Life After Racing

packed breakfast and included all her favourite things. She was so moved by the experience that she walked away, picked a mouthful of grass, and put it in my lap as a thank you.”

A favourite memory is of the day Phoenix discovered she could run again. “I’d gone out to the Hare Krishna farm to spend the day with Phoenix,” she says, “and when I arrived a guy who worked there came running up to me, terrified by what Phoenix was doing. And there was Phoenix between two trees as if she was in the barriers at a race, suddenly exploding out from the trees and galloping to the other end of the paddock.”

As Jo sat and watched, Phoenix did it over and over again, obviously relishing the sheer joy of movement. “That was about four years ago, and that was the day she got her feet back,” she says.

But if Jo gave Phoenix the present of rebirth, the gift has been returned in numerous ways, one being Jo’s commitment to painting. “I wanted to honour her,” she says, “so I picked up my paintbrush and started to paint. Over time my portfolio built to the point where I could also do ‘love’ work. Everything I do, every brush stroke, I do for her.”

As Jo and Phoenix developed their relationship, Jo wanted to use her psychotherapy skills to help people heal from trauma. As these journeys unfolded, she realised one day that she herself was healed. “All the horrors and betrayals as a child, and the adult misadventures that resulted - I’d just let it all go,” she says. “I choose life, love, genuine connection, and unity. And Phoenix? Well, we chose each other. I am her guardian and I will stand with her until the very end. It’s my greatest honour.”

Recently, Jo found Phoenix a companion. She’d been searching for the ‘right’ one for some time - enter Molly, a retired Standardbred, who is now Phoenix’s constant companion, and is beginning her new life of love and magic with Jo and Phoenix.

You can find Jo, Phoenix, and Jo’s paintings on www.paintandpony.com

Candida Baker has a Facebook page, The Horse Listener and is President of the equine charity Equus Alliance.

TOP: Jo and Phoenix share an unbreakable bond (Image by Chris F. Porter).

ABOVE: Phoenix in care with the RSPCA.

Winners of the 2017 Sydney Royal Hack Championship. Rebecca and Stage Presence with hack judge and international dressage rider Kristy Oatley (Image by Julie Wilson).

LIFE AFTER RACING

Staging a comeback

After a less than auspicious racing career, OTT Thoroughbred Stage Presence and Rebecca Farrow joined forces with spectacular results, writes JO MCKINNON.

Rebecca Farrow is one of the queens of the Australian show ring. From a very young age, the Victorian rider has dominated competitions not only in her home state but throughout Australia. And in recent years she has been next to unbeatable on her big, flashy Thoroughbred gelding Stage Presence.

Known as Percy around the stables, Stage Presence is aptly named given his markings and general ‘wow’ factor. Wherever he goes he turns heads and more often than not, judges at major shows all over the country are taken with his good looks and impressive movement.

Now a 12-year-old, he’s one of the most decorated show hacks currently in competition. “He’s been remarkable, he really has,” says Rebecca.

Since purchasing him from Courtney Smith as a novice level Royal Show hack five years ago, Rebecca has won almost everything there is to win with him. In 2017, the pair scooped both the Champion Hack and the Champion Lady Rider at the Sydney Royal Easter Show. Notably, it was the first time in 46 years that an owner/ rider combination had managed this truly amazing coup. To further sweeten 2017, they also took out the National Off the Track Championship.

The son of Testa Rossa, a multiple Group One winner and a prolific sire of winners, Stage Presence raced under the name Persistency. However, he was a rank failure on the track. He had only one start, which was at Scone in a maiden where he finished ninth of 14

runners. He was beaten by eight lengths and was retired not long afterwards.

But what he lacked on the race track he has since more than made up for at the very top of the highly competitive show scene. “I first saw him at Sydney Royal when he won the novice large hack over 16.2hh,” says Rebecca, “and I thought he had a beautiful way of going. I then watched him in the best novice class and thought ‘I love that horse’. He was soft across the ground, had a lot of air under him and was really leggy. He was lean and green but had a nice way of travelling.”

Through a mishap with her own horse at the Sydney Royal that same year, Rebecca needed to borrow a horse for her rider class. The opportunity came up to ride Stage Presence and she jumped at it.

They clicked straight away and after riding him for just five minutes in the marshalling yard, the pair strode into the main arena and went on to win the class. Rebecca offered to buy him soon after but it took Courtney two months to finally make the decision to sell.

But just six months after Rebecca took ownership of Percy, tragedy came

An impressive pair: Rebecca and Stage Presence at the 2019 Sydney Royal (Image by Julie Wilson).

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perilously close when he developed a bad bout of colic. After costly lifesaving surgery and a year off he pulled through, much to Rebecca’s relief. “It was a long recovery. He lost 100kg in five days, but he had an 80 per cent chance of making a full recovery, so it was money well spent. I would not otherwise have the great horse I have now,” she says.

Rebecca loves working with Thoroughbreds. Over the course of her career in the saddle, she’s had at least a dozen retired racehorses but says Percy epitomises the many great attributes of the breed. “I think when you stand him up and look at him, you realise that it’s very rare to find a 17hh horse so well put together. He has a great length of rein, long legs and is a very sound horse. He’s never had a day’s lameness in his life.”

According to Rebecca, even as a youngster Percy showed great promise: “I’ve seen a picture of him as a yearling and he was a cracker. Bio-mechanically he is so good. He has that rare quality in a Thoroughbred in that he’s a great mover but not all up in front. He moves more like a Warmblood. He’s got a great swing and softness in his back.”

She says his temperament is second to none and describes him as an absolute pleasure to ride. “He’s really beautiful to ride and he’s a very rhythmic horse to watch. He’s now quite an uncomplicated character. He’s very well educated, he loves his work, and he doesn’t get frazzled when you put pressure on him to learn new things. He’s a horse you want to ride all day.”

Together they make a stunning combination and in 2018 their crowning achievement was winning the prestigious Garryowen Perpetual Trophy.

Due to the COVID-19 related cancellation of horse events all over Australia, 2020 has been devoid of any success. They have not competed at a major event since the nationals last December.

“It’s pretty frustrating,” Rebecca says. “Initially, I used the time off to train, work around the property, redo my tack room and stay focussed. I’m now using the downtime to rehabilitate from an injury. I’ve kept Percy in light work, just at a maintenance level really.”

Rebecca was recently nominated for the Equestrian Victoria Rider of the Year award. The recipient of this accolade will be decided by a panel of judges in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, her main aim after returning to competition is to try and fulfil a lifelong ambition to win the Pope Cup at one of the Royal shows. “My dream is to win a Pope Cup with Percy. He’s such a big, scopey, Pope Cup type. That’s one I would like to tick off the list,” she says.

We wish Rebecca and Stage Presence the very best of luck with their dreams and a speedy return to the show ring when competitions are finally back in swing.

Stage Presence, the 2017 Racing Victoria Off The Track Ridden Thoroughbred Champion (Image by Julie Wilson). BELOW: There’s no place like home (Image courtesy Rebecca Farrow).