R.I.P KAUTO STAR

[beaker1]

very sad to hear that one of the greatest horse Kauto Star as passed away R.I.P.

[Trotter]

What a shock ! RIP Kauto.......the best NH horse for many years

[BillyHills]

Such a shame, i'm sure we will get those that say he should have stayed at Ditcheat for his retirement but I saw him at least 3 times with Laura Collett and he looks superb on each occasion. Very sad news, freak accidents happen and most horses have them in the paddocks doing what comes natural, just running around being larey.

[corky]

sad to hear

[robertob]

It's a very sad ending. He deserved better. Rumours making the round and it's hard to know what to believe. But the prospect of Kauto suffering for a week is unimaginable, Also his owner doesn't come across very well, in regards to his pretty pointless remarks made this morning in the Racingpost. Personally I feel it is a real shame how things went since Kauto Star retired. This sad ending is kind of fitting to the overall picture. Taken from the familiar surroundings in Ditcheat, to doing some dressage, where to my eyes he didn't look particularly happy. But that might be just my perception because I feel horses worked in rollkur never seem particularly happy. Also a power horse like Kauto Star, running and jumping his whole life... then doing dressage? It's just not working for me. Apparently the owner wanted Kauto Star to qualify for the Olympics in Dressage. Why oh why? Did the horse didn't do enough? I may have blinkers on saying that and others may think differently. But while I can see the owners hope for an active retirement, in my view there would have been so many better options for that, instead of dressage. Anyway, that's all in the past and has nothing to do with his death. Which is sad. But we should remember the great Kauto Star, his heroic performances. His last Betfair Chase stands out for me in that regard.

[calculus]

A true legend and a real sad ending. I do think that the Clive Smith basing is all in poor taste, as misguided as he may or may not have been, it's hard to imagine that he did not have the horses best interests at heart. Lots of hearsay and conjecture going around but ultimately who are we to say what was best for the horse, I don't think it's appropriate to paint him as the villain of the piece when he will surely feel the loss more than anyone.

[mowgli77]

A true legend and a real sad ending. I do think that the Clive Smith basing is all in poor taste, as misguided as he may or may not have been, it's hard to imagine that he did not have the horses best interests at heart. Lots of hearsay and conjecture going around but ultimately who are we to say what was best for the horse, I don't think it's appropriate to paint him as the villain of the piece when he will surely feel the loss more than anyone.

Clive Smith comes across as a very angry, bitter man acting like a petulant child. It seems to read in summary that he didn't let Paul Nicholls know about Kauto because Paul ignored him at the races. They'd had a public fall out so he's hardly going to hug him and buy him a glass of champers is he? Nicholls often comes across as a bit of a tool but in this case I think he has a right to feel annoyed that he didn't get chance to say goodbye to Kauto after training him for all those victories. Smith could have been the bigger man here, put differences aside and given Nicholls a quick call. They might not ever have been best of pals but morally it was the right thing to do in this situation for me. Nicholls refusing to get into a war of words yet Smith on the front of the RP making himself look a complete twat. It's a sad enough occasion for the racing world and this stuff doesn't help racing at all.

[BillyHills]

Clive Smith comes across as a very angry, bitter man acting like a petulant child.

That sounds like Nicholls to me, maybe as bad as each other.