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It had taken time for Nick Alexander’s charge to get the hang of things, but he was in the process of putting up a career best performance when breaking down approaching the home turn at Aintree yesterday.
His trainer reported that the gelding was taken to University Of Liverpool Veterinary Hospital, but his injuries proved inoperable and sadly he had to be put down.
R.I.P.
Very sad news. Thoughts to all connections, especially as this is the second loss in 48 hours for the yard (Cheatingsideoftown). What’s happened this year??? So many fatalities Is it the ground or could it be a breeding issue? Does anyone have any ideas or share my concerns.
RIP beautiful boy
Well I agree with you about the breeding and the ground being the most important factors regarding fatalities. I am not worried about the GN and that would be just about the last race on the calendar we should talk about. But I am very concerned about the very high numbers of horses breaking down on the flat or in jumps races with their breakdowns not being related to a jump or an obstacle. Too many two-year olds being fatally injured and too many horses breaking down during the summer. The first thing that comes to mind would be a clean 3-month break for the jumps brigade. No one is really interested at venues like Worcester, Southwell and Market Rasen staging meetings when the conditions are unsuitable and also the quality of the horses. Give jockeys and staff and also the horses some time to regroup and bring them back towards autumn.
As far as the breeding is concerned I think we simply have too many poorly bred horses that end up over the jumps or are overraced at the age of two. We need a lot more quality than quantity. We should be talking a lot more about Big Bucks, Kauto Star Frankel or Sprinter Sacre and not about broken necks or a broken pelvis. The problem is extremely easy to solve: Just understand that less is always a bit more….Very nice words indeed from the Alexander family. Nice too see them taking their time and remembering their horses in a very nice manner. Sad to read, but very admirable.
Comforting to know that this family really do love and respect their horses. Thoughts go to all concerned, owners, trainer and jockey.
I don’t think it’s anything to do with summer jumping, we’ve always had that in Ireland and the type of horse running in them tends to be different to the winter horses. A 3 month break would be very unfair on horses who like to hear their hooves rattle off the ground.
I do think breeding has a lot to do with it. I’ve only been following racing for around 30 years but I don’t ever remember as many horses breaking down on the flat as there is now, and back in the 80s they often ran on very firm and even hard ground. Maybe the stats will prove me wrong and it’s just the fact that all races are now on tv, but it just seems so bad especially in the last couple of years. Owners don’t seem to have the patience to wait for the old store horse type in NH and there’s been a huge influx of flat breeding into it. As for the flat, I’ve never been a fan of 2yo racing. Some of the 2yos I’ve seen at the races this year look more like ponies.
I don’t know what can be done to change things but I do hope something is done or we risk turning into the killing fields of US dirt racing.
Interesting to read everyone’s comments, thank you. Sounds as if breeding needs more regulation. One thing though, we generally do seem to look after our horses much better than some other countries. I will be praying for no more breakdowns, fatal falls or heart attacks.
Owners don’t seem to have the patience to wait for the old store horse type in NH and there’s been a huge influx of flat breeding into it.
rich
It’s slightly unfair to include comments about owners having lack of patience in a memorial thread for a horse coming from a stable that do have patience with their horses. The Alexanders generally take their horses from stoutly bred stock, and I don’t think the demise of Four Fiddlers was down to any lack of judgement on their part.
If you wish to make a point about the breeding industry then I suggest there should be a separate thread for it. For what it’s worth, I do have some sympathy with your views.
Rob
Owners don’t seem to have the patience to wait for the old store horse type in NH and there’s been a huge influx of flat breeding into it.
rich
It’s slightly unfair to include comments about owners having lack of patience in a memorial thread for a horse coming from a stable that do have patience with their horses. The Alexanders generally take their horses from stoutly bred stock, and I don’t think the demise of Four Fiddlers was down to any lack of judgement on their part.
If you wish to make a point about the breeding industry then I suggest there should be a separate thread for it. For what it’s worth, I do have some sympathy with your views.
Rob
I take your point, RN, about this not being the right place for this discussion, but there have been several threads recently, and the trouble is we can discuss it endlessly but we cannot seem to stop the trend towards the attitude of "Oh well, it doesn’t seem able to run fast, let’s send it jumping, no matter how unsuitable it seems to be".
I take your point, RN, about this not being the right place for this discussion, but there have been several threads recently, and the trouble is we can discuss it endlessly but we cannot seem to stop the trend towards the attitude of "Oh well, it doesn’t seem able to run fast, let’s send it jumping, no matter how unsuitable it seems to be".
Very good point by the way.
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