News International flavour to RoR’s Online Show as it attracts 300 strong entry

• RoR heralds great turn-out plus support from the racing industry
• Champion jockey and champion trainers among the judges and sponsors

Introduced to take the place of the 2020 staging of the RoR National Championships, the RoR Online Show has attracted a bumper entry of 297 former racehorses, including participants from as far afield as Australia, New Zealand and the USA. Entries closed last week and judging of the 30 classes is now underway with the results due to be announced on Saturday 29^th and Sunday 30^th August.

British racing has shown its support for the initiative with a host of big names sponsoring or judging classes. They include champion jockey Oisin Murphy, alongside past and present champion trainers John Gosden, Richard Hannon, Paul Nicholls and Nicky Henderson.

The RoR Goffs UK National Championships, Britain’s biggest event for showcasing the versatility of the thoroughbred, was scheduled to take place at the Aintree International Equestrian Centre over the final weekend of August, but due to Covid-19 the event was cancelled. In 2019 the championships attracted entries from 273 former racehorses and that figure has been exceeded by the online version, put together by RoR, British racing’s official charity for the welfare of former racehorses, following the cancellation of the Aintree event.

The move to online opened the doors for international entries and the RoR Online Show brings together horses not only from all over the UK, including some who travelled the globe during their racing career, but also former racehorses from around the world, with entries from Australia, Hong Kong, Ireland, New Zealand and the USA.

Di Arbuthnot, Chief Executive of RoR, said: “The response has been fantastic, and we are delighted by the scale of the entry. Many of the 297 horses have been entered in more than one class and in total the RoR Online Show has generated over a thousand entries spread over 30 classes, combining both In Hand and Ridden classes, and such figures are a credit to the team who have made the show possible.

“To have representatives from Australasia, Hong Kong and the USA is also a great boost. Through the IFAR organisation, we have been working hard to develop an international community of aftercare providers and a silver lining to the dark cloud of the pandemic has been the ability to take entries from all over the world.”

Few of the entered horses will have accumulated more air miles than Toast Of New York, winner of the UAE Derby in Dubai and beaten just a nose in the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita. Now based with Charlotte Illingworth in West Yorkshire, ‘Toast’ has been entered for two classes, including the ‘Always A Star’ in-hand class. The gelding’s former trainer, Jamie Osborne, together with Jimmy McCarthy, former jump jockey and Toast Of New York’s work rider, are among the judges drawn from the racing and showing worlds who have kindly agreed to select the winners.

Adding prestige to the entry list as well as an international flavour are two group winning horses from Australia. The 14-year-old gelding Precedence, who ran in three Melbourne Cups and won five group races, is entered in seven classes. Based in Geelong, Victoria, Precedence is already an online winner this summer having taken first prize in the In-Hand class for former racehorses at Virtual Windsor.

Like Precedence, Caravan Rolls On is based in Geelong and looked after by Fiona McIntyre. The 12-year-old’s racing career started in the UK in the care of Peter Chapple-Hyam, before a move to Australia that produced a Group 3 win the colours of Qatar Racing before being retired in 2014. He is also entered in seven classes.

Other names entered for the show who are familiar to racing fans in the UK include multiple Grade 1 winning National Hunt horses Cue Card, The New One, Mikael D’Haguenet and Zarkandar, plus the twice Grand National placed Saint Are.

The staging of the RoR Online Show would not have been possible without the support of the sponsors and judges of the 30 classes.

Existing RoR sponsors Tattersalls, The Jockey Club and the Thoroughbred Breeders Association (TBA) will see the finals of their series staged online. They are joined by an illustrious list of sponsors led by Mark and Deidre Johnston, who sponsor four classes, plus fellow trainers Andrew Balding, Clive Cox, Richard Hannon, Nicky Henderson, John Gosden, Paul Nicholls, Alan King, Hugo Palmer, Tom Ward and Archie Watson. Not to be outdone, jockeys Hollie Doyle, Rab Havlin, Sean Levey, Tom Marquand and Dane ONeill have also showed their support through sponsorship of individual classes.

The judging will be done by a combination of volunteers from racing and the wider equestrian world. Joining Jamie Osborne, Jimmy McCarthy, Robin Dickin and Pat Morris are among the racing names who are giving up their time to judge classes are Henrietta Knight, Deirdre Johnston, Chanelle McCoy, Nicky and Sophie Henderson, Nico de Boinville and Bryan Smart. Champion jockey Oisin Murphy, working alongside Emma Balding, has also agreed to judge a class, as have broadcasters Oli Bell and his father Rupert.

Former European Champion and three-time Olympic medallist in eventing, Tina Cook, is joining her mother, Althea Gifford, to judge a class. Other judges include showing producers Katie and Chris Hunnable and Richard Ramsey, who themselves have produced RoR champions in the show ring, and experienced showing judges Marion Begley, David Ingle, Hopper Cavendish, John James and Jonathan Geake, who will be judging a class with RoR Ambassador Guy Disney.

Di Arbuthnot added: “We are indebted to our sponsors and judges without whom the staging of the show would not have been possible. The support shown by the racing community and beyond has been heart-warming.

“The cancellation of equestrian events this year left an unfillable void, but we have worked hard to continue to provide a service to the thousands of RoR members and their horses. The popularity of the online show demonstrates that such efforts have not been in vain.”

The results from the 30 classes will be announced online over the course of the final weekend in August, between Saturday 29^th and Sunday 30^th August 2020.