News

BTRC CEO Gillian Carlisle was approached by Racing Together to write a blog for their website all about the work of BTRC and the challenges that lie ahead.

Racing Together is British racing’s community engagement activity and is a partnership of charities and other organisations who work across the sport to benefit others. Racing Together was formed to coordinate, support, represent and measure British racing’s community engagement activity that takes place right across the industry. Racing Together’s vision is for British racing to be known as a ‘force for good’ by helping the communities in which the sport operates.

We are delighted there has been some forward movement regarding the next step in generating an Aftercare Strategy for UK racehorses.

BHA state ‘The review will focus on ensuring the aftercare sector is financially sustainable and can consistently provide care and careers for racehorses beyond racing over the long term. The project is generously supported by the Racing Foundation.

The Horse Welfare Board’s ‘A Life Well Lived’ Strategy put in place a plan for the welfare of horses bred for racing to, amongst other areas, build public trust with its welfare processes and demonstrate its lifetime commitment to horses and their welfare. This review is a key project recommendation of the new strategy, assessing and ensuring the funding of aftercare is fit for purpose and highlighting areas for improvement.

BTRC are deeply saddened by the terrible news of the passing of our wonderful Ambassador, Rose Paterson, who sadly died on 24th June 2020, aged 63.
Chairman of Aintree Racecourse, Rose was a great friend and supporter of BTRC. She was instrumental in helping to establish the BTRC Race Day at Aintree, first held in 2016.

For all charities such as The British Thoroughbred Retraining Centre these are extremely challenging times. We would therefore like to express our sincere thanks to the Racing Industry for acknowledging the vital work that we do, in particular the Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB), Racing Foundation and Retraining of Racehorses who have provided our Charity with much needed financial support during this crisis.

Many of our wonderful supporters have been continuing their donations and assisting BTRC in anyway they can. If you are reading this and would like to donate to support BTRC during these uncertain times, please click here.

BTRC were honoured to be invited to deliver a demonstration at the International Eventing Forum on 3rd February 2020 at Hartpury College.
The International Eventing Forum is the brain child of a group of experienced equestrian professionals who are passionate about the sport of eventing. They do say that ‘mighty oaks from little acorns grow’ and from its inaugural date in 2004, the Forum has grown and developed into the ‘must attend’ pre-season fixture that it is today. An essential date for riders and trainers of all levels of experience and ambition in the sport of eventing, the Forum brings the highest calibre of speakers, from Olympic Gold Medallists to the trainers of Olympic Gold Medallists, together with ‘demo’ riders of varying levels of experience and horses of all shapes, sizes and abilities, to offer attendees genuine insights into how to train better, safer and smarter, for improved and long-lasting performance results.

BTRC are honoured to be delivering a demonstration at the up-coming International Eventing Forum on Monday 3rd February 2020 at Hartpury College. CEO Gillian Carlisle will be delivering an insightful demonstration with some of our BTRC horses discussing the importance of Thoroughbreds in eventing and the process of taking a horse off the track and the associated challenges that may be faced.

BTRC Christmas Appeal 2019 🎅🎄🎁⛄️ … can you help us by donating any old over reach boots you no longer use? Or maybe you would like to donate £5 to help us purchase a pair? Use the secure link below to donate to our Christmas Appeal https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/BTRCXmasAppeal2019
If you wish to post us a pair, odd ones or single ones please post to BTRC Whinney Hill, Aughton Road, Halton, Lancaster LA2 6PQ 🐎❤️

In August 2019 we were delighted to welcome Masataka Kudo from the Japan Racing Association (JRA). Masakata is responsible for the development of the retraining of retired racehorse programme in Japan. He joined BTRC for 3 weeks to learn about the retraining process and to share best practice and procedures.

We were delighted to welcome members from the Racehorse Owners Association to the Centre on Monday 22nd July. The ROA promotes and protects the interests of racehorse owners in Great Britain and has a membership of over 8,000. Some of their members came down to find out more about our work.

The members were taken on a tour of the facilities by BTRC CEO Gillian Carlisle, learning more about the way in which we rehabilitate, retrain and re-home our retired racehorses. They met almost all of the horses and finished watching some of the staff training the horses in the arena.

We had some great feedback…
“Thought the visit to the BTRC was brilliant – what passion and love!”

“The Centre was brilliant and their enthusiasm and love for the horses stood out.”

BTRC did a fantastic job of providing an interesting and informative insight into their brilliant work and their facilities – so glad we went!’

If your group would like to arrange a visit to the BTRC please contact lauren@thetrc.co.uk