Minzaal (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}), the brilliant G1 Sprint Cup winner at Haydock last Saturday, has been forced into retirement after sustaining a slab fracture en route to recording that career highlight.
The news comes as a bitter blow to his trainer Owen Burrows, who earlier this season also had to retire his breakthrough Group 1 winner Hukum (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}).
Like Hukum, Minzaal is owned by Shadwell, whose racing manager Angus Gold confirmed the news on Wednesday morning.
He said, “I'm afraid it's not very good news. I'm sad to say he's got a slab fracture in his knee so he is finished, very sadly.
“He'll be retiring unfortunately. We were keen to get him to Ascot which was always the plan as we always thought he handled easy ground, but sadly the gods decided it wasn't to be.”
Gold added, “At least he went out in a blaze of glory, he's a Group One winner and showed everybody what he was capable of. It's such a shame for Owen, extraordinary given what happened with Hukum, too, but there you go. He showed his true colours and he was a proper Group One horse. Hopefully he will have a good second career.”
Mighty Minzaal!
What a performance from @ojburrows74's speedball in the @Betfair #SprintCup @haydockraces @ShadwellStud | @ShadwellRacing | @JimCrowley1978 pic.twitter.com/K3XL5ggVs0
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) September 3, 2022
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