THIS is the amazing moment Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Native River proved the perfect chauffeur – by taking a girl to her school prom.
The legendary racehorse, 12, is best known for winning one of jump racing's biggest contests in 2018.
Native River also won the Welsh Grand National, a Ladbrokes Trophy and three Denman Chases in a career in which he earned his owners more than £1million.
A hero on the track, he has lived a quiet life off it since retiring at the end of last year.
But he came back with a bang this week when providing the transport for lucky Zara Cox to her school bash.
Zara, 16, wore her prom dress while riding the horse through town and right up to the red carpet for the bash at Oake Manor Golf Club in Taunton.
Garth and Anne Broom, who owned Native River during his racing days, were there to see the 'surreal' appearance of their beloved horse.
And bloodstock agent Tom Malone, who has been looking after the him in his happy retirement, filmed the whole thing.
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The footage captured stunned onlookers taking in every second of Zara arriving on top of Native River – who to be fair was used to even bigger audiences during his career.
Malone posted the clip on Twitter and wrote: "Here’s a quick peak at what Native River’s been up to lately on his summer holidays.
"His first public appearance since retirement was to chauffeur his young rider to the local school prom!"
Racing fans were blown away by the scenes, with one saying: "Love the fact he posed for photos and was so well behaved with the dress around him, they both looked lovely."
'HE LOOKS SO PROUD AND HAPPY'
Another said: "Wow, what an entrance!"
While one comment read: "Wonderful to see. What a beautiful lifelong memory that will be for that young lady. Well done to all of those involved in organising it."
And another wrote: "This is amazing, he looks so proud and happy. He really looks like he’s loving his new career.
"I think this would be my daughter’s dream to do something like this, what a lucky girl and to do it on a Gold Cup winner too."
Malone said he had never seen something so 'surreal' and was on the brink of tears watching it unfold.
He told the Racing Post: "We turned off the main road into the golf complex and it was probably a half-mile long.
"There were cars, people, tractors and everything, but he never missed a beat.
"He marched on ears pricked and was actually last in. Every young person was standing and just paused and went 'wow'.
"It was the most surreal thing I've seen in a long time. It was like he was standing in the winner's enclosure at Cheltenham.
"It was something to behold and I had a lump in my throat watching it.
DAD SORTED AMAZING ENTRANCE
"He loved it and even when I took him home he got his dance going. He loves life and is a real character."
Zara, a pupil at Kingsmead School, had her dad to thank for organinsing the incredible scene.
Dan is good friends with the Brooms, who raced under the Brocade Racing banner, and he convinced them to let Zara ride him.
Malone said: "Dan worked for Garth and Anne for years and when Zara mentioned the whole idea, Dan rang me to see if I'd be up for it.
"I said there'd be a few stipulations as he's a racehorse, but he is the most gentle racehorse of all time.
"He knows he's a superstar because when she got on in this big, long, black dress, I was thinking 'oh mother Christ'.
"If it blew in the wind a normal racehorse would be gone!"
Since the video went viral the agent has been flooded with requests to see the horse and so is holding an open morning to meet him in September, with proceeds going to charity.
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