"Other than my husband, he’s the man in my life!” laughs Kate Barrett.

Kate is referring to her ex-racehorse Fred. The 26-year-old horse was the first she rode when she started taking lessons and their bond was clearly not meant to be broken.

He joined Kate’s family in 2007 and the pair regularly hack out together. Fred was the impetus for Kate, 42, embarking on a charity challenge which is right up her street.

Her love of horse and greyhound racing was sparked by her husband Matthew. The couple have a racehorse – called Yourelikemefrank – in training with Richard Ford which has brought them some success, most significantly winning Yarmouth races on Kate’s 40th birthday.

They also have three greyhounds in racing and seven more greyhounds share their Spen Valley home.

So spending a day at the races is something Kate is more than happy to do. The task she set herself was to attend race meetings throughout the UK during 2012. She was reaching the final furlong when we spoke, but as she recalled, it hasn’t been an easy ride, particularly with Britain’s wash-out summer.

After mentioning the idea during a day at the races with friends, she found herself bound by a bet to pull off her ambitious challenge.

Kate bet that she could attend all the English courses she hadn’t been to within 12 months. “The challenge was like a red rag to a bull!” she says.

Her job as a freelance finance director – Thoroughbred Management is her appropriately-named business – means that Kate is used to doing calculations. She also owns a specialist legal and finance recruitment business.

“I started working out just how many racecourses there were, and from that I worked out that it would mean me attending 31 racecourses, covering 11,500 miles, up down and across the country, spending a small fortune at the petrol pump, not to mention all the hours sat at the wheel.

“Still, with the challenge staring me in the face, and being a lover of horse racing, it had to be done,” she says.

On January 4, Kate set off on the first stage of her racecourse challenge – Huntingdon. Newton Abbott was the furthest course on her travels.

Attending race days demands stepping out in style, but with Kate’s pal, Liz Devine-Wright, sponsoring her headwear, Kate managed to keep the costs down and she wore some of her outfits more than once.

She says the challenge was driven by more than a love of horse racing. “I thought if I was going to do such a daft thing, I should at least try to raise some much-needed funds for a couple of charities I support.”

Kate’s aim is to raise £5,000 each for Kirkwood Hospice, which recently launched its Capital Appeal to develop its Huddersfield site, and HEROS (Homing Ex-Racehorses Organisations Scheme).

“Having Fred, I know how much life, love and enjoyment there is left at the end of a racehorse’s career, and if I can help do my bit so other ‘Freds’ out there can enjoy their retirement from racing, then others will have the experience I am having with my lovely chestnut boy,” she says.

On route to Newbury racecourse, she called in to HEROS to see where the money she raises will be spent.

The rain over the summer almost curtailed her challenge, with many race meetings abandoned due to water logging.

“It’s fair to say this has caused havoc with my plans,” says Kate.

But she took it all in her stride, meeting a few racing celebrities along the way. John McCririck, Luke Harvey, Mick Fitzgerald and Derek Thompson were some of the famous faces she was photographed with and she’s had Twitter conversations with TV presenter Clare Balding and champion jockey Richard Hughes.

While embarking on her challenge, Kate has also been collecting raffle prizes which she plans to auction online.

The prizes include two first-class return tickets to London valued at £430; a 12-person executive box with food at Owlerton Greyhound Stadium, approximately valued at £200; Sunday roast at the 1875 Restaurant, Menston Railway Station, and raceday badges for Hexham, Cheltenham, Wetherby, Newcastle and Plumpton; a mother of the bride two-piece outfit voucher; Christmas cake; Christmas pudding; wine and a Racing Welfare Poster.

Kate has had a little help from her friends, too. Her pal David Kay donated his nap of the day at each of the racecourses she attended, with all the winnings going into the charity fund, and also organised for Kate to attend Ladies Day at Royal Ascot and Cartmel where she was asked to present prizes.

Kate also managed to secure sponsorship for a day Aintree Races which fulfilled an ambition. “I had longed to visit where one of my favourite racehorses of all time – Red Rum – did an incredible thing by winning the Grand National on three occasions,” she says.

Through the generosity of the racecourses she attended, the people she has met and family and friends, Kate is on her way to reaching her £10,000 target.

l To make a donation, or find out more about Kate’s challenge, visit justgiving.com/ kirkwoodracecoursechallenge or justgiving.com/racecourse challenge.

Tickets for Kate’s raffle, at £1 each, are available by emailing kate@thoroughbredmanagement.co.uk. The online draw takes place on December 21.