This is the 10th running of this prestigious class at Barbury, sponsored by the charity Retraining of Racehorses and the National Trainers Federation, the aim of which is to find meaningful alternative careers for ex-racehorses, especially those off the Flat.
Alex Phillips bought Zippi Jazzman, a 12-year-old chestnut gelding by Dixieland Band, at Ascot Sales for just 500 guineas. The horse had run 11 times on the Flat, winning once, when trained by Ralph Beckett. He lives at home with his owner and Izzy is now competing both horses in Eventing.
‘All my horses are pets,’ said Alex. ‘This is a lovely competition for these horses and it will just be fun to see how far they go in eventing.’
Izzy takes home the £2000 first prize and 2017 ROR Championship crown, following in the footsteps of Harry Meade who won it last year with Sparky’s Reflection.