Nicky Henderson suffered a double blow on the final day of Cheltenham’s Open meeting, as Simonsig was put down after he suffered a broken leg during the Shloer Chase yesterday, just hours after the announcement of Sprinter Sacre’s retirement.
Simonsig sustained the injury when he fell at the third fence. He won eight races from 13 starts under Rules in a truncated career that was continually thwarted by fitness issues.
Winner of the Neptune Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in March 2012, he then struck gold in the Arkle Trophy a year later.
Simonsig was sidelined by injury since that final Festival success and only returned to the track at Aintree in November 2015, after which he only raced three more times.
Just minutes before the Shloer Chase, a tearful Henderson had saluted the Cheltenham crowd after the great Sprinter Sacre paraded following the announcement earlier in the day that he had been retired.
Sir Anthony McCoy likened Sprinter Sacre to a Ferrari following the retirement of the dual Queen Mother Champion Chase hero.
McCoy rode Nicky Henderson’s 10-year-old just the once, when the partnership finished third in the 2011 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, and was left in awe of the great horse.
He said: “Sprinter Sacre was a phenomenal horse. He put up some of the best two-mile performances we’ve seen.
“It’s very hard to find horses that capture the imagination like he did. He had it all the look the swagger the whole package.
“He was just better than all the rest of them. He just found things easy. He was such a nimble jumper for a big horse.
“He had a very high cruising speed and was the proper Ferrari that could jump.
“There are only a very few horses that catch the imagination and people outside of racing definitely knew Sprinter Sacre because he was such a dominant horse in his field.
“He is a big loss for the trainer and owner, for sure, but he is retiring safely.
“The other thing that deserves to be mentioned is that Nicky Henderson has done a terrific job to get him back last year.”
