ELITE RACING CLUB
Racehorse Welfare
Our top priority
Racehorse welfare is our top priority. If a horse has a setback in training or is deemed not to be fit enough to race for any reason, then the horse will rest until fit and ready. We are extremely passionate about the welfare of all of our horses.
The best interest of a retired Elite Racing Club horse always comes first.
Racehorse Retirement & Rehoming
The retirement procedure normally begins at EquiPrep, the company's own 126-acre site in Wiltshire.
As well as receiving plenty of love and attention from the staff, an initial period of rest enables the horse to be assessed.
We now engage the services of retraining centres to perform the task of preparing horses for a new discipline (if suitable), once assessed as ready to leave EquiPrep. Their task is to give specialist individual attention to each horse. This could take weeks, months or in some cases, years. Overall, this is an expensive procedure, hence why we currently pay approved retraining centres £2,500 to take a retired horse on. The centre becomes the new owner and is then able to sell the horse for a fair market price, on a loan or outright sale basis, helping cover overheads, staff, veterinary costs, farrier, etc. After all their costs are accounted for, any balance will become a profit to contribute to the success of their rehoming enterprise. The centre will make a profit on some horses and on others they will make a loss. Ideally, they will make an overall profit to sustain the longevity of their rehoming enterprise. Their overriding priority is to find a suitable forever loving home, and this responsibility involves thoroughly checking out the suitability of a prospective new owner.
We are always looking to add new rehoming centres to the list, and we welcome recommendations. Rather obviously, they need to tick all the right boxes. Eventually, we hope to have an even geographical spread of centres across the country.
When a potential new owner contacts a retraining centre, offering a new home for a horse, they will normally organise a veterinary examination before making an agreement to purchase. This also helps protect the welfare of the horse.
We expect all new owners to provide regular updates, which will be passed to previous owners.
See below for information on the stories of a few of our retired horses and what they have been up to since being rehomed. The following reports have all been previously published in the Elite Racing Club magazine.
Keyhaven
2016 bay mare - Won 1 race. Report published in May 2024.
It has been a difficult winter for the polo ponies, who generally winter out in large groups. As you will all be aware, it has been a ridiculously wet winter, which has made the fields muddy. As the winter went on so long, many yards became short of forage. Luckily, we made loads of hay the previous summer so we kept making it readily available to the horses, but even getting a tractor to them for forage deliveries was hard work at times due to the mud!
We completed a new barn in April, which housed the polo ponies and a couple of round hay bales. We hope this will make next winter easier.
Keyhaven is now being exercised, and we are working hard to brush out her winter coat. This takes a long time, but it isn't ideal to clip horses at this time of year as it can affect their summer coats. We are now taking them on polo practice days known as 'chukkas,' which can be as competitive as your group wants them to be. We start very slowly and use chukkas to enhance fitness and practice skills.
Keyhaven has always been pretty bombproof, and you'd never guess she had won over 5f. She is not very quick but pretty stoic, so I often umpire games on her. If you play in a tournament, you usually have to umpire other games too, so you must take an extra horse to ride in the match. So even if she is not playing competitive matches, Keyhaven is involved in matches most weekends and is a useful team member.
Lady Chapel
2020 bay filly. Report published in March 2024.
Lady Chapel, now named Penny, has settled in really well. She is the absolute favourite on the yard! I have hacked her around the farm a couple of times as we are taking it slow, and I don't want to rush her. I'm hoping to do some unaffiliated dressage in the next few months. Thank you for letting me rehome her, I am really looking forward to our future together.
State Fair
2007 bay gelding - Won 1 race. Report published in March 2024.
Club Member, Hilary P., has kindly forwarded the following report from her recent visit to Wales to see former Club winner State Fair.
I visited State Fair on Saturday 17 February on a very drizzly and misty day especially where he is situated, in the Welsh Hills above Llanelli. He is now 17 years old but looks very well and happy. The fields there are quite wet, so he is on limited turn out, but has an all-weather paddock by his stable, so he enjoys being in there with his field mate and a hay net each. She is a mare, and they get on extremely well.
I was very pleased to hear that the knee injury from his racing does not cause him any problems. He is sound on it and in fact the knee appears to have reprofiled and is barely noticeable. Charlotte, State Fair's owner, is hoping to do some dressage on him this year but apparently is limited where she can enter him as he now goes barefoot, except when hacking when he wears hoof boots. His feet are much better since going barefoot as he was often losing shoes and tearing pieces off his hoof. The yard owner has ex-racehorses of her own so is a valuable support to Charlotte.
Magistrate
2015 bay gelding. Report published in February 2024.
I am pleased to report Magistrate is doing very well. Unfortunately, we've not managed to do anything exciting yet, but he is very happy hacking around the countryside and doing a bit of schooling. He's a lovely horse with a wonderful temperament and will still do anything for a polo. He's really matured both physically and mentally and gets a lot of compliments when he struts through the village! Joey (as he's now known - named after Joey on Friends!) is very much a part of our family, he is adored by my young son and even my non-horsey partner has a big soft spot for him.
Searchlight
2011 bay gelding - Won 1 race. Report published in January 2024.
