Gold Cup hero Don Cossack retired BY DAVID BAXTER 10:40AM 11 JAN 2017 DON COSSACK, winner of last year's Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup, has been retired. Eddie O'Leary, racing manager for Gigginstown House Stud, confirmed the ten-year-old will not return to the track, having failed to recover from a tendon injury sustained last April. "I saw him last week and he had legs like steel, so this comes as a big surprise as we thought we had him back," O'Leary said. With Don Cossack now retired, this year's Gold Cup is unlikely to feature either of the last two winners as connections of Coneygree revealed earlier in the week that they will not enter the 2015 winner. Trainer Gordon Elliott revealed Don Cossack had met with a setback, which led to his retirement. Quoted on his Betfair blog, Elliott said: "We found that he had a bit of heat in his leg yesterday [Tuesday] and we've made the decision to call time. "It's a real sickener for Gigginstown, myself, Bryan Cooper and the whole yard. We knew it was never certain we would get him back to the racecourse and even after that, to get him back to his best, but we were hopeful and he was on track for a run at Gowran Park next month. "He's a horse of a lifetime and he owes us nothing. I said all season that if he had any sort of setback at all we would not abuse him and retire him straight away."
Happy retirement to him. It just goes to show how amazing the longevity of horses like Kauto Star or Desert Orchid was (and Cue Card is)
An awful shame to lose a Champion but glad that they are being pragmatic and thinking about the horse
Unfortunate turn of events. All seemed fine and dandy last week. At least he can retire and safely enjoy his time left.
Don't forget Hurricane Fly in that with his squillion Grade Ones and starting off as a 2yo on the Flat too Sadly starting to look a very weak renewal, if Thistlecracks half as good as he looks it won't take much winning by him. Hopefully Champion Trainer elect runs Cue Card now.
I had a funny feeling as soon as Racing Post began reporting his 'on track' comeback. I think they do it for the bookies to lure in mug punters. Horses really struggle to come back from these tendon injuries and usually if they do it is only temporary. He was a hugely talented chaser and a proper Gold Cup horse towards the end of his career. Unlucky not to win a King George possibly but he did have jumping frailties as evidenced in the RSA, King George, as well as a shuddering mistake that knocked him out of contention in a Ryanair. That's two reigning Champions in the Gold Cup that cannot defend their crowns- let's hope that is not the case in the Champion Hurdle.
There is really no need for this back handed comment. Any horse can sustain a career ending injury at any time, and the longevity of a horse is as much down to good fortune as anything else
He did have a few problems jumping In the KG and the Ryanair which where his only 2 defeats in open company as a chaser. Still 10 wins from 12 in open company is pretty impressive for a horse who can't jump properly
That Melling win was something else. I think any horse we've seen would have struggled to beat him on that particular day in that form.
I suggest you actually watch that Melling Chase or Punchestown GC replay, where Cue Card is beaten out of sight. Cue Card is a donkey, only won the KG cause DC fell. He's an average G1 performer who's won a few mediocre Betfair chases and got lucky in the KG. Thistlecrack laughed at him on the bridle in the KG, as I said he would pre race
But you could easily say DC only won the gold cup because Cue Card fell as CC was tanking. Cue Card is the king of Cheltenham and will win the GC this year then Thistlecrack can dominate from 2018 onwards. Anyway we'll see old boy we'll see not long now!!
Cue Card and Don Cossack have met 4 times. Don Cossack fell once, and Cue Card fell another time. But when both completed Don Cossack smashed that donkey with ease both times. Only an idiot would think Cue Card would have won last years GC. Don Cossack was simply just a lot, and I mean a lot better than Cue Card, and there is no evidence to suggest otherwise
