Tote-sponsored Secret Reprieve wins the Welsh Grand National

12 January 2021

We were delighted to see Secret Reprieve’s success in the Coral Welsh Grand National, as one of the horses covered by the ROA members Tote Owner Sponsorship Scheme.

The Evan Williams trained gelding survived his girth breaking in the home straight to run out an impressive winner of the Chepstow marathon, leaving his owners William and Angela Rucker possibly dreaming of adding to their amazing Grand National record. It is a race in which they have owned a horse placed in the first four on seven consecutive times with the grand trio of Alvarado, Cappa Bleu and State Of Play.

The Tote continues to partner the ROA and our Owner-Sponsorship scheme, for which we are extremely grateful.

Since its inception in 2004 over 60,000 ROA owners horses have raced carrying the scheme’s owner sponsorship.  The benefit is highly valued by members as it enables them to register for UK VAT and reclaim the VAT incurred on the purchase price of their horse and associated expenditure.  This can represent an annual recovery of over £4,000 per horse.

In reviewing the Tote’s support for the scheme for 2021, Alex Frost, Chief Executive of the UK Tote Group, said: “In what has been a challenging period for everyone in British racing we are delighted to renew our support for the ROA’s Owner Sponsorship Scheme. We hope this scheme will continue to be an important benefit to owners at all levels of the sport and we look forward to continuing to see the Tote brand worn across owners’ silks throughout 2021.

Applications are currently open for the schemes which started in January and the scheme starting in March. To qualify, each horse must be wholly owned by ROA members.  In the case of a Racing Club or Syndicate, the club/syndicate managers need to be ROA members in order for the horse to be eligible for the scheme.

William Rucker said: “We were delighted with Secret Reprieve’s win particularly as we brought him through from a store. It’s a race that means a lot to Evan and to us with most of our horses trained in Wales. We should also say a very big thank you to The Tote for the sponsorship scheme. Alex very kindly sent us a picture afterwards and it is great to see all that Alex and team are doing with the Tote which has a really exciting future under their leadership for the benefit of all in racing .”

For more information, or to apply, visit: https://www.roa.co.uk/benefits/sponsorship.html