Knocking it out of the park

In Fiona McIntyre’s opinion, nothing compares to the elegance of an off the track Thoroughbred strutting across the show ring, writes AMANDA MAC.

Fiona McIntyre has been a tireless advocate for off the track Thoroughbreds for over 30 years. She’s retrained numerous retired racehorses, and her enthusiasm for them is obvious. “I’ve always enjoyed taking on that diamond in the rough,” she says. “Transforming them and then finding them suitable homes is really satisfying.”

In 2020 her efforts were recognised when she was presented with the Victorian Lady of Racing Award, but there’s been much water under the bridge since then, and Fiona is not one to sit idly and watch it flow by! Currently, she’s working with Racing Victoria as the Operations Manager for their Equine Welfare division – and she’s loving it: “It’s fantastic, because it’s something I’ve always felt so passionate about, and to be given the opportunity to get behind the scenes, so to speak, is brilliant.”

Fiona’s role includes looking after Racing Victoria’s off the track programs as well as their retrainers, which given her own experience as a Racing Victoria Acknowledged Retrainer, makes her more than well equipped for the role. “As someone who’s been on the frontline, it’s wonderful to have the opportunity to give back and support our retrainers,” she tells me.

You would think that that, along with her role as Chair of Equestrian Victoria’s Show Horse Committee, would keep her busy enough – but no!  Based at Murgheboluc, some 20 kilometres north-west of Geelong, Fiona owns and operates McIntyre & Lumsden Equestrian along with life and business partner Jonathan Lumsden. The facility has become renowned for retraining Thoroughbreds who go on to enjoy careers as pleasure, riding and companion horses, not forgetting those who shine in the show ring.

With three off the tracks currently in their retraining program, Fiona, a keen competitor for most of her life – she made her show ring debut as a five-year-old – also has a team of four OTTs who are doing exceptionally well in the show ring.

First for honourable mention is Westminster. Raced as The Arod, Roddie had a mediocre career on the flat before retiring. After trying his hand as a steeple chaser/hurdler, he arrived at Fiona and Jonathon’s as a sight unseen nine-year-old destined to be Jonathon’s new field hunter. “We put him out into the paddock to let down, but when we started working him, he blossomed. So we took him to a local show, his first, and he won Supreme Champion Led – so after that I kind of stole him,” Fiona laughs.

Now the show ring seasoned 13-year-old has found his true vocation. “He recently won the Victorian Saddle Horse Championships Off the Track Show Hunter State Final Series. For three years in a row, he’s won Champion Off the Track Show Hunter at Barastoc Horse of the Year, and last September he won the Champion Ridden Off the Track Show Hunter at the Adelaide Royal. He’s doing really well, and as a heavier boned horse, he’s a perfect show hunter,” Fiona explains.

Nasukawa, on the other hand, has just completed his newcomer season. Known as Nas around the yard, he retired after a short racing career of six starts for two wins and two placings. “He too has had tremendous success in the OTT classes,” Fiona says. “He won the Newcomer and the Rising Star Off the Track at the Victorian Agricultural Society Saddle Horse Championships in January, as well as Newcomer Off the Track at Barastoc a few weeks ago.”

The rising nine-year-old has benefitted from the hard work Fiona put in at home to ensure he had a really good foundation, and, she tells me, Nasukawa is a delightful young horse to take out.

And then there’s Highgrove, a Chris Waller horse who raced as Able Fun. “I’ve had Able for several years. He retired from racing at quite a young age and his owners, who live in Hong Kong, wanted to see him do something other than just sit in a paddock.” Long story short, Chris asked Fiona if she’d be interested in taking him on and doing something with him. “And we now have a lovely relationship with his owners,” Fiona says. “I send them regular updates and they love following his showing journey.”

Fourth on Fiona’s team is Jokerman. After retiring from the track, he was owned by a friend of Fiona’s, who after several years asked her to rehome him. But it never got that far! “I decided to keep him and I’ve been showing him myself. He’s an older horse who had a late start in the show ring, but I think sometimes that added maturity gives them a disposition that makes it easy for them to fit into their post racing careers.”

I tease Fiona, suggesting that giving her horses to rehome is quite dangerous. “It’s ridiculous,” she chuckles. “Although to be fair, I guess it’s really become quite difficult to rehome them because no one’s got the money to take them on. So I figure they’re better off happy, safe and healthy with me, and that they may as well stay and enjoy a life of luxury.”

Needless to say, Fiona believes off the track Thoroughbreds are brilliant show horses. “They’re actually the epitome of the show horse: they’re beautiful, they’re graceful, and you just can’t beat the elegance of a Thoroughbred strutting across the show arena. To me, they’re the supermodels of the show ring.”

Add the Thoroughbred’s remarkable versatility and intelligence into the equation, and there’re few breeds that compete. “When they retire from the track, they transition into these beautiful, graceful horses. It’s really such a rewarding journey to take with a horse. Of course, the accolades are a bonus, but I just find seeing them transition to be so incredibly rewarding.”

Fiona has developed a strategy that she applies to every new off the track that arrives in her yard. If they’ve only just retired, she might ride them for a day or two to get a feel for where they’re at, before putting them out for a good long spell and let down, which might be from six to twelve months depending on the horse. During that time, she often brings them up to the barn, teaches them how to tie straight as opposed to being cross tied, and generally gives them a bit of handling. “I like to get to know each horse’s individual personality. And then when I do start them, I literally start them from scratch, almost as if I’m working with a breaker. I’ll do a fair bit of ground work in a round yard, lunging and long reigning them so they learn how to carry themselves,” Fiona explains.

Over the years, Fiona has noticed a marked difference now that many horses are given foundational training before they begin their track career. “Those horses in particular will take to being trained really quickly. You can pick it when you first sit on them, whether they know what taking some contact is, for example. In the past, Thoroughbreds have had a bit of a rough reputation as the crazies of the horse world. But with pretraining, their transition into their second career is much easier.”

Fiona, like so many OTT owners, is grateful for the dedicated off the track classes that are now being offered. “Show hunter classes tend to be dominated by Warmbloods. So off the track classes really come into their own as a way of providing opportunities for horses after they’ve retired from racing. And if we want to encourage the rehoming of these horses, we need more classes like them,” she adds.

Follow Fiona at McIntyre & Lumsden Equestrian.