STAFF from an open air museum looked on with pride as their own miracle horse won one of the nation's classic races.

Three years ago the horse, called Shadow Dancing, had faced its own race against time when its mother, Salchow, died just hours after giving birth.

But stable hands at Beamish Museum came to the rescue when the horse's co-owner, former jockey Willie Carson, contacted them after hearing that the foal was pining for the mare.

A foster mare, Raithwaite Clio, was rushed 260 miles to be with Shadow Dancing in Cheltenham and, luckily, the pair hit it off.

To the delight of its trainer and Clio's owners Shadow Dancing romped home in the Victor Chandler Cheshire Oaks at Chester last week, winning £50,000 prize money for its owners.

Beamish horseman Peter Brassett said: "When Willie Carson rang I drove the mare, in a borrowed horsebox, down to his stables just outside Cheltenham.

"I set off at six in the morning and I didn't get back until four the following morning. But it was worth it. When the mare saw the foal she immediately took to her, which doesn't always happen. It was love at first sight.

"Willie didn't want her to return to Beamish after she stayed for about seven months. He had fallen in love with her as well."