the country doing so many great things with ex-racehorses and they really do have a great life in their new careers.
As I said we all have our favourites and one horse always had my heart when he was racing, i was obsessed with him.
I watched his races over and over again and he was so talented that he won four Grade 1 races which included two Cheltenham Festival wins. That horse was Yorkhill and when he retired through injury I was so so lucky to be gifted him by Dave Armstrong and Lee Westwood.
I along with my partner, Rach, nursed him 24/7 for four months whilst he recovered from injury and then introduced him to new things away from racing.
We take him showjumping, he has learnt dressage, we take him hacking around the estate our farm is on and he absolutely loves life. He is the most gentle horse and always wants to please us.
He had his quirks on the racecourse but he now knows he’s not a racehorse anymore and has mellowed so much, he is such a joy to be with and he is treated like a king.
Owners generally gift their racehorses to people - not because they don’t want them anymore but so they can go on to have the best life learning new things. Many owners don’t ride or have the facilities to be able to keep their horses in retirement and it’s kudos to many owners who put their horses first and make sure they go to the right homes where they have the most fantastic ‘Life after Racing’.