The deaths of three horses at Cheltenham yesterday (Sunday, 17 November) were a “tragedy for all connections”, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) said.
Abuffalosldier died just after he had won the fourth race; he collapsed while his jockey Sean Bowen was being interviewed.
The Warren Greatrex stable star will be remembered for his front-running victory but could not get the hero’s welcome he deserved in the winner’s enclosure.
The Ben Pauling-trained Bangers And Cash suffered a fatal injury in the same race, and the Matthew J Smith-trained Napper Tandy suffered a fatal fall in the following race.
“The winner of our fourth race Abuffalosoldier collapsed after the line and was immediately attended by expert veterinary professionals, but sadly could not be saved,” a Cheltenham racecourse spokesperson said. “Our heartfelt condolences are with his connections.
“Bangers And Cash was immediately attended to by our expert veterinary team but sadly sustained a fatal injury. Our heartfelt condolences are with his connections.”
Liam Kearns, lead vet for Jockey Club Racecourses, told Racing TV: “Both cases we call them cardio-vascular collapse, as you can’t say at this stage whether it is a true heart attack or whether it is a major blood vessel that has ruptured. But it is of that nature and therefore it is a sudden death situation.
“The vets are deployed all around the racecourse, so both horses were attended within seconds and in those situations of acute collapse there are some drugs we can administer, but if it is a true cardio-vascular collapse, not a lot can be done.
“It’s a high-intensity racing situation, we have similar when marathon runners run or long-distance races are run, there is always a concern that athletes at a high level of exertion can without any previous symptoms present this situation. It’s a huge coincidence that it happened twice in the same race.
“All horses are thoroughly checked at home before they leave to go to the races, they are monitored carefully when they arrive at the races and trainers and connections love them to bits – no horse would go to the races with any prior knowledge of a situation like this. It is one of those sudden things that can strike.”
A BHA spokesperson said: “The losses of Abuffalosoldier, Bangers And Cash and Napper Tandy at Cheltenham today are a tragedy for all connections and the thoughts of all of us at the BHA are with them. All three were provided with outstanding care and attention throughout their lives by those who cared for them and nobody will be more heartbroken tonight than those individuals.
“As with all fatalities, we will seek to understand the circumstances behind each incident as we strive to continue to reduce avoidable risk in our sport.”
The spokesperson added that data on fatal injuries in British racing can be found online; the rate of fatal injuries is 0.42% of runners.
UPDATE: On 21 November, the BHA confirmed that all three horses were sent for post-mortem examination and the results confirmed that Bangers And Cash and Abuffalosoldier suffered from separate varieties of cardiovascular collapse, a form of exercise associated sudden death (EASD).
Napper Tandy fractured a vertebra in his neck following a fall, with no other abnormalities identified.
“No causal link could be identified and as it stands, none of the fatalities could have been predicted or prevented prior to the race,” the BHA said.
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