news The Power of Thoroughbreds Week 2 – RoR

This week, the second in our series ‘The Power of Thoroughbreds’, the focus is on the work of RoR horses.

In 2019, RoR’s Horse Personality of the Year award was a perfect example of capturing ‘The Power of Thoroughbreds’ and included three finalists chosen by best selling author and horse lover Jilly Cooper. The award celebrated 20 years since RoR was established as a charity to promote life after racing and attracted over 250 entries with a wide variety of heart-warming and inspiring stories from RoR owners about their horses.

Jilly Cooper said: “What a lovely but impossible task! Every horse entered by it’s enraptured owner deserves to be an outright winner. They are all such characters, and what comes across time and time again is the remarkable mutual affection and comfort generated between these glorious horses and their owners. As someone who has rehomed endless dogs and cats myself, there is a special bond that develops between animal and their carer.”

From these nominations, Jilly selected the 11-year old gelding Ned Causer, who has had a transformative effect on the life of his owner and rider, Sarah Peacock, helping her overcome bouts of anxiety and depression.

Sarah Peacock, from East Yorkshire, said: “To win this award is just an amazing moment and I can’t believe that Ned has done this. He has really changed my life. I’ve suffered from depression and it is quite a debilitating illness and Ned has been such a turning point since we got him on New Year’s Day last year “I have periods when I get really quite low, so it’s difficult, but coming down to Ned every morning I know I have a responsibility and that he’s always there waiting for me and he always makes me laugh. Last October we did our first dressage test together and I thought I was never going to be able to get out in front of people because I was so nervous and I put a lot of pressure on myself. But he helped me through it.”

The two runners up were, 13-year-old Real Desire nominated by owner Bridget Broad from Scotland and Grouse Moor was the eldest of the three finalists at 20-years-old and nominated by his owner and rider Jacqueline Doughton from the West Midlands, he had the most success on the racetrack winning three races in his 20 starts.