Best Mate succumbs to heart attack on comeback

BEST MATE, the first chaser since Arkle to win three consecutive Gold Cups, died of a heart attack during a comeback race at Exeter yesterday.

The jumping great’s eagerly awaited return after nearly a year off the track ended in tragedy in the Haldon Gold Cup.

Jockey Paul Carberry, riding the Henrietta Knight-trained star for the first time, tracked the leader Ashley Brook early on but alarm signals rang out when Carberry started to nudge his mount along as the leaders drew clear. Carberry began to ease up the ten-year-old in the home straight, eventually pulling him up, and screens were swiftly erected around him.

This was Best Mate’s first public appearance since running second to Beef or Salmon at Leopardstown last Christmas.

Best Mate’s bid for a fourth straight Gold Cup in March was frustrated when he burst a blood vessel in his final workout at Knight’s stable in Berkshire.

Knight’s husband and assistant Terry Biddlecombe said: “Paul is a good jockey and he knew something was wrong. The only consolation is it was pretty instantaneous and he wouldn’t have felt any pain.”

Knight, who used to get so nervous each time Best Mate ran she’d retreat to the racecourse carpark rather than watch him race, said she realised immediately the gravity of the situation.

“I have ridden a horse before who suffered a heart attack while I was on board and I have to say this looks reminiscent of that. The legs go, they wobble and then they go down,” said the former schoolteacher.

“I was actually on the track where he came down and I was the first one there. I knew immediately he had died.

“As I saw him go down I knew I was seeing a dead horse and I just wanted it to be over as quickly as possible.”

Knight paid tribute to the Jim Lewis-owned jumper.

“I am very proud of him - he looked an absolute picture today on a course he loved. He was a joy to work with and a privilege to train.

“It is probably harder for a lot of people watching the race than it is for Terry and I, as we are more used to this sort of thing happening.

“He was a very, very popular horse with a tremendous following and now there is a big vacuum.

“Even this morning he was getting good luck cards in the post - but I suppose we have all got to go one day and at least he didn’t do anything terrible like fall or break a leg. We will all miss him very much.”

Exeter clerk of the course Barry Johnson confirmed a heart problem had been the cause of death.

He said: “The veterinary surgeon who attended the horse has confirmed it was definitely a cardiac problem - there was nothing they could do for him.”

Owner Lewis said: “He was a great racehorse - there can have been very few in the world like him.

The 2002-04 Gold Cup victor won 14 of his 21 starts, amassing over one million pounds in prize money.