Dubai World Cup winners feature in Retraining of Racehorses Parade
Day two of the inaugural Dubai Future Champions Festival on Saturday, 10th October, will feature a Retraining of Racehorses (RoR) Parade, the line-up for which includes two winners of the Dubai World Cup and an Ascot Gold Cup winner.
The winners of the last two runnings of the Dubai World Cup, African Story and Prince Bishop, are among ten horses in the parade that will showcase the adaptability of racehorses in finding alternative activities after retiring from racing. Also included in the parade line-up are former Ascot Gold Cup winner Papineau, Purple Moon, the Melbourne Cup runner-up turned showing champion, and Quadrille, owned by Her Majesty The Queen, who is now excelling at dressage.
Di Arbuthnot, Chief Executive of RoR, said; So many of the success stories of former racehorses achieving new heights in different disciplines are horses who only raced on the Flat and so it is fitting that there should be a RoR Parade at Newmarket, the home of Flat racing.
The line-up of the Newmarket parade highlights one of the great strengths of RoR in that alongside wonderfully talented racehorses such as African Story and Prince Bishop, we have horses of considerably less ability on the racetrack, but who have gone on to find their niche in their second career, whether it be dressage or playing horseball at international level.
We are particularly grateful to His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum for his support, through Godolphin, in enabling the parade to take place
Aside from the Dubai World Cup winners, who are currently being retrained, evidence of the success of the Godolphin and Darley Rehoming and Retraining programme can be seen in the likes of City Style and Gulf Of Naples, both of whom are thriving in their new activities and giving their owners a great deal of pleasure.
The parades were introduced in 2008 by RoR, the sports official charity for the welfare of retired racehorses, and they are now an established part of the major racing festivals at Cheltenham and Aintree, but this is the first time that Newmarket Racecourses has hosted a RoR parade on the Rowley Mile.
The RoR Parade will take place at 1pm in the Parade Ring, immediately before the first race, the Vision Varsity Horse Race.
