Racehorse Sanctuary News

24th October 2009

Sanctuary Open Day report

On Sunday 9th August we staged our first-ever public open day. I don’t mind admitting that this was a pretty frightening experience as we were to a degree facing the unknown when we opened the main gates at 1pm. Around 130 people filed in between 1 and 2pm which we were very happy with as we had a terrible fear in the back of our minds that what if 1000’s turned up? How on earth would we cope or police the whole situation?

As luck would have it we were all bathed in sunshine for the entire afternoon and into the evening. Even the ice-cream van did a brisk trade for the first hour or so and the burger bar did a steady trade throughout the day. Our visitors wandered around the stables and facilities chatting to the horses and looking at the various stands and amusements before everyone was herded into the indoor school for the parade of horses.

The parade went according to plan with the exception of Wavertree Boy (Norbert) who felt that the whole episode needed spicing up so he decided to go for a romp half way through his appearance. I must say that he was quite right in that he demonstrated how happy and well he was feeling whereas none of the others had the gumption to get up and do so. Following the parade of the centre’s horses we were lucky to see two absolute superstars of the racing world; firstly grand old Topsham Bay being paraded by Jan Allan and still looking an absolute picture. Topsham Bay was a dual winner of the Whitbread Gold Cup at Sandown Park back in 1992 and 1993.

As Topsham Bay left the arena there was a definite atmosphere of anticipation prior to none other than the 1996 Martell Grand National winner Rough Quest (pictured) making an appearance and what an entrance he made. This fantastic horse was in super condition and appeared to enjoy every second of showing off to his adoring crowd, as did his handler. Unfortunately for the audience, Moorcroft Boy decided that he was far too busy to make an appearance on this occasion, however, he was prepared to speak with people individually within the comfort of his stable afterwards.

Throughout the event the various stands drew a lot of interest as did the raffle and silent auction. More importantly several very good contacts were made and a couple of possible good homes just may materialise in the future. This makes the whole day well worthwhile. Since the event we have had some very positive feedback, which gives us confidence going into the function again in 2010, albeit with some lessons learned and a few changes planned for next time. The bottom line is that not only did the day raise very nearly £2000 for the centre but it also created a lot of public awareness for the work we do locally and, who knows, it could create more good homes for these horses in long term.