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[patriot1]

Imagine winning only one steeplechase in your life and it’s the Grand National!!

I can understand why they’ve retired him given his previous injury problems and how difficult it is to defend your title but he is only 9 years old and the great difference between the jumps and flat racing is that the champions come back time and again over the jumps.

I’m fully expecting disappointing news on Don Cossack now.

[mickeyjp]

Sad news but fully understand it. The horse owes nobody anything and with the injuries it’s had deserves a happy retirement. To come back and win after his ops was just amazing. If it wasn’t for his injuries he would have been a top top chaser.

[LD73]

Surprised because with his injury history it was so obviously in his best interests to be running again at Punchestown for a £43k first prize a meer 17 days after collecting £561k for that gruelling National win.

For the horse, based on his chasing record and injury issues he surely wasn’t going to be able to scale those type of heights again as a 10 yr old (no doubt we would have seen him finishing down the field in hurdle races next season to protect his chasing mark until making an unsuccessful attempt at a second National win). There was no other point for him to prove as apart from winning a Gold Cup (which he wasn’t good enough to run in anyway), winning the Grand National is the pinnacle for any staying chaser.

Given his issues, he was more at risk running in the National than most other horses are and after not only coming through the race in one piece but actually winning it he should have been immediately retired just like Neptune Collonges was, it was a completely unnecessary and further risk for them to take by going to Punchestown (they could have just paraded him there for the Irish racing fans post retirement instead) but for the horse’s sake I am glad that he didn’t re-injure himself from his connections idiocy.

Heres hoping he has a long and fruitful retirement because after coming back from those injuries and putting up that performance on 9 April 2016 he, more than most, has earned that right.

[Author]

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