by Hillary LaClair, Senior Editor
April 8, 2009
Exotic Dancer, a thoroughbred racehorse credited with both the Paddy Power Gold Cup and the Boylesports.com Gold Cup in 2006, has died at the age of 9. The stable star who was trained by Jonjo O’Neill suffered a heart attack following the Totesport Bowl at Aintree, casting a dark shadow on the horse racing and wagering industry. After finishing second behind Madison Du Berlais in the Grade Two contest, beaten four and a half lengths in the race, the horse collapsed when returning to the stables.
“Half an hour after the race he was just walking along in the stables when he just lay down and that was it. He was very tired coming back in off the track,” said O’Neill. “I said to Barry {Simpson, the racing manage} he looked like he had run his heart out and he looked really tired. We took the saddle off him and he went back to the stables and was OK.
“We were leading him round and Hannah, who looks after him, felt he wasn’t right so we took him down to the vet, where he laid down and that was it – there was nothing we could do.”
Exotic Dancer had earned over GBP800,000 in prize money, although could never catch up to his closest rival, Kauto Star. Exotic Dance finished behind his nemesis on the eight occasions that the two horses completed the course – finishing second in a Gold Cup, King George and a Betfair Chase. He finished third in last season’s King George and last month’s Gold Cup.
Barry Simpson noted, “I haven’t had a chance to speak to Sir Robert {the horse’s owner} yet but he will be pretty devastated, as we all are. You feel for everyone and not just ourselves. Hannah that looks after him and cares for him every day, and it hits the stable staff more than it hits the owner.
“It just happened so quick. He came back in and didn’t look quite right – he looked tired. It is a very, very sad end to a very, very good career for the horse.”
Exotic Dancer’s death comes just 11 months after the death of famous thoroughbred, Eight Belles who was euthanized after she broke both of her ankles in the 134th Kentucky Derby – finishing second behind powerhouse Big Brown.
“When we passed the wire I stood up. She started galloping funny. I tried to pull her up. That’s when she went down,” said Gabriel Saez, Eight Belles’ distraught jockey. “I tried to get her to stop. I tried to get her to stop but she wouldn’t stop.”
Exotic Dancer was the second favorite horse to win the race, at 3.10. He was a French bred National Hunt racehorse, winning his first race in a novice chase at Cheltenham. Exotic Dancer had a successful 2006 and 2007 season with three victories at Cheltenham, the Paddy power Gold Cup, the Boylesports.com Gold Cup, and an 18 length victory in the Letheby and Christopher Chase. He began this season with two place finishes before completing a 20 length victory in the Lexas Chase in December.
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