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ARENA RACING COMPANY TO SPONSOR INAUGURAL RACEHORSE TO EVENTER CHALLENGE CUP AT CORNBURY HOUSE HORSE TRIALS
Cornbury House Horse Trials (10-14 September) and Jayne McGivern are delighted to announce that Arena Racing Company (ARC) will sponsor the new £50,000 Racehorse to Eventer Challenge Cup at the Oxfordshire event in a five-year deal.
This new class, with its £45,000 first prize - a reward unprecedented in the sport at British Eventing Novice level - is a joint initiative between the Howden family’s Cornbury House Horse Trials and Jayne McGivern of Dash Grange Stud. It is designed to encourage and promote second careers in eventing for racehorses who have come off the track and those thoroughbreds who didn’t make it to the racetrack.
Jayne McGivern, who stands Derby winner Golden Horn at Overbury Stud and who owns event horses with leading British rider Piggy March, said: “It is really heartwarming to see such a major player in the horseracing world leaning in to the issue of racehorse welfare so positively. I am so grateful to them for their belief and support for the concept. I have long tried to launch this class, and without the wonderful team at Cornbury House providing the most beautiful venue and ARC stepping in to sponsor, the next five years of showing the athletic brilliance of ex racehorses, ridden by the best riders, would not have been possible.”
Martin Cruddace, CEO of ARC, said: “David Howden, Jayne McGivern and the team at Cornbury House Horse Trials should be congratulated for their excellent work in establishing this new class, which we are delighted to support. Cornbury House Horse Trials takes place at the same time of one of our biggest fixtures, the Betfred St Leger Festival at Doncaster, which will offer us an excellent opportunity to promote the achievements of those competing in the Racehorse to Eventer Challenge Cup to the racing public, alongside the more general opportunities in eventing available to thoroughbred racehorses as a second career."
David Howden, founder and president of Cornbury House Horse Trials, added: “It is wonderful to see one of racing’s major racecourse owners getting behind this class, which we are thrilled to be launching at Cornbury this year. A brilliant concept from Jayne McGivern now has committed longevity for the next five years and is exactly where we want to be going to promote the versatility of the thoroughbred and second careers after racing, which sits alongside our own Thoroughbred Aftercare Programme (TAP).”
The Racehorse to Eventer Challenge Cup will run alongside the British Eventing Young Horse National Championships, supported by The Howden Way, Cornbury House Horse Trials’ immensely popular under-21 classes at Young Rider, Junior and Pony level, open CCI3*-S and CCI2*-S sections and national intermediate classes.
The Racehorse to Eventer Challenge Cup winner will take home a £45,000 first prize along with a George III silver perpetual trophy, and each year the successful owner will receive the silver-plated horse shoe of a Derby winner - the first of which, for 2025, will be that of Golden Horn, who took the world’s premier Classic race in 2015.
As well as a feast of equestrian sport, featuring many of the world’s most famous riders alongside young up-and-coming talent, Cornbury Horse Horse Trials is unique in its offering with a focus on local, sustainable food and drink from its neighbouring farms playing a huge part, premium hospitality, and interactive children’s activities in the stunning setting of Cornbury Park.
Visit www.cornburyhousehorsetrials.co.uk for more information about the Racehorse to Eventer Challenge Cup, all of Cornbury House Horse Trials’ classes, the 2025 timetable and to buy tickets.
Image: David Howden with racehorse-turned-eventer Bhodi and rider Mike Jackson (credit Boot Creative)