23/07/2025
Nostalgia for the past? The day that changed my life
The Cheltenham Festival March 2005 20 years ago.
I stumbled across these photos when I was looking for a photo of the late John Dyer for Rita recently. The memory of the day flashed through me. I was working at East Surrey Hospital in Redhill in the Physio Department, and had given up working with horses to pursue a career in Physiotherapy.
As per usual we went to the Gold Cup and stayed at the Deer Park with the Babbage family (who I adored). In the morning they let me take a beautiful horse out schooling on the newly built cross county course to test it out. The horse had been round Burghley and I think it was the best day of my life. Norm gave me his trainers badge and off the races we went with full access everywhere.
That evening we met my ‘Auntie Rita and John at Montpellier wine bar, two of my most favourite people in the world on a crisp March evening. Rita has been my best advocate in every situation and John was always delighted to hear about every horse and race we came across.
I had huge wobble that week, had I made the right decision to give up the life I loved to be a Physiotherapist? When I left racing I used to walk around with what I could only describe as grief in the pit of my stomach I missed it so much.
20 years on do I think I made the right decision? Probably, I still miss Cheltenham and The Cotswolds dreadfully. I miss the adrenaline and camaraderie. I miss ‘The Hunt Balls’ and wearing nice clothes. However, I don’t miss riding out young horses in driving rain, I don’t miss the A&E trips with broken bones, working in healthcare for 20 years changes you and levels you like nothing else.
I am often left wondering with a sense of nostalgia what would have happened if I had stayed in racing but no doubt becoming a Physiotherapist was one of the best decisions of my life. And I think my lovely Auntie Rita and John would have agreed.
