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So many old friends mentioned in this thread & I can’t agree with a previous comment that we’re wallowing in sadness. As Moehat said we are remembering old friends & honouring their greatness.
Kadount was upsides Matey when he had his heart attack & I just knew he’d gone before the screens went up.
As long as we talk about them they will not be forgotten.
RIP
One Man
Mack the Knife
Gloria Victis
Nick Dundee
Best Matefor me i’d have to say One Man
best mate and persian punchot forgetting young kenny, i went especially to watch him every time he raced, and was there the day he suffered his fatal injury
vf
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Persian Punch – Galloped his heart out in terrible conditions at Ascot.
Best Mate – I’d have rather seen him retired than going round in that race.
George Washington – Aidan O’Brien and the Coolmore owners should feel great shame. Terrible going, unsuitble distance. Put your horse first!
Sharp As – Superb and possibly the best jumper ever in Australia. Even more tragic that he went down schooling.
Burano – Black type sprint winner in Australia. Like George W he died at a trip he wasn’t best suited to and on wet ground that was way off what he liked. Shouldn’t have run in the first place. I rode him often and he gave me the best feel of any horse ever. Watching him dragging himself across the line with two broken hocks was the worst thing I’ll ever see on a racecourse. The two and a half hour drive home was clouded in misery and seemed to take forever. A beautifully natured animal that always gave all he could.
I think the death of one horse on a racecourse can not be looked upon as being more tragic than that of any other.
All deaths are equally tragic.
Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
How was 10f an unsuitable distance for George Washington?
He had run the Derby winner to a whisker over 10f at Sandown. He had finished 6th in the previous year’s BC Classic, beating home some very good 10f dirt horses in the process. He was arguably better horse at that distance a year later
And what about the going made it more likely he would breakdown? Are horses more susceptible to break down on a sloppy dirt track? Any stats to back that up?I’m probably not going to get the details of this right, but I’m sure someone can put me straight. Was it at Bath I think? It was
Ei Ei
running at his local course, where he was a real local favourite. He was in the lead in a hurdle race, sure to win if only he could jump the last, everyone cheering him on, and you knew from the second he hit the deck that he was stone dead. He didn’t move a muscle, and I remember how in that split second, you can go from glorious axcitement to sheer horror at what’s just happened.
I remember many more, but that was the biggest shock.I remember this too – it was awful, he never moved. I was in tears EiEi was a favourite of mine. RIP old boy
Somebody has already mentioned Valiramix, I was convinced he was going to dominate the champion hurdle for many years.
Also at Cheltenham, Maamur, Tim Forster’s gallant handicapper who won the 96 William Hill chase in a great battle with Unguided Missle. Back the following year, something jumped into him knocking him to the deck. As he sat there, you could see the look of bewilderment on his face as his back end wouldn’t move. Just gut-wrenching.
For me it would have to be One Man
The most upsetting sight I have ever seen was last June at Brighton it was in the first race a poor horse named Neboisha breaking down 2 furlongs from home. In all the years I’ve gone racing, I’ve seen horse’s break down but I have never seen one get up and run past the stands like that with one of it’s legs flapping about. The poor thing looked so distressed and frightened.
Horses trying to gallop on with a broken leg is terribly distressing for the horse and humans – I once saw a point-to-pointer actually jump a couple of fences like this riderless and following the field before going off the course and being caught by the huntsman. Poor thing must have been petrified. Also saw a pointer with a broken shoulder stand still when it got up and amazingly start grazing … I agree with a previous poster that any fatality is a tragedy – every horse (hopefully) means alot to someone – be it a great racehorse or an "also ran".
Ten Plus.
I agree, it doesn’t matter if it was a horse rated 40 on the flat, or a fantastic National Hunt horse, horses mean an awful lot to me, and to see any injured or killed, is very distressing.
The Last Fling probably the saddest as he’d been a favourite for many years and I always felt he was at the end of his tether when he fell and should have been pulled up.
and Goguenard. Southern Star PU never ran again… there’s such a thing as taking an obsession too far.
Ten Plus.
I agree, it doesn’t matter if it was a horse rated 40 on the flat, or a fantastic National Hunt horse, horses mean an awful lot to me, and to see any injured or killed, is very distressing.
I hadn’t posted the one that affected me the most because I didn’t think he was ‘famous’ enough to be considered my ‘greatest tragedy’ but Chief Editor’s heart attack mid race at Newmarket last May was the most shocking thing I ever saw in sport. Nearly put me off the sport.
And also Spanish Conquest stood clearly doomed by the hurdle at Doncaster last December.
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Alverton and Brown’s Gazzette but only because, everytime a horse dies I get that awful vision of Jonjo cradling his head or Brown’s Gazette crashing through the rails.
The biggest tradgedy of all is when someone buys their first horse, which means bog all to most of us.
They think of their horse as a big pet and if they lose them it’s like a member of their family died….that has got to be the worst feeling in the world.That’s a good point, Fist. All the nurture and patience involved in getting one’s first horse to the races, only to see that effort dashed in the cruellest way imaginable.
My heart went out to Shelley Johnstone in July 2008, when her first ever runner, General Swinny, fell 6f from home in a Perth bumper and died from his injuries.
Mercifully Miss Johnstone has had better fortune since then, and recorded her first win at the same track almost a year to the day with Wotchalike last summer, but gracious, you’d have forgiven her for wanting to draw stumps straight away after that conspicuously horrible start.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
Golden Cygnet after his fall at Ayr, still brings a tear to my eye….will we ever see his likes again? Certainly not in Dunguib.
As an animal lover all fatalaties are upsetting but I had to pick one.The worst sights I’ve ever seen on the course, were Griffins Bar in the 98 National
That was not a death without its controversy. Griffins Bar had fallen at the second in the Topham two days earlier (when it was still run on the Thursday), and his demise inevitably raised questions over the appropriateness of letting horses take part in both races in the same year. It may even have been the catalyst for the restriction of that practice.
All this, however, despite the fall at the fifth fence in the National not being what killed him, according to Pam Sly. Rather, the gelding broke his leg when putting it in a knee-deep hole in the bad ground whilst loose. I do seem to recall that the horse was being held, awaiting his fate, only a few paces away from Bechers as the field came round the second time.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
On this subject, Animal Aid are getting out the protesters for the Grand National.
Is it just me that doesn’t mind Animal Aid being opposed to racing but was deeply offended by their highlighting of Mon Mome winning at 100/1 as an example of the race being down to luck?
Annoyed me so much I sent them an email. Not holding my breath for a response mind.
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