Noseda star Cast put down

Majors Cast was put down today after suffering an injury on the Newmarket gallops.

The five-year-old sustained a fracture to his right fore during his preparations for next Tuesday’s Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot.

The horse was immediately taken to a leading veterinary practice in Newmarket but complications after surgery led to him being humanely destroyed.

Trainer Jeremy Noseda said: “It is devastating news for the owners Paul and Susan Roy, myself and everyone at Shalfleet where he has been a firm favourite.

“Horses of his calibre are very hard to replace. He was a fabulous servant to the yard and was very unlucky not to have become a Group winner during his career.”

Majors Cast, a son of Victory Note out of Ziffany, raced 16 times and won on five occasions.

Unraced at two, he won twice as a three-year-old, landing a maiden at Goodwood before scoring again in a Lingfield handicap success in which subsequent Winter Derby winner Eccentric was second.

Majors Cast’s star soared during a superb campaign at the 2005 Dubai International Racing Carnival.

He rattled off a hat-trick at Nad Al Sheba before finishing seventh, beaten five lengths, in the Group One Dubai Duty Free Stakes.

That was his first shot in Pattern company and he went on to produce a series of fine performances at that level.

He was second in the Group Three Hungerford Stakes at Newbury and then only went down by a short head in the Group Two Celebration Mile at Goodwood.

Ground conditions turned against him in the Breeders’ Cup Mile but he still returned a respectable fifth of 12.

He began the 2006 season in fine form, winning a Listed race at Haydock before finding only Peeress too good in the Group One Lockinge Stakes at Newbury.

Perhaps the abiding thought is, what a shame Majors Cast never secured the Group win his consistency and talent surely deserved.