RoR news

RoR news

Retraining of Racehorses Introduces New Recognition Awards for 2023 thanks to the Sir Peter O’Sullevan Trust

Sam Tomlinson riding Lilborne Prince at the Red Dragon

David Saunders

This year, alongside the usual pathway awards for pleasure rides, competitive rides and RoR Elite Endurance awards, Retraining of Racehorses (RoR) and EGB will again be running the Teams Championships as part of the British Horse Feeds Red Dragon Clubs Championships.

Following the success of the inaugural Teams in 2022, this year we are hoping to enter regional RoR teams which will qualify at a local competitive ride and compete at the final at the Dragon later in the season. The Festival will also be awarding the usual Bronze, Silver and Gold awards for RoRs.

New for 2023 is an RoR pairs class, where two horse and rider combinations will register at the beginning of the season as a pair with EGB and the duo with the most points at the end of the season will each win a coveted saddle pad.

We know that building up to competitive levels can be daunting and in recognition of former racehorses in endurance, we are introducing the Endurance Seven (E7), a play on ITV Racing 7. This is an opportunity to ‘collect’ ride distances on a card signed by the Ride Organiser at SERC, EGB, Charity and Bridleways Rides. At seven key points, eg 50km, 100km, 150km etc…. each rider can claim a prize. As it’s rider distance that counts, distances may be accumulated on more than one horse and only completed rides will count.

Anna Collins, RoR Endurance Series Coordinator said: “We wanted to find a way to recognise the achievements of riders who have retrained former racehorses to simply enjoy the countryside. This is why the E7 starts at zero and may take several seasons to collect all the rewards. It allows different horses to experience good hacking and the more they do, the more they enjoy it. It’s a brilliant way to keep fit and enjoy the company of your horse.”

All of the awards this year have been kindly supported by the Sir Peter O’Sullevan Trust to whom we are very grateful.

Horses must be registered with RoR to compete (£10 per year). This includes Thoroughbreds who have trained or raced in the UK or abroad. The only exception to this rule is the RoR Elite Endurance Award in which horses must have raced under Jockey Club rules in Great Britain.

Dan Abraham

Dan Abraham

Dan Abraham

Worthy winner

Clare Balding CBE presented the Elite Endurance award to Samantha Tomlinson at a prestigious evening held at the Newmarket Jockey Club Rooms. Sam won with her nineyear-old Lilbourne Prince, a bay gelding bred in Ireland out of two racers from the USA.

He was trained in Wales by David Evans in Monmouthshire at Pandy and raced 26 times under race rules in flat racing. His total earnings (prize money) was £11,263. He enjoyed a win at Ffos Las under Jockey J Egan, a six-furlong race at 5/1 odds on 30 July 2015.

Sam has owned Prince since he finished racing at just two years old. Sam is a seasoned endurance competitor and to get Prince fit for long distance competitions she works predominantly on distance training interspaced with a lot of schooling, working on balance, speed and stamina in trot.

Sam has worked with former racehorses for a long time and said: “They are ideally suited for the endurance discipline, they are intelligent and given a job to do, they just want to please. Sometimes you have to rein in their naturally competitive nature, but they will give you everything, you just have to ask, and that is what attracts me to this discipline of endurance riding on an ex-racehorse.

“What other equestrian sport allows you to see parts of the country that no one else can unless on horseback, it’s a truly magnificent sport.

“Endurance riding is so well organised by Endurance GB, especially the vetting process. The safety and well-being of the horse is paramount, as it should be.

“Winning the ROR elite endurance championship is incredible, the early mornings and all the training paid off, I’m thrilled.”

Sam competed in 10 rides (339km) in the 2022 season. They achieved two grade 1s and had heart rates in the low 40s or less than 40. At just one ride, Sam wisely retired on course. Sam and Prince were also members of the inaugural 2022 RoR Endurance Team which was kindly sponsored by the Peter O’Sullevan Trust. After qualifying at the Cirencester 32km ride in the summer, the team were placed third overall at the tough and challenging British Horse Feeds & Golden Paste Company’s Red Dragon Festival of Endurance. Sam was the overall individual winner in the class against all the other competitors in the team event. The combo completed the 34km distance at an average speed of 10.5kph with a finishing heart rate of 38bpm. This meant that she also scooped the RoR Endurance Bronze Award, having won silver in the two-day Dragon’s Egg class in 2021.