news 2018 RoR Horse of the Year nominations announced

• 17 horses nominated for prestigious award, sponsored by The Jockey Club

The countdown is on and the nominations are in. The annual RoR Awards night is fast approaching and the nominations are in for the evening’s most prestigious award, RoR Horse of the Year, sponsored by The Jockey Club.

The 2018 RoR Awards take place on Wednesday 12^th December, hosted by RoR Patron, Clare Balding together with Luke Harvey. The event will once again be staged at the historic Jockey Club Rooms in Newmarket, the home of horseracing.

The awards acknowledge and celebrate the versatility of former racehorses across a range of disciplines, with prizes awarded to the elite winners in dressage, polo, eventing, endurance and showing. The final award on the night is the Jockey Club sponsored RoR Horse of the Year.

This year a long-list of seventeen contenders has been assembled, with nominations put forward from all around the country via RoR’s network of Regional Coordinators. RoR Patron Sir Anthony McCoy, ITV Racing and At The Races presenter and Luke Harvey will review the list and identify four horses to go forward to a shortlist with the eventual winner announced on the night.

Last year’s winner of Horse of the Year was Beware Chalk Pit and previous winners include Monet’s Garden. The list of the 2018 nominees reflects a diverse range of back-stories for horses that have gone to find a fulfilling second career through participating in RoR staged events.

Included among the nominations are horses relatively recently retired from racing, such as the evergreen and ever popular Monkerty Tunkerty, as well as Lampos and Ponte Vecchio, who are both into their second decade as RoR horses and who both enjoyed their best ever seasons in 2018. The shortlist of four horses will be announced in the build-up to the Awards night.

Full list of the 2018 RoR Horse of the Year nominations:

Billybo (Showing) Owned and Ridden by Claire Griffiths

15-year-old gelding by Kayf Tara, formerly trained by Tim Vaughan

Buckstruther (Showing) Owned and ridden by Jazmin Hosgood

16-year-old gelding by Anshan, formerly trained by Paul Hosgood and Alistair Bell

Burj Hatta (Eventing) Owned and ridden by Rachel Casbon

10-year-old gelding by Kingmambo, formerly trained by Saeed Bin Suroor

Desert Joe (Showing) Owned by Liz Prowting, ridden by Rebecca Court

12-year-old gelding by Anshan, formerly trained by Alan King and Sarah Bosley

Follow The Facts (Dressage) Owned and ridden by Steph Potter

11-year-old gelding by Tobougg, formerly trained by Nicky Henderson

Fruity O’Rooney (Eventing) Owned and ridden by Beccy Green

15-year-old gelding by Kahyasi, formerly trained by Gary Moore

Jive Master (Showjumping) Owned and ridden by Paige Smart

13-year-old gelding by Marignan, formerly trained by Tim Vaughan

Lampos (Showing) Owned and ridden by Jolene Midgley

18-year-old gelding by Southern Halo, formerly trained by Julie Camacho

Master Wickham (Eventing) Owned and ridden by Claire Lewis

9-year-old gelding by Darsi, formerly trained by Paul Webber

Monkerty Tunkerty (Showing & Showjumping) Owned and ridden by Jess Westwood

15-year-old gelding by Silver Patriarch, formerly trained by Jess Westwood

Murdoch (Eventing and Dressage) Owned and ridden by Megan Lewis

14-year-old gelding by Mutamarkiz, formerly trained by Colin Tizzard

Pedregal (Dressage) Owned and ridden by Tim Masey

12-year-old by Diktat, formerly trained by Jim Goldie

Ponte Vecchio (Eventing) Owned and ridden by Stuart Nie

14-year-old gelding by Trans Island, formerly trained by Jim Boyle

Ravenstone Lad (Showing) Owned and ridden by Louise Goss

16-year-old by Presenting, formerly trained by Fiona Kehoe

Stockade (Eventing) Owned and ridden by Claire Fielding

12-year-old gelding by Alfora, formerly trained by Sally Duckett

Wild West (Showing) Owned and ridden by Lizzie Harris

10-year-old by Galileo, formerly trained by Jonjo O’Neill

Word Of Warning (Showing & Eventing) Owned and ridden by Clare Poole

14-year-old by War Chant, formerly trained by Philip Kirby