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I’m sorry, but you cannot blame the trainer….. he died doing something he loved and he went out a winner….the lad/lass who looked after him will be heartbroken. There is no blame….. just a heart failare
It did seem a pretty hectic summer schedule for a 13-y-o, especially with his running style of shooting off and playing catch-me-if-you-can.
Sorry to see him go, he’s been a joy to watch this summer.
I must say I’m appalled at the beating the lovely old grey took tonight when he was clearly out on his feet. 8 long races in a matter of weeks took too much out of the old boy, and he collapsed and died after winning.
Happened before and will again, but that really sickened me.
R.I.P.
Disagree with you, Racinggirluk. But I’m not going to argue on a memorial thread.
RIP a brave warrior, Mighty Fine.
Mighty Fine
Career Record
Ran 47 1st 15 2nd 7 3rd 7 Win% 32%10/07/07 – 1st of 16 – Easily, drew clr 4 out, nvr off the bit.
01/07/07 – 1st of 15 – Clr 6th, kpt on remorselessly, heavily eased last.
15/06/07 – 1st of 10 – Led 6th, clr appr 2 out, easily.
10/06/07 – 1st of 7 – Led 4 out, styd on strly: clr last.
01/05/07 – 1st of 12 – Made all, styd on well fr 3 out.A few recent hightlights for a horse of modest talent but a superstar attitude. Will be sadly missed.
RIP
A very, very sad end for a horse who literally ran his heart out on the night, but I wouldn’t be in any great hurry to castigate connections or suggest his recent campaigning in any way hastened his demise.
The point to make about most of Mighty Fine’s recent wins is that they have been attained with ridiculous ease against some dreadful opponents, and although I admittedly speak with relatively little first-hand knowledge on such matters, I’d suggest such "contests" would have taken very little out of him. Attempting to make all the way Mighty Fine did does not necessarily indicate running with the choke out – the succession of wins gained via "conservative front-running" by Ellerslie Tom last summer would count as a fine example of the craft.
Further, 47 races for a 13yo is anything but an exhaustive, exhausting career, due in part to him having had at least one lenghty spell on the sidelines with a cracked foot during the earlier years of his tenure with Evelyn Slack, and in real terms he probably gave every outward sign of being as fit and well this summer as a more evenly-campaigned horse four or five years his junior.
In short, Mighty Fine’s demise is a terrible shame, and a sadly conspicuous one for those who witnessed it at closer order at Perth last night, but the questioning of Paul Blockley’s handling of the late grey here is some way wide of the mark.
Jeremy
(graysonscolumn)Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
Excellent post Jeremy
Doubt he’d he have been campaigned and ridden differently if still with Mrs Slack
A most unfortunate event but no blame can be attached to Blockley and I for one have no problem with his claiming of the ‘stable pet’ after his run in a seller at Sedgefield. That’s what they’re there for. If you don’t want to run the risk of losing a horse then don’t run them in sellers.
I’ve never been a fan of running horses into the ground. The old maxim of ‘this horse thrives on his racing’ is all well and good, but a horse is not a machine. Even the most hardy of mounts need a break occasionally, especially in the summer.
I guess Mighty Fine now gets his well deserved break, albeit a little too late
Some aftertimimg of the highest order on this thread. The horse was 13 for goodness sakes and was in the form of his life. No point having a horse like this and running it four times a year.
I can thing of plenty of reasons to criticise Paul Blockley, his handling of Mighty Fine isn’t one of them.
I’ve followed the Slack stable for many years from a purely punting point of view. When Mighty Fine was claimed I was amazed and disappointed but that it was claimers are for so fair enough. All I will say is that the Slack outfit have lightly raced Mighty Fine down the years, they are too in tune with their horses for this to have been just on a whim – there must have been good reason.
I wonder if we will ever hear the Slack’s view on whether running the horse week in week out since being claimed may have had a detrimental effect on it’s welfare.
I think "aftertiming" is a trendy phrase for use by a cool and reserved racing clique who yearn to know it all before it happens, davidjohnson. I don’t point the finger at you when I say that, but that’s what I associate the phrase with and it means nothing to me in the context of the above post because I’m not one of those people and it seems kind of irrelevent.
I’ll say it again – it really sickened me, watching him getting beaten over the line. Felt sorry for the horse and was gutted when I heard what had happened.
There is a case to answer for the trainer here, in my view.
I agree with DJ here.
I regret the passing of this fine performer as much as I do any other horse.
Mighty Fine seemed to thrive on racing and had just as much zest in this race as he had at the start of his winning run. Whatever the quality is that makes horses want to be at the front, Mighty Fine had it in spades. To blame the trainer for letting the horse do what he plainly enjoyed is just absurd.Rob
Watch the last furlong of the race – it just wasn’t nice.
I can see how there might be two schools of thought, though.
dandan
Would you have started this thread about the ‘sickening’ ride if the horse hadn’t have collapsed afterwards?
IMO the ride was no more sickening than seen numerous times throughout the winter in much more testing conditions, that go unnoticed or are not commented on because the horses don’t die afterwards.
Herewith my tuppence on Mighty Fine’s demise, reproduced from the thread on him in the Memorials forum.
It was undoubtedly a very, very sad end for a horse who literally ran his heart out on the night, but I wouldn’t be in any great hurry to castigate connections or suggest his recent campaigning in any way hastened his demise.
The point to make about most of Mighty Fine’s recent wins is that they have been attained with ridiculous ease against some dreadful opponents, and although I admittedly speak with relatively little first-hand knowledge on such matters, I’d suggest such "contests" would have taken very little out of him. Attempting to make all the way Mighty Fine did does not necessarily indicate running with the choke out – the succession of wins gained via "conservative front-running" by Ellerslie Tom last summer would count as a fine example of the craft.
Further, 47 races for a 13yo is anything but an exhaustive, exhausting career, due in part to him having had at least one lengthy spell on the sidelines with a cracked foot during the earlier years of his tenure with Evelyn Slack / Diane Sayer, and in real terms he probably gave every outward sign of being as fit and well this summer as a more evenly-campaigned horse four or five years his junior.
In short, Mighty Fine’s demise is a terrible shame, and a sadly conspicuous one for those who witnessed it at closer order at Perth last night, but the questioning of Paul Blockley’s handling of the late grey here is some way wide of the mark.
Jeremy
(graysonscolumn)Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
No I wouldn’t have been bothered David, as you can guess.
When I heard the horse had gone, after seeing the head on footage which indicated the horse was veering so badly left and about to keel over while still getting the kitchen sink, it really got to my goat so to speak.
Of course it was aftertiming. I got annoyed after I heard the horse died. I’ve followed the horse all summer and was really expecting him to be given a break soon. Didn’t enjoy what happened one little bit, and I’m not the faint hearted sort.
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