The partnership between the Queensland Off-The-Track Program and Polocrosse Australia has been developed to stimulate demand for retired racehorses in the sport of polocrosse.
Held in Chinchilla, the 2024 Australian Polocrosse Nationals hosted the Polocrosse Australia World Cup Display on Friday, June 28 as part of its competition schedule.
The event featured the 2024 Goodline Australian World Cup Polocrosse team, who each presented a retired racehorse they had personally retrained to participate in a polocrosse demonstration to showcase the versatility and suitability of retired racehorses for the sport.
All eight horses performed extremely well in front of a large, enthusiastic crowd, with QOTT Board Chair Dr Christine Johnson impressed to see how far the horses had progressed in their retraining programs since their retirement from racing.
“The riders were able to show the athleticism and temperament of the horses to a big crowd, who could really appreciate how suited thoroughbreds are to the sport,” Dr Johnson said.
“Prior to, and at the end of the demonstration, there were many people asking about the QOTT Program and commenting on what a great initiative it was to expose the athleticism, trainability and temperament of retired racehorses.
“To have the knowledge, expertise and experience of the 2024 Goodline Australian World Cup Polocrosse team retraining these horses created a lot of positive exposure that will create new pathways for retired racehorses in the sport of polocrosse.”
The eight retired thoroughbred racehorses that participated in the Polocrosse Australia World Cup Display were:
- Faithful Maryanne (retrained by Team Captain Jimmy Grills)
- Crackle Cause (retrained by Vice-Captain Lucy Grills)
- Maddison’s Missile (retrained by Sam Allen)
- Evanescent (retrained by Corey Buys)
- Glacier Princess (retrained by Matt Davison)
- Avid Diva (retrained by Lindsay Doolan)
- Groovy Playmate (retrained by Beth Hafey)
- Straight Alphas (retrained by Tom O’Neil)