news Coneygree and The New One among six former racehorses parading at Warwick

• RoR Awareness Day part of the educational activities on Agetur Kingmaker Chase Day

Six former stars on the track will be parading at Warwick Racecourse on Saturday 8^th February to showcase their versatility and suitability for alternative careers after racing.

The second RoR Awareness Day of 2020 forms part of a special day at Warwick, Agetur Kingmaker Chase Day, at which racegoers are encouraged to enjoy a number of educational and informative events.

The parade of former racehorses is due to take place during racing at 1.05pm and features former Cheltenham Festival winners Coneygree and The New One, along with Annacotty, Carruthers, Thomas Crapper and Miko De Beauchene. The appearance of Miko De Beauchene has added poignancy coming in the week that his former trainer, Robert Alner, sadly died.

Di Arbuthnot, Chief Executive of RoR, said: “This is a great initiative by Warwick and we are grateful to them for providing RoR with the opportunity to increase the public’s awareness of how versatile the Thoroughbred is and of the work the charity does.”

The winner of the 2015 Cheltenham Gold Cup, Coneygree was only retired from racing a year ago but has adapted quickly to a life outside of racing. Since being re-trained by Sara Bradstock, Coneygree has won RoR showing classes and qualified for the RoR Goffs UK National Championships at Aintree. Sara’s ambition for 2020 is to qualify Coneygree for the RoR Tattersalls Show Series Final at Hickstead.

The New One amassed a large following of fans over the course of a racing career in which he ran 40 times under National Hunt rules, winning 20 races and earning over £760,000. On Saturday he returns to the scene of his Grade 2 Novice Hurdle win at Warwick, which he took en route to winning at the 2013 Cheltenham Festival. Since his retirement from racing in December 2018, he has been in the care of Wayne Jones, who looked after him throughout his racing career, and the pair enjoy hacking out and schooling, with the occasional day hunting.

Now 20-years-old, Miko De Beauchene’s most notable success was the 2007 Welsh Grand National at Chepstow whilst trained by Robert Alner, who died this week. The Chepstow win was particularly emotional as it followed shortly after Robert’s serious car accident. Both before retirement from racing in 2013 and since, Miko De Beauchene has enjoyed hunting with the North Cotswold. He also goes showjumping, eventing and showing and loves his hunter trials. His owner Andrew Wiles still takes a keen interest in all his activities and the plan is to compete in some more hunter trials again this spring.

Di Arbuthnot added: “It is a wonderful line-up of horses due to parade at Warwick, not just in terms of what they achieved on the track but also with regard to the success many of them are enjoying in new disciplines. They are a credit to the owners and riders who have retrained them and given them a new career and a new purpose.”

Saturday’s RoR Awareness Day at Warwick is part of an initiative to increase awareness among racegoers of the versatility of racehorses and the increasingly wide range of options available to them when their racing careers are over.