From the Racing post ST NICHOLAS ABBEY has suffered a "major setback" in his recovery from surgery that Coolmore hope will save him for a stud career. The colt suffered a life-threatening fractured pastern on Monday while preparing for Saturday's King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot and underwent a major procedure at John Halley's Fethard Equine Hospital. Updates from Coolmore throughout the week had been positive but on Friday afternoon they revealed the six-year-old had suffered with bad colic during Thursday night. A statement released via their Twitter feed, @coolmorestud, said: "Unfortunately St Nicholas Abbey had a major setback in his recovery during the night, suffering from a bad colic. "He underwent emergency colic surgery at Fethard Equine Hospital this morning and the prognosis is very guarded at the moment." Trained by Aidan O'Brien for Derrick Smith, John Magnier and Michael Tabor, St Nicholas Abbey had won both his starts this year - landing the Dubai Sheema Classic on World Cup Night at Meydan, then following up in the Coronation Cup on Derby day, a race he was winning for a record-breaking third time. Victory in Saturday's race would have been a seventh at Group 1 level for St Nicholas Abbey, who amassed nearly £5 million in total prize-money as Europe's all-time leading money-earner, winning nine of his 21 starts.
Awful news. It just goes to demonstrate how quickly colic can strike. In this case it is likely to have been caused by the sudden change in his diet from large portions of high protein racehorse feed to minimum rations while under veterinary care. Their digestive systems are just so sensitive.
I hope they caught it before the gut twisted. If so he should be OK. Fingers crossed for poor SNA. He has been such an ambassador for racing.
Found this on F/b St Nicholas Abbey update St Nicholas Abbey has made positive progress and is in good form today following yesterday's colic surgery. The colic was caused by caecal shutdown (equivalent to the human appendix), which is an extremely painful condition. His treatment means he cannot have food for a prolonged period - this is difficult for a horse like St Nicholas Abbey who loves his food and usually never leaves an oat! He will get parentral nutrition instead (intravenous nutrition) to fulfill his daily requirements. Dr Nathan Slovis a medicine specialist from the Hagyard Institute in Kentucky arrived today to oversee his ongoing recovery and treatments. All surgeons are pleased with the progress he is making with his pastern reconstruction and he is taking weight on the leg well.
SNA has suffered another setback ST NICHOLAS ABBEY has suffered a major complication in his recovery from the life-saving operation he underwent last month. The multiple Group 1 winner suffered a fractured right pastern in a routine piece of work which was subsequently operated on and held in place by 20 screws and two bone plates. Coolmore Stud tweeted on Wednesday morning: "A major complication in St Nicholas Abbey's recovery arose on Monday evening as he appeared a little uncomfortable. "Radiographs showed the steel weight-bearing pin in his cannon bone had broken and after consultation, the surgeons decided to take it out. "This procedure was done Monday night, the leg has been re-cast and St Nicholas Abbey is now bearing weight on the fractured leg. "This development has come sooner than we would have ideally liked, so the next week is a very tentative period for us." Having initially been operated on last month to secure the fracture, which included a bone graft from St Nicholas Abbey's hip, further surgery was necessary after the son of Montjeu was hit with a serious colic. Coolmore added: "This morning St Nicholas Abbey is comfortable and is walking as well as can be expected. "His temperament and demeanour are a tremendous plus both for him and the team treating him." I'm beginning to fear for his future
