KAUTO STAR, the two-time Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, has been put down after suffering a fracture to his neck and pelvis following a fall.
During the course of his fantastic career with champion trainer Paul Nicholls, the 15-year-old gelding won the King George VI Chase five times and became the first horse to regain the Cheltenham Gold Cup after losing it to Denman in 2008.
He retired from racing after pulling up in the 2012 event, having won 23 of his 41 races and picked up somewhere in excess of £2m in prize money.
Kauto Star went on to compete in dressage with event rider Laura Collett and was the centre of a demonstration on the opening night of the London International Horse Show at Olympia last December.
“It’s an honour and a privilege to have been involved with him and had him in the yard," said Collett. "It’s just horrendous. He was out in the field, the same field he was out in every day, and we don’t really know what happened. He injured his neck and pelvis and, sadly, had to be put to sleep.”
The horse's owner, Clive Smith, revealed that his condition deteriorated over the weekend with the injury having been sustained several days ago.
“It’s all very, very sad," said Smith. "He was put out to grass, as in fact he always was, even at Paul Nicholls’ [stables]. He was put out for weeks at a time there. On this occasion, he was out in the lovely sunshine, I was away at the time. I saw him on Friday and, by that time, he’d had what appeared to be a mild injury, but things gradually changed.
“He was not responding to treatment on Thursday and Friday and various complications came over the weekend. Although he made an improvement and rallied, as he always did in races, on Monday morning, it was very bad. I came back down from Scotland and the decision was taken to euthanise the horse.
"I am devastated. He was such a wonderful horse, but he did not suffer."
Nicholls also took to social media to pay tribute to his star performer.
"RIP my friend you were a true Legend," he tweeted. "Once in a lifetime."