Departures 2009

Has there been official confirmation that Welsh Emperor was a fatality,as Kri says Mapletoft reported after racing that he should be ok.
 
Oh that is good news, it looked desperate when it happened and one could only presume that the worst had happened.
 
Well done, Crazy - some good news among the worst. Elsewhere, by one of our august members, STELLINO reported dead.
 
Mintaka Pass reported on RUK Racing Replay last night as having got up okay, so presumably only winded. Good news.
 
The RP reporting that Star De Mohaison could be retired. A real shame if so. I've always liked him and thought he was a joy to watch as a novice chaser a few years ago.

I thought there was a lot of promise in his run at Cheltenham last December when he was just pipped by Mon Mome. But he rather fell away after that.
 
Yes, FELL PACK became the course's 11th casualty this year, prompting an article online in the RP tonight and presumably some thoughts about the state of ground, although the horse's trainer denied the 5 y.o. hurdler's demise was the fault of the course.

SANGLOTE, tiring very badly at the time, died as a result of his last-fence fall in the beginners' chase at Ascot today. Considering he was virtually coming to a standstill, pulling up might've been the better part of sense, although it's easy enough to judge post-event.
 
Katharine said:
The RP reporting that Star De Mohaison could be retired. A real shame if so. I've always liked him and thought he was a joy to watch as a novice chaser a few years ago.

I thought there was a lot of promise in his run at Cheltenham last December when he was just pipped by Mon Mome. But he rather fell away after that.
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Hi Katherine. Totally agree with regards Star De Mohaison. My opinion, is that the horse had a live chance of winning the Gold Cup after winning the intermediate chase at Sandown a few months previous (I backed him anti-post to do so accordingly). However, this was apparently the same race where Sir Robert Ogden's private vet said he sustained a injury, which I thought was quite peculiar given the horse won the race quite well from a good yardstick in The Listener and didn't look distressed in the slightest.

I don't think we'll ever really find out what this horse could have been/done as a racehorse; part of that I would personally put down to the fact he may have indeed been 'plagued by injuries', but also that there was another rising star in the stable at the time in Kauto Star that took precedence over Mohaison for whatever reason (probably because he is on a par with the great arkle lol), and when Denman came along a year later it was 'all over'. I doubt he could have ever won a Gold Cup in the presence of the greatness that is Kauto Star or even Denman for that matter, but i'm sure in my own mind the trainer could have negotiated this horses career more profoundly after his R&S win.

From reading interviews about Star De Mohasion (ever since it became clear he was a Gold Cup contender), I always was left the impression that for some unknown reason the Gold Cup was just an 'afterthought' if all else went well, "all else" being running in handicap hurdles after his SunAlliance win (where he still won his fair share), and being talked about for mickey mouse handicap chases lumping top weight. That might be fine for Denman who is another chaser who is clearly 'beyond the clouds', but I never thought that was the right thing for Star De Mohaison perosnally. He was a graded horse, end of.

Either way, i'm sure he'll be well looked after and will enjoy his days on the sidelines. He should be remembered for his performances and not any similaritites with being like that football player Darren Anderton - always on the subs-bench; "sicknote" even.

Just realised i've gone slightly off topic, apologies for that.
 
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Well, it's about 'departures' from active service, Martin, so he will be a departure, if heading for retirement.
 
Just in regards to Fell Packs fall, I was stood at the flight and it looked an 'easy' fall but having watched the replay I think his front leg caught the hurdle which flipped him onto his shoulder and (I am assuming here) he broke his shoulder on landing has he couldn't get back up even after they turned him over.When the man went and got the leather case from the horse ambulance I knew the end was nigh:( Some of the more knowledgable may put me right. A real shame because he looked the real deal in the parade ring. It could have happened anywhere as John Quinn as stated,just unfortunate.
 
martin said:
However, this was apparently the same race where Sir Robert Ogden's private vet said he sustained a injury, which I thought was quite peculiar given the horse won the race quite well from a good yardstick in The Listener and didn't look distressed in the slightest.
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What is peculiar about that?! Nevermind how well a horse looks after running in a race, or how easily they win, it doesn't mean that they didn't sustain an injury. As has been mentioned on here more than once, when a horse is taking part in a race its system is flooded with adrenaline; hence injuries often won't become apparent until a while after the race, no matter how well they seem at the time of finishing. This type of scenario is very common.
 
