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Suzy Barkley | 'I always worried for a horse after racing'

Director of the Irish Thoroughbred Agency, Suzy Barkley joined Friday Night Racing on Off The Bal...



Suzy Barkley | 'I always worri...
Racing

Suzy Barkley | 'I always worried for a horse after racing'

Director of the Irish Thoroughbred Agency, Suzy Barkley joined Friday Night Racing on Off The Ball to discuss the work that her organisation does retraining and rehoming racehorses.

Barkley, a former amateur trainer and jockey, explained how she got involved in this side of the industry.

"I always worried about what happened to a horse after they had finished racing," she said.

"I couldn’t find anywhere that I was happy to let them go, so I just kept them and I ended up with all these horses that were not racing.

"Then, I rehomed one with Monique Lyle of the British Thoroughbred Agency and I started to get involved gradually and realised that this was really, really good and these were proper places that the horses were going to. 

"We decided then that we would go into business together and make a difference for all those horses who had nowhere to go after racing."

Suzy Barkley also explained how the process of rehoming and retraining works.

"After the horse has finished racing, the trainers need them then to go on to do something else in their life," she said.

"We bring all the horses up to my yard and they get a chance to chill out as we assess them and see what would be the best place for them in the next chapter of their life.

"We take a lot of time to do that and then, together with my partner from the British Thoroughbred Agency, we sit down and match the horse to the rider and new home.

"The horse goes on to their next stage in life and it’s absolutely brilliant.

"There’s a non-racing agreement and there’s an after care service so as that we make sure that if it doesn’t work out, we will rehome them again. 

"We are not putting the horses into homes where they will be moved again,  it’s a new forever home for the horse.

"We make sure that the match is perfect."

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Barkley Friday Night Racing Irish Racing Irish Thoroughbred Agency Racing Suzy Barkley