Benandonner 2nd BUT retires as a WINNER in our eyes

Benandonner ran his last race for us on the 20th March and although he came 2nd he was a WINNER in our eyes. He was drawn 9 of 9 and the jockey, Shane Kelly, had to take a pull so as not to be too wide. He settled towards the rear but when the race got going in earnest at the 2f pole he had to challenge out wide which cost ground. Also, he was bumped on the bend by the eventual winner, West Leake, but despite this he galloped on bravely to "fail" by the narrowest of margins, a nose! However, you can see why we feel he was the moral winner.

Benandonner has been an outstanding servant for us since we claimed him out of Richard Fahey's yard in December 2009. He has run 52 times for us and recorded 8 wins and 19 placed efforts. The horse is the proverbial "Iron Horse" and he battled in everyone of his races for us. The thrill in this game is to have a horse that tries every time he runs no matter what his rating. It will be difficult to find another horse as tough and as genuine as "DON" as he is affectionately known in the yard.
The day after his last race he was galloping around the paddock like a 2yo and while it was tempting to go back to the well one more time we would have been mortified if anything happened to the horse. Some people who will be pleased he has retired are the lads who rode him at home as he pulled like the proverbial train everyday!
He will now enjoy a well deserved retirement as one of our girls, Holly, is taking him on to retrain as a dressage horse. We wish them both well and hope we can find another Don but we somehow doubt we will!