Meet the moderate racehorse (to say the least) who was named Horse of the Year for 2024 by Retraining of Racehorses after becoming a champion in multiple equine disciplines
For all the genetic imperatives brought to bear by roughly 300 years of Thoroughbred breeding, sometimes a racehorse just isn’t a racehorse. It might be bred like a racehorse, look like a racehorse, move like a racehorse, cost money like a racehorse – but race like a racehorse? Not so much.
Perhaps it might be said of a person plainly out of their depth that he or she was in the wrong job; that goes for horses too. Master Wickham was hopeless at being a racehorse, his bloodline – son of a Prix du Jockey Club winner, from one of HH the Aga Khan’s celebrated families – no help at all. He was in the wrong job.
But there is more to life than racing, and this is what underpins the increasing awareness of the rehoming, retraining, reinventing programmes around the world that have transformed the lives of so many ex-racehorses who might otherwise have faced an uncertain future. Master Wickham was found the right job, and now he’s a champion.
In January, long after a racetrack career spanning eight races under jumps rules – in which he never finished closer than 24 lengths off the winner – had sensibly ended, Master Wickham was crowned Jockey Club RoR (Retraining of Racehorses, British racing’s official charity for ex-racehorses) Horse of the Year.
His transformation has been profound and complete, this important award an official seal of affirmation of the countless rosettes he has won in competition over the years.
“I am yet to find something he can’t do,” says his owner Claire Lewis, a veterinary surgeon who keeps the 16-year-old at private livery near her home in Derbyshire. “Who would believe the same horse lacked any competitive spirit in racing?”
Where once Master Wickham – called Darsi at home – was something of an immovable object on the racecourse, he is now an irresistible force in his second career. Lewis reels off the laundry list of exploits that finally earned him the crown after first being shortlisted for contention in 2018.
‘Thoroughbreds can hold their own’
“Last year he finally gained Grade A status in showjumping, the highest level in Britain, joining an elite club of horses,” she says. “Few ex-racehorses have ever achieved this accolade in a sport dominated by warmbloods, but Darsi is out to prove Thoroughbreds can hold their own in the showjumping ring.
“He came second at the British showjumping summer championships, third at the winter championships, won his regional championship class and qualified for the spring, amateur, and scope championships too, as well as winning a 13th RoR championship.
“We stepped up another level in eventing and completed our first season internationally at 1* level. It was also his first year as a veteran (15yo+) so he was able to compete at the veteran championships, and he finished in the top two in every class before being acclaimed Veteran Performance Horse of the Year (15-19yo).
“He also won the coveted ‘performance to music’ championship on his first attempt, which involved dancing to the music from the Teddy Bears’ Picnic, him wearing teddy-bear ears, me dressed as a teddy bear and carrying a flag, riding over a picnic blanket. Really, there is no end to his talents.”
Once upon a time, it seemed as though there was no beginning to them. Master Wickham was given to Lewis in February 2015, a month after his final start, when his ownership syndicate retired him with the hope that he could enjoy a second career.
Lewis’s uncle had a friend in the syndicate, knew Lewis was looking for a new horse, everyone joined the dots and Master Wickham had a new home.
Almost agoraphobic
Lewis was used to competition at lower levels, had dreams of making it to prestigious Badminton, but ‘Darsi’ was not the most obvious candidate to take her there. The culture shock of leaving a busy racing yard for a much quieter environment posed problems at the start.
“The hardest part of his retraining came in the first year – he was almost agoraphobic. Any open space and he would spin around and bolt off,” says Lewis.
“I also had his personality all wrong – I felt he would want some downtime and kept everything quiet and repetitive. This could not be further from the way we do things now as he thrives on being kept busy, he has learned to love open spaces, and I can ride him anywhere on the buckle-end of the rein.
“He’s not keen on being petted, he likes to have a purpose and doesn’t cope well with having time off, which has led us [Lewis and Darsi’s trainer Jo Carlin] to train him the way we do.
“He does a different thing every day, maybe hacking, schooling in the arena, poles, grid work, gallops, gymkhana, dancing to music, checking the sheep on the farm, barrel racing, leading the baby horses – you name it.
“He is very quick-thinking and learns a new task at the first time of asking. We never have to show him anything twice.
“When not competing he enjoys long-distance rides in the Peak District, the New Forest and Cannock Chase. Some days we can go out for three hours or more and he’s still choosing to take routes that go away from home. I think he is the only horse I’ve had that I would genuinely call ‘bombproof’ to hack.”
Lifelong dream fulfilled
Three years after leaving racing, Master Wickham qualified for the Badminton Horse Trials at his first attempt, fulfilling Lewis’s lifelong dream and announcing his arrival in the big league of equine competition.
In three appearances at Badminton he has finished 21st (of 140), 15th and 11th, demonstrating vast reserves of ability that had lain hidden during his brief time on the racecourse.
“His favourite disciplines are probably showjumping and cross-country,” explains Lewis. “He is rarely beaten in the showjumping ring – he has the turning circle of a mounted-games pony, the speed of a two-mile chaser, and is as careful as a cat. He only has a fence down if I’ve messed up on the striding.
“In cross-country he is a machine, all I have to do is steer, but he finds dressage the hardest part of the eventing programme. He doesn’t enjoy it, but he has only been beaten once (runner-up) in eight years and has won three national titles. Likewise he finds the show-ring a bit boring, but his results are very good.”
Bum note
His most recent result is incredibly good, although his coronation as Horse of the Year contained one minor drawback, the only bum note of the whole rhapsodic journey from zero to hero.
“Sadly, I could not attend the award ceremony at Cheltenham,” adds Lewis. “My boss broke his wrist and, being the other senior vet, I was called in to cover his weekend shift.”
There will be other big days for Lewis and Darsi, more rosettes, more opportunities to shine for the horse who likes to have a purpose and has found himself in the perfect setting to demonstrate that.
A long time ago, way back when he was in the wrong job, he was awarded the ‘best-turned-out’ prize on his racecourse debut, a testament to the careful skill of his groom in preparing him for raceday. That was all he ever won, and the winning of it was gained through someone else’s talent. Now his extensive roll of honour is all his own work.
“He’s happiest when competing, the bigger the show the better,” says Lewis. “He is a real show-off, he comes alive with the buzz of the atmosphere.
“He doesn’t show anything in the warm-up ring but as soon as he sets foot in a competition ring he gives his all. He knows when it matters.
“Darsi means the world to me and everyone connected with him. He is just the most incredible horse, and every year he gives me moments I can’t believe are real.
“He really is the gift that keeps on giving, and I’m so thankful to him and his racing owners for all the opportunities I have had as a result.”
If he could talk, Master Wickham would be just as grateful for his own opportunity, reaping from it as much joy as he sows, like all his brethren given a second chance to find the right job to do.
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