Catterick Racecourse is delighted to announce Motawaazy or ‘Wazzy’ as he is known at home, as its first Equine Ambassador as part of the ROR Horses for Courses programme. Motawaazy ran 11 times at Catterick between June 2021 and May 2024, winning on 4 occasions. He has now retired from racing and moved home with his owner Victoria Greetham and her daughter Zara. We will be checking in regularly with him to see how he is enjoying life after racing!
In this first blog, Victoria introduces us to Wazzy.
In August 2019 I attended Doncaster Sales and bought Motawaazy - he was a once raced Shadwell cast off with a fabulous pedigree being by Kingman out of a Group 1 placed mare but had a few problems such as having been "heard to make a noise" and having poor front feet made up mainly of putty! I took him home and put him out to grass for a break and after some remedial shoeing, started hacking him out. Shortly after this I found out that I was unexpectedly pregnant with my first child which was quite a shock at 40!
I hung my riding boots up on all the horses except for Motawaazy. Wazzy, as he was now known at home, was unbelievably quiet and well behaved so I continued to ride him until I was 6 months pregnant (not bad for a 3-year-old racehorse!) and he then went into training.
His career started with some poor runs, then Covid struck so I brought him back home. I got very attached to him during Lockdown, however after racing re-commenced it was time for him to return to training.
He joined Michael Dods in Darlington. In his first season there he was a revelation and won 5 races, showing a particular liking for Catterick!
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Each winter he came home for a break and my daughter struck up such a bond with him. Before she could even walk, she was riding him in an "Inky Dinky" saddle and mastered rising trot at 3 years old, bouncing around on a very patient Wazzy. The racing staff couldn't believe it as he could be quite fresh and strong in training.
At the grand age of 8, old age has caught up with him, so Michael Dods and I decided to retire him from racing. My daughter Zara was absolutely adamant that she wanted Wazzy to be her own horse. I encouraged her to have a Shetland pony instead and said that he needed to be rehomed, but she demanded that I brought him home for her. Who am I to argue with a 4-year-old strong willed little girl?! Wazzy and Zara have such a strong bond. Of course, she has been riding him since she was in my tummy so that might have something to do with it!
Wazzy will now have a few months downtime in the field to be a horse and then he will start a new career. I have had a few people trying to poach him for the ROR Showing classes so I think that he might be quite good at that. He might be equally as good at teaching a little girl to ride and attending Pony Club!
His favourite hobby is eating. He has always had problems with becoming overweight and is very greedy. He loves being back home in a big field of grass and it is the first time in his life that he has not been on a restricted diet!
Wazzy ran 38 times, winning 7 races and has done me proud. He is honoured to be Catterick Racecourse's new "Horses for Courses" Ambassador, he certainly loved it there and will enjoy visiting again in the future.