news RoR Quadrille Team head to Bramham International Horse Trials

• New Beginnings selected as the official charity

On Sunday 12^th June spectators at Bramham International Horse Trials will have the opportunity to witness former racehorses putting on a choreographed dressage display in the Top Spec arena.

The Retraining of Racehorses (RoR) display, due to take place at 3.15pm, will welcome last year’s RoR Quadrille Team into the arena to make their debut and perform at one of Europe's leading three-day events in Yorkshire. The event attracts around 60,000 spectators over the four days of high-quality competition.

The team originally came together to perform at the The Jockey Club RoR National Championships last August, where their hard work paid off to claim victory in the Quadrille class. The team consists of Claire Lewis and Master Wickham a thirteen-year-old gelding who last raced in January 2015 after a short career over hurdles and chase fences. He was in training with Paul Webber, but sadly lacked the racing spirit to make it as a successful racehorse. Since retiring the pair have competed with great success in an array of disciplines including the BE100 Grassroot Championships at Badminton Horse Trials.

Sirius Chesnut, formerly trained by Kim Bailey and now known as Declan at home, has been in the care of Katy Ferrari since 2015. Now at the age of fourteen-years-old, Sirius Chesnut and Katy have moved up through the dressage levels and are currently competing at medium level with the intention to go up to Advanced Medium.

The twelve-year-old gelding, Coffers is by the Group 1 winning stallion Bahamian Bounty and was formerly trained by Renee Robeson. Coffers had a short-lived racing career having only raced on two occasions where he was unplaced in both. Since retiring he has been retrained by Elaine Soones and regularly competes at British Dressage Novice level.

Jenny Bennett and Staithes are the final combination that completes the RoR quadrille team. Staithes retired from racing in May 2021 and is the youngest horse amongst the team. At just six-years-old and having only been out of training for a few short months Staithes headed the RoR Championships in 2021 which is the largest event in Great Britain exclusively for former racehorses.

In addition to the RoR Dressage display RoR will be awarding prizes in kind to the highest placed former racehorses in the Arena Eventing competitions.

Di Arbuthnot, Chief Executive of RoR, said: “We are very much looking forward to Sunday’s display. We would like to thank Bramham Horse Trials for this opportunity to showcase the versatility and adaptability of former racehorses whilst highlighting what former racehorses can achieve once their racing days come to an end.’