A Monmouth charity is hoping to be the first rescue centre in the UK to buck the trend by launching one of their rescue cases into a new career.

Most people are aware of the problem of retired race horses that need rescuing, but The Society for the Welfare of Horses and Ponies (SWHP) in St Maughans has gone one better by taking in a rescued foal and recognising its potential to race.

Rainbow is five years old and came to the charity as a young foal with her mother and five siblings.

They were found living in terrible conditions just outside Abergavenny. The owner was an ex-RSPCA market inspector and initially refused to hand his horses over to the charity.

One young foal had already died from malnutrition and Jenny's team were sure that the rest would not be far behind if action was not taken.

With the RSPCA present to persuade the man to sign the animals over, the SWHP team had to break the doors down as they had not been opened for so long, before being able to take the six horses back to the centre to start their recovery.

Rainbow has racing in her blood with her Sire – Lucky Owners (NZ) that won the Hong Kong Derby, and a sister – Napier Star, that before ending up in need of rescue along with Rainbow, that had won £21,000 in her career.

"We always felt with Rainbow that she was going to make it" said SWHP founder Jenny MacGregor.

"It has always been my dream that one of the horses we rescued would do very well and she's certainly got the speed" she said.

Rainbow is currently in training in Lambourn and is being funded through a syndicate of 12 people, entirely separate to the charity's money.

Under the close supervision of successful trainer Brendan Powell, Rainbow is finding her feet and after a small operation to correct the displacement of her soft palate, she is beginning to shine.

Under the racing name Charity Rainbow, the little mare will hope to find her pot of gold on her first National Hunt bumper race at the end of the month.

If she does well, it is hoped that she will go on to try a hurdle race.

Anyone can keep track of her progress on the trainer's website: http://www.powellracing.com">www.powellracing.com