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Martimix, one of the two horses I was looking after in Belgium recently at the prestigious Waregem Grand Steeplechase de Flanders meeting, has been put down after breaking his leg in a steeplechase in Dieppe, northern France, this afternoon.
French bred and Belgian owned, Martimix won 3 races in Germany this season – one on the flat, one over hurdles, and one over fences, and although he would probably have never been as good as stable star Fiepes Shuffle (Flipper), he certainly seemed to share his versatility, even competing in a lake race in July!
Some of you may remember Martimix running in a novice hurdle at Leicester back in December last year. Ridden by Andrew Thornton and at the time trained by Belgian Savinja Braem, the 100-1 shot was leading 3 out, but couldn’t quite sustain the efffort, and finished 5th. His wonderful owners (I met them at Waregem, and they are fantastic people), then took him to Christians stable, where he was never out of the first 5 in his first 9 races, but was brought down when competing in the ‘junior’ Grand Steeplechase at Waregem (4 and 5 year olds only) earlier this month. He rejoined Savinja Braem a couple of days ago in preparation for a tilt at some chases in France over the next few weeks.
At the age of 5, ‘Marti’ probably had his best days ahead of him, and whilst maybe not scaling the heights of say Flipper or the late great Helmac, he was a good honest horse who gave his owners plenty of fun, and his defeat of Hamburg Lake Race winner Artec at Mannheim in June was an excellent performance, one in which we were all rightly proud of.
Darren
Oh dear, it’s not proving to be the best year attrition-wise for you, Darren, is it! Martimix looked a very decent prospect in the making and I’m sad to learn about his demise. Thanks for sharing.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Unfortunately not Jeremy! Apart from Martimix and Helmac, we also lost promising hurdler Latini in a hurdle race of Bad Harzburg in july, so although Christian leads the German Championship this year, it’s been a bit up and down emotions wise, and it really wipes you out when the worst happens. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed on Sunday when Fiepes Shuffle (Flipper) runs in a hurdle race at Mannheim. All I’m asking is that he comes back safely. Anything else is a bonus. This is basically a warm up race for a tilt at some of Englands top 2 mile prizes.
Darren – AngloGerman
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