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No win situation for the jockey. If he had pulled up there would have been an outcry from punters talking through their pockets.
In that respect, it was similar to the incident in the Hunter Chase at Fakenham.
Having thought about it again, I believe that incident was worse because it should have been obvious to even an amateur jockey that the horse was exhausted.
Was it obvious to Townend that the horse was injured? I don’t believe any of us can say whether or not it was.
CAS – Sadly that reasoned response will cut absolutely no ice with the ‘racing is cruel and should be banned brigade’ and unfortunately the visual from a viewing perspective clearly would lead even the most uninformed member of the public to see that something was wrong with the way the horse was moving after the mistake.
What we see visually is always going to impact us the most first and foremost (first impressions are extremely hard to overcome without any context or further investigation) and most of the general public will not be interested in that context as all they will see/read is a poor old horse forced to race made a mistake but the jockey kept riding to the finish using his whip and the horse died as a result of a broken back.
I missed the race but reading what had happened I immediately thought of Killultagh Vic- Ruby is right KV was never the same again after that.
Gin on Lime was made to jump the last after her mistake 2 out here:
https://www.sportinglife.com/racing/results/2021-11-12/cheltenham/656472/sss-super-alloys-novices-chase-gbb-raceShould also have been pulled up
Have just watched it back
The horses action isn’t perfect after the last but he’s still running on. On the sporting Life website replay Townend doesn’t jump off straight after the line but horse starts wobbling as if his legs are giving away and then Paul jumps offGaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026
For the record the Stewards’ Report reads:
‘An enquiry was held into the riding of the winner, GOLD DANCER (FR), ridden by P. Townend, from jumping the final fence up until rounding the bend towards the pull up area after which the gelding was immediately assessed by Veterinary Surgeons and subsequently euthanised on welfare grounds. Townend and the Director of Equine Regulation, Safety, and Welfare were both interviewed and shown recordings of the incident. Townend explained that GOLD DANCER (FR) had made a bad mistake at the last fence after which it had taken a stride or two for the gelding to gather himself before, in his opinion, running on in a straight line to the winning line where GOLD DANCER (FR) felt sound. Townend added that it was only until rounding the bend towards the pull up area that the gelding’s action changed when GOLD DANCER (FR) went from a canter to a trot after which he immediately dismounted from the gelding. After reviewing the footage, The Director of Equine, Safety, and Welfare explained that GOLD DANCER (FR)’s action was typical of a 3-mile chaser in the final stages of a race and supported the evidence of Townend. After hearing all of their evidence, the Stewards noted Townend’s explanation.’
“Sadly that reasoned response will cut absolutely no ice with the ‘racing is cruel and should be banned brigade’”.
Agree LD, as I recognised in my post at 15.33.
‘After reviewing the footage, The Director of Equine, Safety, and Welfare explained that GOLD DANCER (FR)’s action was typical of a 3-mile chaser in the final stages of a race’
That is a rather worrying and disturbingly off comment to me to be honest, from what I viewed from the TV pictures, as the horse got going again after the mistake, the gait of his left hind leg clearly looked wrong compared with his right hind leg and even the commentator clearly knew something was seriously amiss……….so what the actual fudge was that Director watching not to see that!
They’ve just had an in depth interview about it on ITV Racing with Rishi Persad.
It is claimed that viewing footage from both head on and behind, showed the horse to be running in a true and straight line, and that it was only after the race as he followed the track round to the left that his action changed markedly when he slowed down to a trot.
They did not show the head on or rear footage. Footage of the horse slowing down and being dismounted is available on Twitter.
The horse had a running rail next to him so the only way he could have gone off a straight line was to the right but surely they check more than just whether the horse is running in a straight line with the hind legs following the front legs to ascertain whether he is injured or not?
All they had to do was look at the side on view i.e. the view from the ITV broadcasting camera and you could clearly tell that the horse wasn’t moving right behind and neither I nor Richard Hollies (who clearly picked up on it on the run in) are vets or have any veterinarian experience to call upon so how is this guy not seeing it?
Struggling to understand how they have come to that conclusion and made that statement to Stewards.
griff11 – not so, this was as it was happening live on ITV and commentator Richard Hollies mentioned it immediately after the horse was encouraged back into a gallop after the mistake and was extremely reluctant to continue his commentary because he knew what he was watching wasn’t good.
Just been mentioned on the Radio 2 news at Five o Clock and the newsreader mentioned broken back and being ridden out in the finish after i think nearly falling at the last!
Willie Mullins also interviewed on Racing TV fb – all food for thought what stewards/vet rep/PT saying … I still maintain he knew horse had clouted the last, he must have felt abnormal after it … and acted accordingly and PU …
I was at Aintree and watching it live my immediate impression from the stand was that he didn’t look ‘right’ after the mistake.
But he did seem to get back to a gallop and it was hard to tell if the visuals were because of an injury or just the sort of clumsy way horses sometimes get back into stride after a bad error.Very sad to see a loss like that in any race and sympathies with connections on losing such a promising horse.
Just watched it. The mistake and sprackle was a bad one, but having watching Killultagh Vic and Gin on Lime’s mistakes I would say they were slightly worse. Hard to tell about the action- looks a bit off when I’m looking for it , but TBH if I watched on mute and had glanced away at the mistake, I probably wouldn’t have noticed it on the run in.
I’ve now seen still photos on Facebook of the last jump … one in particular shows his hind legs completely sprawled out behind him completely touching the ground in a most unnatural way – to my mind it shows a leg/pelvic injury was definitely on the cards …
Watching the footage it seemed that after they had crossed the line Harry Cobden said something to Paul Townend and it was then that he jumped off. I guess he would have had a pretty good view from behind.
But ultimately it’s a bloody shame and has spoiled the entire meeting. RIP Gold Dancer
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