Rosie Representing at the Retired Racehorse Project

Dawlan is a 9 year old multiple graded stakes winner, who ran on the flat and over hurdles in France, the UK and the USA. When he came over to the US he was trained by Cyril Murphy for Irv Naylor where he went on to win the 2015 American Grand National steeple chase and the Colonial cup, both of which are grade 1 stakes races. At the end of 2015 Dawalan was awarded the Eclipse award, year-end grand championship, for Steeplechase racing . In total over his career he earned $350,333 in prize money in only 22 starts.

Before moving to the states I had previous experience working for five star international event riders as well as successfully campaigning a home produced horse at 2 star level eventing. Then transitioning to riding racehorses at Charlie Longsdon Racing, which lead to my move the US to continue to work in the racing industry. So I felt that I had the experience necessary for retaining a racehorse along with the incredible support from my equine sports medicine of Maryland family.

When I moved over the from the UK to continue working with racehorses I started riding Dawalan out while working on Irv Naylor’s farm and I immediately had a soft spot for Dawalan’s quirky personality and undeniable talent, so when Cyril told me that he was going to be retired at the end of 2018 I jumped at the chance to take him home with me and the Naylor family were kind enough to trust me with him. On the 6th of January 2019 I brought him home.

After hearing about the retired racehorse project from friends I was keen to become involved, so applied as a trainer for the 2019 TB Makeover in Kentucky (oct2-5) and was accepted, then the hard work began. The retired racehorse project‘s mission is to facilitate the placement of thoroughbreds in second careers by increasing the marketplace demand and serving the farms, organizations and trainers who care for them. It brings awareness to the trainability and versatility of ex-racehorses via the ten disciplines available within the competition. They are widely varied from ranch work, barrel racing through to dressage and hunters.

I have elected to do the Show Hunters and hopefully the dressage on Dawalan as he has lovely flat work and a careful jump, we have been showing at local level throughout the summer and he has proven to be successful in both disciplines. He also went to the Maryland Horse and Pony show to gain some experience in a rated show environment where he held his own beautifully against seasoned show horses and even won a few ribbons!

The makeover is almost upon us and I am so excited to get down to Kentucky and get stuck in!