JUMP racing's best-known horse Sprinter Sacre was dramatically pulled up halfway through his comeback outing in the williamhill.com Desert Orchid Chase at Kempton with what veterinary advice diagnosed to be an irregular heartbeat.
Simply unbeatable in 10 previous outings over fences, Nicky Henderson’s ace produced a long and flamboyant leap at the fifth but just two fences later jockey Barry Geraghty suddenly applied the brakes and trotted back anti-clockwise around half a circuit before dismounting in front of Henderson and concerned connections.
The 2-9 favourite was set for a tricky reintroduction against Sire De Grugy (4-1), who was left to stave off the challenge of Oiseau De Nuit by four lengths.
Lambourn handler Henderson said: “We are still on the heart monitoring side of it, and it's still irregular.
“We were thinking of taking him to Newmarket straight away but I think the horse has had a lot of stress today and I'd rather take him home tonight.
“We have got to investigate this, he's not distressed and he's not going to have a heart attack or anything.”
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