news Gentleman At Arms and Tapaidh Frankie crowned champions at The Jockey Club RoR National Championships

• Title of Supreme Showing Champion goes to Gentleman At Arms and Harriet Edmunds
• Title of Elite Performance Award for Dressage goes to Tapaidh Frankie and Tracy Thirlwall
• 294 former racehorses competed in The Jockey Club RoR National Championships

Six days of strong competition at The Jockey Club RoR National Championships concluded this weekend. During the six-day competition, two performance evenings saw the announcement of the winners of The Tattersalls RoR Ridden Showing Supreme Champion on Saturday and The Hamilton Tarmac RoR Elite Performance Award for Dressage on Thursday.

The culmination of a day of hotly contested classes saw the winners of all the prestige qualifying showing classes line up before the judges and it was the seven-year-old gelding Gentleman At Arms, ridden by Harriet Edmunds, who was awarded the Tattersalls RoR Ridden Showing Supreme Champion title. Runner up and Reserve Champion were Madeleine Cantrill and Robin Roe.

Gentleman At Arms was trained by Harriet’s father Stuart Edmunds and won six races accumulating over £90,000 during his racing career. His final win came at Aintree in November 2023 where he has returned to win big in his new career having only retired from racing six months ago. Harriet, who rode him at home while in training, said: “It’s completely surreal, I’m just enjoying the whole experience. I always dreamt of having him [when he retired], but never thought the day would come.”

A total of 306 former racehorses were entered to compete at Aintree International Equestrian Centre over the six days in classes for dressage, arena eventing, showjumping and showing at Europe’s largest event exclusively for retrained racehorses. Among those competing, names familiar to racegoers were Balthazar King, Definitly Red, Duc Des Genievres, Kalashnikov, Lalor, and Smad Place

The event also hosted the RoR National Dressage Championships, and this year’s Hamilton Tarmac RoR Elite Performance Award for Dressage went to Tapaidh Frankie and Tracy Thirlwall. The 15-year-old mare was formerly trained by Simon West and ran only five times during her racing career, never managing to get her head in front. Tracy purchased her eight years ago and together they have risen through the dressage ranks. Tracy said: “She’s my first thoroughbred so it was a steep learning curve, I’m totally sold on them now and hooked on dressage. I think I’d be incredibly lucky to find another one like her.”

Rupert Arnold, Executive Consultant for RoR said: “This was a very special event with an amazing atmosphere. To see so many former racehorses in one place looking so well and competing in such a diverse array of disciplines not only showcases what these horses are capable of outside of their racing careers, but also the love and dedication of their owners.”

“On behalf of the charity and the competitors, we would like to say a huge thank you to all our supporters including The Jockey Club for their generous headline sponsorship and Tattersalls, for supporting our showing series and all the individual class and other supporters.”