A new mum from Cardiff, Tori Thomas, and a horse formerly trained by her Cheltenham Gold Cup winning jockey husband have won a national title at the prestigious Horse of the Year Show.
Tori and her horse, Wonga Swinger won the 2024 SEIB Insurance Brokers Racehorse to Riding Horse series finale at the Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) at Birmingham NEC on the 9thOctober. This series finale was a hotly contested championship with fourteen thoroughbred ex-racehorses forward for the championship.
Runners-up in this championship in 2023, Tori and Wonga Swinger have experience of the Main International HOYS Arena. Tori is a new mum to nine-week-old Lily-Rose – spectating on the day from the sidelines with her grandmother.
Tori said: “Wonga was foot perfect today, it is unbelievable to have won and I’m speechless!” The pair haven’t been to many shows this season because of Tori’s pregnancy. She added: “We went to the SEIB Racehorse to Riding Horse qualifier at Burghley on a whim and came second to qualify, earning our ticket for today, and then to Addington before heading here to HOYS. We have been here five times in total and finished in second place last year.”
During his racing days, Wonga Swinger was trained by Tori’s husband, former Gold Cup winning jockey, Sam Thomas. He twice enjoyed success on the racecourse before retiring. Tori continued: “Wonga wasn’t enjoying the racing so my husband let me have him to go hunting. My mum and auntie have always been into showing so we decided to give it a go. He’s the first horse I’ve really done showing with.”
Tori’s husband Sam Thomas said: “Wonga Swinger wasn’t very successful for me, Tori has absolutely transformed him, the way she has turned him around since he finished racing is amazing.”
The SEIB Racehorse to Riding Horse championship was set up to give horses a second career following their racing days. Series organiser, Nicolina MacKenzie said: “We are thrilled for our winners today. All the horses in the championship looked stunning and behaved impeccably, they are truly a testament to their owners and riders. We had horses from a Cheltenham Gold Cup and Lincoln Handicap winner through to those that have barely finished a point-to-point here today. We are delighted to be in the position to give these stunning horses a purpose after racing.”
Feature image credit 1st Class Images.
Suzanne Ashton, Founder of Everything Horse (Est, 2012), has a BA Hons in Marketing Management and a Diploma in Equine Science. Suzanne has ridden and owned horses all her life and has twelve years of experience in marketing, writing, design, SEO, and website creation.