Hayes nightmare continues with loss of second galloper
The Age
Friday March 12, 2010
DAVID Hayes potentially had five runners in tomorrow's Australian Cup, but after a disastrous 24 hours two of those horses are now dead.Former UK galloper Our Aqaleem broke a shoulder at trackwork yesterday morning and was subsequently put down, following Changingoftheguard's untimely demise on Wednesday.If the Australian Cup had not been put back a week, Our Aqaleem would have already run in the race and if his impressive win at his local debut was anything to go on, he may well have won the group 1 event.Certainly, after that win over 1600 metres at Flemington in late January, Hayes was making comparisons to several other imported former stable stars, including Almaarad and At Talaq, comments that were backed up by stable racing manager Gary Fennessy after trackwork yesterday. "He might well have been a Cox Plate horse in the spring, he had shown us that much," Fennessy said.In what was to be his final work before tomorrow's race, Fennessy said Our Aqaleem was working along on the Viscoride track but was pulled up by his rider Steven Arnold after faltering for a couple of strides near the 400-metre point. The six-year-old suffered what was thought to be a fractured shoulder but was sent to Werribee Veterinary Clinic for X-rays and specialist assessment.However, after further examination at the clinic, vets decided there was no chance of saving the stallion and he was euthanased."They were both top-class horses and we had been easy on them looking towards the spring. That was going to be their time," Fennessy said.Not long after an impressive gallop on Tuesday, Changingoftheguard was found to have contracted a virus and the decision was made to geld the imported galloper and look forward to the spring. But the operation, which is normally a minor procedure, went wrong, with Changingoftheguard suffering a perforated bowel and he had to be put down.Changingoftheguard, who had been trained in Ireland by Aidan O'Brien, had been purchased by some of Hayes' stable clients for an undisclosed sum, with a view to running in last year's Melbourne Cup. However the horse was controversially scratched by Racing Victoria vets on the morning of the race.Before his importation to Australia, Our Aqaleem, who like Almaarad and At Talaq was owned by Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, had run third in the 2007 Epsom Derby.Subsequent to that race, he had suffered two fractures to his pelvis and had been sent to Hayes to attempt to resurrect his career.Fennessy said the Hayes stable could still win the Australian Cup. "He [Our Aqaleem] was probably our best chance but we've still got three good chances," he said."Extra Zero is a very good three-year-old and he has trained on very well since his last-start win and the extra week has probably been good for him."Fennessy was also upbeat about the chances of Zagreb and Growl.
© 2010 The Age
