Equestrian story by Boris Webb, Thu, 03 Nov 2005 21:24:00 GMT


Triple-Cheltenham Gold Cup winner and racing legend Best Mate died of a heart failure at the Exeter Racecourse during the William Hill Haldon Gold Cup on Tuesday.

The 10-year-old horse was galloping apace at the race when rider Paul Carberry prompted him to pace up. He immediately sensed that something was wrong and tried to pull Best Mate short during the stretch.

It was here that the Champion collapsed and died. Best Mate had last raced at Leopardstown on December 28, where he finished second behind Beef or Salmon in the Grade 1 Lexus Chase. Best Mate was owned by Jim Lewis and trained under Henrietta Knight. The horse had won 14 races out of 22 starts and had hit $1.75 million in career earnings.

Trainer Knight was sad to see a promising career end in tragedy, "As I saw him go down I knew I was seeing a dead horse and I just wanted it to be over as quickly as possible. I have ridden a horse before who suffered a heart attack while I was on board and I have to say this looks reminiscent of that. The legs go, they wobble and then they go down," she said adding that it was a privilege to have trained such a wonderful horse as Best Mate.

"He was a great racehorse - there can have been very few in the world like him," said owner Lewis. "He helped us raise thousands of pounds for charity and he made a lot of difference to many people's lives."

Lewis also said that Best Mate would be buried at Exeter, but Devon County Council refused to grant permission for the same and hence the popular racehorse champ was cremated today. It was not clear what would be done with the ashes and an Exeter spokesman said that they were awaiting instructions from the owner.

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