Newmarket retired Gold Cup winning racechorse Papineau nominated for special award

A retired racehorse which now visits patients at a Newmarket community hospital and a children’s hospice has been nominated for a special award.

Papineau, which won the Ascot Gold Cup in 2004, his owner, Godolphin Racing and Penny Taylor, the organisation’s UK charities manager, are finalists in the community impact category of this year’s Retraining of Racehorses (RoR) awards.

The winners will be announced at the Jockey Club at the end of this month.

Papineau, who is now a Godolphin lifetime care ambassador due to his calm, gentle and patient personality, has been nominated for the Sir Peter O’Sullevan Charitable Trust-backed award in recognition of his visits to Newmarket Community Hospital and East Anglian Children’s Hospices (EACH).

Sue Smith, head of fund-raising for MyWiSH charity, which serves patients at Newmarket Community Hospital, said: “We are absolutely thrilled when Pappy visits us at the hospital. There is a sense of excitement that just grows as the day goes on.

“We manage to get patients outside in the fresh air, who sometimes are not interested in going outside at all.

“Patients become engaged with others and each other which we hope forges relationships, as it can be very lonely in hospital sometimes,” said Sue.

“The staff, too, absolutely love it when Pappy comes to visit, it brings smiles to their faces and having him here is a welcome release when the day is a challenging one.”

In September Papineau was at Milton to meet families at East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices, of which his owner is a corporate supporter.

“It was a joyful afternoon and amazing to see the looks and smiles on people’s faces,” said EACH’s Joely Allard.

“Papineau was just wonderful, sensitive, intuitive and brilliant with the families. It was like he knew he had to be extra gentle with the children. He seemed to know if they were a bit apprehensive and it really was magical. Talk about the power of Papineau.”

To vote for the winner of the community impact award, go to ror-events.org.uk

Voting is open until January 19.

The awards evening will also feature presentations to this season’s RoR elite champions across seven equestrian disciplines: dressage, eventing, polo, endurance, showing, show jumping and hunting.