Retirements & Departures 2011

I think I'd always put heart attacks down to galloping anywhere, in all honesty, IS - they're going to happen under race or training conditions. What I consider the true fatals at jumps courses are where the jumps themselves cause the fatal injuries. A leg going on the flat of the course could be due to an earlier heavy clout, of course, or by stepping into an unfilled divot hole, but those directly caused due to clouting fences are what vex me most. You can't help being BD, either, so although it's probably indirectly caused by faulty jumping by another, I wouldn't say that was the BD horse's liability.

Do you know, roughly, how many jumps races take place in France each season and how many horses take part? At some point, I'd like to do a like-for-more-or-less-like comparison and see whether their jumps racing polishes off around 300 a season. I'll be impossible to convince that their multi-obstacled courses aren't more engaging for horses - I put a lot of our falls down to a loss of the horse's interest (i.e. concentration) due to boredom. You've only to note those going sour, dogging it, or becoming totally unreliable after a few years to know they've had enough and would far rather be doing anything else. I suspect that not enough are taken out to go hunting during the winters now, simply because they're expected to keep to a training regimen and be entered in races. Time was, most if not all chasers spent some weekends following the hounds, engaging their brains, not going for another race on the weekends.
 
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Victor Dartnell lost Drinking Song in the bumper at Sandown - horrible horrible sight,hate it when they have a swinger. poor horse, and poor connections - first time out. :(
 
Oh, hell's teeth - having had the pleasure of speaking to Mr Dartnall a few times now I'm on the OTs desks at Plumpton and Fontwell, clueing up on more NH trainers than I usually see, I'm so sorry for him. He seems to be a very no-frills, charming sort of chap.
 
Hickestead - winner of Beijing individual Gold medal

Eric Lamaze’s great showjumper Hickstead has died in Verona.
The pair had been taking part in the fourth round of the World Cup and had just completed their round when the 15-year-old stallion collapsed.

The competition was halted as the horse ambulance was brought in and Canadian Eric Lamaze was led out of the arena.

As a mark of respect to the reigning Olympic champions, the riders asked that the competition be halted and all the competitors then filed into the arena – many in tears – for a minute’s silence and for tributes to be paid.

Hickstead was one of the greatest horses the sport has ever seen - as well as taking individual gold in Beijing in 2008 and countless grands prix and Nations Cup victories, he jumped four clear rounds in the final of the World Equestrian Games in 2010.http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/competitionnews/390/310321.html
 
Almost a youngster at 15 - the great OSCAR retired at 22! Very sad to lose such a superb horse, but out in a blaze of glory and respect.

Meanwhile, we've lost dear old TIGHE CASTER in the claiming stuffed hurdles at Southwell, Robert Cooper says he broke a shoulder, but I'm pretty sure I saw a horse running on with the offhind swinging. Whatever, the old fellow is now dead, having won and placed 18 times from a light career of just 46 starts. I just knew it'd be him - the OAP of the race, and always genuine. &*$£ and the rest.
 
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krizon said:
Meanwhile, we've lost dear old TIGHE CASTER in the claiming stuffed hurdles at Southwell, Robert Cooper says he broke a shoulder, but I'm pretty sure I saw a horse running on with the offhind swinging. Whatever, the old fellow is now dead, having won and placed 18 times from a light career of just 46 starts. I just knew it'd be him - the OAP of the race, and always genuine. &*$£ and the rest.
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Ah, that's a sickener. I remember finally getting to see him in the flesh at the May HC evening at Cheltenham a couple of years ago after following him since his novice chase days. He was totally unfancied that day and ran accordingly but I was just pleased to be able to salute such a reliable, honest old favourite of mine.
 
Lucky you to have seen him for real, Cruella. He just always seemed a good ole boy and this is a stinky finish to his life. I don't give a rat's ass about all that 'going doing what they're bred to do' stuff when they're killed doing it. I accept that accidents and fatalities happen, and nothing lives forever. But I'd just like more of them going out of the NH game alive.
 
I'm sorry to say that the race which saw 12 y.o. TIGHE CASTER break his shoulder also saw 8 y.o. DAN BUOY break a leg. I've been keeping track of all the names of those who, as far as I know from reports by various forums' members and other analyses, have died in action. With DB we stand at 204 since January 1st, not counting those who've passed away post-career and at stud.

Not everyone likes to think about racing fatalities but, apart from paying our respects to many dear friends who leave us, I think it's also important to be able to counter the wilder accusations from anti-racing believers who say we kill off 'thousands'. Given the number in the fields, particularly the Irish ones, and the amount of all-year racing, both Flat and jumps, around 300-ish dying in action annually is probably what a demographer would consider fairly normal, given the activity in which the horses are involved.

I imagine that if you took some 17-18,000 extreme sportspeople and made them do their thing thousands of times, they would suffer the sort of injuries which would see them in casts, whereas with our dear horses, there's no such luck.
 
The passing of Mellottie makes me feel very old. What an underrated dual purpose trainer Mrs Revely was. Is Cab on Target still with us, I wonder? Sadly was at Market Rasen yesterday where Koraleva Tectona lost her life in a novice hurdle.
 
Funny you mention CAB! I was thinking about him only a couple of days ago, wondering if he was still alive, and what he'd done since leaving the track. So many horses who you suddenly recall when those old clips are played, too, and rather guiltily realise you have forgotten them for years, while you adored them when they were racing. (Well, I do, anyway!)

From way back: ICANOPIT (it took me three goes to get that name worked out, duh!), LORD RELIC (chaser, ricked a fetlock and retired), LISTEN TIMMY, NZ chasing import when they were all the rage around LORD GYLLENE's time (both owned by Stan Clarke before he became Sir), TORDUFF EXPRESS - the softest nose I've ever kissed... just a whole mass of them, possibly still somewhere, old and grey by now.
 
UNCLE MO - officially retired after testing with elevated GGT levels again after the Breeder's Cup (the same liver issues he had last year). Now at Ashford and available for viewing.
 
Glad he's retired safe and sound, great to have owners like that around. I remember him being down for a long time at Kempton earlier in the year, thought he'd been lost then.
 
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