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‘Thank you for the wonderful days’: record-breaking horse unexpectedly retires aged nine

Gemma Redrup Gemma Redrup

    • The racehorse Langer Dan has been retired with immediate effect following the discovery of an underlying heart problem.

    The nine-year-old, trained by Dan Skelton and owned by Colm Donlon, is best known for winning the Coral Cup at Cheltenham Festival in both 2023 and 2024 – a feat never achieved by any other horse. He won £281,952, and six of his 27 runs, finishing second on four occasions and third three times; most of these runs were with Dan’s brother, Harry.

    “Unfortunately we have to retire Langer Dan from racing. He has got an unexplainable heart condition – we don’t know how it’s happened, the vets have no idea at how it’s occurred, but he has to stop racing immediately,” said Dan.

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    Langer Dan was most recently declared a non-runner in the Stayers’ Hurdle at Cheltenham Festival just over two weeks ago owing to a respiratory issue.

    “He had a slightly dirty trachea wash during Cheltenham week which was a secondary effect of his heart not working as efficiently as it should,” said Dan.

    It was hoped Langer Dan could run in the Grade One William Hill Aintree Hurdle on 3 April, but further veterinary investigation detected a heart issue.

    “We’re quite lucky he gave us that indication as his heart rate was never raised and there were no other signs at all. The vets diagnosed a heart problem after further investigation with a heart scanner and it came as a big shock to us all,” Dan said.

    Dan thanked Langer Dan’s owner and those who looked after the gelding, including Amber Blythe, who works for the leading trainer at his Alcester base in Warwickshire.

    “Colm has been an absolutely brilliant owner to Langer Dan and obviously we want the best retirement for the horse so he is going to live with Amber, who has looked after him, just up the road from the yard – she has done a magical job with him over the years.

    “We’ll miss him as he has been part of the furniture here and we’ve been very lucky to have him. Thank you for the wonderful days you gave us.”

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    Gemma Redrup
    Gemma Redrup

    H&H features, racing and point-to-point editor
    Gemma is an experienced journalist, having been part of the H&H team since 2014, who is passionate about all equestrian sports, including racing and point-to-pointing. She has enjoyed riding out for top trainers Nicky Henderson and Charlie Appleby and took part in a charity Flat race at Epsom in August 2018. Gemma’s reporting talents have taken her to numerous five-star events around Britain and Europe, as well as European championships.
    Gemma Redrup

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