Searchlight likes to maintain a more relaxed lifestyle now, with friends Bill, Che and Tommy. We either hack alone or with friends, or use one of the schools. He works well on the flat and is balanced in all paces, recently starting to play with simple changes. I enjoy having lessons weekly as I find this gives me a focus and keeps me on track, and Searchlight happily goes along with this. We have done sponsored rides and I am sure he would do well in a dressage test, I just don't like the pressure! He has a lovely nature, patient and kind, although he does keep everyone in line in the herd. He has been at his current yard since 2020 and he is very happy there. I learnt quickly that the two things he needs are friends and freedom; he has the option to come in but spends the majority of the year out, and I find that he is happier, more relaxed and he maintains his weight well this way. He only enjoys carrots and mints - apples, parsnips and other offerings are not appreciated! He is a horse that will tell you what he needs and wants, and I think that we have a great balance.
Burgundy
2015 bay mare - Unraced. Report published in July 2023.
On 20 June, Burgundy (2015) safely delivered a colt foal by an Irish Draught stallion, and he is doing very well. Once again, Burgundy is proving an excellent mum and is looking after her foal very well. After safely delivering a foal by a Connemara stallion last season, she went to a bigger stallion in order to produce a bigger foal. Being by a Class 1 Irish Draught stallion, the foal should have plenty of substance and stamina, and will hopefully become a good all-rounder. He is very friendly and confident and lives near the Glastonbury Festival site in Somerset.
Constancio
2013 bay gelding - Won 6 races. Report published in June 2023.
Constancio (Alfie) is doing really well and loving life on the farm! He's really settled in well and proven to be a lovely boy. We have done some light schooling but mainly hack out and hope to do some pleasure rides this summer. As you'll see from the picture, he's a right poser and loves the camera! Thank you for trusting me with this lovely boy.
Keyhaven
2016 bay mare - Won 1 race. Report published in May 2023.
When Keyhaven came to us to play polo, she had won a sprint as a two-year-old and had not trained on as a three-year-old, which was no surprise as she was small and quite weak. After time off at EquiPrep before she joined us, she had filled out, but was still the right size for polo, around 15.1hh.
Well, that has changed! She has kept growing and growing, and now is quite a big (16hh), strong mare! In all honesty, from a polo perspective, she is quite limited ability-wise, even though we've put in a lot of work at 'chukkas' (polo practice), and is actually quite slow where she is so laid-back (remarkable considering she won over 5f!), so Roddy has used her quite a lot to umpire other matches on. There are two umpires in each match and they always ride, so they can keep up and maintain a close eye on the action.
As she has grown so much, we jumped her at home and she was quite willing and able, so we have taken her to some novice team chases recently. Team chasing is where groups of four horses either compete against the clock for the whole round of usually 30 or so jumps, or part of the course will have a 'bogey time', where you attempt to match the required speed in order to win. The clock starts once you pass through the starting line, and finishes when the third rider passes the finish line.
In Keyhaven's last round of team chasing, she even led the former Willie Mullins-trained Melon (a Grade 2 winner and Grade 1 placed over fences), as he hadn't been taking his fences on very well in Open classes, so he dropped down into a novice over smaller jumps to help him enjoy himself. Keyhaven led him over a few until his engine kicked in and he left us standing! We also have a few horses from Emma Lavelle and her Point Him Out was also in the team.
Keyhaven has umpired polo again since team chasing and is a great all-rounder. She is very happy and is doing a great job here.
Seixo Branco, Roi De l'Odet & Volcanic
1996, 2000 & 2009 geldings. Report published in April 2023.
To be honest there is not much to say about these three. Seixo Branco (aka Sam) has been totally retired for quite a while now. Leader of the herd still, at the age of 27. I think I've had him for about 20 years now, after he came to me from being in training with Charles Egerton and what a wonderful horse he has been. The most calm and gentle soul you could ever ride. He potters around the field and keeps the others in their places. Roi De l'Odet (aka Rio) has never been ridden since he came to me after being retired from training after fracturing a vertebrae in his neck when slipping on the roads. He is such a character and at the age of 23 looks amazing. I have fun every winter because he always manages to get his rug off and every year, I keep trying to keep one on him. This year I gave up and he has been through the winter without one, but when I take one over, he looks at me, says no thank you, and runs away. Volcanic (aka Toffee) came to me in January 2019 from Donald McCain's and we got on great, doing small classes and hacking. He then had a sarcoid which was right on the line of where the reins went so that became sore from rubbing. I had it removed and we got going again. Toffee is quite on his toes out hacking and likes being very nosey over the hedges and fences. We had a break during Covid due to lack of time and my job. This year we are back on the case and at 14, there is still lots I can do with him. He is very cheeky and is more a 'people-horse' than a 'horse-horse', so he can be seen off by himself, quite happily mooching around until I appear.
Soviet Dream
2009 bay gelding. Report published in March 2023.
'Sove' is doing really well and seems very happy with his lifestyle. He has a relaxed routine and we continue to have fun together. He loves jumping, although we still have some way to go with this! He also enjoys having a plod in the woods. Mentally, he's a very busy boy, so I'm always having to think of new things to keep it all interesting for him. He's very affectionate and demands cuddles from everyone on the yard!