Gran Luna and Surrey Gold Retired
Unfortunately, on a slightly downbeat note, we are having to retire two of our most successful horses, Surrey Gold and Gran Luna because of injury.
Between they have run 20 times in the famous yellow and blue, winning 8 of those races and being placed in a further 5 - an incredible 65% win and place rate!
Gran Luna winning at Newbury
Surrey Gold has damaged the tendons in both of his front legs. He is not lame or in pain but there are clear tears and having discussed the situation with Hughie, we feel there is no option but to retire the horse immediately. It seems that his conformation and irregular action have finally caught up with him. This type of injury typically takes 12-18 months to heal and the reality is that even if the tendons healed, they wouldn’t stand up to the strains of racing.
Gold wins at York
The plan is for Gold to stay at Hughie’s for about 4 weeks to receive further treatment, before being moved to the care of Jackie du Plessis in Cornwall to complete his rehabilitation. Jackie has a beautiful set up in Cornwall and has previously looked after both flat and jump horses for us. Once the legs have stabilised (probably about 6 months) we will find him a good home.
He has given his owners two of the best days Surrey Racing has ever had with three win including when winning by 7 lengths at Newbury and winning a Heritage Handicap at York. On top of this, he won over £55,000 in prize money. The horse’s welfare must now take priority.
Gran Luna suffered what we thought was a relatively minor injury to one of her front tendons after her last win at Ludlow and has been taking it easy ever since. The plan was to give her another 3-4 weeks off before commencing with light work. However, she was re-scanned this week and unfortunately there has been no improvement. If anything, the tendon has deteriorated. The rehabilitation period would be a further 12 months before needing to reassess the tendons. Having discussed this with Nicky H it seems that the best option is to retire the horse from racing immediately. It is obviously not a good sign that the injury hasn’t improved after 3 months rest and it is unlikely that she would stand up to the rigours of further NH racing, particularly chasing. The last thing any of us would want to see is her breaking down on the track.
She may well have a future as a broodmare and we are currently exploring the best options to facilitate that.
Due to the various physical setbacks, Luna never quite hit the highs that was expected of her after her impressive debut bumper win at Newbury but it was never due to a lack of effort. If only all our horses had her battling qualities and five wins, two seconds and a third from nine runs says it all about Luna. She owes the owners nothing and it is only fair that the horse’s welfare takes priority