That sounds like what must've happened, BW. Sometimes they do remain vertical - it depends on which bones in the shoulder have gone. I remember years ago, the sweet grey filly MENTMORE TOWERS standing up, with Tommo saying "ahh, that's a good sight - she's on her feet" without noticing that one of her forelegs was about two inches proud of the ground. She couldn't physically lower the leg due to a bad fracture in the shoulder. Appearances can be so deceptive, and she was pts on the spot.
 
Shadow Leader said:
What is peculiar about that?!
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It was peculiar because they said he suffered an injury winning that race - but as you know more than me, how many horses win them type of races and get injured in the process? What is your rough estimation of the percentages involved in that?
 
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I couldn't possibly estimate percentages but it is a plenty common enough occurrence. Trabolgan - broke down when winning the Hennessy so impressively, as one example. Many of these injuries won't get reported in the paper as they won't become apparent sometimes until the days after the race; I've been involved with enough horses who haven't shown outward signs of injury until the day - or even days - after they've won a race. One of ours won and didn't show any signs of injury until his tendon inflamed two days after the race. Anybody in racing won't consider their horse to have come home safe and sound until a couple of days after the race; often injuries are apparent on returning home or the next morning but sometimes they take a day or two to manifest themselves.
 
In fact you could argue Kauto Star as well, after 'that' remount at Exeter. At the time all seemed fine; it wasn't until after the race that they realised he had injured himself.
 
martin said:
I doubt he could have ever won a Gold Cup in the presence of the greatness that is Kauto Star or even Denman for that matter, but i'm sure in my own mind the trainer could have negotiated this horses career more profoundly after his R&S win.

From reading interviews about Star De Mohasion (ever since it became clear he was a Gold Cup contender), I always was left the impression that for some unknown reason the Gold Cup was just an 'afterthought' if all else went well, "all else" being running in handicap hurdles after his SunAlliance win (where he still won his fair share), and being talked about for mickey mouse handicap chases lumping top weight. That might be fine for Denman who is another chaser who is clearly 'beyond the clouds', but I never thought that was the right thing for Star De Mohaison perosnally. He was a graded horse, end of.

Either way, i'm sure he'll be well looked after and will enjoy his days on the sidelines. He should be remembered for his performances and not any similaritites with being like that football player Darren Anderton - always on the subs-bench; "sicknote" even. Just realsied i've gone slightly off topic, apologies for that.
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I agree, Martin. I did actually back him each way for this year's Gold Cup after that Cheltenham run.

He was another unfortunate horse to be around in this time of excellent staying chasers, and I never expected him to topple Kauto. Clearly his injuries did plague him in the end but I do agree with what you feel was his level of ability. I know quite a lot of people wanted him to run in the Hennessy as a five year old. I have to admit that I'm glad he didn't, as the ground wouldn't have suited him at all.

I will remember his enthusiastic jumping the most, and I have photos of him jumping the last at Cheltenham and Aintree as a novice.

Should his retirement be confirmed, I hope it's a long, happy one for him.
 
Fair enough Shadow. I would stand by the word I used which was peculiar, the online definiton of which is...

"strange; queer; odd: peculiar happenings"

Just because the scenario mentioned in my earlier post might happen to one or two horses a year does not mean its not peculiar in my book.

I suppose i'm becoming a semantic goblin in my old age lol.:p
 
It is not odd or strange or peculiar or queer and it happens a lot more frequently than once or twice a year. It happens quite often, but as I said before you might not always know about it as it won't always be printed in the paper.
 
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