Tinder for thoroughbreds: meet the trainer with a growing sideline in matching ex-racehorses with the perfect new owner

Carol Wilson relaxes in her new friend’s home nursing a cup of tea. Just two months ago she had yet to encounter Suzy Barkley but now here she is, comfortably embedded in her kitchen telling a tale of yet another newfound friend she knows simply as ‘Ted’. Beyond a large window the gentle hills of County Down, mottled with shades of green, roll lazily into the far distance. 

The Ted in question is an impressively handsome four-year old Belardo gelding, not quite talented or robust enough to race competitively but still far too good to be deprived of a fulfilling and active future. A lucky boy is our Ted. He’s one of a select band of about 200 horses who find their way each year to Barkley’s yard near the village of Donaghcloney, where she has fashioned a safety net of services for thoroughbreds who either can’t race, shouldn’t race or have finished racing. 

Barkley established her operation under the banner of the Irish Thoroughbred Agency, with the business mission to match horses with suitable humans while ensuring the needs of each has full parity of esteem in the transaction, and that the subsequent relationship between man and beast has a purpose, longevity, good health and a generous dollop of happiness.