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THE RETURN OF the brilliant Sprinter Sacre turned into a nightmare for connections and supporters alike, as the best racehorse in training was pulled up after just a mile into the Grade 2 Desert Orchid Chase at Kempton.
An irregular heart beat was given as the possible problem in the immediate aftermath, after jockey Barry Geraghty quickly pulled his charge up having looked a little unhappy throughout the early stages of the race.
Those that have seen the brilliant Sprinter Sacre in action, will have known that something was amiss, as he was slightly driven at times after his jumps to keep up to a frantic pace being set by Paul Nicholls’ Fago. He put in one trademark spectacular jump down the back straight but after jumping the next was pulled up by Geraghty, leaving main market rival Sire De Grugy to go on to record victory with relative ease.
Vets were seen attending to the stricken Sprinter Sacre as the superstar made his way back into the parade ring and trainer Nicky Henderson was obviously concerned.
“We know very little at the moment,” he said. “Everything was fine early on but all of a sudden things he had to be pushed which is very unlike him and Barry pulled him up straight away.
“There was one vet there but we don’t know very much yet but he is sound and I suppose that is the first good thing. When you see him being pulled up you worry. He is not lame and he hasn’t fractured anything, so at least we haven’t got that in front of us.
“When the vets listened to him when he came back in, he did seem to have an irregular heart beat and that is significant. He will have a scope and we let everyone know the story later on when we know for sure.”
