Meet Roger: the Czech horse primed for a Jump career in Britain

After almost 35 years of mucking out horses each morning, it will come as no surprise to you that it doesn’t require a huge percentage of my brain capacity to perform this task. Invariably, this leads to a good deal of daydreaming and pondering.

Recent thoughts have largely centred on trying to psycho-analyse Wille Mullins (not possible), mull on whether Harry Cobden is the best rider either side of the Irish Sea (quite possibly) and whether I could pull off a Rich Richi style mullet (definitely not).

However, about 18 months ago my morning meanderings led me to consider why more trainers were not taking advantage of the valuable weight allowances offered to four-year olds over fences and why there is such a strongly held belief that horses off the Flat can’t jump a fence.

After all, most National Hunt stallions, excluding those in France, raced on the Flat themselves and in recent times a horse that had graduated off the level, Tiger Roll, was a two-time winner of the Grand National. 

In my former sport of three-day eventing, top-class horses come in all shapes and sizes and from many different breeds. Connemara’s crossed with thoroughbreds, horses bred for show-jumping, even a shire horse crossed with a thoroughbred, and of course thoroughbreds that weren’t quite quick enough on the track. They all though share two common traits: athleticism and a willing brain. After that it all comes down to detailed and correct training. 

So, a plan formulated in my head to buy a three-year old off the Flat. I would then use my knowledge gathered from my competition days to give them what I would consider to be a thorough understanding of how best to use their body when jumping before they would then commence full training as a four-year old, culminating in racing over fences in the autumn.

Initially the plan was to buy from one of the many Horses In Training sales in the UK or Ireland. However, after a couple of failed attempts it became clear that my budget was not going to secure me the athletic, lightly raced type that I was after. 

I went back to the drawing board and decided that my left field plan needed to move even further to the left.

Despite injury putting an end to my competition career, I still train a large number of competition riders in Europe, with my main client base being in the Czech Republic. One of my Czech riders had sourced a horse out of racing to retrain as a sports horse. When working with that horse, it struck me that he had not only impressive physical qualities but that he also had an impressive mind and constitution . . . so I hatched a second version of my plan.

I started viewing as much Czech racing as possible. Essentially, I watched it blind with no form knowledge. I would simply look for a quality looking individual and then afterwards check to see if their pedigree suggested ample enough stamina for jumping.

And that’s how Roger entered my life.

He caught my eye walking around the paddock before a mile maiden at Bratislava Racecourse in Slovakia. He struck me as a handsome, tall chestnut with noticeable presence. His name? Blame that on a lack of imagination among Czech horse lovers!

He finished tenth of 12 on his debut run but I liked what I saw. He had a huge stride and simply went at one pace from start to finish. It was a similar story when he was seventh of eight on his next start over a mile.

To my mind, his pedigree strongly suggested that he was a horse bred for much further than a mile. His sire, Elvstroem was hugely versatile with regards to trip, winning Group races at 7f to a mile and a half, as well as finishing fourth in a Melbourne Cup over 2m.

Roger’s dam, Pure Paradise was bred and raced in Germany. She was a moderate Flat maiden but her best effort, when finishing fourth, came over the longest distance she tried. Furthermore, her family were all 12-furlong performers and her half-sister, Peggy was Listed placed over fences in France.

Happily, after a degree of negotiation and some excellent work from Roman Vitek (the former Champion Trainer in the Czech Republic and now a leading equine physiotherapist) who kindly acted as agent and translator, a deal was struck to purchase Roger.

Once in my ownership, his first home was with Nikol Ecerova, one of my clients and a talented event rider. Her yard is located just outside Prague and I visit twice a month to run three-day long coaching clinics. I dusted off my boots and hat and took responsibility for his training on the days I was at the yard.

The rest of the time he was under the care of Nikol and her team. Our focus was two-fold, first educating him how best to use his body through basic dressage training designed to improve his balance and suppleness. He also had lots of exercises, using poles on the floor to teach him the correct technique for jumping. This was important, as in my opinion good footwork in front of a fence - and suppleness over it - is far more important than unlimited scope when it comes to jumping.

There was also plenty of work to do with his general wellbeing and demeanour. He had come from a yard where, to put it politely, patience was in short supply. As a consequence he was quite suspicious of human interaction and was a quiet and withdrawn character.

He also underwent a full MOT. Roman gave him regular physio plus he had his first ever-dental check, which included remodelling his teeth to remove painful sharp edges (the No 1 cause of a horse hanging) and had his feet repaired by the farrier.

During this time the All The Allowances Syndicate was formed, made up of friends, acquaintances made on X as well as a few individuals that had seen the story and wanted to be involved.

After a stay of three months in Nikol’s yard he made the long journey across Europe to join his trainer, Richard Hobson, near Cheltenham.

I put a huge amount of thought and consideration into the choice of trainer. I spoke to a number but in truth it was an easy decision. I’d always been struck at the races by how healthy and strong Richard’s horses looked when no matter what the season they always had a shine to their skin. For a small yard he punches well above his weight with multiple graded winners to his name. I was also taken by his enthusiasm for my slightly whacky project and the fact that along with his wife, Shirley, he is very hands on in the yard. 

We have been fortunate to have twice weekly updates from Richard, including plenty of photos and videos detailing the work being undertaken. And in January we met as a group at his picturesque yard to watch morning work and as bonus got to see the finishing touches being put on Fugitif, the stable star, before he headed to the Clarence House Chase.

Roger had to have a hair sample taken for testing to ensure he had not been administered any banned substances when trained in Slovakia. Happily, that came back negative and he has been away for a couple of racecourse gallops.

It’s now virtually three months to the day since Roger arrived with Richard and I’ve loved every minute. Along with Shirley, Jess and Harriet, who make up the team at RH Bloodstock, Richard has continued the good work started by Nikol.

Roger is now a happy horse with charisma. He is loving his daily routine, being ridden by Shirley most days. He has taken well to jumping hurdles – piloted in his schooling by Richard himself.

Possibly the best compliment comes from Roman, who replied to a video I sent of Roger exercising with this message: “There I see a horse who feels loved and respected. See how he now carries himself with such confidence.”

The syndicate have racing colours registered (designed by Scarlett my six-year old daughter) and on Monday we head to Stratford for our first adventure as racehorse owners. 

It’s been an exciting and enjoyable journey so far, and I hope we’re only just getting started.