KID COMMANDO

We were all devastated to lose Kid Commando in a fall at Plumpton on Monday.

He was such a talented horse and had so much more to give his four enthusiastic owners – Martyn Chapman, Nigel Hanger, Howard Kingston and Gill Langford –  in the years ahead.

One minute he was travelling nicely in the early stages of a novice Chase. The next he was gone after suffering a horrid fall at the fifth fence.

The post mortem revealed that Kid Commando suffered a catastrophic haemorrhage caused by a ruptured aneurism at the heart base. The Plumpton vet assured our travelling head lad Joss Parker, and Sarah Goring who looked after him, that Kid Commando was dead when he hit the ground and possibly even before the fence.

Thankfully his jockey Richie McLernon escaped unscathed.

We had such high hopes of Kid Commando who was a lovely horse to have in the yard and shaped like a future star from the time he joined us.

He won his bumper impressively on his debut for us and was also successful in his maiden hurdle before finishing third in the Grade 2 Dovecote Novice Hurdle at Kempton.

Just over a year ago he won a Listed handicap hurdle at Ascot in a canter which saw him raised to a career high mark of 143. We then thought he had a great chance in a valuable handicap at Aintree over three miles last April until he fell at the first flight!

Kid Commando was always going to be a chaser and he made a fine start over fences by finishing third in a decent novice Chase at Ascot last month.

Success at Plumpton on Monday would have set him up for a £50,000 bonus if he also managed to win a race at the Cheltenham Festival.

Sadly it wasn’t to be and we are left with fond memories of a horse who lit up all our lives.