Brett Lee put down after sustaining injury in fall

THE legendary Australian tracker and sire Brett Lee has been put down some weeks after sustaining an injury in a fall while running around the yard in his kennels.

A son of Gun Law Osti and Sobbing Sal, Brett Lee was one of the greatest trackers in Australia in modern times and then went on to become a leading sire worldwide. His progeny have had a massive impact on the Irish scene and in the week the great dog passed away, his son Tyrur Big Mike is a strong favourite to win the Ladbrokes.com Irish Derby, a classic that was won by another son, Razldazl Billy, four years ago.

Owner Keith Pedrana described the accident which was to lead to his star’s untimely death: “I let him out in the morning and he was running up and down in the yard and it must have been a bit dewey and he slipped and did his shoulder. The vet wanted to put him down when he first suffered the injury, but I just wanted to do everything I could for him to get him right but in the end it just wasn’t to be. I thought I had a good three or four years left in him — he would have turned twelve in January”.

There are a small number of straws still available but these will command huge fees. As Pedrana said: “I have 40 in all, but of those only 20 are for sale. I was selling them for $20,000 up to now but who knows what they could be worth in the future?”

The favourites failed to deliver in Monday’s semi-finals of the Catunda Harry Champion Stakes at Youghal and the final next Monday promises to be a very wide open betting affair.

The semi-finals resulted in victories for Paul Hogan’s Corporate Scoop in 30.33 and David Harrington’s Fleetwood Nick in 30.21 and the latter, an inside seed, has been rewarded by a trap six draw in the final.

Draw for Monday’s final: 1 Rising Magic; 2 Pablo Supreme; 3 Corporate Scoop; 4 Kilmalady Torres; 5 Da Dancer; 6 Fleetwood Nick.