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I saw on social media tonight that Sprinter Sacre has suffered an injury in retirement, and there is an appeal for contributions towards his veterinary fees. A couple of relevant links are below if it is of interest to anyone.
I cannot vouch for the authenticity of this appeal, but it looks genuine as far as I can tell. There is mention in the Facebook comments that his former connections from when in training have been approached already.
I had just come across the gofundme page on Facebook and was about to post the link here.
I am amazed that his former connections are not funding this. What is £5k out of the prize money Sprinter won.
I’ll chip in on payday. Hopefully all goes well for the horse.
He won 1.1 mill , if Hendo , Ex Owners , ex riders dont get together and fund this asap the money and days out that horse gave them its a stain on their character , FFS 1.1 mill in bank for them , shouldnt even have to ask anyone .
I have a read , whats the combined worth of those connections , it really shouldnt have to go to go fund me page . Ive heard of tight but thats extreme those guys dont front up asap , honestly it dont get to 5k they going to put him down ??? .
Two things –
Firstly, have connections actually been approached?Secondly, I don’t know anything about who has him now but, without wishing to sound callous, people taking on horses and more especially ex-racehorses should only do so if they are financially able to support the horse’s welfare, including having the money available or insurance in place to cover the almost inevitable veterinary fees when they come along.
That said I hope he comes out ok, one of my favourites and as imposing a physical specimen as I’ve seen.
But he is not just another horse , like some syndicate horse sacked after few runs out the back and owners all unaccountable . He’s a dead set Champion , lauded now for his feats in the past . He wasn’t just dropped off and truck driven away . They would have researched the retirement home , left provisions , contact numbers for emergencies . This Go fund me thing seems very odd in this case .
I assume the horse appears from time to time at races and events ?? . The new owner had no contacts at all in racing before Go Fund me to contact and say hey the number one champion 2 miler of past 20 years in sick give us a hand , blimey is that not odd in the extreme .I’ve often wondered about the costs involved when eg horses are gifted to stable staff after retirement. According to a comment in Horse and Hound, the vets wanted money up front straight away and the current owner panicked, not knowing how much the cost of treatment would turn out to be.
The funding page currently has £3617.00 in donations.
The more I know the less I understand.
My gut feeling is within hours this will be sorted by racing , but if this happens to a Champion you’d have to be a bit worried for the ones out the back on a cold Monday in winter . Puts a bit of doubt to the we love our horses bit , is it we love our winning racehorses when they are racing ??
https://x.com/MCYeeehaaa/status/2016431553849569691?s=20
Interesting. But good news.
I was wondering about this yesterday. What happens to those horses at the very low end?
Is a register kept of every thoroughbred racehorse in the UK to show what happened to them after retirement and shouldn’t this be on public record (just redact the names & locations of the new owners)?
The BHA should be able to do random spot checks on these retired racehorses to ensure they are still properly cared for?
If a retired racehorse passes away are the last owners obliged to report this to anyone?
Well done to Henderson for fronting up , it did seem v odd . Go Fund me refunds must be going out I’d guess .
In Australia they are getting a handle of the ex racers issue in NSW and Victoria , a big lump out of prize money per race is into the fund for aftercare , as prize money is huge in NSW and Victoria the deductions are well worthwhile . It’s not perfect and the ones in the outback probably bit dicey after racing .
I think the UK are probably a fair way behind retirement schemes sadly . Australia were forced into sorting themselves out after bad publicity .https://x.com/sevenbarrows/status/2016460984215327205
The more I know the less I understand.
Mr Henderson gets enough stick on here, so kudos to him and everyone at seven Barrows over this.
Indeed. Seems odd the funding page as Hendo said he was always going to foot the bill.
The more I know the less I understand.
Agree RTB, it is all a bit mysterious. The Facebook page appears to be run by his current owners, or people closely connected to them. Last night they said on there that his old connections had been approached, but support had not been forthcoming. This led to an outpouring of criticism, and the comments were then removed.
But now it appears Henderson is involved, and it sounds like he already must have been last night.
cormack15: “I don’t know anything about who has him now but, without wishing to sound callous, people taking on horses and more especially ex-racehorses should only do so if they are financially able to support the horse’s welfare, including having the money available or insurance in place to cover the almost inevitable veterinary fees when they come along.”
From what I read, it sounded as if considerable money had been spent already, and these were more specialist investigations not covered by insurance.
I suspect the majority of people who take on retired racehorses are of limited means, and if we expect them to have large reserves of money then very few would be taken on at all. It is pure speculation on my part, but I wonder if the decision for many horses without Sprinter Sacre’s star appeal would be to sadly put them to sleep.
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